When Shelley Pierce ’92 decided to attempt a radio version of the film, “Night of the Living Dead,” she knew she’d need some brave souls to come along with her.
After all, George Romero’s horror classic is not for the faint of heart, and anyone involved surely would be asked to ponder the notion of people eating other people.
The auditions, though, were downright ghastly.
“They had to scream and then make zombie noises,” says Pierce, a confessed lover of radio dramas and the creative genius behind this production. “I think when everybody was doing zombie noises together it made come out of their shell.”
Pierce, longtime co-host of KMSU’s “Shuffle Function” radio show, spearheaded the effort to create a spooky radio drama to air on Halloween. They’ll be working on an adaptation of the script written by Romero and John Russo (with a few clever “fake commercial” additions).
Getting people to participate wasn’t a problem. KMSU has a loyal fanbase, and Halloween might just be their favorite time of year. One of their annual traditions is airing Halloween-themed radio dramas by Judson Fountain, an east coast legend of amateur radio who created short, scare-based productions that aired on local radio stations. Pierce’s group, in homage to Fountain, calls themselves The Fountaineers.
If you haven’t seen the film, fear not. Here’s the quick version: Corpses rise from graves, people take refuge in an abandoned house, they try in vain to escape, they fall prey, one by one, to the ghouls.
“I’ve had a couple people listen to (the radio drama version), one of whom was not familiar with the film,” Pierce says. “She said she was only going to listen to half of it and then ended up listening to the whole thing instead. She loved it.”
This project drew from the same cohort of fun-loving public radio listeners that lined up to be a part of a series of sing-along pageants at Patrick’s in St. Peter—it has that vibe of community coming together to do something interesting, creative, unique and, of course, public. It requires putting yourself out there, but doing it in a way that dares you to not have fun.
KMSU volunteer announcer Ronda Redmond ‘95 who plays the role of the radio announcer, says getting involved here was a no-brainer.
“It’s doing something creative for absolutely no reason other than it’s fun. It’s also really unique.”
University psychology professor Emily Stark says she got involved because she has a soft spot for the darker side of humanity. “I do think it’s fun to get scared,” she says. But she also likes the way KMSU does things to engage its listeners.
“That’s one of the most magical things KMSU does,” she says. “They’re not just outputting content; they really want to know who’s listening and who are those people and how do we create opportunities for them to come together and gather around.”
Station Manager Dwayne Megaw says producing and airing a radio drama fits perfectly with KMSU’s mission.
“We see ourselves as a creative outlet for the community,” Megaw says. “KMSU programming is diverse and the music we play is eclectic, so I believe our audience will embrace the broadcast, especially since many of the actors are also KMSU listeners.”
The radio debut of The Fountaineers’ adaptation of ‘Night Of The Living Dead’ is at 6 p.m. on Halloween night. KMSU can be heard on 89.7 on the FM dial or kmsu.org online.
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