Something special may soon fill the air on the South End.
Along with the fragrant blooms of spring comes the promise of local radio.
In preparation for the future launch of South Whidbey’s very own community radio station KWPA, longtime radio experts David Ossman and Judith Walcutt are offering to show islanders the radio ropes through “Radio Playing Live.”
Presented by the Third Street Players, the community workshop runs from 7 to 9 p.m. weeknights from Monday, April 16 through Monday, April 23 at the Whidbey Children’s Theatre in Langley. Attendees from 10 to 100 are welcome to participate the entire week, or just on two Monday evening “primers.”
The Monday night workshops will include radio theater basics — a tour of radio past, present and future. These primers will feature some of the more than 100 hours of rare and wonderful recordings that Firesign Theatre creator Ossman will bring from his personal archives.
“Putting Sound In a Box,” on April 16, will be an exploration in sound of what radio is and how it has developed over the past 100 years.
“Radio — Any Questions?” on April 23, will focus on the art of audio theatre and will also feature rare Firesign Theatre performances.
The goal of these primers is to help people experience radio under exquisite sound conditions, just like during the “Golden Age” of radio.
Ossman and Walcutt will also review the basic principles of radio performance and how to work in front of a microphone, as well as the elements of writing and production. Topics include ambience, sound effects, “foley” sound, music, microphone point-of-view, transitions and dialogue. They will also discuss using these techniques in voice-over, announcing, DJ-ing, animation and other areas for actors and the general public wanting to get “on the air.”
“The most exciting thing about radio, is that when that red light goes on, you’re on! The day you go on the air that’s it; it better be good,” Ossman said.
Ossman and Walcutt said they wanted to be able to give people some training and background so that when they are called upon to do something for KWPA, they’ll be ready.
And these local artists are the perfect team to do it. The pair share about 75 years of experience in radio writing, performance and production.
From Tuesday through Friday the workshop will be a radio performance intensive. The team has created a radio theatre game in which participants will be challenged to get beyond what’s written on the page while projecting personality into the microphone.
“Learning how to carry emotions that the audience can’t see requires a clearness and conciseness for radio,” Ossman said.
“We’d like to challenge people to perform with various things in mind, to deal with the unexpected and to teach them how to relate to each other through the script and the microphone. It’s more than just reading a script into a mic,” he added.
“We just want people to play, have fun, learn something and to listen,” Ossman added.
To register for “Radio Playing Live” call WCT at 221-8707. Tuition for the full week is $200 for adults; $50 for students. For just the two Monday evening radio primers the cost is $10 for adults and $8 for youth each night at the door.
