Radio drama makes a comeback with KNVC's Secrets of Harridge House

In the days before television, the internet, cell phones and video games, families would gather around the radio each evening and listen to Sorry Wrong Number, Moon Over Morocco, Dragnet, The Adventures of the Thin Man, The Shadow, Flash Gordon, and War of the Worlds.

With no visual component, radio drama depended on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and the story. Each episode would leave listeners wanting more and the level of anticipation grew as the next airing date grew closer.

The pandemic has led to the cancelation of local theater performances, concerts, art shows and delayed releases of movies, leaving people in search of a way for the fulfilment of their need of the arts.

While the pandemic created the need for radio drama, a virtual table reading of a screenplay in Carson City during its early days created what is known as the Secrets of Harridge House.

It was a verbalized wild thought KNVC Program Director Joe Bly said he had during that reading that lead to a script proposal he received from writer Scott Young just six hours later. Scripts were created and taken over to the Proscenium Players in Carson City.

"Here's an idea, here is radio drama," Bly said of the initial creative thoughts of the drama. "You can't go on stage but the radio is open."

Out of this void of the arts arose the Secrets of Harridge House, a radio drama centered around an old family estate in the fictional town of Harridge, Nevada, population 1,500. It's in the middle of Nevada, somewhere south of Austin and Ely, east of Tonopah, west of I-15.

Since that first table reading of a play, a 13-episode season of Secrets of Harridge House has been created. The first one aired October 30 and episode three will be this week on Friday, November 13.

"Community radio and community theater are alive and well in the pandemic," said Bly. "They're just finding a different path as normal routes are blocked."

Bly said they have been receiving a lot of positive comments from listeners who have tuned in on their radios or via the radio station's website.

"Radio drama was a way of escape back then, and it can be the same as now," said Bly of radio drama of decade ago. It has come back since nobody can come together.

The show starts off at the old family estate, an enormous mansion founded by a person named Harridge for whom the town is also named. As family members started dying off, three strangers start receiving paperwork telling them, 'by the way you are adopted, you are actually members of the Harridge family and you need to return to the house, Your birth other left you the mansion - we are unable to sell the mansion so you need to come home.'

Some strange things start to happen as those three people arrive at the mansion.

Bly said the drama pay homage to Dark Shadows, an American gothic soap opera that aired on ABC from 1966-71. He said it was a favorite of the writers.

The actors on Harridge come from across the nation - San Diego, San Francisco, the Carson City area, Arizona, Chicago, Arizona, Virginia Beach. The director and the logistical scheduling of writers, actors and the rest of the team makes it interesting.

Director Jeff Basa from the Proscenium Players has been instrumental in putting together the logistics and getting all on board through the different time zones. Nobody is being paid for the production so most have jobs that have to be worked around when reading parts and rehearsing.

Even though the actors and writers are spread out, the resulting radio drama sounds like they are all in the same studio. Each of them has special microphones and software, like Zoom on steroids according to Bly.

"That's the magic of what we're doing," said Bly of the resulting high quality recording.

Each show takes a couple of weeks to get together with the recording, editing and file reviews. What the listeners get are 15 minutes of intense, commercial free drama that leaves them wanting more.

"It's definitely a labor of love," said Bly since nobody gets paid and all are volunteering their time for the show.

Scriptwriters from Diaz Media Group with national credits from shows like Falcon Crest. Scott Young and John Adams put together this story and Haley Hwang and Fred Hampton have joined the writing team. Bly does the technical end of things with recording, editing and sound effects.

Even though this week is the fourth episode, listeners can catch up on the day after Thanksgiving with a Secrets of Harridge House marathon of the first seven episodes. Each week's episode starts with a quick recap of the previous episode.

The complaint Bly hears is that the episodes aren't available upon request, but he is working on plans for a possible syndication, a CD set, podcast and listening on demand. He said there are a lot of plans for the future and a season two is in the works (with new auditions).

"Once people are able to listen to it I think they are going to be excited," said Bly. "There are a lot of surprises and secrets coming soon. This all culminates in a wild finale on week 13."

He did let out one secret - What is Linda? She isn't a Harridge but is responsible for running the large house even though it is nearly empty except for Roxie the Cook.

Tune into Secrets of Harridge House on Carson City Community Radio, KNVC, 95.1 FM Friday nights at 8:00 p.m., Pacific Time and re-airing the following Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time. You can also stream live at knvc.org at the same times.

The drama series is developing a strong following and one will now find recipes on its website (https://secretsofharridgehouse.com/) that follow the ones being used on the drama. There you can find Roxie's Earl Gray Tea Cakes and Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole. Each week a new recipe will be added prior to Friday's airing so one can join in and cook before listening!

They have a Facebook page as well - https://www.facebook.com/harridgehouse. Join in the weekly conversation about the episodes.

"It's a labor of love," said Bly. "We're trying to create an entire world in 15 minutes bites."

Cast:
Cary Hampton as Issy
Asher Killian as Drew
Cece Dietlein as Cate
Heidi Hampton as Sandra
Asher Honor Hwang as Blake
Rachel Anderson as Linda
Anita Kelley as Roxie
Nicole Schader as Liz
Caleb Mertz-Vega as Ray
Cody Lindenberger as Richard
Geoff Moore as Deputy Ben
Lucille Rao as Helen
and
Michon Chandler as Olivia

Also featuring the voice talents of:
Diana Jones, James Dezerga, Justin Clouser, Kyle Littlefield,
Mary Kay Wagner, Tom Strekal, Jeffrey Fast, Melanie Johnson,
Dick Van Buskirk, Kathy Hampton, Jack Scarbrough

Created by: John Adams and Scott Young

Head Writer: John Adams

Series writers: Frederick Hampton, Haley Hwang, Cody Lindenberger, Fiona Mauchline, and Scott Young

Series Directors: Jeff Basa, Heidi Hampton, and Scott Young

Executive Producer: Jeff Basa
Technical Producer and Editor: Joe Bly
Supervising Producer: Scott Young

Sound effects used in production:
Most are recorded by KNVC staff and engineers, others are obtained and licensed through Envato/AudioJungle; Soundelux/Todd-AO via Sounddogs; and the following creators on freesound.org: Figowitz, Svennsound, Proxima4, User 389799, soundslikewillem, cbakos, crz1990, pogmothoin, and Irissie16.