CRT YEAR END REVIEW FOR 2009

It's been quite a year at CRT; perhaps the biggest change was leaving our publisher of 3 years, Blackstone Audio. :)!! I've only listed the recording dates; but suffice to say that every day our editors were hard at work, and scripts were being written at a furious rate!

In 2009 CRT produced:

12 Episodes of JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER. Written by Gareth Tilley, and produced by M.J. Cogburn, Seth Adam Sher, and Bryan Rothrock. Music by Jeffrey Gage.

24 Episodes of TICONDEROGA - Written by yours truly, and produced by Seth Adam Sher, music by Jeffrey Gage.

ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS (Feature production) Written by yours truly with additional dialog by Deniz Cordell. Produced by Seth Adam Sher, Music by Jeffrey Gage.

3 Episodes of FREAKY FAIRY TALES (shorts) Written by Anastas Varinos, Produced by MJ Cogburn, music by Jeffrey Gage.

Our only CD release this year was BARRYMORE, by William Luce. This production will be re-released in 2010 in a larger market.

And So, here is what happened in '09.

JANUARY
12th: Recorded TICONDEROGA, Eps.13,14,15
26th: Recorded TICONDEROGA, Eps. 16,17,18

FEBRUARY
9: Recorded TICONDEROGA, Eps. 19,20
16: Recorded ZORRO Auditions
23: Recorded TICONDEROGA, Eps. 21,22,23,24

MARCH
Released the following CRT Titles to Audible.Com;
The Rivals
Guns of Powder River
Powder River and the Mountain of Gold
A Visit with Aesop
30: Recorded JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER Episode 1.

APRIL
4: Recorded PERRY MASON AND THE CASE OF THE BARKING DOG
7: Recording Session for BOOK OF NONSENSE
11: Recorded ZORRO tests.
13: Recorded ZORRO tests.
20: Recorded JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER Eps. 3&4
25: Recording session 1 for ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS
27: BARRYMORE By William Luce premiers on Sirius/XM Radio
30: Recording Session 2 for ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS

MAY
1: BARRYMORE CD Release, our final release for Blackstone Audio.
MOONFLEET photo shoot for cover art, Ipswich, MA
2: Recording Session 3 for ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS
9: TREASURE ISLAND Photo shoot for CD release
14: Recording Session 2 for THE BOOK OF NONSENSE
15: Recording Session 3 for THE BOOK OF NONSENSE
16: Recording Session 4 for ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS
19: Recording JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER, Eps. 5&6
22: Meeting with HOUSE OF COOL about animation project.


JUNE
4: Recording TICONDEROGA re-takes
21: Music Demos begin for THE STAR ANGEL
22: Recording JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER Eps. 7&8
25: Meeting with House of Cool for THE STAR ANGEL

JULY
1: Guest on Sirius/XM show COVER TO COVER
2: Recording Session for STAR ANGEL demos.
3: Colonial wins our 4th Ogle Award for Best Fantasy Production of 2008, Ray Bradbury's THE HALLOWEEN TREE!
6: THE STAR ANGEL script sent to UK.
18: Recording PERRY MASON AND THE CASE OF THE LUCKY LEGS
19: In Hyannis, MA at CAPE COD MELODY TENT

AUGUST
7: Recording session, TICONDEROGA re-takes
10: ZORRO completes production
Recording Session for TICONDEROGA re-takes
18: Recording session 1 for LORENZO AND THE PIRATE
19: Radio Interview for Radio Drama Revival
21: Recording Session 1 for LEGEND OF SLEEP HOLLOW straight read.
24: Recording JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER Eps. 9.10

SEPTEMBER
No recording sessions this month. All work focused on writing, and the post production work for JARREM LEE and BUCK ALICE. Also in Sept. started work on PROJECT X. We're calling it Project X until we have the script approved and the recording dates set; at that time we'll announce the production.

11: Our 5th Season on Sirius/XM begins with episode 1 of ZORRO. A new CRT show will play once a week for the next 42 weeks.

OCTOBER
4: Ray Bradbury and CRT agree to a fourth production together! THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. I am writing the script, which then goes to Mr. Bradbury for approval / changes, etc. Release date will be Christmas, 2010, and Seth Adam Sher will produce.

13: Recording re-takes on TICONDEROGA.
18: Recording session FREAKY FAIRY TALES
24: Recording session for PERRY MASON AND THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE
26: Recording session for SOLUTIONS, INC. canceled due to flu :(

NOVEMBER
2: Recording session for JARREM LEE eps. 11,12, canceled due to flu.
5: Recording session for FATHER BROWN 15,16 canceled due to flu
17: FREAKY FAIRY TALES - HOODIE! Released for download.
30: Recording session - TICONDEROGA re-takes.
*Also in November we welcomed back Chris Snyder, after a long illness.

DECEMBER
1: Recording session - TICONDEROGA re-takes
12: Recording session for BUCK ALICE foley tracks.
15: Live interview on Sirius/XM Radio COVER TO COVER show.


The CRT Production Family -

Producers: Seth Adam Sher
M.J. Cogburn
Chris Snyder
Bryan Rothrock

Music: Jeffrey Gage
Kevin McLeod

Writers: Jerry Robbins
M.J. Elliott
Gareth Tilley
Mike Murphy
Anastas Varinos

CRT in SPOKANE WASHINGTON

KPBX 91.1 in Spokane will air THE COLONIAL RADIO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL on Fri. Dec. 25th at 12pm! Many thanks to KBPX for picking up the show! We'll have a brand new Christmas Special in 2010!

CRT IS ON THE AIR IN WASHINGTON DC CHRISTMAS DAY

THE COLONIAL RADIO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL airs on WAMU 88.5 at 1pm, DEC. 25th

A CHRISTMAS CAROL airs on WAMU 88.5 at 2pm, DEC. 25th

You can also hear the show on the stations audio stream

LISTEN LIVE

RADIO SPOTS AND SPECIALS

Today I'm a guest on Maggie Linton's show COVER TO COVER on Sirius ch. 117 and XM ch. 163 at 3pm EST. It's a call in show.

