http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yw6k9
Editor's note: a live experiment is planned this weekend to hear the microphones made famous once more in 'The King's Speech.' As the film world prepares for the Academy Awards, the film starring Colin Firth as George VI is among those tipped for success. "Broadcasting House" is working with the custodian of the 1937 Coronation Microphone to plug it into the transmitters once again, live. The experiment will be the first live use of the devices that anyone here can remember. There is just one thing missing, and BH presenter, Paddy O'Connell, who took the small photo of the mic itself, explains here what it is - SB.

So we're ready to go. We've got the green light to turn on the 1930s era microphone, the two million modern day BH listeners will be poised by their receivers, and waiting for two important moments. One, the red light, and the answer to the question; will the old thing work? (The microphone, not the presenter). Then the second question, what on earth are they going to say on it. In this blog posting, we're all ears. The team is divided between those who favour a modern material the editor) and those who favour 1930's or even more ancient material. As you sit there reading this, do you have any advice, ideas or comments for us? Type them in triplicate using carbon paper and post them first class, in the style of the 1930s, or tap them here beneath, whilst multi-tasking, in the modern way.

Paddy O'Connell presents Broadcasting House on Radio 4

• Listen to Broadcasting House at 0900 tomorrow or for seven days after that on the Radio 4 web site.
• The black & white picture shows George VI using other specially made microphones at Buckingham Palace in 1937. It's from the BBC's picture archive.
• Podcast: download Broadcasting House to listen to whenever you want, on your computer or MP3 player and follow Paddy on Twitter.
• There are more pictures of King George VI at the BBC on Flickr.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tmlh6

Editor's note: Marc Beeby is Co-Producer of Radio 4's dark, myth-inspired drama series Pilgrim. He's keeping a production diary. Here's part two - SB.

We begin the recording of episode 2. This is a very different world from episode one - more urban, more obviously modern, touching on concerns like consumerism and absurd wealth. So the sound is different. The language and the acting are edgier, there's a lot more traffic in the mix. It's great fun catching up with some really contemporary music to include in the programme. Looks like Lady Gaga, Jamie T and Regina Spektor will all make the final cut. A thousand year-old hero does battle with Lady Gaga. Only one winner.

We've got three really good young actors in this episode: Stuart McLoughlin, Sam Alexander and Iain Batchelor. Stuart is playing the King of the Greyfolk's son who, before he discovered his power, thought he was a postman called Ray Norris. So he's got a pretty big journey - from decent ordinary Ray, to psychotic stock-broking faerie. It's a tricky acting task. The hard bit is not overplaying the madness of the character. Somehow he manages to be thoroughly unpleasant and to make us laugh a lot.

There is a great showdown towards the end of the play. Pilgrim confronts Ray in an enormous crumbling hotel. To do this, we open up all the partitions in the studio to make one huge room. Pete Ringrose, our Studio manager, then puts up 5 microphones at different points which means that the actors can use the whole space. Pete's fingers fly over the fader controls as he attempts to get the balance right. It's a great moment. The acoustic sounds fantastic. Sam Dale, playing Ray's foster father is really moving in this scene, and Paul Hilton has a speech which made me think for a moment that the reason he's so good in the part is because he really is 900 years old.

Marc Beeby is Co-Producer of Pilgrim

• Listen to episode two of Pilgrim, series two, this afternoon at 1415 and, for seven days afterwards, on the Radio 4 web site.
• Read Marc's blog post about Pilgrim, episode one and all the posts about the series.
• Jessica Dromgoole, who co-produced Pilgrim, has written for the Radio 4 blog before.
• Marc Beeby made a lovely video to promote the series which you can see on the Radio 4 Facebook page.
• The picture shows the Ruined Overlook Mountain Hotel in Woodstock, New York. It's by Miss K and is used under licence.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s0ygj

Could we do a horror on radio? Could we horrify people? Not an atmospheric, gothic spook with resonant chords and the whiff of damp tweed, but something actually scary. Something to make the audience squelch. That was the ambition.

There's a mantra in Hollywood that to be effective, a screenplay has to make your organs squelch three times while reading it. For organs read tear ducts, stomach, heart, bowels, the skin on the back of your neck, throat, toes... whatever. Are you literally physically moved by the writing? And if not, it's not ready.

Reading the final script of We Outnumber You (Friday Play, 2100 23 April) gave me a rare workout in squelching. It also reads like a list of fantastic challenges. Here are just a few, and how we achieved them.

A man, wearing a microphone, walks into a jackal enclosure at the zoo, and is attacked, killed and eaten by jackals, while an attendant crowd take pictures. Layer upon layer of sound went into this. The actor, Luke Treadaway, played it for real on his own in studio. The spot studio manager (who helps us record live effects), simultaneously chomped down on some melon very close to another mic. Separately we recorded the crowd, first screaming then stunned. We begged recordings of jackals off the Natural History Unit in Bristol, which we layered into the sound picture, together with some dog, and then degraded the whole edit to give the effect of a mashed up piece of equipment. All this work, and then the truly effective moment comes during the silence after the microphone goes dead.

