Vintage Radio with a Modern Flare
On the Air Comedy Radio Theater is an immersive live radio show and accompanying podcast that I developed for Balderdash Academy. The show is a blend of live theater and scripted vintage-style radio plays. The project required identity and branding, custom comedy scripts, fake vintage posters and logos for the radio shows in the series, podcast scripting, audio editing and Foley design, marketing, and a web site.
The logo for On the Air needed to evoke the pulp adventure branding from yesteryear. The sharp angle adds vintage excitement and draws upon nostalgia to deliver the message. The color palette is reminiscent of the classic pulp serials such as Adventure and Detective and further reinforces the vintage feel.
From Identity to Branded Scripts
The branding continues through the script and follows Balderdash Academy's audio-movie style script presentation. Scripts required a cover, title page, and internal scripts. I wrote each radio play based on the tropes of the time period with each one calling back to a parody sponsor and product top act as the driving through-joke of each show.
Logos for Shows that Never Were
The live show required individual logos for the custom radio shows that I had written. I researched vintage pulp magazine covers from the early 1930s, the year in which the show was set, with a focus on typography and style. I then developed each show logo based on the theme, genre, and historical precedent.
From Logos to Posters
The live show also required mock-up posters of the custom radio shows. I dove back into the research and looked for public domain images from the 1920s to use as the poster art. I manipulated these in Photoshop to remove existing type and repair damage. I then designed the layout of each poster based on the theme, genre, and historical precedent.
From Stage to Podcast
I designed On the Air Comedy Radio Theater to be an immersive live show as well as a podcast built upon the live performances. The radio plays were designed and written to be stand-alone shows that would work outside of the confines of the immersive stage show. The live show would have the custom vintage radio plays performed live with full Foley sound effects in front of a live audience. These performances were recorded and the audio was remastered and edited to isolate each live radio show performance. These recorded live shows were then edited into a podcast where they were presented as "real radio shows" that were lost to time while a pair of "radio historians" would talk about their supposed impact culturally and the historical events that led to the shows. Each podcast would feature the comedy commentary, live show recording, and a fake ad to a business in the Balderdash Academy Teacher's Lounge universe. The podcast scripts were written in Final Draft 12's Podcast format.
From Concept to Stage
The marketing for On the Air Comedy Radio Theater focused on two fronts, theaters and function centers. Though the language for both was similar, the features and benefits of each differed greatly.
While both Theaters and Function Halls are each looking for entertainment to fill dark nights, their requirements are drastically different. A theater is looking for a show that offers ease of set up, minimal requirements to run, and allows for current sets to remain. Functions Halls are looking for entertainment that can feature their catering without having to worry about set-up or takedown.
The trick was to craft marketing language that addressed both while focusing on the features and benefits of each option.
For theaters I wrote copy that focused on their specific needs and tied them to specific targeted benefits. The marketing copy, features and benefits for each group can be found on the On the Air product page.
On the Air Web Presence
On the Air required a website off of the main Balderdash Academy page that informed the audience what the show was as well as marketed the show to Theaters and Function Halls.
To execute this, I designed a background of a microphone over an abstraction of studio lights to work as the header and background for sections. I wrote the marketing copy for the show and created gallery images to feature the posters. The website is laid out in easy-to-navigate sections.
