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HISTORY NEWS

It's a Wonderful Life, Redux

October 2024
1min read

A new radio broadcast of the beloved Frank Capra movie is available online or by downloadable podcast.

Members gathered in the National Press Club studios to record the program. Photo by Alan Kokar.
Members of the National Press Club gathered in the club's studios to record a radio version of It’s a Wonderful Life. Photo by Alan Kotok.

American Heritage has joined the National Press Club and CBS Radio Network in sponsoring a special production of Marty Bufalini’s “It’s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Show.” The program is an adaptation of the classic story of George Bailey who, exasperated by life's challenges, wishes he'd never been born. Granted his wish by his guardian angel, George learns the positive impact that each of our lives has on so many others. 

“Strange, isn’t it? Each person’s life touches so many other lives.”
     – Clarence the Angel

The program will premiere on the Club's website www.press.org on Tuesday, December 21 at 8 pm ET, and will subsequently be available on demand. 

The cast includes many familiar voices to radio listeners across the country, including Mark Hamrick, Sam Litzinger, Dan Raviv, Debra Silimeo, Irv Chapman, Barbara Porter, and the current Press Club president, reporter and senior manager for AP Lisa Matthews. 

"It's a Wonderful Life" starring James Stewart and Donna Reed remains one of the most popular films ever made.
Frank Capra's movie It's a Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart and Donna Reed remains one of the most popular films ever made.

“Radio remains the most intimate of all media, allowing listeners to create the scenes in their own imagination as they hear the voices, sound effects, and music,” said Michael Freedman, the show’s executive producer. As a longtime general manager of CBS Radio Network News, Freedman knows a thing about the unique advantages that radio can offer.

“We’re delighted that American Heritage is offering the program to its subscribers and CBS Radio Network is sending it out to its 500-plus affiliates nationwide, in addition to its availability through the National Press Club,” says Freedman.
  
The program is directed by Marty Bufalini and P. Scott Graham, who also produced it. The engineer is Randy Hall. Original sound effects have been provided by Dante Bufalini. 

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