Little City in Space is a nationally syndicated radio series which began terrestrial broadcasts in 1978. Produced by The Post-Void Radio Theater, the show takes place in a multi-national, multi-racial, multi-species “little city” which has been orbiting the earth since 1962. (artwork by Gordon Mathews)
Starting on community radio station KFAI in Minneapolis the show was nationally syndicated for a time, went dark, and now is returning on the Web.
On the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of LCS, our “idols” The Firesign Theatre provided a testimonial to the show — you can hear it at Peter Stenshoel’s blog post on the recent passing of FT’s Peter Bergman.
As a taster, here’s a short transmission from the LCS: the Solar System Premiere of a new work called Kitten Stalking…
Voices from the past Void: In Comments below, find links to archived broadcasts from the earliest daze of Little City in Space!
(pictured left, LCS co-founder Damon Mathews)
(pictured right: Jeff Pike, Stu Mathews, co-founders of The Post Void Radio Theater and confounders of LCS)
FOR HARDCORE LCS FANS, LISTEN!
Archives of the Most Ancient of Oxide Scrolls, Uncut! Offering from April 1, 1979: Nowhere News; Sports with Nick Hotplate; Eve Hallow Grooming Tip; Fran’s Illegal Department Store; “Old” and “Black Vinyl Knowledge” (LCS music shows within a show)
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1979-0401
THE EARLIEST KNOWN SURVIVING LITTLE CITY IN SPACE SHOW: Dec 31, 1978!!!, recently lovingly restored by Peter Stenshoel, we find him & cohorts Jeff Pike, Stu & Damon Mathews presenting vintage records on “Old” with many sponsor messages; Jeff’s Corner; News, Nick Hotplate’s Sports, Joblines and fashion tip. http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1978-1231
2nd SHOW JANUARY 7, 1979! Turn back the clock when LCS-1’s computer was called “Hal” and enjoy Jeff Pike, Damon Mathews, Peter Stenshoel & Stu Mathews do the “Fantasy News” with weather, Joblines & Sports with Nick Hotplate; Ms. Hallow Grooming Tip; Vintage “Old” music. Bonus: Jeff’s Corner from 12/24/78!!!
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1979-0107
excerpts: JANUARY 14, 1979 LCS show fragments; rare western swing; Canterbury progressive rock; Nick Hotplate Sports; Ms. Hallow Grooming Trip; Joblines; Editorial by E. Susan Brown
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1979-0114
LITTLE CITY IN SPACE January 21, 1979: First appearance of The Bob-2000 Computer on LCS! “Black Vinyl Knowledge” and “Old”; Nowhere News; Weather; Sports with Nick Hotplate; Eve Hallow Grooming Tip; ads for Lamprey Eel House; Jerry Bear Breakfast Toppings.
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1979-0121
LITTLE CITY IN SPACE January 28, 1979
Jeff’s Corner; Ads for Fred’s Friendly Foods; Supper Soft Bubble Gum; The Nice Blue Person Restaurant; Honest-to-Gosh Used Cars; The Chocolate Sprout; “Outlaw” News with Weather/Nick Hotplate Sports/Grooming Tips/Joblines. Listen:
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1979-0128
Links to more LCS shows below in the comments.
Here’s the show from August 10, 1988:
archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1988-0810
Terra Pinje aka Peter Stenshoel here. This show slumbered forgotten in my liminal brain for years and it is quite a healing-tone revelation to ingest these audio vibes albeit from tinny tiny laplandtop speakers. Thank you, Jerry M. and your hooded and robed assistants, for dredging up gold from the collective soil of radio versatility.
ScorchedEar thanks Peter, for uploading more LCS at archive.org! Listen as Stu Mathews and Chuck Isle present The Download Revue #1, featuring hilarious nuggets from past LCS shows, and new pieces that were created by The Post-Void Radio Theatre for the Revue! Valentine’s Day on LCS with special guest Helen Highwater :
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue2001-0929
Download Revue #2…Peter Stenshoel joins Stu & Chuck to explain LCS hysteric historics & replay 10-27-84 plus new ads: The Buyeria Mall; Hole Foods; News From Nowhere; Paul Bunny; Eve Hallow; Jack Swekkmakk; Carl Maudlin for Forbex; hear Download Revue http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue2
Listen to Download Revue #3…Mister Slurpee Brand Disposable Trays; The Mummy’s Assorted Ads & Buy Degraded Toiletries; Lamprey Eel; Honest to Gosh Used Cars; Big Thirteen Sale-o-bration Thon; Meat Heap; Paul Bunny; Eve Hallow;The Universal Top 12. Post Voiders Jeff Pike; Stu & Damon Mathews; Peter in 1980s tape reclaimation.
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue3-2002-0330
Hear Download Revue #4…assembled by fans for fans, features rare ads (The Lamprey Eel Boat; Thunder Bread!) Jeff Pike (Jeff’s Corner); Peter Stenshoel (Black Vinyl Knowledge); Damon Mathews (magazine review); Stu Mathews (public service announcements) also News, Sports, Weather, Paul Bunny. Audience analysis of LCS impact on Chuck Isle (fan since 1979) & guest Jerry, courtesy Musical Transportation Spree w/ Chris Waterbury, enigmatic engineer par excellent.
