Radio Free Roscoe

Radio Free Roscoe is a teen comedy-drama television series. The series was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, and produced by Decode Entertainment. It first aired on August 1, 2003, on Family Channel in Canada. It has also been dubbed in French (as required for Canadian federally funded TV shows) in the province of Quebec and aired on Vrak. The show was later aired on U.S. network Noggin's teen block, The N, where the show received funding for a second season. The series ended on May 27, 2005, because The N decided to stop funding the show, and Family, along with Decode Entertainment, could not fill the gap in the production budget. The show was shown on Family until 2007, when it was replaced. In early 2008, The N began rebroadcasting reruns. As of 2019, episodes could still be found on the Canadian station WildBrainTV.

Radio Free Roscoe
GenreTeen drama
Comedy drama
Created byWill McRobb
Douglas McRobb
Starring
Theme music composerJono Grant
Opening theme"Radio Free Roscoe Theme"
Ending theme"Radio Free Roscoe Theme"
(Instrumental) (some episodes)
ComposerJono Grant
Country of origin
  • Canada
  • United States[1]
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Steven DeNure
  • Neil Court
  • Beth Stevenson
  • Will McRobb (S1, S3-4)
  • Douglas McRobb
ProducersJohn A. Delmage
Brent Piaskoski (supervising)
Production locationsToronto, Ontario
Nutley, New Jersey (pilot)[2]
CinematographyGeorge Hosek
Editors
  • Richard Wells (S1)
  • Mark Sanders (S2-3)
  • Richard Wells (S4)
Running time20–22 minutes
Production companyDecode Entertainment
Release
Original networkFamily Channel (Canada)
Noggin (The N block; U.S.)
Original releaseAugust 1, 2003 (2003-08-01) –
May 25, 2005 (2005-05-25)

The pilot was first filmed in New Jersey, with an entirely different cast. At that time, the show was going to be based in Nutley, New Jersey and was to be titled Radio Free Nutley.[2] The show was never picked up. Decode Entertainment later decided to move production to Toronto and change the cast and title of the show, leading to the show's production and broadcasting.

Premise

Four teens in the suburban New Jersey town of Roscoe start attending Henry Roscoe High School. There, they are fed up with their school's radio station, "Cougar Radio", dictating unto the masses how to live, plus the rather overbearing Principal Waller, who seems to favour the popular students, so they create their own pirate radio station called Radio Free Roscoe. Lily Randall, Ray Brennan and Robbie McGrath are old friends, and find a friend in Travis Strong when they form the radio station. Each of them assume a radio alias to conceal their identity.

In their time at Roscoe High, the four friends confront various challenges, such as relationships between the members of RFR and their schoolmates, as well as managing their pirate radio station with their regular lives.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Note: each member of Radio Free Roscoe assumes a pseudonym for broadcasting the radio show, allowing them to remain anonymous and thus prevent the administration from shutting the show down (pseudonym given in quotation marks).

  • Ray "Pronto" Brennan – Al Mukadam
  • Robbie "Question Mark" McGrath – Nathan Stephenson
  • Lily "Shady Lane" Randall – Kate Todd
  • Travis "Smog" Strong / Miss Communication – Nathan Carter

Supporting cast

The final two episodes of the series ("Dance Around the Truth" and "The Last Dance") included all of the main and supporting cast, excluding Bridget (although she is mentioned) and Audrey.

All members of RFR have been, at some point, part of Cougar Radio. Travis considered joining in Episode One. Ray joined Cougar Radio because he didn't like concealing himself behind his persona "Pronto". Kim Carlisle convinced Robbie to join. Lily joined River Pierce to get air time for her band. Regardless of the rational basis, none of the RFR members departs permanently.

Guest stars

Episodes
Main article: List of Radio Free Roscoe episodes

There are a total of 52 episodes. On Family, the episodes aired as two seasons, and on The N the episodes aired as four seasons, although both channels have aired all 52 episodes.

Media releases

There are two official Radio Free Roscoe products.

  • Radio Free Roscoe: Season One - Greatest Hits – DVD compilation, VSC Corporation (Video Services Corp.)
  • Radio Free Roscoe, Volume 1 – CD compilation

Awards and nominations

Awards
  • 2004 New York Festivals:
    • World Medal (Silver) for Television Programming & Promotion – Teen Programs (ages 13–17).
  • 2005 Gemini Awards:
    • Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series: Radio Free Roscoe (p. Steven Denure, Neil Court, John Delmage, Douglas McRobb, Will McRobb, Brent Piaskoski, Beth Stevenson. Decode Entertainment Inc.)

Nominations
  • 2004 Young Artists Awards
    • Nominated David Rendall (Radio Free Roscoe) for Best Performance in a Television Series, Recurring Young Actor.
  • 2004 Parents' Foundation Parents' Choice Awards:
    • Recommended Television Series Winner: Radio Free Roscoe.
  • 2004 Gemini Awards Nominations:
    • Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series: Radio Free Roscoe (p. Steven Denure, Neil Court, John Delmage, Douglas McRobb, Will McRobb, Brent Piaskoski, Beth Stevenson. Decode Entertainment Inc.)
    • Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series: Ali Mukaddam (for "The Awful Truth").
    • Best Sound in a Dramatic Series: Radio Free Roscoe – Justin Drury and Ric Jurgens (for "There Will Be No Encore Tonight")

International syndication

RFR is currently in syndication on these stations:

Country/Region Channel
 Australia ABC (now moved to ABC2)
  Latin America Boomerang
 United States The N (block on Noggin)
 Poland TVP2
 Russia Teen TV
 Italy Rai Gulp and Rai 2
 Canada
 Portugal Panda Biggs

RFR was formerly syndicated on these stations:

Country/Region Channel Language
Canada Canada VRAK.TV French
Brazil Brazil Boomerang Brazilian Portuguese
Poland Poland ZigZap Polish
United Kingdom United Kingdom Nickelodeon English
France France France 2 and Canal J French
Finland Finland YLE TV2 English (with Finnish subtitles)
 Israel Arutz HaYeladim English (with Hebrew subtitles)

References
  1. "Radio Free Roscoe (2003)". Allmovie.
  2. Christie, Jocelyn. "The Name Game: Deconstructing the fine art of kids show titling" (PDF). Kidscreen. Brunico Communications. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-16. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  3. "Radio Free Roscoe". chrgd.ca. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
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