Bits from Last Week's Radio
Encyclopedia
Bits from Last Week's Radio was a radio programme that aired from Jan 1995-July 1996. There were 24 hour-long episodes and it was broadcast on BBC Radio 1
. It starred Greg Proops
. It was written and produced by Eardrum Productions on behalf of Unique Broadcasting and recorded at The Sound Company in London by Joss Sanglier
The show was a mixture of music and sketches linked by Greg Proops
with the sketches made to sound as if they were items collected from radio shows. In reality, of course, they were parodies written and produced by the team and performed by two teams of performers. The teams were split into "The Americans" and "The British," and were recorded separately. Sketches covered subjects such as Hospital Radio, the supposed original recording of the Hindenberd Disaster, the shooting of JFK, phone in programmes, religious programmes, news programmes and more.
Although the sketches were heavily produced to be as realistic as possible, at the end of the mixing process they were then degraded to make them sound as if they were recorded by listeners, or were from a very old archive. Particular attention was paid to, for instance, if the item would have been recorded from one reporters microphone. The sketch respected this and everything was recorded using just one microphone to give the right effect.
Cast members included Keith Wickham
, Adrienne Posta
and Neil Mullarkey
style in the studio by Martin Simms (producer from Eardrum) and Joss Sanglier. This often entailed the two simply throwing themselves at cardboard boxes or beating up items of clothing. The audio was restricted to mimic the supposed reality of the sketch. As with the voice recordings, if the sketch was a lone reporter with a microphone, then all foley recordings were recorded on the same single microphone.
Once the sketches were finished and mastered, they were then degraded to more closely resemble a radio item recorded off air by a listener. This entailed frequency limiting and copying via analogue reel-to-reel tape to add tape noise and the occasional audio error.
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
. It starred Greg Proops
Greg Proops
Gregory Everett "Greg" Proops is an American actor, stand-up comedian and television host. He is widely known for his work as an improvisational comedian on the UK and U.S. versions of Whose Line Is It Anyway?...
. It was written and produced by Eardrum Productions on behalf of Unique Broadcasting and recorded at The Sound Company in London by Joss Sanglier
The show was a mixture of music and sketches linked by Greg Proops
Greg Proops
Gregory Everett "Greg" Proops is an American actor, stand-up comedian and television host. He is widely known for his work as an improvisational comedian on the UK and U.S. versions of Whose Line Is It Anyway?...
with the sketches made to sound as if they were items collected from radio shows. In reality, of course, they were parodies written and produced by the team and performed by two teams of performers. The teams were split into "The Americans" and "The British," and were recorded separately. Sketches covered subjects such as Hospital Radio, the supposed original recording of the Hindenberd Disaster, the shooting of JFK, phone in programmes, religious programmes, news programmes and more.
Although the sketches were heavily produced to be as realistic as possible, at the end of the mixing process they were then degraded to make them sound as if they were recorded by listeners, or were from a very old archive. Particular attention was paid to, for instance, if the item would have been recorded from one reporters microphone. The sketch respected this and everything was recorded using just one microphone to give the right effect.
Cast members included Keith Wickham
Keith Wickham
Keith Wickham is a British actor, comedian and voice actor.He is well known for voicing Changed Daily in The Secret Show, Mr. Small, and Mr. Tall in The Mr. Men Show , Corneil in Corneil & Bernie , Mr...
, Adrienne Posta
Adrienne Posta
Adrienne Posta is an English film and television actress and singer, prominent during the 1960s and 1970s. She adopted the surname Posta in 1966. She recorded a number of singles. She is now semi-retired and works as a teacher in the Midlands and at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts...
and Neil Mullarkey
Neil Mullarkey
Neil Mullarkey is an English actor, writer and comedian.Mullarkey studied at Robinson College, Cambridge; while he was there he was Junior Treasurer of the Cambridge Footlights in the academic year 1981 to 1982 and was president in the year ending 1983...
Cast Recordings
The Sketches (the radio excerpts) were recorded dry in a radio studio at the Sound Company in London. The recordings were recorded onto the Fostex 2000 Digital Audio Workstation. As far as was possible the sketches were recorded to fake the supposed original conditions. So, for a Studio Radio Programme, the actors were seated and typical radio microphones where used. Where the sketch was a lone reporter recording a field report, the entire sketch was recorded on a single microphone being held by the actor and in Mono. Vintage sketches used vintage Microphones. The actors were encouraged to act out the sketch physically as well as vocally to give the best sense of movement. For example, in a sketch set in the Antarctic where a blizzard blows the studio door open, the actor leapt out of his chair and fought with the real studio door.Sketch Mixing
The mixing took place in a separate session, though in the same studio. Library effects were used for the atmospheres, but many spot effects were produced FoleyFoley
-Places:United States*Foley, Alabama*Foley, Minnesota*Foley, Missouri*Foley Field, baseball stadium in Athens, Georgia*Foley Square in ManhattanCanada*Foley Island, NunavutNorthern Ireland*Foley, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh-People:...
style in the studio by Martin Simms (producer from Eardrum) and Joss Sanglier. This often entailed the two simply throwing themselves at cardboard boxes or beating up items of clothing. The audio was restricted to mimic the supposed reality of the sketch. As with the voice recordings, if the sketch was a lone reporter with a microphone, then all foley recordings were recorded on the same single microphone.
Once the sketches were finished and mastered, they were then degraded to more closely resemble a radio item recorded off air by a listener. This entailed frequency limiting and copying via analogue reel-to-reel tape to add tape noise and the occasional audio error.