Re-Imagined Radio considers the price of freedom in May episode

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Re-Imagined Radio takes on the timely topic of freedom in May, with two radio dramas exploring its tenuous nature and shifting demands of followers.

The premier broadcast and live stream airs at 1 p.m. May 16 on KXRW-FM, Vancouver, and KXRY-FM, Portland. Subsequent broadcasts and streams will be provided by local, regional and international broadcast partners.

The two dramas are Archibald MacLeish’s "The Fall of City," the first verse play for American radio, and "Great Day for a War," by Jack J. Ward.

"The Fall of the City" is performed by The Willamette Radio Workshop, directed by Sam A. Mowry. "Great Day for a War" is performed by The Voices, a collaborative of professional voice actors in the Portland-Vancouver area.

MacLeish (1892 – 1982) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, writer and Librarian of Congress. Featuring Orson Welles, "The Fall of the City," first broadcast April 11, 1937, is known for its stylistic innovation and social power. It focuses on the collapse of a city under an unnamed dictator.

Ward is founder and director of Mutual Audio Network and The Sonic Society, the two leading online repositories of international radio storytelling and podcasting. “Great Day for a War” concerns a scheme by a broadcasting company to increase its viewers during ratings week.

“With our combination of 'The Fall of the City' and 'Great Day for a War,' we explore the ambiguous relationship humans have with freedom,” said John Barber, faculty member of the Creative Media and Digital Culture Program at WSU Vancouver, and producer and host of Re-Imagined Radio. “Current events, both in this country and abroad, reinforce the importance of paying attention and putting in the effort required to maintain freedom.”

Re-imagined Radio premieres episodes on the third Monday of the month on KXRW-FM and KXRY-FM. In addition, every Sunday, an episode of Re-Imagined Radio is broadcast on KXRW only, drawing from previously broadcast episodes. Episodes can be streamed on demand from the Re-Imagined Radio website, www.reimaginedradio.net.

Community Partners

Re-Imagined Radio draws on community voice actors, Foley artists, musicians, sound artists and engineers. Partners include KXRW-FM, Marc Rose, Martin John Gallagher, Holly Slocum Design and Regina Carol Social Media Management. 

About Re-Imagined Radio

Re-Imagined Radio was begun by Barber in 2013 to celebrate radio storytelling. “We select, 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,” Barber said. 

About WSU Vancouver

WSU Vancouver is in the homeland of Chinookan and Taidnapam peoples and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. As one of six campuses of the WSU system, WSU Vancouver offers big-school resources in a small-school environment. The university provides affordable, high-quality baccalaureate- and graduate-level education to benefit the people and communities it serves. As the only four-year research university in Southwest Washington, WSU Vancouver helps drive economic growth through relationships with local businesses and industries, schools and nonprofit organizations. 

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MEDIA CONTACT

Brenda Alling, Office of Marketing and Communication, 360-546-9601, brenda_alling@wsu.edu