An excerpt from

The Knoxville Journal Express -

January 25, 2008 by Annie Leonard

A few years ago, a Knoxville man named Marty Adkins had an idea. He thought it would be fun to put on a live community radio theater and variety show. He and his wife Carol talked it through, and Marty approached Mel Suhr at KNIA/KRLS Radio with a proposal. Mel, who had been interested in producing some radio theater himself, thought it was a great idea, and agreed to work with Marty it pull it together, and that the radio station would be happy to record and air it. 

Marty went to the Marion County Writers Workshop and the Red Rock Arts Alliance to pitch his idea. Both groups hopped on the bandwagon, and within a few months committees were formed to work on refining the idea and coming up with a process to produce the show that would be called The Red Rock Retro Radio Theater, or as I like to write it, R4T.

Over the next few months, the writers workshop worked together to write a script for the comedy pieces including the play, advertisements for both real and imaginary businesses and the 'public service announcements'. Directors and producers were chosen and auditions were held for actors, storytellers, sound effects artists and musicians. The Lake Red Rock Cultural Center ballroom was chosen for the venue, and a dinner-theater style presentation was prepared. Rehearsals began, the logo was created by Marty's daughter-in-law, Amber (Meyers) Adkins and a theme song was penned by Amber's aunt, Carrie Kraft, who live in N.D. Lighting crews, sound effects specialists, and makeup artists were recruited. Flyers were distributed and tickets were sold. And finally last Feb. the first performance of the Red Rock Retro Radio Theatre were played to a nearly-sold out crowd. The next night, they did it all again. The show was recorded both nights and broadcast on KNIA/KRLS several times over the next couple of weeks.

Afterward, the  director, Pat Schrad, asked everyone involved if they might want to do it again. Her answer was an overwhelming and resounding "Yes!"