PROJECT AUDION 64: Philip Marlowe, "The Three Wise Guys"

SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS, based on the 1964 film and adapted/produced/directed by Pete Lutz

Martians are worried that their children are being influenced by Earth trends, so they visit the planet's wise man, who tells them that they should let their children be children, and the Earthling Santa Claus isn't such a bad thing, so their decision is to travel to Earth and kidnap the jolly old elf.

The original film has been described as one of the worst films ever made, and as a result has been spoofed by theatrical companies all over the U.S. Well, the Narada Radio Company is no exception -- originally planned for a live production in December of 2024, Murphy's Law held true and strong, so they recorded it in the director's living room instead, and said director edited the voice tracks on Saturday, December 21st, and mixed all of the music and SFX on Sunday, December 22nd. Now, if you don't like the finished product...the director wishes you a very Merry Christmas.

This play would not have been possible without the following voice talents:

Certain music passages by Dr. Ross Bernhardt; other music sourced from the public domain.

OLD-TIME RADIO ESSENTIALS Episode 46: The Mel Blanc Show (our 2024 Christmas Special!)

Old-Time Radio Essentials returns with episode 46, the 9th installment of Season 4! Pete, Paul and Patte present Paul's pick (which is our annual Christmas Special), an episode of The Mel Blanc Show, entitled "Mel Plays Santa Claus"!  Come for the old-time radio, stay for the scintillating (that's one way of putting it) discussion afterwards!

As you listen, perhaps you'll learn if we feel this entry meets the following criteria:

1. Is it truly representative of that series? (Can anyone point to it and say, "Yes, that is what [NAME OF SERIES] was all about.")

2. Is it an episode worthy of inclusion in any and every OTR aficionado's private collection?

Your feedback means a lot to us! A review at iTunes or at your usual podcatcher would be appreciated.

Next Time: It's Pete's pick again for our first show of the New Year, and he'll bring us a New Year's-themed episode of The Whistler! Join us then, won't you?

Adventures of the Federated Tec, Season 2, Episode 10: Who Killed Bob Teal?

In this exciting second-season finale, our hero gets an assignment that hits too close to home: Find the person who murdered another Federated operative, young Bob Teal. The Tec, along with San Francisco Police Detective George Dean, soon starts sniffing out the trail of the most obvious suspect...but our nameless protagonist eventually begins to wonder if maybe they're after the wrong guy. 

Adapted by Pete Lutz from the story of the same name, originally published in the November, 1924 issue of True Detective magazine. Produced and directed by Pete Lutz. Mixing and mastering by 63audio, Corpus Christi, Texas.

Our cast consisted of the following Narada Radio Company players:

Darren Rockhold as THE ANNOUNCER

Pete Lutz as THE TEC

Joe Stofko as THE OLD MAN

Frank Guglielmelli as OGBURN

Ian Federgreen as BOB TEAL

John Bell as DETECTIVE DEAN

Rhiannon McAfee as MAE LANDIS

Geri Elliff as THE LANDLADY 

Jeff Moon as WHITACRE

The theme, and some incidental music, were composed and performed by Dr. Ross Bernhardt. 

FEDERATED TEC FANS! We're happy to report that a third season is in the works. Scripts have been written for 11 episodes so far, with a likely four more to go. Each season gets longer than the previous one, because Hammett's stories, for the most part, kept getting longer, better, and more detailed, as his writing skills improved. As a huge fan of Hammett for more than 40 years, I have no desire to condense these longer tales, preferring instead to split them, as you saw in S2, into multi-episode dramas -- S2 alone had three longer stories split into two-parters, for example. Well, S3 will have both two- and three-part story arcs, full of the Hammett hard-boiled style, full of intrigue, and full of the unusual characters he was famous for. You won't wanna miss it!

Here's the line-up for Season Three -- and just for simplicity's sake, we'll be shortening our series title to The Federated Tec:

1. Mike, Alec, or Rufus?

2-3. The Whosis Kid

4-5. The Scorched Face

6-8. Corkscrew

9-11. The Daiwan of Chinatown (orig. title Dead Yellow Women)

12-14. The Gutting of Couffignal

15. The Creeping Siamese

COMING SOON FROM 63AUDIO!