One PHIL BYRNES episode in the can, five to go! Awesome cast of regulars (Diane Capen, James Turner, J.T. Turner, Hugh Metzler, Natasha Lathrop, Mike Dent), lots of guest stars (Cynthia Pape, Donna Corbett, Amy Strack, Tom large, Brandon Cole, the list goes on)- an incredible producer (Chris Snyder) Jeff's music is dead-on, and last but not least - the fantastic scripts of Sable Jak! Sable swears she's only writing six of these. I said the same thing, Sable, about another series ...

POWDER RIVER. I only wanted to do a 15 episode serial, and here we are 50 shows later, and starting Season 4 on October 16th. And speaking of October 16th, the third episode of POWDER RIVER we record that night, will be CRT's 200th Commercial Production!! We HAVE to go out for a pint or two after this session!

rantings

So some movie called JACKASS is the #1 box office movie this weekend? That really speaks a lot for our culture and the entertainment industry. I am so sick and tired of these stupid moronic reality shows and filthy flicks with (ahem) "movie stars" whos only talent is the way they look and pose .... gawd. What ever happened to the Richard Burtons and Peter O'Toole's.

Entertainment is all about the numba's, baby. Some suits at the studios dont like the numba's - AXE! They dont give a damn about the quality of the show. A program like Bonanza would NEVER make it in today's society. Today you have to eat worms and spiders to stay on the air, or do some stupid sit-com where every episode revolves around sex and cheating (can you direct me to one that doesn't?)

I sound bitter. I'm really not - I just miss good old fashioned entertainment.

The new thing is hanging up the phone at the end of a conversation without saying goodbye. Classy.

Editing one of our older shows today for broadcast on XM. Some of these old shows can really drudge up old memories that I would rather forget; speaking of which, RED BADGE OF COURAGE airs in November.

That's todays entry. Tomorrow is a day at the hospital with my dad, and surgery the following morning, and we also start taping the PHIL BYRNES episodes tomorrow night.

Next summer I am going away for a month - no matter WHAT.

cheers

Dave in TN hates our production of GETTYSBURG! I just read his review on i-tunes. He gave it ONE STAR! His sterling review is as follows

This is TERRIBLE! I can't believe I bought it! It was on during our road trip for all of 5 minutes before I shut of off. I thought I would give it another try but this is just WAY TOO SILLY

David, David, David. I normally dont respond to reviews (espcially armchair reviews, or carseat reviews whatever fits you best), but this one was something! I can't believe you bought this either!! I was shocked!!

I mean - didn't you listen to the 10 minute preview before you plopped down $11.95?? Surely you would have realized 5 minutes into the 10 minute preview that this show was TERRIBLE! My, my! WHAT were you THINKING???

You see David from TN - some programs take a little time to unwind. A show that runs three and half hours needs more than five minutes in a car with lousy speakers (they must be lousy if the show sounded good enough to download for $11.95 after you listened to the 10 minute preview)- to gain speed. But, I suppose you live in a fast world and want everything zapped into high gear without any structure.

If you didn't listen to the 10 minute preview before you plopped down $11.95 for this TERRIBLE I SHUT IT OFF IN FIVE MINUTES production, you have no one to blame but yourself. But - I think you did listen to it. Maybe it was the traffic. Maybe it was the company. maybe it was the ride. Maybe it was the lousy speakers; maybe its a very short attention span; but I am VERY SORRY for producing such an unworthy production! Please forgive me David from TN! I'll try better next time - and I'll see if I can get i-tunes to shorten the samples to five minutes so you can decided within the space of your attention span if the show sucks or not. Thanks for the review!! I appreciate it! (ps - the guys in blue won)

Starting to write Season 4 of POWDER RIVER - which begins taping new episodes October 16th! Yep, we're going to do 20 more of them, which will bring our episode count to 70! These episodes will go on the air starting in February I think.
I wonder if anyone in Clearmont Wyoming listens in? I'm looking forward to it, and so far, most of the cast is coming back for more!

