The Magic of Radio

Bringing you “Radio You Can See” to raise funds for MPTF, the Hollywood Radio Players deliver delightful hybrid Zoom productions reimagining Golden Age radio plays with today’s actors for a new audience each month. These shows are produced by actors and radio enthusiasts Emmy nominee Lee Purcell and Michael Carnegie. Emmy winner Tom Bergeron introduces the plays each month. Hollywood Radio Players was created after the SAG-AFTRA Radio Plays Committee’s live performances were shut down by the pandemic.  Lee, Michael and the other members switched to doing productions via Zoom as the Hollywood Radio Players, out of a desire to continue bringing classic radio plays to contemporary audiences. As Lee explains, “We created this unique style of a Zoom-radio hybrid and we utilize era-specific costumes and props with all kinds of backdrops, special effects, sound effects, and music… “We’re radio nerds, you know, and we do love the history of it.” In fact, some of the music is performed live along with traditionally created live sound effects, adding to the immediacy of your listening and viewing experience.

“It is a new medium,” Michael adds, “really nothing like we’ve ever really dealt with prior to now. I’m not old enough to remember radio, but I listened to NPR when there was a big comeback for radio shows and they did things like Star Wars and A Prairie Home Companion.” Aside from their regular member-editors, Hollywood Radio Players take turns with directing and other duties to keep things fresh. “It’s not just only great entertainment. It’s also learning and being respectful of our past, where we’ve all come from and how we got to where we are now over the decades of entertainment in this industry.” Among their shows so far are the classic thriller The Hitch-hiker, the Thanksgiving charmer The Life of Riley, and Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds, a choice close to Lee’s heart since one of her earliest gigs as an actress was working with the maestro himself. There’s so much more to come from the Hollywood Radio Players-please tune in monthly! We hope you enjoy listening, watching, and finding a new way to support our mission.

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