“Presenting for the first time on radio, the amazing interplanetary adventures of Flash Gordon and Dale Arden.”
In a recent graduate course for Webster University (MEDC 5331: Communication Production Tools: Video) I was looking to create an experience for the students that would allow for a fun yet practical hands on in-class exercise that would allow them to practice recording high quality audio. This exercise would give the students the experience recording audio in a guided low stake environment where failure or technical issues can be addressed. What I developed was a quickfire based on recording an oldtimey radio show, from pre-television days. This in class activity served as an active learning experience in which students needed to move quickly to organize radio performance parts, and discuss and plan out how they would record this performance all within two hours.
Students rose to the challenge of this in-class assignment to recreate the 1935 radio performance of Flash Gordon “On the Planet Mongo”. This rendition of Flash Gordon Ep1 On the Planet Mongo was performed by Webster University Leiden Media Communication Students as part of a learning exercise on script reading and audio production. This recording is from the original script that aired on April 27th, 1935.