Radio Free Roscoe

Last updated
Radio Free Roscoe
RadioFreeRoscoe.jpg
Genre Teen drama
Comedy drama
Created by Will McRobb
Douglas McRobb
Starring
Theme music composerJono Grant
Opening theme"Radio Free Roscoe Theme"
Ending theme"Radio Free Roscoe Theme"
(Instrumental) (some episodes)
Composer Jono Grant
Country of origin
  • Canada
  • United States [1]
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Steven DeNure
  • Neil Court
  • Beth Stevenson
  • Will McRobb (S1, S3-4)
  • Douglas McRobb
ProducerJohn A. Delmage
Production locations Toronto, Ontario
Nutley, New Jersey (pilot) [2]
CinematographyGeorge Hosek
Editors
  • Richard Wells (S1)
  • Mark Sanders (S2-3)
  • Richard Wells (S4)
Running time20–22 minutes
Production company Decode Entertainment
Original release
Network Family Channel (Canada)
Noggin (The N block; U.S.)
ReleaseAugust 1, 2003 (2003-08-01) 
May 25, 2005 (2005-05-25)

Radio Free Roscoe is a teen comedy-drama television series. The series was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, and produced by Decode Entertainment. It first aired on August 1, 2003, on Family Channel in Canada. It has also been dubbed in French (as required for Canadian federally funded TV shows) in the province of Quebec and aired on Vrak. The show was later aired on U.S. network Noggin's teen block, The N, where the show received funding for a second season. The series ended on May 27, 2005, because The N decided to stop funding the show, and Family, along with Decode Entertainment, could not fill the gap in the production budget. The show was shown on Family until 2007, when it was replaced. In early 2008, The N began rebroadcasting reruns. As of 2019, episodes could still be found on the Canadian station WildBrainTV.

Contents

The pilot was first filmed in New Jersey, with an entirely different cast. At that time, the show was going to be based in Nutley, New Jersey and was to be titled Radio Free Nutley. [2] The show was never picked up. Decode Entertainment later decided to move production to Toronto and change the cast and title of the show, leading to the show's production and broadcasting.

Premise

Four teens in the suburban New Jersey town of Roscoe start attending Henry Roscoe High School. Fed up with their school's radio station (Cougar Radio) dictating how students should live, and the overbearing Principal Waller who seems to favour the popular students, they create their own pirate radio station called Radio Free Roscoe. Lily Randall, Ray Brennan and Robbie McGrath are old friends, and find a friend in Travis Strong when they form the radio station. They assume radio aliases to conceal their identities.

The four friends confront various challenges, such as navigating relationships with their schoolmates and managing their pirate radio station while maintaining their day-to-day lives.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Note: each member of Radio Free Roscoe assumes a pseudonym for broadcasting the radio show, allowing them to remain anonymous and thus prevent the administration from shutting the show down (pseudonym given in quotation marks).

Supporting cast

The final two episodes of the series ("Dance Around the Truth" and "The Last Dance") included all of the main and supporting cast, excluding Bridget (although she is mentioned) and Audrey.

All members of RFR have been, at some point, part of Cougar Radio. Travis considered joining in Episode One. Ray joined Cougar Radio because he didn't like concealing himself behind his persona "Pronto". Kim Carlisle convinced Robbie to join. Lily joined River Pierce to get air time for her band. Regardless of the rational basis, none of the RFR members departs permanently.

Guest stars

Episodes

There are a total of 52 episodes. On Family, the episodes aired as two seasons, and on The N the episodes aired as four seasons, although both channels have aired all 52 episodes.

Media releases

There are two official Radio Free Roscoe products.

Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

International syndication

RFR is currently in syndication on these stations:

Country/RegionChannel
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia ABC (now moved to ABC2)
  Latin America Boomerang
Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States The N (block on Noggin)
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland TVP2
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Teen TV
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy Rai Gulp and Rai 2
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal Panda Biggs

RFR was formerly syndicated on these stations:

Country/RegionChannelLanguage
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada VRAK.TV French
Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil Boomerang Brazilian Portuguese
Flag of Poland.svg Poland ZigZapPolish
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom Nickelodeon English
Flag of France.svg France France 2 and Canal J French
Flag of Finland.svg Finland YLE TV2 English (with Finnish subtitles)
Flag of Israel.svg  Israel Arutz HaYeladim English (with Hebrew subtitles)

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References

  1. "Radio Free Roscoe (2003)". Allmovie.
  2. 1 2 Christie, Jocelyn. "The Name Game: Deconstructing the fine art of kids show titling" (PDF). Kidscreen . Brunico Communications. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-16. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  3. "Radio Free Roscoe". chrgd.ca. Retrieved January 29, 2019.