Old-timey radio drama draws listener accolades

SEQUIM — The premiere radio drama for noncommercial radio station KSQM-FM received a resounding stamp of approval from what the station has heard in feedback.

Shelley Taylor, one of the star voices of “Adrian Cross, For Hire,” which aired Sunday, said she has heard nothing but raves, and listeners have flooded the station with e-mails and calls to thank it for the original drama.

Although there was no way to measure the number of listeners, Taylor said everywhere she went Monday, she was met with people who had heard and approved.

“I even heard from another fellow actor that there were some friends in Uganda that were huddled up listening to it on a laptop,” she said.

In addition to the broadcast on the low-power stations’s 91.5 FM frequency, it was played on the station’s website, www.ksqmfm.com.

Taylor said she listened to the show with friends and good food.

“As I was listening, I forgot that it was me,” she said.

“There is a part where I nearly get killed, and I am wondering if I’ll be OK.”

The episode will re-air in February, but a date has not yet been set.

Those who missed the adventures of Adrian Cross, a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to boats, and Taylor’s character, Christine Hale, Cross’ love interest, can purchase a CD from the radio station for $15.

The episode — possibly the first in a series — spins a tale set on the North Olympic Peninsula in which Cross helps Hale search for an ancient Native American artifact that her dying uncle revealed to her was stored on his boat.

Taylor said it is unsure whether another episode will be made, but she would be on board with it.

“There is talks in the works right now, but nothing written yet,” she said.

“I think it would be a great idea.

“We have incredible talent — and not just acting, but all the related fields too.”

John Grissim wrote the piece.

It’s the first radio script for Grissim, who wrote for Rolling Stone magazine in San Francisco in the 1960s and ’70s and who is a former editor for Surfing magazine in Australia.

Adam Stern, music director of the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Philharmonic, wrote the score, which was recorded in November on the Port Angeles High School auditorium stage.

The show stars the voice of Ron Graham as Cross, an adventurous, self-reliant loner who lives aboard an aging cabin cruiser in Sequim’s John Wayne Marina and works as a jack-of-all-trades.

Others starring in the script are Steve Berg, Jim Dries as Preston Hale, Graham Reaves as E. Danforth Hale, Chandler Wendenborn as Mitchell Hodder, Ric Munhall as Audie Chambliss and Roscoe the Parrot and Frank Romeo as LeRoy Purvis.

And they will hear Sheri Burke as Sgt. Jennings, Jim Weldon as Chief Callaham, Greg Madsen as Nelson Paul, Erika Van Calcar as the Coast Guard dispatcher, Ian Scott as the Coast Guard pilot and Mike Bunnell as Tyler at the fuel dock.

__________

Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.

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