KXRW Vancouver Presents
Re-Imagined Radio
Exploring Radio Drama Past, Present, and Future.
Every 3rd Monday @ 1pm
Re-Imagined Radio
About Our Show
Re-Imagined Radio is a community partnership to produce and perform stories across a spectrum of radio genres, from dramas to comedies, from oral to aural histories, from documentaries to fictions, from soundscapes to sonic journeys, from radio to sound art.
Created in 2013 by John Barber, Re-Imagined Radio strives for human interest stories where creative use of sound(s) creates images in the minds of listeners. These images are more compelling, engaging, immersive, interactive than those presented by our highly processed and commercially focused visual culture. The result: old medium, new engagement. Re-Imagined Radio.
In The Media
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The Crew
Host
John Barber | Producer/Host
John Barber is a member of the Creative Media & Digital Culture Program at Washington State University Vancouver. Re-Imagined Radio is a community-facing creative research project to explore radio storytelling as literary-media art and performance.
Host
Marc Rose | Sound Artist/ Music Composer/Post Production
Marc J. Rose is a 3 time Emmy® winning composer, sound designer and voice actor living in Portland Oregon. In addition to bringing to life the inter-dimensional exploits of Emille Song and company in Dry Smoke and Whispers Holodio Theatre for Sirius/XM Satellite Radio and public radio stations across the globe, Marc has composed themes for AT&T, Jack Hanna's Wildlife Adventures, Disney, Visa and Capitol Radio London.
Episode Library
Re-Imagined Radio presents WRW Retrospective Redux as a memoriam to Sam A. Mowry, who died July 20, 2024, in Portland, Oregon. Mowry, founder and director of Willamette Radio Workshop (WRW), was a leader of the theatrical, voice acting, and audio storytelling communities. We revisit our earlier WRW Retrospective and feature recordings of Mowry's appearances in several Re-Imagined Radio episodes ...
Re-Imagined Radio celebrates Dragnet, the real-life police procedural, and Jack Webb, as Detective Sgt. Joe Friday, who defined and was defined by this radio series. We sample from "One Out of Seven," "The Jack Webb Show," "Pat Novak, For Hire," "Johnny Madero, Pier 23," and "Jeff Regan, Investigator," all pre-Dragnet radio shows where Webb honed his character and acting style. We end with "The City ...
Re-Imagined Radio presents two radio stories connected by the same name. NIGHTFALL. "Nightfall," is the title of the final episode of Dimension X. The precursor of X Minus One. The famous science fiction series. Nightfall is also the name of a radio anthology series produced and broadcast in Canada. Episodes were primarily supernatural and/or horror. We feature an episode called "The Porch Light. Two stories ...
Re-Imagined Radio celebrates Johnny Dollar, America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator, the man with the action-packed expense account, by sampling from "The McCormick Matter" episode starring Bob Bailey, considered the best of the eight Johnny Dollar actors during the series' fourteen-year run on CBS ...
Re-Imagined Radio samples from two episodes of Escape, "Present Tense" and "Three Skeleton Key," both starring Price, to celebrate radio's greatest series of high adventure storytelling and an unforgettable voice actor. Frequently cited as the finest radio adventure series ever, Escape is significant for providing listeners a variety of literary experiences drawn from adventure classics and contemporary original scripts. Vincent Price (1911–1993) is legendary for ...
Re-Imagined Radio samples from Box 13 and The Damon Runyon Theater, both offered by Paramount movie star Alan Ladd's Mayfair Productions, as syndicated radio programs. Both are significant examples of compelling, immersive radio storytelling. Each episode of Box 13 stars Ladd as Dan Holiday, a newspaper reporter turned mystery/adventure novel writer who gets ideas for his writing by advertising in the newspaper. "Adventure wanted. Will ...
Re-Imagined Radio celebrates Women's History Month with a tribute to eight women and three radio series that made significant and pioneering contributions to radio storytelling. We sample radio storytelling by Lucille Fletcher, Edith Meiser, Ruth Woodman, Mary MacBride, Jean King, Cathy Lewis, Margaret Lynch, and Gracie Allen ...
