This week the Willamette Radio Workshop is well represented on The Society of the Inner Ear. A show about firsts has our first ever live original production, The Call of the Mummy. Originally presented on Stage and Studio on KBOO we are happy to rebroadcast it here. The play was written by Cynthia McGean, Stars Scott Jameison, Mark Homayoun, Mary Robinette Kowal, Mark Twohy and Atticus Mowry. Sound Effects are by Martin Gallagher, Original music by Scott Jameison, Produced by Robert Kowal and Sam A. Mowry directed and played the spooky voice (as usual). Special thanks to Dmae Roberts and Emily Young.

The other first is Alec Knox’s The Secret Passage, The Thing at the Lighthouse. An original audio drama in the vein of the great old time radio series. Alec wrote (from a story by himself and Preston G. Tracey) and directed the piece, jamie Haggerty did the sound design and additional editing was by Jamie Haggerty and Kasey Gifford. The art work displayed here from the CD is by Kasey Gifford and the design and layout by Tim Weakland. We met these guys through their work at Flying Rhino productions and they are wonderfully talented and crazed individuals, perfect for radio and we are honored to have them on SotIE.

We also throw in a few 5 Minute Mysteries to round out the hour. I hope you enjoy the show, Sunday September 23rd at 2pm pst on KZME 107.1 fm in Portland, Oregon. Or the podcast which will be up for about a month at SotIE Podcast. Happy listening.

This weeks effort for the Society on KZME 107.1 fm, Portland includes two adaptations of the Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. We offer up WRW’s show from the Halloween 2011 tribute to Mr. Poe and then we bring in one of my favorite shows of all time. Then CBS Radio Mystery Theater. I loved mysteries and radio drama before I even knew what radio was. CBSRMT was created by Himan Brown who also directed the show. The opening had this great string ensemble and the longest door squeak in the business, followed by the perfect host, E.G. Marshall, as friendly as you please and as creepy as all get out at the same time. Smartly written scripts with all star casts (though sometimes just damn fine actors). Then shows were recorded like clock work and the Actors were paid union scale at around $73.92 per show. Writers earned a flat rate of $350 per show. Production took place with assembly-line precision. Brown met with actors at 9am for the first script reading. After he assigned roles, recording began. By noon, the recording of the actors was complete, and Brown handed everyone checks. Post-production was done in the afternoon. I gotta admire that guy. You can find the complete CBS Radio Mystery Theater Collection here!

Todays’ show stars Fred Gwynn for CBSRMT and the WRW version stars Alyson Ayn Osborn and here is the rest of the cast and crew. James Dineen, Sarah Rea, Bruce Miles and Sam A. Mowry.

Sam A. Mowry is the producer and director.  Joe Medina is indispensable. Cynthia J. McGean is our Dramaturge. Rob Kowal is Associate Producer of the Workshop. David Ian & Dino de AElfweald- Foley Artists and Designers.  Galen Huckins- Musical Director/Composer. D. Neil Blake is our recordist Extraordinaire.

Special thanks to Marc Rose, Jamie Lawson and Joe Medina/ Afterhell, Dry Smoke and Whispers, Martin J. Gallagher,  Atticus Welles Mowry, Jerrel McQuen, Claudine Hemminway, Tapestry Theater and Judy Straasland, Filmusik, PDX Classical Revolution and all our families and friends who make this possible.

Sunday July 8^th brings another show chock full of Willamette Radio goodness to the Society of the Inner Ear broadcast and streamed on KZME 107.1 fm in Gresham, OR. Our Tales St. James Infirmary show presented some of the most inventive, fun and actually scary things we have ever done. Today we present a few examples with more to come. As an added treat we have the wonderful music of Galen Huckins, Megafauna, Classical Revolution PDX and Marty Gallagher in the mix. Sit back and enjoy the hour, it’ll fly right by.

The System by Jan Bear. Every guy has a system. Some work better than others, some work too well.

The Reason Why another by William S. Gregory. Science and fame and fortune are all examined in this moment in time. Have you had your 15 minutes yet?

Delicious by William S. Gregory. Script voted most scary by our dramaturge. Sam just thinks it’s a nice chat with an old friend. See who’s right.

The Real McCoy by Angela McKennie. A jazz aged, snappy pater, fun house ride of love, double crossing and the St. James Infirmary. Somebody gets a happy ending.

No Shelter by Afterhell’s own Joe Medina. Raoul loves Jenny, he’s never do anything to her. Well Jenny might argue the point. If she could.

CAST AND CREW FOR THE HALLOWEEN SHOW

Tim McKennie, Lindsae Klein, Alyson Osborn, James Dineen, Mark Homayoun, David Loftus, Bryan Mackey, Sarah Rea, Mary Thomas and Sam A. Mowry.

Sam A. Mowry producer and director.

Cynthia J. McGean Dramaturge.