Next week, Sirius/XM will be running our production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2004) and THE COLONIAL RADIO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (2008). I'll post the times as soon as I know them.

These shows will also play in Washington DC on WAMU - NPR 88.5 Not sure when they air, but here is a link for the schedule. WAMU

We had planned a new Christmas Special for this year, but we had two major productions that tied up our music dept. and we just couldn't do it. Next year for CERTAIN!!

BOSTON CHILDRENS HOSPITAL

My friend Jordan Rich of WBZ Radio is raising money for the Boston
Childrens Hospital, just as he does every year. For a $20.00 donation
he will send you a wonderful book of poetry, humor, and recipes called FOR THE CHILDREN - now in it's 10th edition!Trust me - you will really enjoy it, and all the proceeds go to the Childrens Hospital. You can also bid on SHERMAN! The biggest stuffed dog I've ever seen! The retail value is $140.00.

Starting bid $200.00. All proceeds benefit Children's Hospital Boston.
Jordan has done a lot to help the Colonial Radio Theatre over the years
- come on CRT fans and players - let's help Jordan this Christmas
season! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

THE JORDAN RICH SHOW

Keeping Busy!

Well, lets see, since November I finished a new script, called PROJECT X. No, that's not the title, but we are keeping it under wraps till we have it recorded. It's gonna be a good one, though!

Right now I am working on the script to Ray Bradbury's THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. I am quite excited about this one - being able to work with Mr. Bradbury again is wonderful, and I love dramatizing his works. This is my second Bradbury script (The first being THE HALLOWEEN TREE) and I can promise you that CHRONICLES will sound unlike any other CRT show to date.

BUCK ALICE, our production with Walter Koenig (based on his book) is coming together nicely! I LOVE THIS SHOW! Walter is a gifted writer with a sharp wit. It is a black comedy, very funny, yet will make you think in the long run .... there is an underlying element of truth with the characters in this story.

Our new series, TICONDEROGA just started playing on Sirius/XM! 24 episodes total!

Finally, Colonial Radio Theatre has left Blackstone Audio; and they will no longer carry our titles (Except Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Halloween Tree, which are co-produced with Blackstone); so you can find some great close out deals out there on our CD's!

This will not be the end of the CRT CD releases - not by a long shot. We will be back with another publisher in the Spring, with more retail locations than ever before and download sites! Our previously released titles will be re-issued in the fall of 2010. More on this later.

Right now, I need to return to Mars for some more writing!

CRT star J.T. TURNER in A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Longtime CRT Player J.T. Turner (who played Scrooge in CRT's 2004 Radio Production) will be starring LIVE ON STAGE as Charles Dickens in this solo performance of A Christmas Carol. Dickens was well know for his public presentations of his famous Holiday work, and J.T. recreates the experience, portraying all the characters as he brings the work to life before your eyes.

Make this play part of your holiday tradition! Now in it's 13th year! Please support live theater!

A Christmas Carol, December 16-19 at 7:30pm, and December 20th at 2:30pm. Tickets $18 for adults, $15 for children 12 and under and seniors.Group discounts availabe for groups of 10 or more.

To Reserve Tickets, please call 508-942-9938

GLOUCESTER STAGE
267 EAST MAIN ST.
GLOUCESTER, MA, 01930

WHAT'S UP?

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday. Just finished writing a script for an upcoming production, and now I am starting to write the script for Ray Bradbury's THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. It's a very exciting project, and as a script writer, quite challenging; especially since we need to record it no later than February so we can get it into post production to meet the release deadline.

BUCK ALICE AND THE ACTOR ROBOT, our production with Walter Koenig, is going to be a blast. Jeff Gage has started the music score and we should see some scenes tracked by the end of the week. CHRIS SNYDER is back in full force at CRT, and he has joined MJ COGBURN with the editing of the production. We expect to have the production finished no later than February.

Have you checked our our newest release, HOODIE? It's a 10min short subject starring the kids who record with CRT. It's a lot of fun, and for a short time it's a free download over at our Lulu.Com store.

SETH ADAM SHER continues to work on TICONDEROGA, our epic 24 episode series set during the French and Indian War. He is on schedule and going great guns (no pun intended), and the project should wrap on time in early February. Episode 1 goes on the air Friday, Dec. 4th on Sirius/XM!

DIBBLE will be returning in an all new special, DIBBLE GOES TO FLORIDA! Not sure when it will be out, but we are hoping for late Spring. It has been recorded and awaits editing.

We had hoped to do a new Christmas Special for our Sirius/XM show this year, but we were very busy with other productions that were getting a little backed up. So, this year we will be repeating our 2008 CRT CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, with my guests J.T. Turner, Diane Capen, and the kids from JERRY AND THE PIRATES, Rob Cattell, Connor Doherty, and Ricky MacDonald. It's a fun 1 hour special, so hope you tune in! It will also be available on Lulu.Com I PROMISE next year we will have an all new special (In fact, I wrote it already! We really tried getting it done this year. See, in order to get it on the air in December and get the music done, we need to record in July!).

That's all for now! Time to get back to work.

IF YOU'RE IN FLORIDA ....

I spoke with William Luce tonight, and he told me that BURT REYNOLDS will be doing a staged reading of BARRYMORE in Florida the first week in December. Burt is one of the last true Hollywood icons. I hear the three day run has sold out, but there will be more shows in 2010. It's a great play, and I would LOVE to see Burt in it!! Wishing him all the best for a smash hit fundraiser!!

INTRODUCING OUR FIRST AUDIO BOOK

Colonial's new audio book division, Wyvern Audio, has just released its first
recording, David Michael Slater's THE BOOK OF NONSENSE.

It's on Lulu, and you can hear a preview.



