Brown Future of ARTC

Introduction

First of all, I cannot believe that I am here now, some 23 years later, seeing a vibrant organization filled with people who really enjoy doing radio drama. When I was starting I had so many people tell me it would never work, that nobody wanted to listen to radio drama. That we couldn’t get sponsors or air time. If there is one thing I really hate, it’s having someone tell me I can’t do something. That just made me all the more determined. I made a lot of mistakes, but managed to put together a team that embodied what I wanted to accomplish. The group as it exists today is a legacy to what we did that first year, and I saw the group going on and continuing and getting even better and it made me want to be involved again.

I cannot be involved as I once was. Due to my health problems I have limitations on what I can do in the way of acting and because of my financial situation I cannot attend as I would like. But there are a number of things I could do, if you all will let me.

Announcers.

The problem with most of the ARTC announcers is that they are just too timid. The announcer should set the pace. He or she should be the one that has the most energy in performance. Think of the great announcers of the 40’s and 50’s. It was a stylized, over pronounced, energetic way of doing things which was an attempt to overcome the limitations of the medium. But it gave us something in which to sink our teeth and has continued to this day. What I would like to do is have a class for those who want to do the announcer. It would cover pronunciation, articulation, and energy. Also included would be exercises to develop a sense of timing. I’ve had 30 years of watching the clock and timing myself (real radio works by the clock). People who have not had that experience DO NOT KNOW.

Radio Station.

The FCC is allowing non-profits, municipalities and churches to license a low power non commercial FM station. The maximum power allotted for this is 100 watts, with an antenna height of 30 meters. This will allow for a range of about 6 miles or so in a radius. It is a way to possibly get on the air, but we probably couldn’t get spectrum space in downtown. On the other hand we probably could get it for Tucker. New applications are not now being allowed, but will probably open back up in 2 or 3 years. Equipment would probably run $2,000 to $3,000 for everything (compared to TV, radio is cheap!). The audio could also be streamed simultaneous with transmission, needing only a wide band connection to the internet. It would allow us to do live on air work, transmit what we have done previously, and share the work of others who do what we do. Something to think about. Of course what we may want to pursue is a streaming station, needing only a board and a computer for archived shows, regardless of whether or not we wish to do a limited range station. I will keep my eyes out for FCC announcements on this.

Props for live shows.

That part of me that’s an actor and techie wants to try to build set pieces for radio drama as we do it. I am thinking of a lecturn made of a flat screen monitor, and working like a teleprompter, which would free the actor from holding scripts. If we could build 3 or 4 of these and run them from a laptop I think it would be neat. Flat screen monitors are getting cheaper. I’m sure with the technical expertise we have we could accomplish this. Also, Geoffrey had talked about lighting. I think we can put together a touring package that would allow us to do basic lighting and a framework of something like rotolocks to hold it up. We could dress it up with what Oz has built for us in the past. I’m not that much for building these days due to my stroke, but I would love to work on this.

Enough ramblings for now. I’ll try to ramble on some more for the next time. William.