Zane Trace Players’ show radio’s glory years

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The saying goes that video killed the radio star. However, the Zane Trace Players will be putting on a show that recalls the glory years of radio.

Next Friday they will put on their yearly dinner theater at the Salvation Army. This year’s show is called ‘Raised on Radio’ and focuses on how radio dominated the way Americans received their information and entertainment from the 1930s through the late 40s.

George Patterson is the organizer for the dinner theater for the Zane Trace Players. He said the show focuses on the fictitious radio station WSAL and they will have a jazz band that plays Glenn Miller, Abbott and Costello bits, and show how people received news about the War.

“We’re looking at the days back before televisions and internet and social media. That is where people got their entertainment, their news. And we thought it would be really great to revisit this and look at the music that shaped our county back then. The events and the people,” said Patterson.

The dinner theater is Sept. 9 and doors open at 6 p.m. at the Salvation Army on Putnam Avenue. Patterson said that the radio and this time period is something that interested him greatly.

“Without disclosing my age I was raised on radio. Not back in this particular time, but I remember a time when if you wanted to hear music, you didn’t go to a device and download an MP3. It wasn’t on demand as the world is today,” said Patterson. “There would be a song that I liked and I would sit there and listen to the radio for 3 of 4 hours.”

Tickets are $30 for a single ticket, $50 for a couple, or $200 for a table of 8. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Salvation Army at (740) 452-8350.