2023
January 1, 2023
Poetry
Poetry is an expression of ideas and/or emotional response written in heightened and focussed language. So this program is a gift to you of poetry in various formats – some read plain, some with music, some with a sound background. Not a survey of “great American” poetry, but poems that have made an impression on the host at some time in his life – which ought to tell you something about just how serious – or not – these are.
Poets include Dr. Suess, A. A. Milne, Shel Silverstein, Edgar Allan Poe, Ogden Nash, Yip Harburg, Tom Digby, John M. Ford, Leon Flick, and others.
Readers include John Lithgow, David Ossman, Shel Silverstein, Chad Mitchell Trio, Jerry Stearns, Tom Digby, Eileen Atkins, The Shockwave Riders, Stan Lehman, Shon and more.
January 8. 2023
The Big Broadcast of 1976
Once famous fictional Hollywood stars recreate their on-the-air characters from imaginary Golden Age radio programs. Clear? I hardly think so. It’s really David Ossman and Phil Austin of the Firesign Theatre doing a live radio show just for fun and making fun of live radio from 1938, brought to you by Daylight Savings & Loan and Glamorama Soap. Is that any clearer? Maybe…
Also featuring Mark A. Ward and Richard Procter. One of the many fine silly radio programs in the George Tirebiter Collection from Bandcamp.January 15, 2023
The Outpost
You wake up in a habitat in an asteroid cloud in a far corner of the galaxy, a million light years from… wait, where did I come from? This is definitely now like home.
A Mark Time Award winning story by Julie Hoverson at 19 Nocturne Boulevard.
Time Zone
A lighthearted tale of a visitor from the 1980s landing in the middle of a 1930s small-town newspaper office. Starring Harry Anderson (Night Court). Produced by Jim French for the Act One Sci-Fi Collection.
The Last Franchise
Taking your girlfriend on a date to the future, and finding out that there’s not much left.
Produced by Dan Coffey (Dr. Science) for the Iowa Radio Project.January 22, 2023
Take-offs in new directions.
Stories in a familiar place but from a new point of view.
Remembering the Martians
Many years after the Martian invasion people remember the Martians almost fondly from before they all disappeared. From the Decoder Ring Theatre Summer Showcase. Written by Tim Prasil in his Marvelous Boxes series. Directed by Greg Taylor.
The Empire Strikes Everything
A new view of those cute Storm Troopers from Star Wars, emphasizing the fact that though they had powerful weapons, they were not good shots. From Soylent Theater’s CD, Made Out Of People.
We Don’t Do Weddings, Act 1
The story behind The Modal Nodes, the band that played in the cantina in Mos Eisley Spaceport on Tatooine. You remember them, right?
Story by Kathy Tyers. Directed by Charles Potter for Bantam Audio. Conclusion next week.
January 29, 2023
We Don’t Do Weddings, Act 2-3
The Modal Nodes, the house band at Jabba the Hut’s place, is trying to make a little extra playing a wedding, but there’s chaos brewing and Jabba is stewing – which is illustrative of why they don’t do weddings. Conclusion of the Star Wars story by Kathy Tyers.
Practicing Safe Karaoke
It’s harder to do karaoke n an establishment run by robots who are programmed to protect humans at all costs. And apparently karaoke is more expensive than it seems..
Written by Brian Price and Jerry Stearns, and performed by Big Fun Radio Funtime.February 5, 2023
Being in Strange Places
Waiting For A Window
An unexpected storm throws Norman D. Waits off his course to… somewhere. The island where he lands is nice enough, with old sea salts that welcome him with open arms and a bar that’s always open. But as it becomes increasingly clear that no one ever seems to leave the island,
From Fred Greenhalgh at FinalRune Productions. Winner of the 2008 Ogle Award for Best Fantasy Audio Production.
Phantoms of Fate
Johnny Kidd stops at the old drive-in and talks to Lisa Leftlane, before he takes off after that black hot rod that challenged him on the street. But strange things are happening, and it’s harder than you’d think to get back to the drive-in.
The Nowhere Cruisers in an audio tale from In The Days of Johnny Kidd, by Danny Sachs.
Distant Voice
A hiker in the mountains hears a voice calling his name, and accusing him…
From the Wavefront Anthology Series by Jack J. Ward at Electric Vicuna Productions.February 12, 2023
The Machine Stops
Reflections on a culture entirely embedded in technology. Dystopian dependency and isolation. The story is over a hundred years old and yet seems so familiar.
A classic science fiction tale by E. M. Forster, published in 1909. Featuring David Warner and Samantha Eggar. Produced by Yuri Rasovsky for the 2000X public radio series. Tales of the Next Millennium, which we’re in.
Plus 3 of the ZBS Series, 2 Minute Film Noir.
February 19, 2023
Peter Galaxy, Interstellar Envoy
Two old radio actors find themselves being accosted by aliens who think they ARE the characters they played so long ago-– but are these old men up to the help they are being asked to provide?
Originally written for the Mark Time Radio Show, this production is by the Decoder Ring Theater as part of their Summer Showcase series, Mark Time Show Time.
Shape
What kind of shape are you in? When these guys ask that question it has a WAAAY different meaning. They have no shape of their own, you see, but take on a shape that is useful for the task at hand. And the task is an invasion of Earth.
The original story is by Robert Sheckley, and the production comes from the Sci-Fi Radio series, produced by Kevin Singer.February 26, 2023
The Pipe Cleaner of Bilge Hob IV
What if you were giving a party and the dispenser that you use for keeping your guests high got clogged? Well there is someone you can call, but it’s pricey.
A wonderfully down to Earth, but not ON Earth, story by Evan Kingston, from the Fancy Pants Gangsters and their Redshift podcast.
Noch Kolatski, Interstellar Adventurer
A 1979 performance by the National Radio Theatre of Chicago. Yuri Rasovsky, later the producer of the 2000X radio series, directs this entirely silly space adventure radio program. The vinyl album it’s taken from is The Chicago Language Tape and other Aberrations of El Fiendo.
It was recovered and cleaned up by audio archivist Taylor Jessen and presented on his website, the Fuji Puzzlebox. There is plenty of other lost and obscure audio preserved there. Check it out.March 5, 2023
The Perhapanauts: Monsters Among Us
They are paranormal beings who investigate paranormal activity. Often it is supernatural beings who have crossed into our dimension, and these heroes find them and send them back. They work for Bedlam, a top secret government agency.
It’s a Scout Comic series by Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau, begun in 2005. They’re very popular. But this is an audio version written by Todd Dezago and Elaine Lee and produced by AudioComics at Pocket Universe Productions.
It features Robin Miles as the group’s leader. She’s a renowned audio narrator and actor, recently the subject of a New Yorker article. The show won a Silver Ogle Award for Best Fantasy Audio in 2013.