Our new production of TREASURE ISLAND is just about finished - thanks to our new editor Chris Snyder! I think this is a much better production than our first version from 2001. Joe Z, Tom Berry are back in their original roles as Long John and Captain Smollet, and everyone else is new! It will also be our first feature production presented in COLONIAL 3-D!! How cool is that?? If you havent heard the original version we did - it's on Spoken Network for a few more days - but next week it will be pulled from release and replaced with the "new and improved" version!!

That's all, folks!
- at least for now!

Productive day! Got some more editing finished for our XM show. We delivered 7 weeks worth for season 2 so far, so I have lots more to get ready. Cutting some of our feature programs into half hour episodes. Today I was working on KIDNAPPED. So .. the process goes something like this

1) put a copy of the entire program on the screen - so you see the show on the grid.

2)Cut out all the opening / closing credits, end of act / start of act tags.

3)Figure out how much you need to cut to fit the show into five 24 to 25 minute episodes. (In the case of KIDNAPPED, I needed to eliminate 12 minutes). I start with editing out long pauses, and after that I trim parts of sentences, scenes; so its not a hack job and makes sense!

4) Split it into 5 segments, add the opening and closing CRT theme to each episode, for the broadcast.

5) Split each segment into 2 acts

6) Add bumper music from the original KIDNAPPED score at the end / start of acts.

7) Write the host narration for each episode (Including the credits for what actor is in which episode)

8) Record the host narration

9) Edit the narration, then

10) insert it into each episode, and over the closing theme.

11) Send it off to XM!

Kidnapped took pretty much most of the day today, and most of yesterday. Next up is THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE. We recorded this one five years ago, so it will be difficult to trim because I havent heard it in years and I wont remember where certain scenes are.
Anyway, thought you might like a peek at the process.

A friend said he saw CAPTAIN BLOOD on the shelf at three different Barnes and Nobles! I hope it is selling!!

Still not 100% after my illness, so I think I'm actually going to crash early tonight (which means I'll wake up at 4am. I cant seem to sleep more than 4 hours. Odd)

Keep listening!

Well, I am somewhat back in action again after a week off due to ILLNESS! Hey, at least thats one way to stop working! I rarely get sick, but when I do, it's like the Lusitania going down. Started with some gall bladder issues just before we recorded SOMETHING WICKED, which I didnt want to believe at first, but then I came around to reason. My lower back was a in lot of pain, and then, lets top it all off with the flu! That was my week! I haven't done anything with CRT (except write a bible for a possible tv project) all week. BUT - now that I am living on salads (oh gawd help me) and the only thing left of the flu is a cough, I am back to work editing down "Kidnapped" for an XM Broadcast this season.

Thank's to the The Audio Addict people can now post comments on my blog (I always thought they were turned on but I guess they weren't. I dont know how to do this stuff)! So thanks, AA! Once again you have solved a problem for me! (Now she has to show me how to use these links things because I just wasted a half hour trying to link her site using these stupid link "letters and slashes and dashes" things! AAARRGHHH!

Other news - Next Monday we record a re-make of our 2001 production TREASURE ISLAND. So that should be fun! I love that story - it is one of my all-time favorites, and I know we can do a more polished, trim and snappy version for the CD release! Same script as before, just a new cast and steppin' on the gas peddle.

Recording A PHIL BYNRES MYSTERY starts 2 weeks later - and then I need to start thinking about writing my next 20 POWDER RIVER scripts for Season 4 that I want to get on XM in February.
Speaking of which, POWDER RIVER started its new season (and our second season) on XM yesterday! I am really starting to like this series, and the mail we get from listeners is amazing! Out of all the shows we have made, the ones that people write to us about are DIBBLE and POWDER RIVER! It's great to think that someone likes it enough to spend time writing a letter or an email. That is a wonderful compliment.

OK, time to get back to it.
Aloha!

Two very long days - and we have SOMETHING WICKED in the can! Well, the vocals anyway. We'll be in post for about 3 months. Today - working on the new Bradbury script! Ray gave me permission to adapt this book into a radio play, so I am hoping to have it finished later this week so I can send it off to him for his comments.

