Adventures In Radio Drama

Today’s generation hardly listens to radio dramas anymore nor do a majority of children even know what a radio drama is. These past years, my children have grown to like listening to radio dramas particularly the Adventures in Odyssey.


Back in 2005, I listened to one of its episodes and began to discover how useful it can be in creating a positive influence to my children. For almost five years, listening to Adventures in Odyssey is a staple in my children’s entertainment.

Adventures in Odyssey provide character-building stories kids love. As an example, I listened to its Christmas 2009 episode entitled, “Snow Day”—an AIO radio drama episode written by John Fornof.

The story focuses on Alex’s mission to bring a cookie tin full of chocolate macadamia nut cookies to his grandmother—only to be stopped by another kid named Rodney along the way. In his quest to reach his grandmother’s house with some help from his friends Cal, Nathaniel and Mandy, Alex persevered and enjoyed the sweet smell of victory.

This radio drama’s creative team includes Rob Jorgensen as the sound designer who creatively captured ‘real’ sound effects. Jorgensen revealed in an interview that he spent one day just to make the sound of a sled going down the hill. Jorgensen went to Home Depot and bought a garbage can and went on top of the hill. He placed a recorder on his chest and held a microphone above and launched himself down the slope. In the end, he got the sound effect he wanted for the episode.

Writer John Fornof said that he also based the story from his real life experience when he was a kid. Living north of Pittsburgh, Fornof recalled the fun memories he had sledding down the snowy hill. He then took a moment in his life and puts it in the story creating a very visual show.

Listening to this radio drama/comedy stirred up my imagination. The story when listened to was as vivid as an open storybook, with scenes painted right before my eyes. The use of words especially in the narration, appealed to my senses—I can see, feel, taste and even smell the different aspects of the story as unfolded in the drama.

The use of background music was very vital in creating the right moods in the story. Not only did it advanced the timeline of the story, the music also created a sense of anticipation for the listeners whether an air of suspense or excitement is coming our way.

At the most part, I really like the sound effects. Some of the sound effects which I think were creatively executed were the sounds of paper bag being folded; snow being scraped from the ground; snowballs being thrown; the sound of ‘sniper snowballs’; running on snowy ground; and even the ‘slow motion’ sound effect done by lengthening the actors’ dialogues weaved with special sound effects (by the way, Jorgensen is a great fan of Chariots of Fire—this served as an inspiration for him to create the slow motion sound effect).

Overall, the sound style is very ‘cartoony’—there’s a lot of imagination involved and surely, the creative team amped up on the effects to show its fantastic side.

In as much as my kids enjoy listening to Adventures in Odyssey, I too, can say that this is wholesome family entertainment where discussions are encouraged after listening to every episode. Adventure in Odyssey is aired in Winnipeg through CHVN 95.1 FM on Saturday mornings from 8:00-9:00 a.m.

Radio dramas need not be a thing of the past—it still does have a place in the household. By listening to it, your mind creates vivid images that stir up your imagination and sense of creativity.