PPR will be featuring the programming of Joe Bevilacqua with four one-hour blocks to air Wednesday from 5-6 pm (Audio Theatre) , (Thursday night from 10-11 p.m. (Comedy O’ Rama), Friday from 7-8 pm(Jazz O Rama), and Saturday night from 8-9 p.m.(Cartoon Carnival).
Joe Bevilacqua, also known as Joe Bev, is primarily known as a radio theater dramatist. However, his career has taken him into every aspect of show business, including stage, film and television, producing, directing, writing, acting, and even as cartoonist. Joe Bev produces & hosts five unique hours of radio per week, under the collective title The Joe Bev Hour – The Jazz-O-Rama Hour, Cartoon Carnival, The Comedy-O-Rama Hour, and The Joe Bev Experience.
In 1971 Bevilacqua’s father bought him a cassette recorder, on which is created his first audio story, “Willoughby and the Professor,” providing all the voices himself at the age of 12.
In 1975, Daws Butler, the voice of Yogi Bear and many Hanna-Barbera and Jay Ward cartoon characters, dubbed himself Joe Bev’s personal mentor, after hearing a 120-minute cassette of Bev’s Willoughby improvisations.
Since 1980, Bevilacqua has produced many award-winning radio programs for National Public Radio (NPR), Sirius XM Radio, and others.
In 2003, Bevilacqua co-founded Waterlogg Productions with his wife Lorie Kellogg. In 2012, he signed an exclusive distribution deal with Blackstone Audio, for his more than 40 years of audio work. As of 2013, he has released more than 75 audio books, including hundreds of hours of audio documentaries, comedies, dramas, autobiographies.
Not content to hide behind his microphone, Bevilacqua will be seen acting in the upcoming feature films “The Green Blade Rises,” directed A.J. Edwards, “The Fly Room,” directed by Alexis Gambis, “Cold in July,” directed by Jim Mickle, and “Hits,” directed by David Cross. He will portray British General Bernard Montgomery in the new History Channel series “The Wars.”
Joe Bev can do hundreds of voices, dialects and impressions. For the movie “The Fly Room,” he not only portrayed the on screen character of Uncle Dwight, he was personally commissioned by the director, Alexis Gambis, to act as vocal coach to the cast during the entire shoot; and wrote, produced, and voiced a number of audio sound beds in the style of old time radio for use in the film.
Joe Bevilacqua also acts on stage, playing Martin Dysart in “Equus”, roles in “Bedroom Farce,” “Applause,” “Black Comedy,” and others. He is touring as Bud Abbott to Bob Greenberg’s Lou Costello in “A Tribute to Bud & Lou.”
He has authored several books, including Daws Butler, Characters Actor, and Uncle Dunkle and Donnie.
Bevilacqua is the 2013 recipient of the Kean University Distinguished Alumni Award. His documentary “Lady Bird Johnson – Legacy of a First Lady” won the 2001 New York Festivals Award. He won a 2007 New York Festivals Awards for his “Tribute to Joe Barbera” which aired on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” And, his NPR Weekend Edition story “A Guy Named Joe Bevilacqua” won the 2004 National Federation of Community Broadcasters Award.
Take a peek at what Joe Bev has offered PPR for airing, then listen in and be wonderfully entertained!
– The Comedy-O-Rama Hour is a weekly improvised radio theater produced and directed by Joe Bevilacqua (Joe Bev) and performed by Bevilacqua, Lorie Kellogg, Kenny Savoy and Jim Folly.
– The Jazz-O-Rama Hour is a weekly music show hosted by Joe Bevilacqua (Joe Bev) and featuring 78 RPM and early LP recordings remastered from his own personal collection spanning the 1920s to the 1960s.
– The Joe Bev Experience is a weekly omnibus of the forty plus year career in audio of Joe Bevilacqua (Joe Bev), including documentaries, interviews, comedy and drama.
– Cartoon Carnival is a weekly hour of rare and classic cartoon audio, children’s records, cartoon music and sound effects, new radio cartoons, interviews and mini-documentaries about the wonderful world of animation, hosted by Joe Bevilacqua (Joe Bev).
– The Joe Bev Audio Theater is a weekly one-hour anthology representing more than forty years of storytelling by Joe Bevilacqua (Joe Bev), the veteran, award-winning actor, writer, producer, director.
PPR is thrilled to provide quality programming to the Pawling Community, and Joe Bev’s lineup of original shows will be available starting this Thursday, January 16 at 10 p.m. Tune in and hear how PPR is bringing radio back to Pawling…we guarantee you will be surprised!
Pawling Public Radio….building community…one voice at a time!
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