Two gunslingers. Two classic stories. One new adventure. 19 February 2024 Season 12, Episode 02 Re-Imagined Radio celebrates Gunsmoke, a defining radio drama in the Western genre, with a compilation of two episodes, "Billy The Kid" and "Young Man with a Gun." Two different young men aspire to be gunslingers. Both meet US Marshall Matt Dillon (William Conrad) in Dodge City, Kansas, late 1870s. One ...
Re-Imagined Radio shares two episodes of The Mysterious Traveler, "The Man the Insects Hated" and "Behind the Locked Door." A double feature. Double the fun. Double the action and suspense. Doubly strange and terrifying. It's a unique way of approaching radio storytelling, the double dose. So now we double down. Risk double indemnity. With our first double feature ...
Re-Imagined Radio offers "A Radio Christmas Sampler Vol. III" to welcome the holidays and share some cheer. We sample from "Christmas Dragnet," a comedy record by Stan Freberg, and three radio programs, "The Stockings Were Hung," from The Shadow, December 24, 1939; "Christmas Gift," from The Whistler, December 23, 1951; and "Christmas Story," from Gunsmoke, December 20, 1952. 18 December 2023 Season 10, Episode 12R ...
Stories in time and space . . . told in future tense Re-Imagined Radio celebrates Dimension X, a pioneering radio science fiction series, April 1950 through September 1951. First by reviewing radio science fiction programs leading up to Dimension X, and second by listening to "The Outer Limit," the first episode of Dimension X, and perhaps the most often broadcast radio science fiction story ...
For Halloween, Re-Imagined Radio presents "Asezhia," by Marc Rose and Jerrel McQuen. An ancient jewel, stolen from a planet of great beauty and dark history, transforms into a hellish denizen with an insatiable hunger for death and blood. Even Emile Song, the telepathic Special Detective from Quaymet, the capitol of a galactic civilization, may be out of his reckoning as he goes up against a ...
9/11 Radio StoriesStories behind the imagesRe-Imagined Radio remembers September 11, 2001, when four passenger airplanes were hijacked and turned into weapons. Behind televised images of New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania, airline officials, air traffic controllers, and federal agents talked, frantically trying to learn what was happening, and determine how to stop it. Their telephone and radio communications were recorded. We sample them to share stories ...
Re-Imagined Radio celebrates the anniversary of the famous "I Have a Dream" speech, by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and considers some stories behind its origins, context, delivery, and reception. Originally titled "Normalcy, Never Again" (Anonymous, "Dream Songs"), Dr. King's speech was forever altered when he went off script and, speaking from his heart, described in several paragraphs his dream for racial equality ...
Re-Imagined Radio celebrates and curates this classic science fiction radio story. A space alien arrives in Washington, DC, and delivers a warning . . . an ultimatum. Live peacefully or be destroyed by robots of unimaginable power. Beyond science fiction literature themes like space aliens, flying saucers, and robots, this radio story overlays Cold War fear of rockets and nuclear war. The result is powerful, ...
Re-Imagined Radio considers Edward R. Murrow’s efforts to help American listeners understand "The Blitz," fifty-seven consecutive days of German air force bombing of London during World War II. With his broadcasts, Murrow sought to bring listeners in America closer to the war in London than reports read by other news commentators from their studios. Without a sense of presence (being close to the story) there ...
Re-Imagined Radio explores early examples of dramatized news events and uses this inspiration to create its own dramatization of the opening of the Interstate Bridge linking Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, across the Columbia River, 106 years ago, February 14, 1917. Our dramatized radio broadcast originates from the lift span of the Interstate Bridge where a temporary platform was erected in the roadway. State and ...