A stampede of hippos that run down a crowd of visitors. Agitated hippos faithfully recorded sound remarkably - and disappointingly - like Denis Healey laughing, so that was out. However, we did find that hippos on tarmac sound very like horses on turf, slowed down, and pitch-changed, with added grunting from a mix of bear, pig and lion. And the actors did the rest, some of them running away, three of them staying and being crushed and one, the character whose foot is bitten off, holding the microphone.

A helicopter issuing a live news report crashes into an enormous bird sanctuary. Michael Shelford, the actor playing the reporter inside the helicopter, had to imagine the level of sound he was working against, and yelled his lines into the microphone. Behind him, we used the effect of a functioning light helicopter, which we then mixed with tearing metal, and a malfunctioning washing machine, and added an alarm clock (persistently and gratuitously warning the occupants something might have gone wrong). As the helicopter crashes through the enormous aviary cage, more metal tears, branches crack, wings flurry, and a cacophony of panicked bird cries add to the chaos, gradually trailing off as they all fly free, leaving only the burning of the wreckage.

A camera, set to record, is dropped fifty metres through foliage. The spot studio manager took a deep breath and blew steadily onto the mic, which after 'freefalling' for a second or two, was then hit from both sides by branches, before being dropped onto the ground, during which activity the actor - Ben Crowe - retreated silently to the other end of the studio sound trap so that his next line could sound fifty metres away.

And the hardest of all - a group of primary school children are crying. Weirdly the hardest sound to get right. It's easy to imagine children crying for attention, or crying with pain, but crying together from fear is so difficult to put your finger on. There are some stored recordings of children crying, little electronic pockets of misery on a hard drive, but they're the tears of children whose parents appear to be recording them when they should be comforting them, and not quite right. The Stalisfield Youth Theatre, in Kent, offered to cry for us. And scream. And stampede. And imitate monkeys. They were so great at screaming. Brilliant at stampeding past the microphone in mock panic. Hilarious monkey impersonators. But it took thirty attempts to get them crying right. Take after take foundered on 'boo-hoo'ing, on over-sniffing, on wailing, but mainly on giggling, and with each attempt the children became more and more miserable, understandably. And by the time they went home, they were utterly disconsolate.

So. We hope you squelch.

Jessica Dromgoole is Director of We Outnumber You

• We Outnumber You is on BBC Radio 4 at 2100 tonight (23 April 2010).
• Picture by Bartek Kucharczyk. Used under licence.

This week in deepest, darkest Glasgow I've had the great pleasure of producing the 3rd series of corner shop comedy 'Fags, Mags & Bags' for BBC Radio 4. (Let's get the plugs in early, lead character Ramesh would expect nothing less! Starts Wednesday 10th February at 1130)

Myself and the writers Donny Mcleary and Sanjeev Kohli have always been keen to explore multimedia and social networking to reach the widest possible audience for the show and for fans to interact with the programme online. We produced two YouTube clips last time round to promote the show, and for this new series I thought it would be interesting to give fans a peek into the backshop of 'Fags, Mags & Bags'. Across our Facebook page and my Twitter account we've been posting pics in real-time from the studio, offering little insights and exclusives into the recording process, and providing unsubstantiated gossip about cast members. Fans of the show have really gone for it and I think we've added about 100 fans since the start of the week so it's also helping create a buzz about the show ahead of transmission.

I have to say we're as proud of our Facebook page as Ramesh is of his Wall of Crisps or indeed his unrivalled selection of part-work magazines. We've had the page from the very first series and it now boasts over 600 members and effectively charts the evolution of the show with pics and content from all the series recordings. It keeps the show alive when it's not on-air, and allows fans to chat directly to Donny and Sanj as well as show off their encyclopaedic knowledge of the show. (Who would have thought that Chutney Windmills and the Lembit Opik Pitta Heater would have entered the British consciousness?)

As for the recording, well, doing it in early January in the middle the worst winter for over 30 years has not gone without its challenges. Thankfully actors are a hardy bunch. If you book them, they will come. In 'Fags, Mags & Bags' we've put together a great core cast who not only bring their great acting abilities but their bonhomie and ready wit to the proceedings which adds to a great atmosphere in the studio. From a producer's point of view this is priceless as that energy and enthusiasm really comes through in the recording.

To mix things up and bring something new to an episode we also like to invite along special guest stars. In series one we had The Fonejacker Kayvan Novak, in series two Eastenders star Nina Wadia made a stunning appearance, and this year we've had the great pleasure of welcoming Ron Donachie (Titanic) and the one and only Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Who 7) along to the studio. Writer Donny was particularly excited about working with Sylvester as he's a huge Doctor Who fan, and watch out for an inadvertent joke about David Tenant in that episode, a very funny and happy accident!

Now for a week of editing and artificially creating the soundscape of shop. My best FX of last year was creating the sound of a Chup-a-Chups lollipop display crashing to the floor using a broom and lots of pen tops. As Ramesh would no doubt say, "it was both amazing and great".

