RADIO
THEATRE
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(Since July 1, 1996)
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Charlie Matkin Peter Gabb President Vice President
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Connie Quave Paul Yacich Secretary/Treasurer Artistic Director
There are numerous kindred spirits who are interested in Old Time Radio and Radio Theater in particular. To mention just a few: Radio Theater groups in Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. These, in addition to colleges, universities and just groups of fans around the world. You may access many of these by clicking on "Related Web Pages" at the bottom of this page. Updated: September 8, 1999 The board of Directors of New Orleans Radio Theatre, Inc. recently voted
to end the project to create a Radio & TV museum in the New Orleans
area at this time. As of August 11, 1999, the board of directors
of the Broadcast Arts Museum of Greater New Orleans was dissolved
and the whole project halted.
There have now been a couple of developments : we got an extension
on the storage space (and a few hundred feet more), AND: we have been
tentatively offered an HISTORIC building for the
museum!!! We will have to raise the funds to BUY it,
but with the historic designation, it should prove
easier.
I feel like the patient on the operating table whose
heart almost stops... Then he gets the electric shock
and is brought back to life.
We have now reinstituted the board of directors
with some new blood as well as those who took part
before.
Waldemar Nelson had graciously donated several hundred square feet of storage
space through the end of September. I had hoped to be
able to acquire funds to not only continue to rent that area, but to expand to
another larger room. We have been asked to move the larger equipment
from the bank building at Lee Circle which the UNO foundation let
us use for the past several months. As we had nowhere to move to,
that equipment (which we spent two years acquiring) would have to be
disposed of.
Don Cooper, Executive Director of the GNO Broadcasters Association
says that they are not in the museum business and they do not have
the funds to give us what we need for storage. The offer of a few
hundred dollars to move the equipment we have collected was not
sufficient to pursue the matter further. I had asked Don to take 20
minutes to look at the collection so that he could have an idea of our
problem, but he was very busy putting together the annual awards banquet and
did not take me up on my request.
We had been asked to have a display at the recent Hall of Fame banquet,
but I was unable to get someone to help me put it together. Rather
than have a less than professional representation, I decided not to do it.
When we moved out of the Canizaro warehouse in January we were able
to secure temporary space from the Whitney Bank and the UNO Foundation
(at Lee Circle). Now, both the Whitney and UNO have told us they
need the space and we must vacate. Waldemar Nelson has provided
us with space for a short period, but would require rent payments in the
near future.
In the more than two years that we have been attempting to establish
a Radio & TV Museum, we have been unable to generate any funding
for the project. Requests for assistance and/or joint ventures
were turned down by the Greater New Orleans Broadcasters Association,
the Historic New Orleans Collection, the Louisiana State Museum
(Old Mint), D-Day Museum, Kenner Museum complex, New Orleans Museum
of Art and the University of New Orleans. Grant requests were made to
both the Manship and E.J. Ourso Foundations without success.
Everyone who has reviewed our proposal for a Radio and TV museum has
agreed to its long range value, but to date none have provided more
direct help. Therefore, we did dissolve the board with the idea of
halting the entire project. I very much regretted that it had come to
this, but without funding assistance, it would be impossible to
continue.
I'm sure you can appreciate what it is like to try to run a business
while pulling all the strings necessary to create the museum. This
has taken better than two years of my life, when a lot is going
on in other areas. I wish there were someone else to take over from
me, but there apparently is not. The Old Mint location is not now available, as I had hoped, and
we cannot afford to keep the storage space we are now using. No
one from the University of New Orleans has ever responded to my request for a
meeting to discuss a joint venture. Therefore, my last hope lay
with the Historic New Orleans Collection. They have a building near
the convention center which might have been available. Since it
is not, it would have been necessary to return the memorabilia to those
who have donated items and sell what we could of the vintage equipment
to reimburse the expenses that have been incurred so far. Any excess
would then go into the account of non-profit New Orleans Radio Theatre,Inc.
Stay tuned.
Charlie Matkin, President
New Orleans Radio Theatre, Inc.
cdm01@gnofn.org
Personel Program Listings History "The Monkey's Paw" Charlie Matkin Paul Yacich Related Web Pages YesterdayUSA 
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