ARTC Election 2019 Campaign Speech Thomas Cage

Ladies and Gentlemen of ARTC:

Let me begin by saying how much I love being a member of The Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. ARTC brings together two of my favorite forms of performance, live theatre and radio. The people in the company are amazing human beings with so much talent and heart made formidable by their skills and desire to push the envelopes of audio drama.

I have been a very active member of ARTC of the past 2 years as of February 2020 and I have been in nearly every live production, missing only 3 during this time (two because they were in conflict with other ARTC productions and one because of family holidays. I am currently a member of the Strategic Planning Committee.

What I would bring to the ARTC Board is something that has been identified by the Strategic Planning Committee as lacking in our organization – an understanding and ability to guide a program to making itself financially self reliant with outreach to a funding community, and to consistently marketing itself to gain larger and more involved audiences.

I have been involved in radio in Atlanta for the past 20 years, as a promoter, board operator and technician for WGST AM, a board operator, producer (both in studio and field), director and on-air host for WKLS-FM, News Anchor and weekend host of WSB-AM/FM, and as the host of my own nationally syndicated weekly radio program, Swing Shift Radio. I produced and hosted the “Living Room Radio” series along with Nashville based performer and owner of Blue Light Studio, Brian Collins. LLR was a live concert program that brought local and regional singers and musicians to a local venue, interviewed them and showcased their skills. I have been involved in the education of radio programming, production, performance and promotion as a teacher and then director of The Atlanta Broadcast Institute and with the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. I have taught programming, production and performance as a guest lecturer for Kennesaw State University and at The University of West Georgia, where I helped to design and build the WUWG radio station and online Wolf Internet Radio.

I have been performing in theatre for the majority of my adult life, aside from ARTC shows, my most recent performances include playing at The Strand in Marietta in their recreations of the Lone Ranger and The Shadow in the spring of 2019. As the host of “Cocktails and Karaoke” I have won the “Best Of Cherokee County” for 3 years running (2015-17) in the Cherokee and Canton Life magazines, and been nominated by Atlanta Magazine as one of the top 100 events 6 times over the course of 8 years – twice during 2017).

My vision for ARTC is the keep the welcoming “family/community feel” of the rehearsals and performances – that should never change as that is one of our greatest strengths – however we must change how we do our business at large. The Company needs to focus on branding, marketing, and creating more outlets for our products, to get our voices heard in as many places and in as many formats as feasible. We currently have only one podcast, Mercury: A Broadcast of Hope. It is an excellent program, but it is alone in the electronic sea. It needs other ARTC programs to keep it company. We have a restrictive contract with Audible that keeps us from expanding our potential streaming and podcast audiences. This must be addressed to create revenue streams that benefit ARTC as well as our retail partners. We also must find innovative ways of funding our dreams to create a safe recording space that is accessible with parking and with our mobility impaired members in mind. We need to reach out to potential donors and funding partners, both large and small side, and show them why we are worthy of their patronage.

ARTC creates award winning level art, and we should find ways to become more acknowledged by organizations that recognize our skills and talents. Marketing our programs and recordings will go a very long way to gaining us the awards that leads to donors and grants that would fulfill our mission – to create original audio dramatic art and educate the world about its unique history and future with the expansion of technologies at our disposal.

I am asking for your consideration to be a member of the Board of Directors for ARTC. I want nothing more than to help bring about another 35 years of our Company. Thank you, Thomas Cage.