Bio:
TONY PALERMO is a radio dramatist based in Los Angeles, California. He performs and teaches across the U.S. and around the world. He does everything in radio from the creative to the technical to the educational to the mundane.
Mr. Palermo has produced dozens of original radio dramas in the classic “old-time radio” style of the 1930s-1960s. He writes the scripts, composes the scores, assembles the sound effects, and directs performances to recreate the lost art of the radio’s “theater of the mind.” His dramas cover the classic radio genres of soap operas, science-fiction, detective shows, westerns, horror stories, historical dramas, and even super-hero spoofs. Mr. Palermo’s radio plays have been performed by groups ranging from children’s workshops to community theater troupes to professional Hollywood actors to international casts for the United Nations.
Mr. Palermo has directed hundreds of radio productions since 1996 and worked with a variety of old-time and new-time radio talents, including Norman Corwin, Art Gilmore, Janet Waldo, Fred Foy, Yuri Rasovsky, Roger Gregg, Sue Zizza, Barbara Watkins, James Napoli, as well as sound effects greats, Bob Mott, Ray Erlenborn, and the late Cliff Thorsness--sound effects artist for Orson Welles and Jack Benny. As a specialty, Mr. Palermo carries on the tradition of radio sound effects as a performer, inventor, and educator.While the modern market for over-the-air radio drama in the U.S. is slight, Mr. Palermo also teaches groups to produce radio plays in a workshop setting. In the space of two hours, he can cast, rehearse, and produce a 30 minute program of near-professional quality--even with children. Mr. Palermo employs his own pre-recorded musical scores and directs the performances in the manner of a orchestra conductor--coordinating the voices, sound effects, and music cues. In these workshops, 15 to 20 participants handle all acting roles as well as provide the many sound effects ranging from footsteps and door knocks to rumbling thunder, ray guns, sword fights and more.
Mr. Palermo boasts that his audio productions feature the “world’s biggest special effects budget.” He uses live, manual sound effects and the listening audience’s imagination to crash airplanes in the Amazon, have Crusaders wade through an ocean of bones, sink pirate ships, launch Indian attacks, and even steal Los Angeles’ Getty Center Art Museum. Says Mr. Palermo, “In radio, you can do anything, and that’s my motto--do the impossible! My scripts would cost Steven Speilberg millions, but on radio, I can destroy the world for about five bucks worth of sound effects. We create a whole world before your very ears--and then, tear it down.”
Since 1996, Mr. Palermo has provided the scripts, musical scores, and manual sound effects devices for weekly radio workshops at the Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills, California and New York City. Nearly every weekend throughout the year, one of his radio plays is being produced on both coasts. The MT&R workshops have allowed thousands of students, and even senior citizen groups, to explore the imaginative realm of radio drama. Mr. Palermo also conducts workshops for the Thousand Oaks Public Library, which has an extensive collection of radio programs and related materials, as well as for the United Nations.
In March 2001, the Avalon Community Theater on Santa Catalina Island performed a dozen of Mr. Palermo’s plays for broadcast on KISL 88.7 FM and simulcast over the Internet. (http://www.kisl.org). In May 2002, he produced a series at the American Cinematheque in Hollywood called Radio Goes to the Movies, where live radio dramas were paired with films inspired by them. Titles included the radio classics; Sorry, Wrong Number, The Whistler, Pat Novak, for Hire, and a tandem of the 1941 film, The Maltese Falcon, followed by Mr. Palermo's own 3-part Hollywood detective series, Rick Lowell - Private Eye, involving a missing prop man from the Falcon film.
Mr. Palermo’s radio dramas include Hawk of the West, a cowboys and Indians adventure; Life's Little Ups & Downs, a 1950s soap opera/comedy; Grim Scary Tales, a horror anthology series with several episodes; Blast-Off!, a science fiction shocker; Radio Ranger, a modern super-hero spoof; Inspector Rufflethorpe, a British golden age detective “whodunnit”; the Rick Lowell - Private Eye series, and In Old California, a historical drama depicting the Gold Rush of 1849. Mr. Palermo has also adapted works by William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens for the radio medium. He is a member of the Wells Fargo Radio Theater troupe as their live sound effects artist for the modern western-themed programs produced at the Autry Museum of The American West in Los Angeles. He also appears with the 1940s-themed radio comedy improv troupe, The Liquid Radio Players as well as the Los Angeles radio recreation troupe, 30 Minutes to Curtain.
Recent Highlights
In May 2003, Mr Palermo traveled to the Philippines with the Population Media Center as part of a United Nations team to instruct Asian radio talent on how to write and produce high-quality soap operas dealing with issues such as AIDS and the environment. He is also currently engaged with Listening For Greatness, a non-profit organization to teach media skills in radio poetry, drama, and music-news-talk station operation to high school students.
In June 2003, he taught and performed at a week long Audio Theater Workshop held by the National Audio Theater Festival organization. He worked with radio artists from NPR, the BBC, Ireland's RTE and many American radio talents.
