Radio Skits for High Schools

Radio has already become a vital force in our modern education. From childhood to manhood, the average boy and girl are exposed to all types of radio programs. The producers and directors of network shows have discovered that radio has unlimited possibilities in beneficial service to mankind. The public schools have realized the value of many of the scientific, literary, historical and musical programs. Many schools have offered certain broadcasts during class hours so as to give the students a more realistic presentation of the subject matter. Much of this valuable information can be directly correlated with the present high school curriculum. Just as visual education through motion pictures has increased memory retention for students, so radio has become a vital technique in education. The incentive for compiling the radio scripts in this book was given while teaching a radio broadcasting class at Northern High School in Flint, Michigan. The book itself is the result of a number of years' experience in teaching script writing to senior high school students. The chief objective of our course was to create and dramatize our own plays. First, the students brought in ideas for plays, preferably with themes. These were criticized by the class, and suggestions for changes were offered. After the first rough copy was written, we orally discussed, revised, and corrected each script before we made a final typewritten copy for presentation. All this work took several weeks. We then had enough scripts typed for the entire cast, director, sound effects crew, musical director, and radio control operator. After a week or two of class rehearsals we were ready to produce the play over the public address system for the entire school. Each skit has enough humor to put the lesson across without the appearance of a sermon; consequently, they can be used as social guidance lessons for junior or senior high school. A minimum amount of time is necessary for rehearsal, and the sound effects are easily constructed, which make the playlets very adaptable to the average high school public address equipment. The plays were very well received by the faculty and student body. Knowing that many of the public schools are introducing radio broadcasting as a regular speech course, and realizing that there is a scarcity of suitable script material, I have collected a number of scripts which may be of some service to other schools. - Introduction.