DOC: To say that one of our radio series is my favorite is like a parent having a favorite child. But I must confess, I have a special place in my heart for “Scare On The Air.”
DAVE: WENTY! Are you saying Scare is your favorite child?!
DOC: I’m trying NOT to say it! But yes. Yes it is.
There are lots of things to love about it. It’s a salute to the golden age of radio theater, which has been a passion of mine since a young age. It’s a different show every time–with different characters, different settings, different stories. It’s a challenge to my editing and production skills, trying to simulate the sound of vintage radio series like “Suspense”, “X Minus One”, “Lights Out” and others.
Our first “SOTA” (that’s our hip abbreviation) was “The Canine Creeper”, which I believe featured Jeremy Fifield’s first GGR Networks acting role. (If I’m wrong Dave will interrupt me and set me straight.)
DAVE: Aaaaaaactually… Jeremy’s first appearance on a GGR Networks show was co-hosting “Ten Songs Will Survive” with you, Dr. J. You are correct though that this is Jeremy’s first appearance in a Doc and Dave show.
DOC: Snared on a technicality! Yes, “Ten Songs” does count as the first. We’ll talk more about that series and other GGR Networks co-productions down the road.
The first “Scare On The Air” was also the debut of Mel Freesburg, a character voiced by Kalin Krohe who looms large in our recent history. At first, Mel was simply an old-time radio announcer whose specialty was dog noises. Somewhere along the way, he sort of became this demented half-man, half-dog.
DAVE: I think part of the evolution of the character came with Kalin adjusting the way he voiced the character. Those first few appearances of Mel really did a number on Kalin’s vocal cords, so he made some adjustments to make long term Mel work a bit easier.
DOC: What a perceptive observation! Actually, a lot of our characters have evolved from their first appearance. The “Golden Girls Radio” voices sound really wonky in the first few episodes compared to what we settled on. Much like how the first season Homer Simpson sounds like Walter Matthau.
Writing “Scare On The Air” is sometimes tricky business. Our goal, as with all our series, is to make people laugh. But oftentimes I find myself writing “Scare On The Air” scripts with virtually no jokes…and I end up having to do a “second pass” to add the funny stuff. Sometimes, we simply let our flair for the dramatic take the spotlight; I wrote a Christmas episode that has humorous elements but also a heartwarming story. Dave did probably our most serious “SOTA” with his radio play adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask Of Amontillado.”
DAVE: My Poe adaptation was my first attempt at writing an episode of the series on my own. And I still had help from Edgar Allan Poe! I largely kept the story intact as Poe originally wrote it while making a few adjustments to make it a radio dramatization.
One of the things I really like about SotA is that we meld together the real history of film, television, and radio with our own unique spins and adjustments. I do a lot of research for SotA.
I’ve kind of adjusted my expectations of the series in recent times (within the last few months). (This might come as news to Jason as he reads this.) I think that SotA and St. Olaf Files provide great opportunities for more dramatic pieces (with some comedic elements or moments) while D&P and GGR are most assuredly full blown comedies.
DOC: I had never considered that but Dangeresque is absolutely right. And in our next chapter we’ll discuss the series that has given us an even wider berth in story ideas: from the wild west to Bethlehem ; from Anaheim, Azusa and Cucumonga to Trinidad and Tobago!