Marty Gallagher– Sound Co-ordinator/Auto harp, David Ian- Foley, Dino de AElfweald- Foley, Randall Howington- Grip/Foley, Lori Day-Reynolds-Mix, Marc Rose– Abelton.

Galen Huckins- Musical Director/Composer, Megafauna and the Classic Revolution are the musicians.

Writer’s for the full recorded Tales from the St. James Infirmary include: Jan Bear, Sandra De Helen, Fred Greenhalgh, William E. Gregory, William S. Gregory, David Ian, Craig Kenworthy, Bryan Mackey, Cynthia McGean, Angela McKennie, Joe Medina, Rolf Semprebon And Sam Spackman.

Great show for todays Society. Marc Rose and his long time collaborator Jerrel McQuen present their Crystal Communicator winning modern audio magnum opus, “Nirvana and Gehenna” for Sunday June 3rd 2012. Plus some extra interdimensional wackiness from Dry Smoke and Whispers and Area 51. A show you don’t want to miss. I wont. Listen in at KZME 107.1 fm in Portland , Oregon or online through the archives page. The cast includes, among others Eric Newsome, Jan Powell, Marc Rose, Linda Goertz, Susan Zietlin, John Barber, Jodi Lorimer, David Maier, Greg Alexander, Mark Loring, Mary Thomas, Chris Porter and David Loftus.

It’s that time of year again. The UFO Festival in McMinnville Oregon has come round again. And when you drop by with your alien pets and foil hats, be sure to stop by the Hotel Oregon for the annual UFO Festival live radio show. This years offering is Dr. Who, the Lord of Terror by Joseph Medina of Afterhell fame. Join the Doctor and crew as they battle the Lord of Terror atop the Eiffel Tower in 1892. The cast includes James Dineen as the Doctor, Mary Thomas as his companion and the talents of Bruce Miles, Lindsae Klein and Sam A. Mowry. Live Foley by David Ian and Dino de AElfweald, live sound by D. Neil Blake, Stage Management by Autumn Trappani, Merchandizing by Emma and Elizabeth Miles and the incomparable sonic mastery of Marc Rose on Music and Extra Special Effects.

A show not to be missed.

Today would have been Orson’s 97th birthday. He passed away in 1985. The undisputed greatest radio actor/director/producer of the Golden age. The War of the Worlds, The Hitch Hiker, Mercury Theater of the Air, Les Miserable, The Third Man, The Shadow, The March of Time, 14 August, We Hold These Truths, Fall of the City and the list just goes on. For all of us who make audio today and will in the future, he is the standard against who we will measure ourselves. Thank you Mr. Welles for giving us so much. My life has been enriched by your works and I am constantly inspired by your genius.

Tune in today at 2:00 to the Society of the Inner Ear at KZME Radio 107.1 FM to catch some awesome audio theater, featuring the work of women in radio.We have put together THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, adapted by Sylvia Richards and starring Agnes Moorehead. Next up, Carol Danes award winning TURNSTILES with Tom Beckett, Sam A. Mowry and features a brilliant sound design by Marc Rose. We finish with Cynthia McGean’s THE ST JAMES SISTERS presented as a live performance at McMenamin’s Kennedy School. Set in the civil war and features Music by Marty Gallagher and Galen Huckins, David Loftus, Alyson Osborn, Sara Rea, Lindsea Klein,  James Dineen and Sam A. Mowry. There are also so bits and pieces of THE WONDERFUL WOZARD OF IZ, just for fun.

I hope you can check it out, if not it will be archived on the KZME website.

It’s with great pleasure I announce that the Willamette Radio Workshop is ON THE AIR!

We are fortunate enough to have two broadcasts of our Radio Christmas Carol, recorded live on December 14th 2011 at the First Christian Church in beautiful downtown Portland as a benefit for the Oregon Food Bank and now to be broadcast on KBOO 90.7 at 7pm Christmas Eve and KZME 107.1 at 6pm Christmas Day. Both stations have a live stream as well, visit their websites for info on that. Christmas eve will be a broadcast filling the 7:00pm – 10:00pm slot usually filled by An Evening of Afrotainment. Hosted by our frequent collaborator Randall Howington (Rascho) and featuring the full length Radio Carol, our classic Hiro & Lilling and new presentations of The Selfish Giant and The War Prayer as well as a cornucopia of seasonal music from Vince Guaraldi  to… well everywhere and all stops in between. A delightful way to while away the hours while your video log crackles on the TV. Saturday will have an abridged, but still wonderful hour long version of our Radio Carol  (58:30 to be exact and sometimes you have to be). The unabridged version is 60:08, for those keeping score at home. We will be posting the whole shebang on our website for those who were expecting it to be there. If you have the means, please use this as a reminder to reach out to your local food banks and help everyone have a happy holiday.

We are never happier than when our work has the opportunity to fly through the air via the magic that is radio. We hope your holidays have much wonder and magic and good health to everyone. See you next year!