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Chicago Radio Theater
will be presented twice nightly: from 7:00PM to 9:00PM Central Time
(8:00PM to 10:00PM Eastern Time), for a live satellite feed to the East
Coast; and again from 8:00PM to 10:00PM Pacific Time, for a delayed
satellite feed to the rest of the country.
 Chicago
Radio Theater
will include re-creations of the best of yesteryear, as well as new and
original creations. A suggested show schedule is included on the
accompanying pages. Many of these programs must be vetted for rights.
Royalty payments for comic book characters may be required.
Chicago Radio Theater is expected to be produced under AFTRA and WGA employment guidelines.
The programs will be audio- and video-taped for later off-season
broadcasts.
Chicago Radio Theater
will utilize Internet streaming, as well as a satellite-fed audio feed,
with a subscription-based pre-show download for members. Members will
also receive discounts for tickets to the live nightly shows.
Chicago Radio Theater
is expected to be produced before a live studio audience.
Theater Venue and Premier
Date
Chicago Radio Theater
will be performed on stage in front of a live theater audience. We are
negotiating the use of a theater
in Chicago as the future home of the
Chicago Radio Theater.
The video portion of our production will be taped in HDTV format for
future release on cable or satellite, and will include a live, stereo
feed to radio stations and a delayed feed to our our Internet web
theater.
Management
Chicago Radio Theater is managed by experienced producers and line staff who follow a
hierarchal command structure that guarantees the timely development and
production of all shows.
Chicago Radio Theater consists of not less than five nights of original radio
programming presented live before a theater audience. There is zero room
for mistakes.
Beginning on Monday
night at 7:00PM Central Time (8:00PM-10:00PM Eastern Time), four original 30-minute programs follow
one another in rapid succession in a two-hour time block, interrupted
only by commercial spots, many of which will also be performed live by
an announcer at a special “sponsor’s mike” podium.
On Tuesday night, a
completely new set of four original 30-minute programs follow one
another in a two-hour time block, just like Monday night.
And so throughout the week,
our 2-hour program blocks are performed live from 7:00PM-9:00PM Central
Time (8:00PM-10:00PM Eastern Time), and are
then repeated again via tape delay for our Western states. Each
night, it’s a different set of four 30-minute shows. See our tentative
Program Roster for details.
Production
Management
Production is managed
by a Senior Producer, a Script and Story Producer and a Staging
Producer. Two other executives, the Sound Director and a Casting
Director get their assignments through the Executive Story Consultant
and, working with the Night Runners under the two Senior Producers,
prepare the production elements that are their responsibilities. All of
these positions get their scripts from the Executive Story
Consultant—the “Head Writer,” if you will—who works directly with the
Senior Producers. The Senior Producer reports directly to the Executive
Producer.
Our
Line Producers
The Script and Story
Producer is indirectly responsible for seeing that five nights of
programs are properly scripted and readied for production. The Script
and Story Producer supervises five of the seven Night Runners, who
handle the particular details of the shows for Monday through Friday.
The Staging Producer
is responsible for seeing that the house (i.e., the theater) is ready
for production, including all stage management and lighting effects. The
Staging Producer is also responsible for two nights of programs
(Saturday and Sunday) and supervises two of the seven Night Runners, who
handle the particular details of the shows for Saturday and Sunday.
The Sound Producer is
responsible for all sound effects. In addition, the
Chicago Radio Theater Orchestra Director reports to the Sound Producer so that all
live orchestrated music, including bumper music, scene transition,
“stings” and other musical elements are ready for live insertion into
the program. The Sound Producer is also responsible for seeing that the
audio portion of the program is delivered to the house headphones (for
our live theater audience) and to the satellite network feed.
The Casting Director
is responsible for finding that particular voice to make the scripted
characters, including our guest villains, guest victims, and other name
stars, come to life on stage and in the ears of our listeners. This will
be a full-time job.
Each of these four
individuals has a salaried assistant to share the work load, which is
expected to be heavy.
Our
Night Runners
The Night Runners
report directly to the two Senior Producers. Each Night Runner handles
the details of the programs for the night that he or she is responsible
for. Each Night Runner has seven calendar days to prepare the four
programs for his/her night.[1]
Each of the other six
Night Runners have similar charts and responsibilities with his or her
show night.
Our
Directors
Each Director is
responsible for the script, the sound, and the over-all performance of
his or her show. The Director has seven calendar days to prepare his/her
program. This includes identifying all sound effects and, working with
the Sound Producer, preparing the sound effects for production. The
Director is also responsible for identifying the costume needs and
submitting costume requirements to the Costume Designer. Performers
appear in costume on stage for the benefit of our theater audience and
for the live video taping that is done for each performance.