The book is ancient, ravaged and full of utter nonsense. But the moment it
enters Daphna and Dexter's lives, bizarre things begin to happen. Why is their
father, who found the book, suddenly so distant? Is the old man who took it from
him some kind of hypnotist? Why is a giant, red-eyed boy menancing them? And
what does their thirteenth birthday have to do with all this? Daphna and Dexter
can't stand each other, but they'll have to work together to learn the truth
about the Book of Nonsense - before their lives come apart completely.

Review
WITH HIS FIRST FORAY into young-adult fiction, Beaverton middle-school teacher
David Michael Slater demonstrates genuine flair for the genre, and manages to
avoid enough familiar YA fantasy tropes in THE BOOK OF NONSENSE (CBAY
Publishing) to make it a respectable addition to any 12-year-old escapist s
library. Slater s story follows the exploits of twin siblings Dexter and Daphne,
who must decipher a thousand-year-old book of sorcery in order to save
themselves and apparently the rest of the world from malevolent forces. Original
touches lie not in Slater s plotline (heroes triumph, lessons are learned, and
everyone makes it home before suppertime), but in his flawed and realistic
protagonists: a pants-wetting, dyslexic boy and his shy, bookwormish
sister....If your kids have already ripped through the Harry Potter series, The
Golden Compass, and The Spiderwick Chronicles, then spending some time with the
reluctant adventurers in The Book of Nonsense is most definitely a good idea.
--Ben Hogan, Portland Monthly, September 2008

J.T. TURNER is the reader, and Chris Snyder did the editing. Running time is 4
hours.

COMING SOON FROM WYVERN AUDIO

ANGEL EYES - Read by Cynthia Pape
ONE-EYED JACK by Paula Miller - Read by Shana Dirik
LORENZO AND THE PIRATE - Read by Anastas Varinos
KICHI in JUNGLE JEOPARDY - Read by J.T. TURNER
MOUNTAIN SHERIFF by Earl Murray - Read by Sam Donato.
NOISES IN THE ATTIC by Miriam Hees. Read by Chris Snyder

THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES

I am VERY happy to be working once again with the great Ray Bradbury as we produce a dramatization of his iconic work, THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES.

(From Wikipedia:) "The Martian Chronicles is a 1950 science fiction short story collection by Ray Bradbury that chronicles the colonization of Mars by humans fleeing from a troubled and eventually atomically devastated Earth, and the conflict between aboriginal Martians and the new colonists."

This is our fourth production with Mr. Bradbury, and the second in which he is allowing me to write the audio script (the first being THE HALLOWEEN TREE). He will be the script supervisor, so everything in there will be with his approval.

We are planning on recording in January and or February, and a Christmas 2010 release is planned.

More details on the production as we progress.

October continues

We had a great session the other day with our talented cast of youngsters whom we have named THE COLONIAL RADIO KIDS. The three scripts were written by 16 year old Anastas Varinos, who first appeared with us at the age of 13 in Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. We wanted very short comedies to use as fillers for our Sirius/XM show, and Anastas delivered. VERY funny stuff. You'll hear the first one soon.
Also in the cast were Rob Cattell, Connor Doherty, Sidney Fisher, Rebecca Stevens, Jack Libreco, and Matthew Scott Robertson. We'll be recording three more soon!

Next week is Halloween Week, and our Sirius/XM shows will be of the spooky variety Mon-Sat; so watch the schedule on the sites. I know they are running THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, but I don't know when just yet. SLEEPY HOLLOW also plays on a few FM stations around the country as well, which is pretty cool.

Quick comments

This weekend we're recording the first three shorts starring THE COLONIAL RADIO KIDS! We have a number of kids who record with us, and there just are not enough roles for them. So, I thought it would be fun to do some short 8min comedies with an all kids cast! We're taping FREAKY FAIRY TALES this weekend.

TUESDAY we're taping the first few episodes of a new series called SOLUTIONS, INC., written by Mike Murphy. More on this later, as we will not be broadcasting them until next September.

Editing is going great on our productions of TICONDEROGA and Walter Koenig's BUCK ALICE AND THE ACTOR ROBOT. Both are due in early 2010, although TICONDEROGA begins a Sirius/XM run starting Dec. 4th.

The first week in November we wrap up our series JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER, which we started taping last April. The first 6 episodes begin airing next Friday, and the second set of 6 episodes will air right after the run of Ticonderoga, in the spring.

And also at the end of October, we will record our final two episodes in our FATHER BROWN MYSTERIES series, giving us a total of 16 episodes.

There are a few awesome things cooking here that I just can't spill the beans on - but they're REALLY cool and think our listeners are gonna like them.

Thats all for now ~cheers

PRODUCTION NOTES - HALLOWEEN

In 14 years we have produced about 20 programs that are perfect for the fall season - especially Halloween! Of that 20, some are episodes from a series (most notably Jarrem Lee, Dibble, and Jerry and the Pirates). And every October for the past 5 years we have been very lucky to see radio stations around the country broadcast our award winning production of Washington Irving's THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW - this year being no exception.

Our first "spooky" productions were in 1996 with our "Candlelight Tales" series (well, we only did four shows). The first was about a haunted light house in Boston Harbor (Minot's Light) and the second about the alleged ghost at Fort Warren (The Lady In Black). It's worthy to note that these two productions are the only two still in circulation that were recorded on 4 track tape! We went digital in 1997, and re-recorded all our previous titles - except for these two. It wasn't that they were not worthy, but the sales were not sterling and it would have taken too much time to re-record the extensive music scores they both had. Looking back on it - I wish I had re-made them.

THE STORM BREEDER came next, in 1997. Based on a New England legend, we recorded the show sometime in January or February as I recall. This was one of our first all-digital shows (the first being THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERS). With a very odd running time of 40 minutes, it will air for the very first time on our Sirius?XM show this month (cut to 27 minutes, and better this way I might add)

Next came THE DEVIL'S BARGAIN, a tale that is very close to that of "The Devil and Daniel Webster." Not a bad one, but suffers from some hammy acting that in hindsight I should have recognized at the time and re-cast. Still, kids like it and it's a fun show.