Re-Imagined Radio presents a collection of eighteen short stories told with vocals, sound effects, field recordings, and music. Subjects include soundscapes, dreamscapes, deep questions, audio drama, radio drama, radio historical highlights, memories, emotional states, loss and redemption, scary stories, uplifting stories, collages, sound poems, and more. All created by local, emerging artists ...
Last year we sampled holiday episodes from several other radio programs, offering what we called "A Radio Christmas Sampler." Listeners told us they enjoyed this approach. So this year we offer "A Radio Christmas Sampler Vol. II." We sample from "Red Ryder Nails The Cleveland Kid," Jean Shepherd Show, WOR Radio, New York, 24 Dec. 1970, "Back for Christmas," Suspense, 23 Dec. 1943, starring Peter ...
Re-Imagined Radio has celebrated the anniversary of "The War of the Worlds" several times by re-telling the story. This year, on the occasion of its 84th anniversary, we explore earlier experiments with radio storytelling that may have influenced Orson Welles's radio adaptation of the 1898 novel by H. G. Welles. In addition to samples from these earlier radio stories, interviews with Welles provide additional insight ...
Re-Imagined Radio presents twenty short radio stories written and voiced by folks living in America's Pacific Northwest. Each story features an "epiphany," a sudden, unexpected revelation or insight. Especially with regard to four questions we often ask ourselves: "Who Am I?", "Where Am I Going?", "So What?", and "Why?" The responses are entertaining and insightful. Sometimes uncomfortable. "Twisted" from expectations. But each is an excellent, ...
Re-Imagined Radio pays tribute to three uniquely connected radio drama series, The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, and The Challenge of the Yukon. All were produced and broadcast by the same radio station from the 1930s-1950s, using a handful of voice actors and announcers that cycled between programs. The larger than life characters, the adventurous plots, even the classical music themes have all contributed to ...
Re-Imagined Radio pays tribute to William Conrad's iconic radio voice which was heard in thousands of supporting roles and literally defined two radio drama series, Escape and Gunsmoke. We sample from "The Abominable Snowman" episode of Escape (September 13, 1953) and the "Dirty Hands" episode of Gunsmoke (April 2, 1955). Both showcase Conrad's million dollar voice. Both are great radio stories as well ...
Re-Imagined Radio pays tribute to The Columbia Workshop, perhaps the most important American anthology radio program and its mission to explore and present new forms of radio storytelling. The Willamette Radio Workshop performs Archibald MacLeish's "The Fall of the City" which follows the collapse of a city under an unnamed dictator and the ambiguous relationship humans have with freedom. The Voices perform samples from Jack ...
Re-Imagined Radio pays tribute to Women's History Month, women in radio, and specifically Lucille Fletcher, a superb female radio storyteller, writer of "The Hitch-Hiker" and "Sorry, Wrong Number." Our re-imagined adaptation of both dramas presented by The Voices proves the appeal and power of radio storytelling to engage listeners' imaginations.LOTS more information, behind the scenes, and interesting connections at the Re-Imagined Radio website (http://www.reimaginedradio.net/episodes/lucille-fletcher/index.html) ...
Re-Imagined Radio pays tribute to Black History Month and Destination Freedom (1948-1950), a radio series that dramatized the democratic traditions and cultural contributions of Black Americans, and, in the process, provided foothold for the later civil and human rights movements. For this episode, "Destination Freedom Tribute," we sample from original episodes of Destination Freedom to consider W. C. Handy, "The Father of the Blues" and ...
Re-Imagined Radio celebrates the Christmas holidays with selections from Christmas episodes of radio programs like Suspense, Rocky Fortune, The Damon Runyon Theatre, The Jack Benny Program, Bing Crosby and The Kraft Music Hall, Vic and Sade, and the 2020 recorded performance of "A Radio Christmas Carol" by Metropolitan Performing Arts. Since 2013 Re-Imagined Radio has offered a holiday celebration. We continue this tradition with "A ...