Video
Production
Each 2-hour night is
video taped in HDTV format for later use on cable television and to
provide additional tax benefits for investors. The actual production is
sub-contracted to a separate production company on a work-for-hire
basis.
Scripts and Stories
Chicago Radio Theater
will require 440 separate 30-minute radio scripts over its 22-week
Monday-Friday nightly run (11 weeks of production, followed by two weeks
re-runs; 11 more weeks of production, followed by two weeks of reruns). Each script is
22 pages in length.
Our
Senior Producer and Executive Story Consultant
 Our Senior Producer
and “Head Writer” is
Tony Palermo,
a radio dramatist and composer living in
Los Angeles, California. Besides radio and internet broadcasts, he has
written, adapted and scored numerous radio plays for the Museum of
Television & Radio in both Los Angeles and New York, the United Nations,
the Playwright’s Project, the Thousand Oaks Public Library,
international radio festivals, and various educational publishers. He
also appears with the Wells Fargo Radio Theater, the Liquid Radio
Players, 30 Minutes to Curtain and other radio troupes.
Mr. Palermo has
produced dozens of original radio dramas in the classic “old-time radio”
style of the 1930s-1960s. He writes the scripts, composes the scores,
assembles the sound effects, and directs performances to recreate the
lost art of the radio’s “theater of the mind.” His dramas cover the
classic radio genres of soap operas, science-fiction, detective shows,
westerns, horror stories, historical dramas, and even super-hero spoofs.
Mr. Palermo’s radio plays have been performed by groups ranging from
children’s workshops to community theater troupes to professional
Hollywood actors to international casts for the United Nations.
Mr. Palermo has
directed hundreds of radio productions since 1996 and worked with a
variety of old-time and new-time radio talents, including Norman Corwin,
Art Gilmore, Janet Waldo, Fred Foy, Yuri Rasovsky, Roger Gregg, Sue
Zizza, Barbara Watkins, James Napoli, as well as sound effects greats,
Bob Mott, Ray Erlenborn, and the late Cliff Thorsness—sound effects
artist for Orson Welles and Jack Benny. As a specialty, Mr. Palermo
carries on the tradition of radio sound effects as a performer,
inventor, and educator.
Mr. Palermo also
teaches groups to produce radio plays in a workshop setting. In the
space of two hours, he can cast, rehearse, and produce a 30 minute
program of near-professional quality—even with children. Mr. Palermo
employs his own pre-recorded musical scores and directs the performances
in the manner of a orchestra conductor—coordinating the voices, sound
effects, and music cues. In these workshops, 15 to 20 participants
handle all acting roles as well as provide the many sound effects
ranging from footsteps and door knocks to rumbling thunder, ray guns,
sword fights and more.
Mr. Palermo boasts
that his audio productions feature the “world’s biggest special effects
budget.” He uses live, manual sound effects and the listening
audience’s imagination to crash airplanes in the Amazon, have Crusaders
wade through an ocean of bones, sink pirate ships, launch Indian
attacks, and even steal Los Angeles’ Getty Center Art Museum. Says Mr.
Palermo, “In radio, you can do anything, and that’s my motto—do the
impossible! My scripts would cost Steven Spielberg millions, but on
radio, I can destroy the world for about five bucks worth of sound
effects. We create a whole world before your very ears—and then, tear it
down.”
Since 1996, Mr.
Palermo has provided the scripts, musical scores, and manual sound
effects devices for weekly radio workshops at the Museum of Television &
Radio in Beverly Hills, California and New York City. Nearly every
weekend throughout the year, one of his radio plays is being produced on
both coasts. The MT&R workshops have allowed thousands of students, and
even senior citizen groups, to explore the imaginative realm of radio
drama. Mr. Palermo also conducts workshops for the Thousand Oaks Public
Library, which has an extensive collection of radio programs and related
materials, as well as for the United Nations.[3]
Estimated Production
Budgets
Our estimated
production budgets are available for download from the
Executive Producer. The email address to request the spreadsheet is
info@ChicagoRadioTheater.com.
Estimated Income and
Expenses Projections
Our estimated Income
and Expense Projections are available for download
from the Executive Producer. The email address to request the
spreadsheet is
info@ChicagoRadioTheater.com.
Our Nightly Schedule
The following is subject to change. Click on a link for details.
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Carefully researched.