This was the end of our CANDLELIGHT TALES series. I lost interest, and I don't enjoy writing ghost stories because I am just not good at it.

Mark (my business partner) and I had always loved Washington Irving's THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, and had talked about doing it as a radio play as far back as our first production, BATTLE ROAD in 1995. Well, the book is not an easy one to adapt as a play (by that I mean, to stick right with the story with as much of the authors actual words, which is what CRT always tries to do). In 2003, I was getting antsy to do it, but the script still worried me.

I decided to take a stab at it to test the waters by working it into a Dibble Show. We were doing a 1 hour special, and I decided to have Dibble and the Gang do SLEEPY HOLLOW. This way, I could test out the script and the "visuals" to see if they would work, and they did! So, in October of 2004 I went to Tarrytown, NY (Sleepy Hollow) and did some research. The names and dates you hear the ghosts droning about in the opening are all actual names from the gravestones in the cemetery.

In Feb. of 2005 we recorded the show (in about 8 sessions), and it was released in October of 2005 with great results, and has remained a popular title ever since.

In 2006 we worked with the great Ray Bradbury on his DANDELION WINE, and when he heard the final result, he asked me if I would be interested in producing his SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.

Would I!??

He sent me script and one month later, August of 2006, we were before the CRT mics recording his incredible story. We had so many boys audition for the two leads that I asked Ray what would the possibilities be of making a radio play from his book THE HALLOWEEN TREE. He gave me permission, I wrote the script (directly from his book - all the words in our show are Rays - including the lyrics to the songs) - and in December of 2006 we recorded the show.

Our publisher in their infinite wisdom did not release SWTWC until many months after it's completion, in November of 2007. Yes, that is a good time to release a Halloween show - the day after Halloween. Needless to say biz wasn't booming. However, it did well in 2008 and is doing well now for this Halloween as well.

THE HALLOWEEN TREE was released in October of 2008, and I think it's one of our very best. Chris Snyder outdid himself with this one.

In 2007 Gareth Tilley, a writer in England, asked if we would be interested in producing a series he had called JARREM LEE. Set in England, in 1900, it concerns a Sherlock Holmes type character who deals with the paranormal. I wasn't ready to do a series at that time, as family matters were dominating my life, however in 2008 we rolled on the show and have completed 12 episodes. They begin airing Oct. 23, and will be released as downloads once they air.

We did another Dibble episode (Dibbles Halloween, in 2005), and a Halloween episode in our series JERRY AND THE PIRATES (2008). So all in all, I think we covered the holiday! Will we do another? Most likely. Just need a good story and a good script.

Twitter

Thought I would give it a try. I am @JerryCRT if anyone is twitting around out there. I'm still not sure how it all works, or if anyone can see what I am twitting about, but I'm out there somewhere I hope.

MEET THE NEW CRT LOGO!

After a 15 year run, we are retiring our original logo of the old radio surrounded by our name. That design was by Marks dad, Herman Vanderberg and served us well for many years. For the next 15 years or so, we have had a new logo created by Roger Knox Design in Austin, Texas. Here it is!

New programs

I haven't really been neglecting my blog these last few weeks; but I haven't been feeling all that well, so the time spent on the computer has been for reviewing new scenes and sending out notes; some writing, and general back and forth biz emails.

We have just two more JARREM LEE's to record before finishing the series; those will be in early November. I'm trying to secure a recording date for three shorts we are producing, called FREAKY FAIRY TALES, and they are written by our own Anastas Varinos, who, at 16 years of age, pens a very funny script! All the actors will be played by the CRT Radio kids, so these should be a lot of fun. They will be used as fillers on our on-air radio show, and will also be available as downloads.

We will soon have some very exciting release information on our production of ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS, which, up until now has only been available at our Lulu.Com store, but just wait!! We have some great PERRY MASON and ZORRO news coming very soon!

And it's October - my favorite month of the year. I think the story that best depicts the autumn season in New England is Washington Irving's THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. More of a homage to the season than a horror tale, we produced the story in 2005, won the Gold Ogle Award for it, and happily is broadcast somewhere every Halloween season. This will be it's 5th Halloween, and will be aired on several stations, as well as Sirius/XM. I'll let you know the schedule here as soon as I know it myself.

We have a few other titles suited for the Halloween season, and maybe you'll check some of them out (And remember, many of our titles are in your local libraries as digital download books from your libraries website - check with your library!); also at this time of year, you may want to try two programs we did with the great Ray Bradbury - SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES and THE HALLOWEEN TREE - both award winners, and SWTWC has a script written by Mr. B. himself!

JARREM LEE makes his bow in just a couple of weeks when the series premiers on Sirius/XM. We'll also be releasing episodes on Lulu once it airs.

That's all for now. More later I am sure. Hope you keep listening!
cheers

RAY BRADBURY on COLONIAL RADIO THEATER

Looking for some cool Halloween Listening? Check out these spooky Award Winning Colonial Radio titles on Amazon!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow


Ray Bradbury's THE HALLOWEEN TREE

Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

Updates

What a crazy month it has been. There are lots of things going on at CRT that we STILL cannot mention - but soon! Very soon. Our Sirius/XM show is doing great! We started our 5th Season September 11th, and we are running new episodes every Friday from now till next June! The Mon-Thur. slot will be filled with encores and there are more specials coming as well.
Starting October 23rd, our new series JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER will have it's world premier. A mixture of Sherlock Holmes and monsters, it's a fun series created by Gareth Tilley in England. We are producing 12 episodes. The first six play Fridays thru Nov. 27th, and will be released as downloads after they air.