In September 2003, he performed in a radio adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning Native American author, N. Scott Momaday's "The Indolent Boys." This program was broadcast on public radio stations across the U.S.
Throughout November and December 2003, he produced and performed in live re-creations of two classics by America's radio poet laureate, Norman Corwin, now 93. In addition to production, he scored the shows and performed live sound effects. Collaborating with the renowned Mr. Corwin was a dream come true, for Tony.
In the fall and winter of 2003-2004, he teamed with the Radio Days theater troupe to re-create nine old-time-radio programs for on-stage performances, including a show at the Motion Picture Actors home in Calabasas, California.
In April 2004, Mr. Palermo scored, engineered, directed and sound effected a recreation of the 1941 Columbia Workshop fantasy, "Who Wants to Be Born These Days?" as part of a tribute to pioneer radio/film/TV producer, Stanley Rubin.
In May 2004, Mr. Palermo will be presenting a lecture/demonstration on the mysteries of sound at the San Francisco Exploratorium. Besides wreaking havoc with radio sound effects--including staging a war--he intends to induce an altered state of consciousness on the audience using Sicilian Jaw harps and cell phones (as crickets.)
In June 2004, he will be teaching his unique method of radio drama production for the Audio Theater Workshop in West Plains, Missouri. This will culminate in the production of a two hour broadcast/webcast program on June 12.
Besides his radio work, Mr. Palermo has also written and scored a series of stage plays for Spotlight Enterprises, a nationwide educational publisher. These plays, which are tied the educational curriculum, are for performance BY--not for--elementary school students. They come with recordings of audio productions of the plays--also produced by Mr. Palermo. He's producer for the contemporary opera-in-progress, "Songs & Dances of Imaginary Lands" for the much-lauded Overtone Industries opera company in Los Angeles.
Always interested in spreading the “Hey! Let’s do a show,” ethic, Mr. Palermo hosts an extensive website on radio drama resources, covering the creative aspects of working in the medium. He provides instruction on writing, scoring, sound effects, engineering, and direction for use by teachers, students, and fans of the medium.
http://home.sprynet.com/~palermo/mtr_radi.htm He also writes a sound effects column for the National Audio Theater Festivals journal and hosts a network listing of radio drama artists and technicians to further the medium.
Tony Palermo, 47, is originally from Cleveland, Ohio. He has also worked as a radio DJ, computer consultant, Hollywood prop man, journalist, and musician. He lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife and three children.
April 2004
Mr. Palermo was prominently featured in several Los Angeles Times articles about the Museum of Television & Radio's "Re-creating Radio" workshops.Here's a link to the April 11, 2002 Los Angeles Times article [free access]
Here's a link to the June 2, 2000 Los Angeles Times article. [$2 fee to access full text.]
How to Write Radio Drama Cues -- Advice on writing cues with clarity and precision. Formatting Radio Drama Scripts for Fast Rehearsals -- A formatting method with an example script. MS Word Template for Radio Scripts -- Tony's generic template for formatting radio scripts. Adapting William Shakespeare for Radio and other radio writing tips -Writing radio adaptations of the classics. A Method for Writing Radio Drama -- A more detailed look at the craft. Toward a Radio Drama 101 -- How to get started creating radio drama.
Writing Children's Radio Drama -- Advice on this unique genre. Writing Radio Horror Stories -- Advice on creating horror that works on radio. Using the Narrator in Radio Drama Scripting -- Issues related to the narrator device in radio drama.
Radio Sound Effects Catalog and "How To" Guide- What Tony uses at MT&R workshops and SFX gigs. Using Walla Walla Crowd Sounds in Radio Drama - Theory and practice for this important sound effect. Cliff Thorsness - Sound Effects Great - an appreciation of Tony's mentor--a CBS sound man from 1938 to 1962. Zounds! What Sounds! - Tony's "How To SFX" columns from the National Audio Theater Festival magazine
- Using Expression When Playing Sound Effects
- Over-Reliance On Sound Effects
- Using Manual Sound Effects Instead of Samples
- Controlling Sampled Sound Effects
- A Basic Manual Sound Effects Kit
- Creating Authentic Telephone Sound Effects
Fitting Music to Radio Drama - How to use music effectively for radio drama.. Scoring Radio Drama - a musician's perspective - How musicians can score for radio.
Preparing Radio Scripts for Production -- How to prepare SFX, Engineer books and actor's scripts. Engineering Radio Drama - Advice on microphones, effects devices, mixing, and music cues. Directing Radio Drama - Advice on scripts, casting, cueing, and pacing radio drama. More Advice on Radio Directing -- A bit more about directing. Doing Radio Drama on Stage -- Considerations for performing radio drama before a live audience. Audio Effects and Point of View -- A discussion of how to place actors in the stereo field
Doing radio drama with children.- Advice on how to get started producing radio drama with children doing the acting and sound effects.