Students perform old-fashioned radio show

The audio production class in the communication program is putting on an old-fashioned radio show called, “Tall Tales of the Dangerously Daffy and Definitely Delusional.”  

The students will be performing two stories they have adapted from Aaron Shepard. They are using Foley sound effects, which are live sound effects created by everyday objects. The live showing was on Thursday, Oct. 31 in the Dotty & Bill Miller Theatre in the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts, and they will eventually upload the recording online.  

“The idea was to give the students a sense of how to take a story and be able to show it with just sound,” said assistant professor of media production Jason Knowles. “That way the audience could form the image in their minds.” 

The radio show was an assignment in the audio production class. The class found scripts and adapted them into radio format.  

“It’s a radio play and, in doing so, it’s essentially just a regular play, except we do all of the sound effects ourselves, except for the music, to help aid in the audio aspect of imagining when the wind howls or the horses gallop, that kind of thing,” said junior in communication Micheal Weaver.  

Weaver plays the roles of the narrator and the king in the first story and the roles of the narrator and the troll in the second story.  

“[I like] talking,” Weaver said. “I’ve always been told that that’s what I should do, so here I am. So, hopefully it turns out alright.”  

The class is performing two different fairytale-like stories, “The Boy Who Had the Willies” and “Mastermaid.” The show was inspired by old radio dramas such as ‘War of the Worlds.’  

“I really like the radio [because] I don’t have to memorize my lines,” said junior in communication Tessa McLelland. “I’ve done a little bit of acting before for high school, so it’s nice that I get to actually have a script to do, so it’s pretty fun.” 

McLelland plays the roles of the sister in “The Boy Who Had the Willies” and the mastermaid in “Mastermaid.” 

For the Foley sound effects, the students used things like gel beads, glasses, bricks, pebbles, and shoes.  

“The sound effects are Foley sound effects, which is awesome,” McLelland said. “I really like the process (and) how they create the soundtrack. They do it all with Folies, especially in movies.”  

The audio production class will perform the stories live, and then edit the audio to upload it on their radio station or on their website.  

“The idea was to perform first for a live audience and then take a recording and have the audio class play with that later on,” Knowles said. “There’s a little bit of a thrill by doing it on the fly of the seat of your pants. But I think what’s more important is that the students have fun with it, and I hope that translates to the audience too.”