Also "new" in October, will be our 1997 production THE STORM BREEDER. This was produced as part of our "Candlelight Tales" from our early days. I don't think this has been broadcast before; but here is a newly edited version that I think listeners will like. This will air Oct. 27th.

Airing Oct. 28th will be DIBBLE'S SLEEPY HOLLOW. This was cut from our 2003 special "Dibble's Halloween Spooktacular." We have made a half hour show from Dibble's skit "Legend of Sleepy Hollow," which was the focal point of the special.

Some updates

Busy as usual around here. Our 24 episode series TICONDEROGA is back in full swing. We have wrapped up the first six episodes of another new series, JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER, which will start a Sirius/XM run on Friday Oct. 24th and run for six consecutive weeks. The final 6 episodes will air late spring after TICONDEROGA completes it's first run.

Speaking of TICONDEROGA, we are hoping to have the CD Release premier at the actual Fort as a fundraiser. Most of the lead cast will attend. More on this as things develope.

BUCK ALICE AND THE ACTOR ROBOT, our production based on the novel by, and starring Walter Koenig of Star Trek fame is also in full swing and sounding great! This is going to be a fun show and I think Walters fans will love it. In the hands of MJ Cogburn, we plan on having it ready to go in early 2010, to coincide with the re-release of the novel.

THE PERRY MASON RADIO DRAMAS are proving popular and we are looking forward to continuing the series through 2010. M.J. Elliott is doing a wonderful job dramatizing the original books into feature length radio plays!

We are also going to be having a new look, as we are designing a new logo for CRT. Our original logo has served us well all these years, but as we begin our 15th year in 2010, we thought it was time for a new look and time to retire the old cathedral radio.

Finally, POWDER RIVER will begin a weekly run on a new internet radio station called Twilight Audio Theater. I think it starts this week (possibly today), but not certain. Two episodes will play back to back, and it all starts with Season 1 from 2004 and "The Preacher" and "A Tangled Rope." Here's the link in case you wish to tune in; I am sure the show times will be listed soon.

LIVE - 365

That's all for now! ~JR

ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS RELEASE ON LULU

We have released ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS for downloads on Lulu.Com. The show will eventually be available on CD's and also on Audible.Com, but this is where CRT likes to launch new titles as special "sneak previews" before they are released on a larger scale. Here is a link: ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS

(Photo courtesy of ZPI, Inc.)

NEW SHOW ANNOUNCED FOR 2010

I am VERY happy to tell you that we are planning our second collaboration with playwright William Luce! "Caruso!" will record in May and June of 2010, under the direction of Nancy Curran Willis. The show opened on stage with the title "Bravo, Caruso!" but I think Mr. L mentioned he may want to revise the title; but too soon for that now. He will be revising his original stage script for audio, and Jeffrey Gage will be scoring the show - which will involve some opera! No cast announcement yet, but I can tell you that I will NOT be playing Caruso - oh, if you only heard my Italian accent. A very exciting project. We are hoping for a December 2010 release.

NEW ZORRO WEBSITE!

We have created a new website for our upcoming production of ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS! You can visit it HERE.

The site contains cast and crew bios, as well as a trailer for the show.

Getting ready for Season 5 on the air!

We start our 5th Season on Sirius / XM Radio with new programs starting on Fri. Sept. 11th. New shows will be running on Fridays, with Mon-Thurs. airing encores of past programs. I just shipped the first six weeks, and we will have new programs running weekly thru June of 2010. Somewhere in the schedule we will run Season 5 of POWDER RIVER, which will run Mon-Thurs; so folks won't have to wait each week for new episodes. No date on that yet; some contractual projects put Britt and Company on the back burner, but we'll get them done, don't worry about that.
AND
Most important - a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY Shout out to my friend Fess Parker! I'm gonna watch a couple of Daniel Boone episodes tonight and raise a glass of the good stuff for a toast :)

Some new stuff!

Our new audio book division of CRT, called Wavern Audio, is just about finished with our very first release, THE BOOK OF NONSENSE, by David Michael Slater and read by J.T. Turner - in a nutshell:
The book is ancient, ravaged and full of utter nonsense. But the moment it enters Daphna and Dexter's lives, bizarre things begin to happen. Why is their father, who found the book, suddenly so distant? Is the old man who took it from him some kind of hypnotist? Why is a giant, red-eyed boy menancing them? And what does their thirteenth birthday have to do with all this? Daphna and Dexter can't stand each other, but they'll have to work together to learn the truth about the Book of Nonsense - before their lives come apart completely.

This is the first in a series of several books and we are very excited about producing them.

Also, we have begun recording our second book, LORENZO AND THE PIRATE, by authors by Rick and Lila Guzman. This is the latest in a series of books that follow Lorenzo Bannister through the American Revolutionary War. Read by Anastas Varinos, the book will be released on Sept. 22, and we hope to have the audio version ready at the same time.

Both of these titles will also lead off our brand new series on Sirius / XM Radio this September, airing on Saturdays with a time to be announced soon. This new series will consist only of our new audio book productions and is designed for kids in the 9-16 range (Our normal show will still be airing in our regular time slots). Of course, I'll be posting updates right here as soon as I get them.

ZORRO COMPLETED

Today we finished production on ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS, ironically on the 90th Anniversary of the publication of the first book Zorro appeared in, The Curse of Capistrano." Running time came in at 163 minutes.

NEW ON AUDIBLE!

New CRT titles just released onto Audible.Com

MOONFLEET

POWDER RIVER And The MOUNTAIN OF GOLD

A VISIT WITH AESOP

THE BLOCKADE RUNNERS

PERRY MASON AND SPOKEN NETWORK

You probably will not be seeing PERRY MASON AND THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG on the Spoken Network download site. We have been with them since their beginning, but lately I have had trouble uploading new shows with the system either freezing or just not responding - usually after you have already spent 20 minutes inputting information. I've tried to get HOWLING DOG up and running for a week, and I'm not spending anymore time with it; so at this point, Lulu.Com is the best bet to download our new releases before they appear on CD.

