When I was a kid our TV broke when I was about 11. My Dad refused to replace it until I was almost 17. That means I spent 6 long years of my childhood with out television. At the time I thought it was a curse, but looking back on it I think it was a gift. I found other things to do. I played with this big reel-to-reel tape recorder that my dad gave me, making my own radio shows and comedy sketches (wish I still had some of that stuff). I also read, and drew comics. I was never into sports so much so most of my free time was pursuing creative endeavors. It’s interesting to think how that time sort of prepared me for what I’m doing now. Producing Lo-Fi Saint Louis isn’t a whole lot different than the stuff that I found to amuse myself back then. Most of the work is by myself, in my little room, just working on it—having fun with it.

One of the other things I did to amuse myself was listen to the radio. I got to know radio much better than most kids my age. I listened to music, sure but I also listened to a lot of talk radio. Talk radio wasn’t the same then as it is now. It wasn’t really even political. It was just hosts chatting about what was going on in town and reminiscing about the old days, mostly. It was about this time that I discovered Public Radio. Sunday nights the NPR station that I listened to would run serial radio dramas. Not old ones, but, new modern radio dramas. These were really well produced, deep, aural experiences. Quite frankly it blew my little 12 or 13 year old mind to listen to them. Among the ones I remember was the Star Wars Radio Drama, A Canticle for Leibowitz (based on the novel), and a series of programs produced by a company called ZBS productions. These were all serialized dramas that continued over several weeks. The ZBS series included the 4th Tower of Inverness, The Amazing Adventures of Jack Flanders, and Moon Over Morocco. For some reason these, in particular, captured my imagination and I never really forgot them. Years later I heard stuff produced by the 60’s audio sketch comedy group The Firesign Theater, which reminded me a great deal of these radio shows. I can’t be sure, but the Firesign stuff must have had an influence on the ZBS shows somehow (the firesign stuff started in the 60’s and the ZBS stuff was produced in the mid 70’s). I realize now that what I was listening to was the creative child of 60’s art counter culture mashed up with good old fashioned radio drama. The people producing this stuff in the 60’s and 70’s likely grew up listening to radio dramas in radios golden age of the 40’s and 50’s. I also was familiar with golden age radio shows because my dad collected those on cassette, which I also listened to in lieu of TV.

So anyway, I give you that personal background to tell you this; Moon Over Morocco is now being podcast! If you have any interest in audio drama, then please check it out. You won’t be disappointed.