The “Harry Strange Radio Drama” has won the Student Audio Best of Fest Award. Though written by Harry Strange creator, Tony Sarrecchia, it was the producer, Breanne Ahearn, who entered the show for the BEA contest for the audio competition award at the national level.
The competition, the largest in the United States for student radio, focuses on the technical aspects of the entered radio dramas.
“The most important part of producing is creating the perfect flow between the characters’ interaction and the perfect placement of sound effects and music,” Ahern said.
The “Harry Strange Radio Drama” is a weekly radio drama that focuses on Harry Strange, a Private Investigator, who deals with the supernatural in the town of Night Falls. Battling elder gods, vampires, and the occasional demon, on the radio proves difficult to create the perfect sound for the audience to know what has actually taken place.
Imagine trying to portray flesh being ripped from barbed wire through the radio. Ahearn created that noise by slowly peeling away at an orange to get the perfect sound effect.
“You should see how I destroy my place when I’m trying to create a sound,” Ahern said.
As the producer of the radio drama, Ahearn attributed her success to her past vocal training and experience working in radio.
“I can hear the sound in my head and I know where to insert it into the dialogue. Last week I spent the entire day looking for a way to make a certain door sound,” Ahern said.
Harry Strange runs for 16 episodes per season, now in its second season, creator, Tony Sarrecchia continues to surprise listeners with new characters and story plots. When asked about his recent achievement Sarrecchia stated,
“It feels great, we do it for a certain level of approval seeking, to get the approval from our peers is an honor.”
With a teaser for the next episode, Sarrecchia informed us that, “Harry is trying to find himself, with the help from his sister, Tasha. Harry gets to be the hero (a flawed one), Harry falls and Harry gets back up. You will also get to see how Harry decides between freewill and destiny.”
Both Ahearn and Sarrecchia will travel to Las Vegas this summer to meet with different members of the National Association of Broadcasting and accept the award and prize money for the competition.
“I get to rub elbows with the heads of major broadcast corporations,” Ahearn told us.
For more information on the Harry Strange Radio Drama please visit www.harrystrange.com and tune in for the live broadcast at www.ksuradio.com on Sundays at 9:00pm!
