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“Madison on the Air” turns ONE!
A year in review

I began writing the first five episodes of “Madison on the Air” in October of 2020 in direct response to not only wanting a creative outlet for myself during quarantine, but as a way to give my fellow actors a safe environment to still perform. I am a producer by nature. I have created my own projects out of the dust going all the way back to my college days. Back then I mounted my own original play when I saw myself and my friends constantly getting shut out from the big school-produced shows.  And from those humble beginnings… we meet Madison.

Over the year I have tried to focus on a variety of genres of old time radio. It’s no secret that detective and noir are my favorites, but I we’ve also had a western (Gunsmoke), superheroes (Superman, The Shadow), sci-fi (Dimension X), horror (Dracula), and a slue of classic characters (Sherlock Holmes, the Saint, Sam Spade, Joe Friday, Nora Charles). I’ve also enjoyed introducing some of the lesser known OTR programs that are my personal faves (Rocky Jordan, Night Beat, Let George Do It, Candy Matson).  It’s given me a chance to truly indulge my love of OTR and connect with other fans of the genre as new shows are recommended to me. I may have said this before, but I actually listen to a different OTR show every night to fall asleep by.  So getting to live in these scripts with Madison has been a dream.

Madison has definitely been on a little journey of her own this last year. While we are episodic and each episode is a stand-alone, Madison has been settling in to her new “freaky-deaky” life in the past. I believe her discoveries in the early episodes are now things she accepts in stride, albeit with her usual snarky remarks.  For me, what a great year in writing! I feel like my joke writing has gotten tighter, and I’ve been able to deviate more from the scripts I’m adapting to truly serve Madison and our show. I’ve also moved away from using scripts I’ve found online from OTR fan sites to actually transcribing episodes myself.  This has given me an enormous amount of freedom and opened up our potential catalogue exponentially!

And let’s talk actors. I first reached out to my friends I know here in Los Angeles, but my, how our cast has grown! The beauty of our remote recording has let my casting reach across the globe.  And we’re meeting new actors all the time. Whether they be other podcasters, audio drama veterans, or voice artists from online groups, I am blown away by the talent who has connected with us and devoted their time and skill to my little indie project.

Also… a quick shout-out to my husband of 17 years, Jeremy.  While I wear most of the hats in this project, if he wasn’t creating the music and fixing the audio, this show simply couldn’t exist.

Year Two: I’m excited to keep experimenting with what this show can do. With it being self-referential and, really, an anything-goes with the “rules,” we’re definitely going to see more of an active role from Madison in the stories. We’re now including promo swaps with other podcasts, which is a natural fit since these shows were written with commercial breaks in mind (email me if you want to swap! MadisonOnTheAir@gmail.com) AND we’re embarking upon a grass roots campaign involving Ryan Reynolds (he doesn’t know it yet) that only Madison’s determination could facilitate.  Oh, and you made sure to include your address so you can get a “Madison on the Air” sticker, right?

Thank you all for being on this journey with me.  I started doing the character of “Madison” back in my early improv days as my go-to ditzy girl, and have had an absolute blast giving her a full life and adventures to experience.

Check out other Madison’s Musings!