NEW PERRY MASON ON JULY 24TH

On July 24th we will release our third PERRY MASON Radio Drama, THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG. Arthur Cartwright, an anxious man, goes to Perry Mason to have his neighbor arrested for his vindictive and noisy dog. He is under the belief that his howling is an indication that somebody has been murdered in the neighborhood. He demands that his will be written bequeathing the estate to the lady living at the neighbor's house. However, the will is mysteriously altered by an unknown person and Cartwright goes missing, along with the lady. It is up to Mason to investigate. The production will be released on Lulu.Com, and the following week on Spoken Network, followed in just a few weeks on Audible.Com (along with the two previous releases, THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS and THE CASE OF THE SULKY GIRL.

Updates

Join the CRT page on FACEBOOK!

Seth is closing in on ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS! We are scheduled to finish and ship the production to Zorro Productions in CA the week of Aug. 10th, and so far we are on track! We may present this program on our Sirius/XM show to kick off the fall season, but nothing set in stone yet. Watch this space for more info!

TICONDEROGA is what some around here are calling POWDER RIVER with muskets! Seth was taken off post production on this series to complete ZORRO, but he will soon be returning to finish post. It's a good one, folks! We're debating continuing the series with Season 2.

NEW ON AUDIBLE.COM

We have two new shows just released on Audible (well, new to Audible anyway) GUNS OF POWDER RIVER from 2007, THE RIVALS (2005).

GUNS OF POWDER RIVER is a feature length production based on our western series. Two families arrive in Clearmont, determined to reach California before the snow falls. Britt, Doc, Sheriff Wilkins, and Rusty escort them through dangerous territory on the long journey.

in THE RIVALS, The idealistic Lydia Languish reads nothing but romance novels, and in doing so, believes she can only find true love in the arms of a man without wealth. Captain Jack Absolute has fallen in love with her, and pretends to be a penniless ensign to win her heart. Coming between these two lovers are some of the most extraordinary comic characters ever to grace a stage: Sir Anthony Absolute; the misspeaking Mrs. Malaprop; the fiery Irishman from Clod Hall, Sir Lucius O'Trigger; and poor Bob Acres, a country squire who finds himself with a dueling pistol in hand.

Many other CRT titles are also available on Audible, including TREASURE ISLAND, THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, BARRYMORE, FATHER BROWN, YANKEE CLIPPER, and the entire POWDER RIVER series.

Quick update

Just a quick update on things. I haven't been able to post as regularly as I would like as things are just so busy around here. Earlier this month I wrote the first draft screenplay of a movie we are pitching. Coming in at 144 pages, I then did a second draft, cutting it to 114 pages. In the meantime, Jeff Gage wrote two songs to go with it (it's an animated feature with about 6 songs), and we record the vocals for them this Thursday. The script ships off to London next week, so we've been working to get everything in good shape and ready to go.

Today I get to have the car inspected for a new sticker, and an oil change, and hopefully be back here for a live on the air interview on Sirius/XM. Next Monday night, our 1999 production GETTYSBURG will have its first broadcast!

Also, our third PERRY MASON production, THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG will be released in early July. Date TBA; I'll post it here as soon as I know.

THE COLONIAL RADIO SUMMER THEATER

It's summer, and that means Sirius/XM begins several weeks of brand new productions hitting the air for the first time. First up, starting today, is J.T. Turner in A VISIT WITH AESOP, and after that you will be hearing PERRY MASON, MOONFLEET, and GETTYSBURG. From June thru August, it's all new! Mon-Fri. 3am, 12pm, Saturdays 8am-10:30am, Sundays 8:30pm-11pm. EST.

Keeping Busy

Just finished writing a screenplay for a story we've been working on for a little over a year. Must admit it was fun writing for the screen instead of radio!

ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS is in full swing with post production. The folks at Zorro Productions like what they have heard so far, so that's awesome! We are almost halfway finished with post.

Jeremy Benson will be replacing David Alley as the co-star in our new series JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER. David has been called to Hollywood for a 21 week shoot on a new series! How cool is that!? I'm very happy for him. David recorded 6 episodes before he got the good news, and Jeremy steps into episode 7 on Monday night. I was asked if I was worried about changing a lead actor mid-series; we already did it in THE NEW DIBBLE SHOW when Deniz Cordell took over the role of Jake from Nick Aalerud. Just remember the two Darren's from BEWITCHED. I think we'll be okay.

We have new programs airing on our SIRIUS/SM show this summer! I think they start next week; New shows include J.T. Turners A VISIT WITH AESOP, which kicks off the new line up; and watch for the 12 episode MOONFLEET, as well as PERRY MASON AND THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS and PERRY MASON AND THE CASE OF THE SULKY GIRL. Also running July 4th weekend will be our 1999 production of GETTYSBURG. This is the first time this show has been broadcast, and it will run as a 3 hour special. So, keep checking the BOOK RADIO schedule on Sirius / XM for details. I'll post the times as soon as I get them.

Our third collaboration with the great Ray Bradbury has won us our 4th Ogle Award! THE HALLOWEEN TREE won the Silver Ogle for Best Fantasy production of 2008!

Memorial Day

Never forget.

PRODUCTIVE DAY

Today was quite productive, with about 9 hours recording time logged in. JT Turner finished recording THE BOOK OF NONSENSE, our first Audio Book, produced by Wavern Audio, a division of CRT. Written by David Michael Slater, its a fun little story with some really nice twists to it.
This fall on Sirius/XM we will have a new show on weekends,where we will present some new books for kids, read by various CRT players. No music, sound effects - just good old fashioned story telling.

