Ed Walker and a Sci-Fi Radio Program Headline May’s Meeting

Our May 2007 meeting, like most monthly meetings, was held on the 2nd Friday of the month at 7:30 PM, in the Social Hall of Trinity Episcopal Church, corner of Columbia Pike and South Wayne St., Arlington, VA. It is always a fun and sociable time, with talk of nostalgia, our experiences, and current events. Jack French, radio historian of great renown begins the meeting with a 15-minute discourse and audio clip of some facet of the diamond that was radio broadcasting. That gets us settled for the evening’s proceedings.

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Our special guest for the May meeting was Ed Walker, known to many as the host of WAMU-FM’s Sunday night “Big Broadcast.” Mr. Walker is also a Club member, and often, his mention of our Club during his broadcasts has provided the impetus for listeners to attend meetings and join the Club. For this we are grateful.

In the early years of his on-air career, Mr. Walker teamed with Willard Scott in the Washington-area afternoon radio show, “The Joy Boys.” This show has been documented with great affection on the web site www.thejoyboys.com. Occasionally on his Sunday night show, Mr. Walker has played memorable excerpts from “The Joy Boys.” CDs of the shows have been offered as premiums on WAMU-FM fund raising nights.

Mr. Walker has also branched out to play the occasional local production on his show. His term is “modern old-time radio,” and we are quite pleased with the opportunity. The two scripts that he has played thus far are productions of Club member Chuck Langdon’s Radio Visions: “A Pretty Good Day” (a western); and “Program Completed,” a science fiction story, which Chuck will play for us on Friday evening.

The recording we heard at the May meeting was an actual air check from that evening, Sunday, September 16, 2001. Mr. Walker poignantly reflected on the events of five days earlier. He gave us the evening’s line-up (Burns and Allen, Texas Rangers, Night Beat, and the like), and then we heard “Program Completed,” the absorbing story of an astronaut stranded on a disabled space ship, orbiting in the Mars-Jupiter asteroid belt, in the year 2062. Events unfold and we learn about “nominal life support parameters,” and “human relations software,” as the man contemplates his now-distant life and his computer gently, somehow, analyzes his destiny.

Chuck Langdon gave us some details of his original recording of “Program Completed”, in March 1998, and the subsequent recording sessions of voices, and sound effects, together and apart, as people’s schedules allowed; and the ultimate mix that came out broadcast quality. A masterful job, and it was a great listening experience for us all.

Edgar Farr Russell III shoots video of the meeting.		Ellen and Fred Berney.
Chuck Landon and Joanie Farrell.		Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Kandrach.
Beverley Rude, Kathy Makara, and Rebecca Jones.		Michael Hayde, MWOTRC president.
Meri Cole Henshaw.		Tom and Brenda Dixon, Chuck Langdon, John Goodwin, and Myrna Goodwin.