Radio Drama.

Monica Hunt

Radio Drama

Theater of the Mind

Storytelling is such an important part of life. If your story you’re telling comes off as bland, it can lose the interest of whoever is listening. Storytelling in radio drama is the foundation of what makes a good radio drama. Radio drama takes a lot of dedication, work, and time to create a story worth listening to. Unlike TV or magazines, radio has to lure in listeners with it’s sound effects, production, audio quality, and story. There are so many modern movies people enjoy simply for the special effects. Not the quality of the story. That’s what makes radio drama so unique, you get attracted to the story based on the purest form or storytelling and the world it creates with it’s sounds.

Listening to Radio Drama

Radio drama has its own way to capture imagery in the listener’s minds. The entire production tries to cover all senses as best as possible. Music sounds, and vocals are all very important. It lets you feel what the setting is, rather having to see it. If something is sad, then sad music will play, and so forth. I enjoyed the music because it sets the tone very well. It covers all bases very well. Sounds are all vital. While people can be familiar with jingle bells, or water running, it’s nice to gain a visual even though you already know what it looks like. The voice actor himself has a very approachable voice and you wouldn’t mind listening to him at all. You can literally be familiar with everything just by listening to it. Sometimes you can even feel familiar with everything and it’s always nice to relate to something. He would describe things to the fullest detail. For instance, even though we know what snow is, it’s interesting how far you describe the snow even though it’s just white. You explain every bit about it, like how it tastes or how it feels. I think it would have been smoother if he placed all of the sounds together for a complete story, so we don’t have to break our attention so easily. Television and film makes it so that the visual is there for you. They’re not expecting you to use your imagination; they’re giving you the imagination from their own minds. Radio drama allows you to create imagery. What’s interesting about it is that everyone will come up with their own story in their mind. No one’s thoughts will ever be the same as the other person, which is why radio drama is its own art form, and should continue to be used in any way.

Listening to Radio Drama

Jacki Bubis
Radio Drama
Episode 7: Be Good of Cheer

I think the key to radio drama is simplicity and structure. The sentences do not run on and the body of the story is smooth without being dragged out. The words, sometimes comical, but always moral gave the listener a sense of wonderment, which kept my attention throughout. I must also pay attribute to Tim Slover—he was a wonderful narrator, whose soft voice and engaging accent was perfect for the Christmas tale.

            I felt as though I was a child again and hearing a bedtime story while listening to this piece. It’s acted out subtly and conversationally. I couldn’t picture it as a film, for the format in which the story was told was overall storyteller, thus there wasn’t the screenplay structure. For me, it was more like someone performing a monologue on stage, rather than a sitcom or something you would see on the big screen. It had the right amount of background music and sounds, where it took your attention when it needed to, then assimilated into the background. Overall, it was different in its form and required much more imagination.

Listening to Radio Drama

I listened to the first episode in The Christmas Chronicles: A Christmas Radio Drama in 8 Episodes and thoroughly enjoyed it. Tim Slover’s writing and narration creates an engaging story clearly illustrated with his words. My favorite part about this radio drama is that Slover uses very descriptive and poetic words to create an image. But he doesn’t over describe details; Slover leaves room for the listener’s imagination to create a personal and unique world. In addition to being poetic, Tim Slover is also a great storyteller. In the short 27 min piece about Santa Clause, he created a dynamic and engaging piece. There was suspense around every corner with occasional touches of comedy.

The Radio Drama medium is an interesting one because it is such a simple art form. I thought of how I would react to this story if it was a film and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t last for 3 min if it were in a different medium. Sometimes film and television can be a sensory overload. There are sounds, flashes, sound effects, dialogue, soundtrack, commercial interruptions, and continually changing camera angles that disorient and distract. With this radio drama, the story was simple and straightforward.  I could actually tune out my other senses and just focus on listening and creating the images in my head. I really enjoy the radio medium.

