Shockwave Radio Theater was broadcast for 28 years on Fresh Air Radio, the community radio station KFAI, 90.3FM Minneapolis, 106.7FM St. Paul. Much of Shockwave Radio is archived on archive.org or on the audio page of Dave Romm's portal. Podcasts of some shows are available as Baron Dave makes them.
Contents
- Origins
- An incomplete history of Shockwave live stage shows
- Incomplete list of Shockwave Riders
- References
The name of the program was 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 was used: Shockwave Radio Theater.
Shockwave Radio Theater specialized in science fiction humor, but diverged into science fact, strange music of any genre and just general weirdness. Baron Dave declared that "Politics is a subset of science fiction humor." The program occasionally interviewed politicians including then-Governor Jesse Ventura and the station's Congressman Keith Ellison. Political commentary on a progressive slant was common. Quite often the show would share time with Jerry Stearns' Sound Affects: A Radio Playground to present hour-long science fiction radio theater programs.
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, five science fiction fans showed up at the station and were interviewed by Chris. This is the date used for anniversary.
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 contributed their talents as writers/performers 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.
The show went off the air in 2007 due to a reshuffling of KFAI's schedule. Romm has some podcasts recorded during the summer of 2008 on his site.
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.
Incomplete list of Shockwave Riders
Included here are people who wrote for or performed in productions.
- Baron Dave Romm
- Brian Westley
- Doug Friauf
- Jerry Stearns
- Kara Dalkey
- Emma Bull
- Kate Worley
- Chris Dronen
- Everett Forte
- Steven Brust
- Rob Hunter
- Curtis H. Hoffmann
- 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