KFAI 90.3 FM
Sound Affects: A Radio Playground

SOUND AFFECTS: A broadcast of modern audio theater, comedy and the audio arts, on community radio in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

AUDIO THEATER: It used to be called Radio Drama, but it’s not on the radio all that much anymore, and i’s not always drama - could be comedy.

Each week on Sound Affects we bring you the best audio theater being made today, with occasional references to radio drama from the Golden Age of Radio. We’ll offer up science fiction, horror, mystery, comics, musicals and even the occasional Western. We’ll tell you about the people who made them and where you can find more on the Internet. Short sketches, novel-length series, and everything in between. All chosen from the best available from around the world, and some even produced right here in Minnesota. We’ve been hosting this show for 30 years now, since January of 1994, and I’ll keep at it as long as they let me.

All shows on KFAI are streamed live on www.kfai.org. And all shows are kept in the Archives for two weeks after their broadcast, so you can pick up ones you missed. On this website you’ll find a schedule of what we plan to air in the near future, and a page of links to audio theater on the Internet. (See navigation buttons at the top of the page.)

If there’s something that you’d like to hear played on the air here, please let me know. Remember that I am unable to use anything from the BBC or Canadian Public Radio because of their contracts. Otherwise, if I can find it, I’ll consider it.

Jerry Stearns, Host of Sound Affects
I’m your host and producer, Jerry Stearns. I’ve been volunteering here at KFAI for over 44 years. During that time I’ve also been on the staff of the National Audio Theatre Workshops, and been Executive Producer for the Twin Cities Audio Theater Workshop and the 2004 TC Audio Theatre Producers Conference. I was the coordinator for the annual Mark Time Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy Audio, and producer of the Mark Time Radio Show for 19 years at Convergence, a local science fiction convention. And in between I train new volunteers at KFAI how to operate the equipment so they can bring you all the many kinds of music and public affairs that community radio has to offer. (Photo by Jean Hanchett)



Producers, if you have something that you think would fit on Sound Affects, please let me know. I am always happy to listen to submissions and consider them for airing. Reasons I might not accept them might include: FCC Language issues; low writing, performance, production or recording values; scenes or subject matter too rough for radio; or too much narration and not enough Full Cast performance, making it more of an audiobook than audio theater. I like to feature local productions, and originality counts. You can let me know where to download a file, or you can send me a CD at:

Sound Affects
KFAI Box 42
1808 Riverside Avenue, 3rd Floor
Minneapolis, MN 55454


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KFAI is a non-commercial FM radio station operating on 90.3 MHz in Minneapolis and St Paul. KFAI is governed by a volunteer community board of directors, managed by a small paid full time and part time staff, and operated by a volunteer staff of over 400. The station produces programs in a wide variety of musical styles, and includes cultural programming in 12 languages for the many communities in the Twin Cities area. KFAI has been broadcasting since 1978 with major signal expansions in 1982, 1994 and in 2008 to its current level of 900 watts.