At long last, FinalRune Productions is back with the original story of a man waylaid on his way somewhere else, “Waiting for a Window.”  Starring an incredible cast of voice actors including Bill Dufris, Joe Duley, Charly Duley, Ed Patterson, “Man” and long-time FinalRuner, Philip Hobby.  Original music by Barb Truex.

Hear the story hear first, then buy it second!  Available for download only on Echo Fiction.

Radio Drama Revival! Episode 89

It was pretty cool to stumble across this article in the Guardian Arts Blog which talks about the future of the audio theater, and features some of my opinions on the sad yet hopeful state of affairs (yes, me, quoted in a real newspaper!). I think one of the toughest things radio drama is facing right now is people not realizing its existence. So articles like this that raise awareness are incredibly appreciated!

There’s also an interesting discussion of devices to put “visual’ in the radio… which while they sound interesting, I can’t help but wonder, isn’t the joy of radio is that the only visuals are the ones in your mind?

Anyways, a really great article overall and worth a read, and maybe a comment?

In a remarkable about face for a major record company, EMI Music will be offering their entire catalog on iTunes at superior bit rates and DRM-free. If you’ve been paying any attention at all to the progress of music in the digital frontier, you can recognize how much of a landslide this is. For the past years we’ve seen the record companies take an aggressive, brutalizing stance towards consumers, whether it’s prosecuting college students for amassing enormous illegal music libraries, installing spyware-like software on CDs that prevents you from ripping multiple copies of them, or the hated DRM which makes it difficult to share files one downloads off iTunes. All these restrictions have made it much more tempting for the average consumer to simply download music illegally, and certainly hasn’t garnered any warm and fuzzy feelings for the companies. While we can certainly respect major companies’ battle to maintain relevance in a radically new world, they would be much better suited to embrace the digital age and to monetize music differently. And here, maybe, is the first step to that new model. Well done, EMI — we certainly look forward to a more functional download.

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Stumbled across an interesting BusinessWeek analyzing the monetization of podcasting and why it may be trickier for indie podcasters to make a buck where others, such as a-list bloggers, have succeeded.  To be honest, it’s a pretty amazing that anyone can make enough money off a website to quit their job, though I’m certainly not going to turn my nose up at the phenomenon!  I think it definitely points to the power of the direct producer -> audience relationship that the new social media has allowed, and the good old fashioned ingenuity of those savvy enough to come up with ways to take advantage of an extremely accessible audience.  But don’t worry, AdSense will never come to Radio Drama Revival!

read more | digg story

What happens when a meteor threatens big city and the only one who can stop it is working on his web site?  What terrible event in his past makes him sacrifice all else to save kittens?  Well, we find out this week in Great Northern Audio Theater’s Super Pal!

Radio Drama Revival! Episode 11

While I’m perfectly happy reading and hearing words, it seems that a lot of people miss seeing pictures now and again.  To try and curb this trend, I’ve started snapping more pictures at my production sessions and have compiled what I have so far in a radio drama image gallery over at my sister site, FinalRune.com.

I’ve been up to a lot of great listening lately and now that my production schedule has slowed down a little, I’m going to try and catch up with my thoughts on some of the most interesting things to hit my mp3 player.

Circus 13 Productions regularly post their latest releases to the Yahoo Modern Audio Drama discussion group and it was with interest I downloaded some of their latest releases, including “Quest for the Passion Stone” and the adventures of a space bounty-hunter, “Truck.”  They also do a lot of fan fiction and seem targeted towards this fan base rather than a general audience.

Having not heard much original fantasy audio drama, it was “Quest for the Passion Stone” that first got my ears.  It starts with a band of goblins chasing down a mysterious Thunder Savage, then finds a grim-voiced troll named Varick who rescues the real Thunder Savage (a reincarnated mystical hero, who of course, doesn’t know it yet) from the marauders and brings him into the fantastic landscape that populates the next several hours of adventure.

The fantasy is original without being unfamiliar — there’s a parallel world to the real world called the “Underhollow,” accessible through the local Deny’s, populated with trolls, evil magicians (named Bob), thieves, goblins, etc.  There’s good guys, bad guys, and a magical item that will change the tide of the war forever.  The hero goes through a period of self-discovery and his his inner powers and great wisdom are the key to bringing peace to a troubled kingdom.

Despite the predictable plot points, there are a lot of great moments and the storyline is pretty addictive.   There’s some great humor and self-referential jokes, such as the evil wizard “Bob,” and the frankness that the evil king uses to speak about his evil deeds and weaknesses to the good guys.  The production quality throughout is a bit rough, but again, the intriguing story kept me listening.  Overall, I felt the story delivered on its promise and provided some solid hours of original fantasy entertainment.  If you find your cravings for fantasy audio lean, definitely check out The Quest for the Passion Stone for a great journey.

I’ve been focusing so much on producing new work and reviewing/listening/discussing other people’s that I’ve hardly thought about what people feel about mine. It’s kind of a vacuum, where I know people are listening to these podcasts and my stories over at FinalRune, but have heard very limited feedback except from my friends (whose compliments I love, God bless them, but don’t have the objective weight of a stranger’s). So I was utterly tickled when I got an email saying there was a Review of Drizzle over at PRX!

PRX, or the Public Radio Exchange, is a site where independent producers can post their work and radio stations across the country can audition it — the t
arget being public radio. I’ve never really had much faith my work would be picked up by NPR but since you can get a free demo account as a producer for a year, I tried it out. A few people have checked out Day of the Dead, The Blind Man’s Confession, and Drizzle, of which the reviewer, Hans Anderson, had to say:

The story is well-written, with good detail. I don’t live in the city, but this pretty much left me with an image in my head. There were a couple of times, especially around the subway scene, where the sound overpowered the narrator, but it didn’t detract very much.

Since I don’t live in a city either, if someone can be transported there, then I’ve definitely done a fair job! Sadly, I’ve run out of time on my trial account and can’t really afford to buck up the $50 for a year’s subscription. If out of the tenderness of your heart you want to help me get my work to a broader audience, feel free to

Anyways, thanks for the comments, Hans, and I look forward to producing more variations on the ol’ radio drama block. And if you missed Drizzle, it was featured in Radio Drama Revival! Episode 1.

It’s Begathon week at WMPG, and we’re on the mic pitching for your dough as exiled space DJs show up at the station. Things get weirder and funnier than ever in this first live drama by FinalRune Productions/Radio Drama Revival!

Radio Drama Revival! Episode 10

Well, this week is Begathon at WMPG, the familiar fundraising week where we go on the air to plead for money from our listeners. To try and make things more interesting, I’ve written my first drama intended for live broadcast, assembled a great cast, and can’t wait to make some original radio tomorrow afternoon!

For all my podcast listeners, I will of course be adding it post-facto, but if you’re in the Portland, Maine area or close to a computer you can listen to the live show at 1PM EST. Stream by clicking the link above, or tune in at 90.9/104.1 FM.

It all starts as an ordinary day at the station, with Stephanie Sample in the studio to talk about her latest adventures. But, a rocket ship crashing outside with exiled space DJs makes things a whole lot weirder. A land where all the media has been consolidated in the hands of an evil empire, where proponents of free speech are imprisoned and have to flee for their lives to distant galaxies—what planet are these guys from?

A whole lot of laughs, and hopefully a few bucks for the station. And hey, call in to pledge your support for Radio Stories, and let people know I have an audience! I’ve got a big pile of double-CD sets of my FinalRune Productions audio stories for anyone who donates more than $30.