Then we did pick-ups for ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS, followed by two new episodes of JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER. A really fun night of recording. Joe Caliendo Jr. returned to the CRT mics, having been away for 10 years. Ronni Marshak, who directed me in THE LION IN WINTER seven years ago turned in an awesome performance in JARREM, and newcomer Lucien Spelman was amazing with a variety of cool voices, in a number of different roles. Mark Thurner played a small role in ZORRO. We really need to get him in a larger role - he's quite good! Anastas Varinos guested in a JARREM LEE, his first time at the mic since THE HALLOWEEN TREE, and Donna Evans, visiting from England, took a turn as well in a JARREM. Donna was recording with me 20 years ago, then she moved to the UK.

I also want to welcome Jesse Zoller to the CRT Post Production Team! Jesse will be taking on our PERRY MASON series, after the departure of Chris Snyder from CRT.

JARREM LEE IS HUNTING GHOSTS

Tonight we record episodes 5 and 6 of our new series, JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER. These shows are really turning out to be a lot of fun; I just heard the completed first two episodes and I thought they sounded great! M.J. Cogburn is doing some fantastic post production work, and Gareth Tilley has created some very cool and engaging stories.

CRT Live

Talks are in the air about doing THE COLONIAL RADIO THEATRE - LIVE! show, perhaps some time in 2010. That would be fun! I'm not a big fan of performing "live" anymore, but it would be for a good cause. Film at 11!

CRT APPROACHES A MILESTONE

It's hard to believe, but CRT is very close to recording our 300th production! That's right - the BIG 300! The special honor will go to either PERRY MASON AND THE CASE OF THE LUCKY LEGS, or CHARLIE CHAN - HOUSE WITHOUT A KEY. Both are slated for production in the next few weeks, and one of them will be show #299, and the other show #300, and both are penned by M.J. Elliott.

MOONFLEET NOW ON LULU

We have just released the full 300 minute version of MOONFLEET to Lulu.com. This
is the same as the program you hear in the 10 episode download version, except
it runs continuous, with no act breaks or announcer tags.
Here is the link

MOONFLEET

The cast includes David Ault, Rob Cattell, Tom Berry, Cynthia Pape, J.T. Turner, Dan Powell, and Leigh Berry. The haunting music score is from Jeffrey Gage, and the program was produced by M.J. Cogburn from a script by Deniz Cordell.

BARRYMORE CD on AMAZON

The first batch sold out, and now Amazon has some new copies of BARRYMORE for sale! Hope you check it out HERE

MOONFLEET

GDL Multi Media will be releasing our 5 hour production of J.Meade Falkner's MOONFLEET. This week, look for the remaining episodes to be released on Lulu.Com and Spoken Network.

BARRYMORE on SIRIUS / XM TONITE

BARRYMORE will be airing at 10pm EST tonight, not 9:30 as advertised. It seems that if they start at 9:30, they would have to do a mandatory "on the hour" break during the last 5 minutes of the show. So - 10pm, EST on XM / Sirius

BARRYMORE AT AMAZON

It looks like Amazon has copies for sale ahead of the May 1st release date! Here is the link BARRYMORE

NEW FATHER BROWN

Today we are releasing a new episode from our series THE FATHER BROWN MYSTERIES. This one is produced by CRT newcomer (in the producing department anyway) Perry Whittle. Perry has done voices for us in several productions, including the soon to be released MOONFLEET. This new Father Brown mystery takes him to the theater for THE ACTOR AND THE ALIBI. J.T. Turner stars as Father Brown. Look for it in our Lulu.Com store, or by clicking HERE

BARRYMORE BROADCAST AND CD RELEASE

We're all very excited about the release of BARRYMORE, By William Luce. Mr. Luce adapted his Broadway hit for us as a radio drama, which was a huge honor! Produced by Chris Snyder, Music by Jeffrey Gage, Directed by Joseph Zamparelli Jr., Barrymore will air on Sirius (ch. 117) /XM Radio (ch. 163)at the following times:

MON. APRIL 27 - 8pm
THUR. APRIL 30, 9:30PM
SUN. MAY 3, 9:00pm

All times Eastern.
Following the broadcast, Book Radio's Maggie Linton will interview playwright William Luce (giving a VERY rare interview!)and yours truly about the show.

The CD release is May 1st, and can be ordered at Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, Borders, or your favorite book stop.

MEET THE NEW ZORRO

We are very happy to announce that we are ready to roll on ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS.

KEVIN CIRONE will be playing Don Diego / Zorro - the masked avenger - the first time Zorro has been dramatized for audio since the 1940's. Kevin is a newcomer to CRT, having recently appeared in PERRY MASON AND THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG, which is due to be released in May. However, he is no stranger to acting, having appeared in numerous stage productions and several pictures.

Also cast in the production are CRT vets Shonna McEachern as Lolita Pulido, Hugh Metzler as Captain Bardoso, J.T. Turner as Captain Ramon, Sam Donato as Sgt. Garcia, Joseph Zamparelli Jr. as Friar Felipe, Diane Capen as Inez, the Pirate Woman, Dan Powell as Sanchez and Don Audre.

Seth Adam Sher has been assigned to this project as Producer, and Jeffrey Gage is writing the music. ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS is being produced by The Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air, in association with Zorro Productions, Inc.

POWDER RIVER on IMAGINATION THEATER

For the next two weeks you can hear two episodes of POWDER RIVER on Jim French's IMAGINATION THEATER site. You can listen HERE.
We are only on for three more months, ending a two year run with Powder River on their show.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN!?

Hi everyone who follows my blog! March 10th was the last time I was here, and even then it was just a couple of lines. Well, things have been very hectic around here. In a nutshell, we lost one of our editors just as our second PERRY MASON was nearing completion, and this, let me tell you, caused me some MAJOR problems. So, I acquired some juggling skills and had the show re-edited, from scratch, with a new producer (the incredible Seth Adam Sher).

