Episode 134: Eric Bauersfeld and Jim McKee Discuss 40 Years of Radio Drama in the Bay Area

This week we talk to Erik Bauersfeld, a producer, director, and actor in audio drama for more than 40 years, and a figure who gets too little attention in the history of the art.

Erik started in the early days of KPFA with the Black Mass series, which is now widely circulated on the ‘net. However, that was only the roughest start of his career – he went on to produce for many more years with a variety of groups, including the founding of Bay Area Radio Drama, and the Horspiel-America project.

Chris Dueker has covered him in the Malleus series, talking about the Horspiel-America project and reviewing a work of Kafka’s Metamorphosis.

I had the opportunity to talk to Erik about four decades of radio drama in the San Francisco Bay Area, including early field recording pieces with Randy Thom and many more works produced with sound designed Jim McKee, who also joined us on the phone.

With no further ado, let’s get into the work of Erik Bauersfeld.