Shockwave Radio Theater

Shockwave Radio Theater is broadcast on Fresh Air Radio, the community radio station KFAI-FM in Minneapolis. 90.3FM Minneapolis, 106.7FM St. Paul, 3:30pm Central. All original programming on KFAI is archived for two weeks. Much of Shockwave Radio is archived on archive.org cite web|title=David Romm's Bookmarks|url=http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/David%20Romm|publisher=The Internet Archive|accessdate=2006-10-06] or on the audio page of Dave Romm's portal.cite web|title=Shockwave Radio Broadcasts|url=http://www.romm.org/audio/index.html|publisher=Romm.org|accessdate=2006-10-06] Podcasts of some shows are available as Baron Dave makes them.cite web|title=Shockwave Radio Theater Podcasts|url=http://romm.org/podcast/Dave%20Romm%27s%20Portal/Podcast/Podcast.html|publisher=Romm.org|accessdate=2006-10-06]

The name of the program is Shockwave. To distinguish the broadcasts from the Macromedia software (which came much later), it's often referred to as Shockwave Radio. To expand further and to emphasize original productions, the full name of the program is used: Shockwave Radio Theater.

Shockwave Radio Theater specializes in science fiction humor, but diverges into science fact, strange music of any genre and just general weirdness. Baron Dave recently declared that "Politics is a subset of science fiction humor". The program occasionally interviews politicians including then-Governor Jesse Ventura and the station's current Congressman Keith Ellison. Political commentary is rampant.

Origins

In the summer of 1979, three broadcasters on a new station wanted a program to showcase science fiction music. They named it after John Brunner's novel Shockwave Rider. Everett Forte, Chris Dronen and Charles E. Hamilton III volunteered on Fresh Air Radio. Within a few weeks, Charles had left for greener pastures. Everett and Chris went to a local science fiction convention and asked if anyone wanted to help. The next show, September 19, 1979,cite web|title=The First Show|url=http://www.archive.org/details/SRT19790919|publisher=The Internet Archive|accessdate=2006-10-06] five science fiction fans showed up at the station and were interviewed by Chris. This is the date used for anniversary, but Everett, Chris, and Charles are owed much thanks.

Dave Romm (now Baron Dave) was one of the people on the first show, and is now the main producer and host of the program. Many people have contributed their talents as writer/performer over the years, and many more have been interviewed or have been part of a Shockwave program in some way. Everyone associated with the program, either as a broadcaster or a listener, is known as a Shockwave Rider.

An incomplete history of Shockwave live stage shows

Shockwave performed a live radio program at Minicon from 1981–1999. The first Live Stage Show was at Not-Anokon I in 1980, the most recent was at MarsCon in 2004. Opening Ceremonies/Middle Ceremonies/Closing Ceremonoies at LACon III in 1996 was written by Baron Dave but was not technically a Shockwave Radio Theater Production.

An incomplete list of Shockwave Riders

The list is very long and will be added to. Included here are people who wrote for or performed in productions. The list of interviewees will be in a different section.

# [http://www.romm.org Baron Dave Romm]
# [http://www.westley.org/ Brian Westley]
#Doug Friauf
# [http://www.greatnorthernaudio.com/ Jerry Stearns]
#Kara Dalkey
#Emma Bull
#Kate Worley
#Chris Dronen
#Everett Forte
#Steven Brust
#Rob Hunter
#John M. Ford
#Jane Yolen
#David Cummer
#Howard Harrison
#John Bartelt
#Barney Neufeld
#Hillary Posner
#John Houghton
#Denny Lien
#Terry Garey
#Ed Eastman
#Beth Eastman
#Ruth Anderson
#Sheryl Lies
#Mike MacKinnon
#Rick Crabtree
#Erik Baker
#Nate Bucklin
#David Emerson
#Eric M. Heideman
#Allen Varney
#David Ossman
#Phil Proctor
#Barry B. Longyear
#Jon Singer
#Luke Ski

References