In the meantime, we are are almost finished with MOONFLEET, which has also been delayed due to a producer who decided he had enough JERRY AND THE PIRATES and moved on (yes, it is hard work doing this stuff), causing us to move MJ over to PIRATES until all the episodes were edited (she had tons of help from Seth), and then she finally was able to return to Dorset and the adventures of Moonfleet Village. However, we had a 2 month delay because of this. Couple that with our other awol editor, and you get an idea on how crazy things have been. But through it all we managed to release new episodes of MOONFLEET and TICONDEROGA and now things are getting back on track.

PERRY MASON AND THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS was released in March! it is available for download at our store on Lulu.com and also on Spokennetwork.com I am very happy with the way these are turning out! On April 4th we recorded our fourth PERRY MASON mystery, called THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG. We have lots of new voices in this one, and I know you're gonna like it! Remember, these are based on the original books and were written in 1933-34. Perry is NOT Raymond Burr in these stories! He is written much tougher, and hits the streets to get his evidence and witnesses - often with dangerous results! The CD release will be later in the year.

JARREM LEE - GHOST HUNTER is a new series that is written by Gareth Tilley in England. Set in England in the year 1901, it's an exciting adventure series with some very clever stories! We have recorded 2 episodes, and 2 more are planned for mid-April. Not sure when we will have them ready for downloads. Hopefully early summer.

CHARLIE CHAN AND THE HOUSE WITHOUT A KEY goes before our microphones on May 2nd! Yes, we are taking on the famous detective as he appeared in the books from the 1920s. MJ Elliott (Father Brown, Perry Mason) is penning the scripts for us.

Hopefully later this week I will be submitting some more auditions for our ZORRO production. I really want to get this one recorded and into release!! Trust me, the wait will be worth it.

POWDER RIVER SEASON 5 is shaping up. All the episodes have been mapped out, and the scripts are in the works. I am VERY lucky to have Mike Langworthy working with me on the scripts, as a consultant, and even as a co-writer as he takes on a script! Mike is someone I am learning a lot from with writing. He has written numerous TV shows, and was also the Exec producer for the show "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teen Aged Daughter." He moved from Hollywood to the East coast, and it is really cool to have him on board with us! You're gonna see some great things - like -

JERRY AND THE PIRATES - SEASON 2! Mike will be working with me on season 2 of the show (I cant wait, since his main bag is comedy). The show is getting an overhaul; the action moves to California, as Jerry moves back west, closer to the business. There will be a new music score, and some new cast members, including CRT veteran (at 14) Anastas Varinos. Anastas starred in our productions of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, THE HALLOWEEN TREE, and TREASURE ISLAND (2006 version). 24 new episodes are mapped out - and I cant WAIT to start recording again with the incredible Connor Doherty, Rob Cattell and Ricky MacDonald!

Finally tonight, I hope you all check out our new upcoming release, BARRYMORE. This is the Broadway play by William Luce, and he has adapted it for us as an audio play. How honored we are cannot be expressed in words. The show is released May 2, and you can find it on Amazon, Borders, barnes and Noble, and online book sites all over the world - like this one in Australia, or this one in Japan!

More news soon - promise!

New Episodes released

We've released 4 episodes this week - Ep.5 and 6 of TICONDEROGA, and Ep. 4 and 5 of MOONFLEET. You can find them on our Lulu store HERE

TICONDEROGA Coming Soon

A LITTLE BLIP IN THE SYSTEM

I got a few emails from folks telling me that JERRY AND THE PIRATES did not air on Friday, and instead there was a horror episode from NIGHT TERRORS. Basically, the new system at XM is different since the merge, and like anything new, it takes some getting used to. It was a mistake, and won't happen again. I really need to ask them to pull those NT episodes from our rotation; I thought it would be fun to run them and give them some exposure (we did this when Chris Snyder came to CRT), but every time they run I get too many complaints from people.
Anyway, that's the deal and PIRATES will be back next week (it will also run Sunday at 8am on Sirius 117 and XM 163 - for anyone up at that ungawdly hour)

NEW CRT STORE

We've updated our store on Lulu.com and added some new titles; including the first 3 episodes of TICONDEROGA, and the restored/re-edited 10th Anniversary production of THE ALAMO. Check them all out at THE COLONIAL RADIO THEATRE on LULU.COM

NEW SHOWS OUT

It's been a while since I last update the old blog. Things have been VERY busy here with TICONDEROGA in full swing, writing the scripts inbetween the dates we record them. Never a slow moment. We have recorded 17 episodes so far - and only 7 more to go. Then,it's Season 5 of Powder River, followed by Season 2 of Jerry and the Pirates. And those are just the series! We also have several features we are working on, in various stages of production.
New CRT shows have been released, and you can get them all at our store on LULU.COM
Look for these new titles!
JERRY AND THE PIRATES - Episode 19 POETRY BY RICHIE
TICONDEROGA - Episodes 1 and 2
MOONFLEET. Spisode 1.

Also we are back on the air weekends, on Sirius/XM Radio (ch. 163 XM, 117 Sirius)So, we are on the air seven days a week!

that's all for now, more later!

LOOKING FOR VOICES

CRT is looking for a few new voices to join the CRT Players for our scheduled upcoming productions.

If you live in the Boston area, and have transportation (there are no t-stops where we record), leave a message here on the blog, or through the contact section on the CRT website, and give us an idea of your acting experience.

ANOTHER TICONDEROGA

We're releasing episode 2 of TICONDEROGA, entitled THE WILDERNESS TRAIL. Here is the TICONDEROGA LINK

THE JOURNEY TO TICONDEROGA BEGINS

It will be summer at the earliest before CRT's French and Indian War epic,
TICONDEROGA is broadcast and released on CD, so CRT has decided to
release each new episode for download, as it is completed! Every two
weeks or so a new adventure will be posted. This is the first time
we've ever started to release episodes while a program is still being
written and recorded (production wraps at the end of Feb) - so who
knows how the story will end?? Not even the writer, I can assure you!
Episode 1 is now available for download at

TICONDEROGA Episode 1