Radio College | Reading Room: Articles

Write Regional

by Brian Price

We live in a transient, homogenous, mall-infested global village.

Still, one of the first questions we ask when we meet someone is..."Where you from?"

We ask because it makes a difference. The place or places we're from shape our opinions, our outlooks, and our considerations. Knowing where another person is from can provide us with insights about them and maybe even about ourselves.

Radio, especially community-based radio, is one of the last sectors of the mass media that's still locally-based. There's still a chance that a station in northern California won't sound exactly like a station in northern Florida--no matter how hard they try. And that's wonderful!

As a radio theater writer, I say, "Use your sense of place." Use the fact that your listeners know where they are, and maybe even like it. Use it to your advantage. Use it in any broadcast, but especially in radio theater. Name names. Name street corners. Park your characters right there in your own backyard. Poke fun at the folks next door (they probably deserve it). Make your world the center of the universe.

Garrison Keillor is a master at regionalism. Lake Wobegon has become a very real, very popular place because it's a place that Keillor knows, populated with people he knows. It's a place he can leave and always come back to. It's specific. A listener doesn't have to be from there to understand it, but they have to know where it is.

I was born and raised in Arlington, Va.--one of the most transient places on earth. I saw 'em come, I saw 'em go. I then spent (you could say "mis-spent") a year in New England. I crossed the Mississippi and lived in Missouri. I've been in Iowa for the past six years. Each place sounded different, was different. But they all affected me. Like so many, I'm an American Mutt, and proud of it.

But, now I can tell you, with authority, that if you want good barbecue, go to Kansas City. If you want good bluegrass, go to D.C., and if you want to be disappointed, go to Des Moines. Now, that may sound unfair to Des Moines, but I'm allowed to say it. I've been there.

So, pick your spot and make up your stories and make your observations. Every radio station, every theater group, should have their own Lake Wobegon. Heck, why not? There are plenty of lakes out there.

Brian Price is a writer, independent producer and past coordinator of the Midwest Radio Theater Workshop's Technical Assistance Project. In 1995 he co-wrote, directed and produced "Tumbleweed Roundup." Price is affiliated with The National Audio Theatre Festivals.