SEQUIM — The radio drama “Adrian Cross, For Hire” is a little late, but it will be on the air.
“Adrian Cross, For Hire — The Schooner Mystic Rose” will premier on the nonprofit Sequim radio station KSQM FM 91.5 at 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, said Shelley Taylor, spokeswoman for the production.
The one-hour drama — an original, locally produced show — had been scheduled to air Dec. 7.
It didn’t because editing, music and sound effects took longer than anticipated, said Taylor, who also plays Christine Hale, Cross’ love interest, in the show.
It will be worth the wait, Taylor said.
“They were making sure the finishing touches were just perfect,” she said.
“This is a high-end production.”
Dungeness-area resident John Grissim wrote and directed the old-time radio drama.
He described the show’s protagonist, Cross, as an adventurous, self-reliant loner and a slightly jaded romantic.
Cross lives aboard an aging cabin cruiser in Sequim’s John Wayne Marina and “scrapes by as a yacht surveyor, charter captain, hull cleaner, salvage consultant, boat repo man — anything more or less legal — and regularly crosses paths with Sequim’s police chief, with whom he has a flinty relationship,” Grissim has said.
The score was written by Adam Stern, who conducts the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra.
Stern led a six-piece ensemble on the Port Angeles High School auditorium stage in November and recorded the soundtrack.
Sound effects are authentic, Taylor said.
“They were going out in a boat to get the sound of water lapping,” Taylor said as an example.
Grissim interviewed and wrote about rock and country artists such as the Grateful Dead and Johnny Cash for Rolling Stone magazine in San Francisco in the 1960s and ’70s. He also is a former editor for Surfing magazine in Australia.
This is Grissim’s first radio script.
Ron Graham portrays Cross. In addition to Taylor, listeners will hear announcer Steve Berg, Jim Dries as Preston Hale, Graham Reaves as E. Danforth Hale, Chandler Wendenborn as Mitchell Hodder,Ric Munhall as Audie Chambliss, Ric Munhall as Roscoe the Parrot and Frank Romeo as LeRoy Purvis.
And they will hear Sheri Burke as Sgt. Jennings, Jim Weldon as Chief Callaham, Greg Madsen as Nelson Paul, Erika Van Calcar as the Coast Guard dispatcher, Ian Scott as the Coast Guard pilot and Mike Bunnell as Tyler at the fuel dock.
A “mingle with the cast” fundraising party is planned from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, Taylor said.
The venue will be announced later, as will ticket prices, though Taylor said the cost will be reasonable.
Those who attend will not only meet Grissim and the cast members, but also will be treated to a full-length preview of the radio show.
The show also can be heard on the Internet at the KSQM website and will be rebroadcast on as-yet-undetermined dates after the premiere.
January’s show is expected to be only the first installment in the Adrian Cross series.
“It is the first of hopefully many others,” Taylor said.
For more information, visit KSQM’s website at www.ksqmfm.com, e-mail the station at radio@ksqmfm.com or phone 360-681-0000.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsula dailynews.com.
