Reviving Audio Drama in Modern Times

Using modern technology, audio dramas can be downloaded in a way that fits with our changing entertainment lifestyle. And, it offers a new way to market products and services.
The mission of Vermont Audio Drama Podcasting (VTADP) is to translate the literary works of authors into audio drama presentations suitable for broadcast over the Internet or other audio communication channels. Initially, we are working to convert the Vermont-based Joe Gunther mystery novels by Archer Mayor into audio dramas.
Even for those who didn't grow up during radio's golden era, mention radio drama to most Americans and it culls up the image of a family huddled around the radio anxiously on a Saturday night waiting for a program to come on. Most are familiar with the furor over War of the Worlds, and can bring names like "The Shadow" and "The Green Hornet" to the tips of their tongues. These same people are astonished to learn that Orson Welles started (and may have produced his best work!) in radio, and that "The Lone Ranger" existed long before its television debut.
Audio book sales continue to grow. Audio drama allows “readers” used to single-voice narrator stories to the allure of full dramatizations. The Wall Street Journal in an article about us makes this point.
A classic story about the power of audio drama:

A little girl who, when asked whether she preferred television to radio, answered,
"I prefer radio.”
"Why?”
"Because the pictures are better."

There are some great examples of radio theatre sponsorship from the Golden Age of Radio up to the 1980s:

• The General Mills Radio Adventure Theater, which last aired over thirty years ago, was produced with a young audience in mind but only lasted a year. It attempted to capture the success of CBS Radio Mystery Theater that continued to air until 1984.
• Hallmark Playhouse, which aired from 1948-1953, was geared to family entertainment and was the basis of the long-running TV series.
• Maxwell House Coffee Time, which aired for over two decades, beautifully combined print and radio campaigns with the message that "Maxwell House Coffee is part of the American Scene."

Ten years ago, Richard Fish predicted “…the invention of the internet and the World-Wide Web has brought a new channel of distribution for audio theatre, “broadcasting on demand,” if you will. Many websites now feature OTR programming available to the properly-equipped browser via RealAudio, MP3, or other software. More and more websites offer brand new audio theatre productions, either in part or in whole. The audio theatre art form is having a renaissance of major proportions, and it is now proper to speak of the “audio theatre Industry.” Kept alive for decades by a few devotees and funded by grants, audio theatre is being weaned off the dole and coming back into the marketplace…”

Charles Osgood, noted broadcaster, said:

No television set that’s made,
no screen that you can find
Can compare with that of radio:
the theatre of the mind
Where the pictures are so vivid,
so spectacular and real
That there isn’t any contest,
or at least that’s how I feel.

Using modern technology, audio dramas can be downloaded in a way that fits with our changing entertainment lifestyle. And, it offers a new way to market products and services.

If you are interested in collaborating on this idea, send me an email.

Giving Day is a yawn

The Brattleboro Reformer published an op/ed I penned about declaring the day after Thanksgiving as a Giving Day, a day to reflect on philanthropy. Sadly, I received no feedback.  Click here to read the piece.

Martin Cohn named Paul Harris Fellow

Newfane resident Martin Cohn was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Brattleboro Rotary Club. The Paul Harris Fellowship Award, named after the founder of Rotary International, is one of the highest honors Rotary can bestow upon a person. Recipients exemplify the highest ideal in Rotary in placing "SERVICE ABOVE SELF."

Cohn, president of a local public relations firm, has served as secretary of the Brattleboro Rotary Club for the past two years. He became president-elect at the club’s annual changeover dinner held at the Brattleboro Country Club on Thursday, June 23, 2011. Cohn produces the Club’s annual film festival, which raises funds for international projects.

The Brattleboro Rotary Club, founded in 1950, is an active community service club of over 80 members who engage in community and human service projects locally and internationally.

For more information about the Brattleboro Rotary Club, visit www.brattlebororotaryclub.org

-ROTARY-

PHOTO: L-R Brattleboro Rotary Club President Liz Harrision presented Martin Cohn with a Paul Harris Award, one of the highest honors Rotary can bestow upon a person.

White House: Gaza flotilla activists may be breaking U.S. law

U.S. State Department says Gaza is run by U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization Hamas and Americans providing support to it are subject to fines and jail.

By Natasha Mozgovaya and The Associated Press

The Obama administration is stepping up pressure on activists planning to challenge Israel's sea blockade of the Gaza Strip, warning that they will face action from Israeli authorities and that American participants may also be violating U.S. law.

The U.S. State Department said Friday that attempts to break the blockade are "irresponsible and provocative" and that Israel has well-established means of delivering assistance to the Palestinian residents of Gaza. It noted that the territory is run by the militant Hamas group, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization, and that Americans providing support to it are subject to fines and jail.

"Groups that seek to break Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza are taking irresponsible and provocative actions that risk the safety of their passengers. Established and efficient mechanisms exist to transfer humanitarian assistance to Gaza. For example, humanitarian assistance can be delivered at the Israeli port of Ashdod, where cargo can be offloaded, inspected, and transported to Gaza," a State Department press release said.

"We urge all those seeking to provide such assistance to the people of Gaza to use these mechanisms, and not to participate in actions like the planned flotilla."

The warning is the third in as many days and follows the announcement by 36 Americans that they will sail aboard a U.S.-flagged vessel in a flotilla to Gaza.

The statement also reiterated the U.S. stance on Hamas, calling the Islamic group "to play a constructive role by renouncing violence, recognizing Israel’s right to exist, and accepting past agreements."

Despite warnings by the State Department, one traveler planning to ignore that advice is celebrated poet and novelist Alice Walker, who intends to join with other European and American activists when they set sail from the ports of some 22 countries.

"Why am I going on the Freedom Flotilla II to Gaza? I ask myself this, even though the answer is: What else would I do?," Walker wrote, explaining her motives in an open letter to CNN and outlining her plan to carry letters to the people of Gaza on board the Audacity of Hope boat. "We will be carrying letters ... expressing solidarity and love," she writes.

Walker's letter goes on to discuss the brave "followers of Gandhi," and the "Jewish civil rights activists" who stood side by side with blacks in the South, and places her current "mission" within this context. She ends with a rebuke to both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies and those in the U.S. that back them.

Meanwhile, the Turkish humanitarian relief foundation IHH has announced that the refurbished Mavi Maramara ship, on which nine activists were killed during an attempt to break Israel's coastal siege on the Gaza Strip in May 2010, will not join the flotilla planned to set sail at the end of the month.

This story is by:

• Natasha Mozgovaya
• Published 19:58 24.06.11
• Latest update 19:58 24.06.11

Awesome article

Beth Sawyers posted an interesting article on ragan.com about how the word "awesome" is overused. She lists 45 alternatives.

Read it here.

Faux Facebook

How to combat phony Facebook profiles

Companies, Army generals and a city zoo battle the problem of false identities in social media.

By Russell Working | Posted: March 16, 2011

Oshkosh, Wisc., has a Facebook problem.

A cyber Grinch created a phony Facebook page for the city zoo and was sabotaging its annual Celebration of Lights, which runs from November to early January.

“It was purely malicious,” says city information technology director Tony Neumann. “They were periodically posting that it was closed, and they were indicating free admission this night or that night, which wasn’t the case.”

Oshkosh isn’t alone is its battle—unsuccessful, so far—to take down the bogus Facebook site. Imposters are using Facebook and other digital media to undermine organizations and smear the reputations of everyone from CEOs to four-star generals.

Read the rest of the article here.

History of Jewish Humor

Just in time for Purim, a fascinating history of Jewish humor.

Badkhn Belt? Jewish humor was born in 1661, prof says