West Coast Weekend; Swashbucklers!; Part 1

thumbnail of West Coast Weekend; Swashbucklers!; Part 1
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This record is featured in “Exploring Public Media in the Peabody Awards Collection.” This record is featured in “Peabody Awards Collection.”
Series
West Coast Weekend
Episode
Swashbucklers!
Segment
Part 1
Producing Organization
KQED-FM (Radio station : San Francisco, Calif.)
Contributing Organization
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip-526-5m6251gn2m
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Description
Episode Description
This episode features Giora Feidman talking about klezmer music, John Robert Beardsley and Richard Lane demonstrating sword fighting, Kent Nagano and George Benjamin talking about orchestral compositions, and then Charlie Haas talking about the Constitution Bicentennial. All hosted by Sedge Thomson.
Series Description
"West Coast Weekend is a weekly two-hour live radio variety broadcast, each show featuring three to four musicians or groups, a writer reading from his or her work, skits, sound experiments and sound effects, and essays, before an audience in a 200 seat theater in San Francisco's arts center Fort Mason. "The show experiments with sound and radios: A cellular telephone lent to a bird watcher who reports from a cow [pasture] and the sea side, swordfight coaches demonstrate their arts in stereo, and a mime gives triple somersault lessons. There are weekly features including, 'Dear Averill, radio advice column for the lost, the lovelorn, and those incapable of forming a cohesive foreign policy,' Sedge Thomson's essays, and the weekly spots for Fog Repellent, 'clarity in a can.' "And there are moments such as Robert Haas describing his poetry as his way of writing his way back to the mainland of clarity after being marooned on an island of images. "It is not an 'open mike' show, but a forum for performers, writers, musicians, produced as a live radio show. Engineers work with up to twelve microphones and p.a., and there are six others who work in production capacities on Saturdays, the day of the broadcast. "West Coast Weekend provides access to a radio audience of 20-30,000 each week for ensembles, soloists, composers, and writers. And the show provides the audience rare access to a live radio variety show. The producer/host is Sedge Thomson, known throughout California for his ability to draw out reticent guests. Sedge converses with the guests and leads the show through convivial and informal performance and talk. All interviews include performance or reading. "Each week's broadcast includes a mix of: Music: S.F. Baroque orchestras Classical & jazz piano Red Clay Ramblers Calif. Cajun Orch. Kronos Quartet Jazz & big bands Mandolin Quartets Synthesizers Classical guitar Harpsichords Rhos Welsh Chorus Klezmorim Sound experiments/Interviews/Readings: Sammy Cahn sings, writes on-air Swordfighters demonstrate Alice Adams reads aloud Chess grandmasters play Rare apple tasting Ian McKellan on Shakespeare A Mime teaches somersault And Play: Skits, humor, essays Musical Tributes San Francisco Detective story The Urban Geographer Live audience."--1987 Peabody awards entry form.
Broadcast Date
1987-09-12
Asset type
Episode
Media type
Sound
Duration
01:01:29.184
Credits
Director: Thomson, Sedge
Director: Overton, Sara
Executive Producer: Pierson, Carol
Host: Thomson, Sedge
Producer: Thomson, Sedge
Producer: Overton, Sara
Producing Organization: KQED-FM (Radio station : San Francisco, Calif.)
Writer: Bellingham, Bruce
Writer: Tromble, Meredith
Writer: Constanten, Tom
Writer: Thomson, Sedge
Writer: Loyd, Bonnie
AAPB Contributor Holdings
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia
Identifier: cpb-aacip-a9d76b98007 (Filename)
Format: 1/4 inch audio cassette
Duration: 1:30:00
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Citations
Chicago: “West Coast Weekend; Swashbucklers!; Part 1,” 1987-09-12, The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed June 8, 2026, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-5m6251gn2m.
MLA: “West Coast Weekend; Swashbucklers!; Part 1.” 1987-09-12. The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. June 8, 2026. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-5m6251gn2m>.
APA: West Coast Weekend; Swashbucklers!; Part 1. Boston, MA: The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-5m6251gn2m