Zachary Cieslak

Honey Bee Commentary

1:15

The food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the variety of plants surrounding us all have to be pollinated by someone. But what would happen if that someone was suddenly extinct? Honeybees in the United States are disappearing from their hives at a scary rate. Nearly 1 million hives are disappearing each year. According to the USDA, “This is the biggest general threat to our food supply.” For years, the sharp decline in bees has been a mystery. But within the last year, scientists have unmasked the culprits.

Pesticides and genetically modified foods that help to increase the life of the plants are actually harming the honeybees. Chemicals absorbed by plants are secreted in the nectar that honeybees use to make honey. The unnatural nectar causes a destruction of the nervous system within the bees causing disorientation and an inability to find their hive. Big business pushes the findings under the rug to keep costs of food low while the beekeepers feel the burn. This is another instance of humans accidentally causing a major shift in the biosphere. While some may see this as a small issue, honeybees are the foundation of our agricultural economy. Without the honeybees, we will inevitably see a food shortage in the United States. So we can sit back and watch the downfall of honeybees and our economy or put an end to our genetically modified plants and harmful pesticides.

Snowden Publicity

Nicky Quiles

Snowden Publicity

1:15

Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden applied for temporary asylum in Russia on Tuesday after three weeks held in a Moscow airport trying to avoid prosecution in the United States on espionage charges.

Snowden is seeking permanent refuge in Latin America after leaking details of U.S. government surveillance programs, but has not risked taking any flight that might be intercepted by the United States since flying in from Hong Kong on June twenty-third.

Although the acts of Snowden are having very large affects on the lives of every American, It has become increasingly harder to find news stories about the former N.S.A. agent. Every time there is a new story about Snowden there seems to be something else in the news that is more important. Most recently it has been the Zimmerman trial, but it has also been Chicago homicides, Derrick Rose’s injury update, riots in reaction to the Zimmerman trial, and the upcoming return of the Twinkie.

I understand that some of those stories are actually important, but too many times are there stories of less importance than the N.S.A. scandal. Some of the stories affect a few, and some affect a lot, but what is going on wit the N.S.A. affects everyone.

I urge the American public to pay attention to all the news about the N.S.A. and Snowden. I also would like to see the American news company broadcast more about it. For a country that boasts about freedom, the surveillance program known as the N.S.A says the opposite.

I’m Nicky Quiles and this is the Unknown News Broadcasting, goodnight and goodbye.

Commentary - Red Wings To The East

Brian Woodworth

Detroit Red Wings To The East - Commentary Assignment

Time (1:30)

A lot of people are still huffing and puffing about the newest realignment of the NHL, sending the Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Eastern Conference. I can understand why some teams such as the Phoenix Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks would be upset, Phoenix being that three-fourths of the fans at Red Wings/ Coyotes games are Red Wings fans and it’s probably the only time they sell out, and also the Blackhawks because that’s a natural rivalry AND because it leaves the Hawks as the only Original Six team left in the West, but the move had to happen.

For starters, my personal reason starts because I’m from Detroit and I remember staying up until ten o’clock at night waiting for the Wing’s and whatever west coast team game to START and it wouldn’t FINISH until the early morning- and that was if it didn’t go into overtime! Detroit and Columbus are the only Eastern Time Zoned, Western Conference Team. It didn’t make any sense.

The second, and most logical reason, this should probably be before my own personal motives, but the move of Atlanta to Winnipeg meant that a change HAD to happen. Winnipeg couldn’t continue to compete in the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference, playing teams like Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay and Washington. Their travel distance to play an away game against the Florida Panthers, who are located in Miami, FL, is two thousand two hundred and forty two miles. In 2012, the Jets played the Panthers three games at Florida and 3 games in Winnipeg. That’s just over thirteen THOUSAND miles traveled. A little absurd if you ask me.

Okay, so one team HAD to move to even out the sides, but why two? Simple: opens up the possibility for 2 expansion teams in the west! With the hype for a basketball team back in Seattle, I could see a good fit for a team there and why not another team in Salt Lake City?

This was a decision that was a long time coming and as a Red Wing fan, I am glad to see it finally happen!