Re-Imagined Radio pays tribute to the popular female detective series Candy Matson (1949-1951), a weekly radio drama series noted for its strong female protagonist. Candy Matson was an intelligent, no nonsense detective. She was driven, relentless, and disarming. Rather than a seedy office, she ran her business from a Telegraph Hill penthouse in San Francisco, California. She worked with Rembrandt Watson, an eccentric photographer, and ...
This year, 2021, is the 83rd anniversary of "The War of the Worlds." First broadcast October 30, 1938 by Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre on the Air, "The War of the Worlds" is considered the most famous radio broadcast ever. How better to celebrate than with a contempoary adaptation of this classic radio drama? We keep the familiar storyline, but place it in present ...
Re-Imagined Radio reprises a 2018 live recorded performance by Metropolitan Performing Arts actors and other community volunteers at Kiggins Theatre in downtown Vancouver, Washington. All new sound effects and ambiences designed to send delightful shivers up your spine.Dracula, the legendary novel by Bram Stoker, first published in 1897, is considered one of the greatest horror novels ever written. The novel examines the concepts of lust, ...
Re-Imagined Radio presents Nirvana & Gehenna, an interdimensional documentary written by Jerrel McQuen and produced by three-time Emmy winner Marc Rose, both of Portland, Oregon. In their story, The Multiverse is a helix. Five spirals above Earth is the universe that contains the dimension of Dry Smoke, and nine spirals up is the universe that contains Farwan.Each universe has a vibrational energy major unique to ...
Re-Imagined Radio presents The Willamette Radio Workshop, Portland, Oregon, performing two short radio dramas, "Hiro & Liling," by Kristina Jones, an original performance, and "The Martian Death March," by Ernest Kinoy, an episode from Dimension X and X Minus One. Both are directed by Sam A. Mowry.Inspired by Japanese folklore, possibly the story of Meoto Iaw (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meoto_Iwa), the wedded rocks, "Hiro & Liling," an ...
Re-Imagined Radio presents Exuberance Is Beauty recorded for radio performance by actors from Illuminus Audio Productions of Portland, Oregon. Created by Donna Barrow-Green, also from Portland.The setting is Portland, Oregon, following the end of World War II. A young widow, Eve Miller has not gotten over the loss of her husband Nick. An intense and exciting love affair with Jeff Lambert, a dashing, married, artist ...
The month of February is noted for Valentine's Day and its celebration of love. This February episode of Re-Imagined Radio offers three short dramatizations of the travails we endure, the stories we tell ourselves, the results we never expect when dealing with love. The first is "The Good Salesperson," a short story about two lonely people who connect through a newspaper personal column and surprise ...
The month of January is named for Janus, the Roman god of beginnings andendings. January is noted for New Year's Eve, an opportunity to reflect andcelebrate both the previous and upcoming years. The January episode of Re-Imagined Radio offers two stories about this unique opportunity."The First Year"The first is "The First Year," an episode of The Whistler, first broadcastDecember 31, 1947. In "The First Year" ...
When first begun in 2013Re-Imagined Radiore-imagined historical radio dramas and other programs as live literary-media art and performance for contemporary audiences. We envisioned voice actors and Foley artists, multimedia, an historic movie theatre, live streaming, social media, and radio broadcasts. Not a community tradition. We offeredA Radio Christmas Carolthat first year because it seemed appropriate. The next year public demand convinced us to reprise our ...
When first begun in 2013Re-Imagined Radiore-imagined historical radio dramas and other programs as live literary-media art and performance for contemporary audiences. We envisioned voice actors and Foley artists, multimedia, an historic movie theatre, live streaming, social media, and radio broadcasts. Not a community tradition. We offeredA Radio Christmas Carolthat first year because it seemed appropriate. The next year public demand convinced us to reprise our ...
On Nov. 24, 1971, a middle-aged man known only as “D.B. Cooper” hijacked a Boeing 727 class jet between Portland Ore. and the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The mysterious man held hostage the fate of the flight, its 36 passengers and six crew members. He parachuted over Southwest Washington from the rear of the airplane with $200,000 tied to his body. Although a few bundles of ...
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