Brittany Webb
Staff Writer
“The Voice on the Wire” will air on WPCD Radio 88.7 FM on Wednesday, April 15. The radio drama is produced by students in COM142 (Radio Production). It was developed as a project for the class by Adam Porter, a professor in the Fine and Applied Arts department here at Parkland.
“It offers a great opportunity for the students to learn advanced production skills and show off their finished work to the general public,” Porter stated.
Porter has been teaching radio and communication courses at Parkland for two years now.
He chose “The Voice on the Wire” because it had a great script with just the right number of voice actors. According to www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com the drama originally aired in November of 1944.
“This is a classic radio drama that was first aired in the 1940’s, during the golden age of radio,” Porter stated. “The script also includes a lot of sound effects and music cues, which works great for this project.”
A lot of work goes into producing a radio drama. The class started by choosing characters, and then spent a week recording all the dialogue in the production studio. Porter’s class was split into two groups, focusing on different things, such as editing, creating sound effects, layering music and balancing levels throughout the drama.
“The groups can get extremely creative in their use of effects and music, and I am super excited to hear the final mixes,” Porter added.
Tyler Britt, a Mass Communications major in Porter’s class, said that working on the drama was a fun experience with his class, and it takes skills that not everyone might have.
“I have learned a lot about what you have to do and the time and dedication you have to put into the project to get the desired outcome,” Britt said. “It takes knowing how to use Adobe Audition and a creative mind to come up with the sound effects.”
Britt’s group focused on sound effects and the dialogue, coming together at the end with the rest of the class to put it all together and recreate the radio drama.
The radio drama, “The Voice on the Wire”, will air four times throughout the day on April 15, 2015.
“Everyone should find time to tune into 88.7 FM on Wednesday, April 15,” Porter said. “We are airing the show at 12 p.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.”
WPCD FM radio can also be found online by visiting wpcd.parkland.edu. The radio drama and any radio show streams daily. WPCD is on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and normally features an indie/alternative rock format.
Students enrolled in COM 141 and 142 use the station as a learning lab to polish their skills using Adobe Audition, Wide Orbit and ProTools. Students learn to create and edit audio files including public service announcements, promotional commercials and newscasts.
Students are trained to use the broadcast equipment and eventually take over an on-air spot on the station.
“If this type of work sounds interesting to any students who might be reading this, please ask you advisor about COM 141 and COM 142,” Porter said. “Not only can you learn how to make exciting projects like this, but you also get to be a DJ on our radio station.”
Interested students should see their academic advisor, located in the Counseling and Advising Center in U-267 in the Student Union.
WPCD is located in X-120 and can be reached by way of email or phone. Requests can be sent to wpcdradio@parkland.edu and called in to 21-373-3790.