Why do I still call them "Radio Plays." Some people call them Audio Drama, Audio Theatre (which to me sounds like a home entertainment set-up, which is what you get when you google the phrase) some call it Audio Cinema. They're all good. I just prefer to stay with Radio Play. It has equity in the name - and everyone knows instantly what you mean. When I have used the term "Audio Theater," or "Audio Drama," the response is usually "Huh? What's that?" then I tell them, and then I hear back "Oh, like an old time radio play!"

Radio Play. As soon as you say the word, everyone instantly knows you mean. To some, they may think of a mono, scratchy recording. However, when one says "Movies," one doesnt think of square screen black and white flickers from the Golden Age. They think modern film. If someone hears one of our shows, they won't think it was recorded 60 years ago (at least I hope not). Maybe if everyone called them radio plays people would be thinking of them in terms of modern programs, as we do now with movies.
Then you get into the debate of podcasting and such; "an i-pod is not a radio, so why do you still use the term radio play" I have been asked. I reply with "a television set is not a motion picture theatre, and a DVD or VHS is not a 35mm reel of film, yet we still call them movies." Personally, I dont care what they are called. I'll stick with Radio Play or Radio Theatre though. It has a very rich history, and I love history; it's something to build on.

Had a good, productive day. Met with Jeff at Victor and Mae's CHINA CUISINE (My favorite restaurant - Main Street, North Reading folks) - and we talked about upcoming projects. He is in the middle of composing tracks for our new series A PHIL BYRNES MYSTERY, and then he moves onto SOMETHING WICKED. You know, Ray wrote an incredible script. Where the Disney film took some liberties, the script he sent us is "by the book." I can only imagine what Jeff will do with the Carousel scenes (and Ray reminded us "it must be the funeral march') - and Jeff has the Calliope down pat from our TOBY TYLER a couple of years back. I can't wait to get into the middle of this one!

Now, it's time to crash and put the Beatles on!
JR

POWDER RIVER may start a run on a station in Illinois, which is very cool! They carry us when they re-broadast Dean Spratt's "Thursday Night Potpourri," on the W0KIE Satellite Network, but in the re-bradcast we dont air until 2AM, so this way we would be Sunday afternoons. We'll see if it pans out! Dean is now running Season Three of PR, and you can hear it on the internet feed - at 11pm EST. Tonight is episode 2, so check it out! Dean does a great job and we have been with him since last October. You can find the link on the Colonial website www.colonialradio.com and it is listed on the homepage under "Colonial on the Air"

Chris Snyder is editing our production A VISIT WITH AESOP (our 193rd production) which is pretty cool! J.T. Turner performs this (and created it) as one of his several several traveling school shows, and I asked him if we could record it as a radio play - and he said yes! We actually taped it last February, but then everything went crazy two weeks later when we started recording CAPTAIN BLOOD, and then we went right into DANDELION WINE and then the final 10 episodes of POWDER RIVER, so poor Aesop was sitting on the the shelf waiting ... waiting .... waiting. BUT, the wait is over and the show is now in post!

Today - lets see - assigning the voice casting for the upcoming TREASURE ISLAND ON THE FAST TRACK, well, I added the "on the fast track" part myself .... then meeting Jeff Gage to give him some CAPTAIN BLOOD copies before he jets off to Chicago to see WICKED for the 50th time, then more writing.

~JR

Getting ready for recording SOMETHING WICKED, which begins next week. We are also going to be re-recording our TREASURE ISLAND a couple of weekes after, followed by A PHIL BYRNES MYSERY in late September. We have a BRAND NEW series in the works too! I'll announce that one very soon - it is being penned by a wonderful writer from the UK, M.J. Elliot!
Me? Working on dramatizing a book from Ray Bradbury that we are planning to record in the fall, and starting to kick around some ideas for POWDER RIVER - SEASON 4. So that is my Wednesday.

CAPTAIN BLOOD

I was at my local Barnes and Noble store tonight, and low and behold, there was our CAPTAIN BLOOD on the shelf in the audio section! I had not yet seen the finished product, and it was VERY cool to see it there on shelf! So naturally i bought it! Our cast copies are on the way, but hey, it was in my hand and ..........
It looks great, very slick packaging and the CD's look great!
Off to record some Dibble into's for the XM show. Yes, it's 1:00 am, but I like recording in the middle of the night.
Later!
JR