Chris Beattie is producer of Fags, Mags and Bags. He's on Twitter

• The Fags, Mags & Bags Facebook page has 625 fans and plenty of behind-the-scenes insights from the shop.
• Watch the 'shopumentary' and lots of other Fags videos on YouTube.
• Gus took the picture in the studio. There's another picture here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pkv20

I have only done a few radio plays and still feel very much like a novice but I have to say all my experiences so far in the recording studio have been thoroughly enjoyable.

I think the reason I enjoy it so much is because you aren't being watched. The director, producers and sound engineer are in a separate room, listening to you so they aren't scrutinising your every movement. You don't have to worry about your appearance, or learn your lines (always a bonus).

There is still a lot of interaction between you and the other actors and you record in a large room, divided into different areas e.g. kitchen, bedroom, staircase. It almost feels like you are in a giant dollshouse and this only adds to the feeling of 'playing' which gives such a sense of freedom when you are performing. I always thought that the sound effects would be added on in the editing process but you are often provided with personal props that are used during the scene e.g. the office characters in, 'Weird Tales' where all provided with mugs of coffee to drink while gossiping during our first scene.

It was great to be involved in, 'Weird Tales' because there was real scope to play around with the characters and have fun due to the comic elements and the slightly fantastical nature of the script. I had talked to Luke beforehand and we discussed the idea of the three office workers being similar to the three witches in, 'Macbeth'. They huddle around the water cooler gossiping, talking about future predictions and cackling amongst themselves. During my time as an office temp, I have met some great characters and I wanted to draw on these memories when creating the character of Louise. She is the mother hen of the office, dominant and protective over her clique, but with a naughty sense of humour. I was also aware that they had to be believable characters so I had to reign it in so as not to make her too much of a,'grotesque'.

We began the day with a read-through, which is an opportunity to hear the play 'lift' off the page as you hear each actor's interpretation of his or her character. It was lovely to hear the comedy in the piece combined with the spookiness as the story reaches its climax.

I had a bit of a break before I recorded my scenes so I decided to sit in the recording booth and have a listen. It's a great way to pick up tips as you hear the director give notes to the actors and watch the sound engineers play around with the different sounds. At one point a note was given to one of the actors to smile during a particular line and you could really hear the difference it made to the tone of the delivery.

Then it was my turn! It all went very well. There are always minor problems to work through, e.g. you all have to be close enough to the microphone and if there are a few actors in the scene, the logistics of who stands where and when have to be worked through. You generally get a chance to have a quick rehearsal before recording and after each take; Luke would come into the studio and give us any notes. We then wait for the green light and go for it (whilst trying not to rustle the pages of your script as you turn the page).

I always feel like I come away from doing a radio play having learnt so much about the different techniques involved. Can't wait to hear the finished result!

Emma Stansfield is an actor

• We'll publish a third blog post to coincide with episode three of this short series next week. Bookmark this page for all three Weird Tales blog posts.
• Listen to episode two of Weird Tales tonight at 2300 (and on the Radio 4 web site for seven days after that).
• Follow programme makers audiotheque on Twitter and look out for Lovecraft references during transmission. Use the hashtag #weirdtales if you're listening.
• There are production pictures by Michelle Turner from Weird Tales 2: Split the Atom, on Flickr.
• H.P. Lovecraft has a Wikipedia entry.
• The picture shows a 1954 edition of Weird Tales, featuring stories by Lovecraft and other horror pioneers. It's by Jim Barker and it's used under licence.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nds0r

1900 Studio MV5, Maida Vale. All around me is the organised chaos of the studio's 75th anniversary celebration. We're on-air in 10 minutes. Bill Paterson, soprano Jane Manning and composer Anthony Payne are in the studio already.

1910. Listen live to the programme here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nds0r.

1915. On air. Presenter John Wilson is walking down from the street talking into a mike. We expect him in the studio about...now.

1918. Poet Paul Farley arrived carrying a sheaf of notes - he claims not to have finished the poem yet!

1924. If you're tweeting about the event, use the hash tag #maidavale.

1930. In the next studio, a funk act is playing for Craig Charles' 6 Music show. Pic here.

1936. We're listening to a tape about the Radiophonic Workshop. Bill Paterson, Jane Manning and Anthony Payne are remembering Delia Derbyshire. "What a character she was..."

1940. Paul's poem is hand-written in a big blue manuscript book.

1943. An incredibly evocative tape of Maida Vale history. Joy Division, Ivor Cutler really stood out for me - my Peel legacy.

1945. Paul Farley tells me he's only feeling the stress of producing his poem now. He looks exhausted.

2012. In the green room. Production team and guests winding down. Taxis arriving. Not sure if live blogging a short programme like Front Row really works. What do you think? Is it worth doing again?

Steve Bowbrick is editor of the Radio 4 blog

• Front Row is Radio 4's nightly arts review programme - on at 1915 Monday to Friday. Listen again to the Maida Vale special. And scroll to the bottom of this page for a short video of John Wilson at Maida Vale.
• Maida Vale's 75th anniversary was pretty busy. The hash tag was #maidavale