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue4-2002-0629
The LCS-Y2K Show braced listeners for yet another kooky calendar shift in 2000 with the Post-Voiders girding their loins for who-knows-what’s-gonna-be happenings globally & aboard LCS-1!!! Listen at http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceLcsy2k-2000-0101
LITTLE CITY in SPACE 4-18-90 Collage kids Stu, Pete & Jerry in a 3-man comedy of manners, but what manner are these men? Nambysols! http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1990-0418
SOUNDS OF LITTLE CITY IN SPACE… Aural gallery of “Space Sounds”…long, gravity-free palettes for listening, up front so now distinctive background noises can finally be heard on their own…Post Void voices have been evicted and blather verboten. Harken to the wahoo wahoo of Hamflogger Devices, bleeping at The Bleeper Pad Lounge, and nothing like ambient vibrations overlooking the Veranda outside Communications Central to hear slaphappy Hi Bobs buzz by, docking activity at the UFO landing pad, noisy parades with party gompers and other oscillations of human & alien activity aboard satellite LCS-1! Collected by the Bob 2000 computer for LCS Download Revue, listen at
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevueSpaceSoundsEdition2004-0529
Download Revue #12 with your guides Stu, Chuck & Jerry courtesy Musical Transportation Spree
DOWNLOAD REVUE #5 presenting best of LCS: 1981, 1984 & 1985 with News, Sports, Jobs; Fran’s Illegal Department Store; Backwards Industries; Post-Void Network TV Schedule; The Most Three. http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue5-2002-0831
Revued by Stu Mathews with Chuck Isle
LCS Show August 24, 1988 with Peter Stenshoel, Stu Mathews and Jerry Modjeski
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1988-0824
LCS Show September 21, 1988 with Peter Stenshoel and Jerry Modjeski. How the Little City in Space Was Started; ads for The Freud Daddy, Lionel Hampton Inns, Raisin D’etre; Dog Mechano-Dog & Carl Toad’s special report on his appearance at Frigate Lounge; Natural Born Scientist Revue; You Brand; The Listener; The Somnambozos; pancake-toting aliens. Voices by Brian Anderson, Lola Mathews, Stu Mathews, Jeff Pike, Joan Appelquist, Mark Masyga, Pete Lee.
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1988-0921
LCS Show October 26, 1988 is The Post Void Radio Theatre tribute to the 50th Anniversary of Orson Welles War Of The Worlds broadcast from Halloween 1938 that caused listener panic. The voice you will hear interrupting LCS was recorded during an actual KFAI broadcast, someone or something was jamming the KFAI signal and announcing themselves as “Master Control.” Of course, the voice was enhanced for this show, but it retains mystery as a genuine event, when it initially happened on a much older show than this.
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1988-1026
And the “Master Control” mystery voice DID happen on an early Little City in Space broadcast. I always felt it was a fanimy, that is fan and enemy in the sense that he wanted to give us a challenge. The fact we improvised much of the show could have prompted him to see how we handled that tossed football. We had other memorable nights, like when Shockwave (a KFAI SF-based radio theater show starring Dave Rohm, Jerry Stearns and others) actually invaded the Little City in Space with no pre-warning.
Another HALLOWEEN on LCS?!? Listen, if you dare to get DOWNLOAD…REVUE #6 with Little City in Space from October 25, 1980, when all the Post Void News was ROTTEN!!! Carved up & curated by cut-ups Chuck & Stu; bonus bits 10/79
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue6-2002-1130
Just archived! DOWNLOAD REVUE # 7
LCS’ goofy characters, Buster Nuggins, Eve Hallow, Paul Bunny, Nick Hotplate & Jack Swekkmakk! Ads: Grandma Johnson’s; Frank’s Ecliptic Paradise; Blownapart’s Retreads; American Folderol; Bob’s Baked Shoes. Hear http://archive.org/details/DR71new
Now Hear The 8th DOWNLOAD REVUE special guest-shot: JACK SWEKKMAKK; Stu & Chuck compactly re-present LCS January 24, 1981: Mr. Fix-It & Mrs. Helper; Dream Weather; News; Sports; Jobs; PSAs; Sponsors U.F. No! Repellant; Art Ventures; Dreams From the Future Today; Martian Marriage Cigarettes #2. Also: Jeff Pike, Peter Stenshoel, Damon Mathews, Lola Mathews as Mrs. Helper
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue8-2003-0531
November 9, 1988 Jerry, Stu and Pete with July 6, 1988. New feature: fables of ZXQ Studios. Voices by Blanche Fubar, Mark Masyga & Brian Anderson. Listen
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1988-11091988-0706
November 16, 1988 with Stu, Jerry & Peter. Ads: Starplate of LaVonne; Slime-Rife Books; ***Squirting Swami Anti-Gravi Teas; Public Service Announcements; News; Sports; Paul Bunny; The Listener; The Rudy Schwartz Project; featuring the talents of Firesign Theater’s David Ossman as George Tirebiter; Heather Perkins; Mark Masyga.
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1988-1116
***Ed: would later be re-made for the nationally syndicated series in late 1989 as “SHAMBLING SWAMI…” because producers Mark & Jerry realized this version’s sound effects overwhelm vocals. Interesting to hear this 1st version, flawed tho it is, & compare!
LCS January 18, 1989 with Jerry, Stu & Peter.
“The Haunting Eyes of Sheldon” by alien composer Infrinzik Nelfab.
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1989-0118
LCS Show February 1, 1989. Jerry, Peter & Stu introduce quirky inhabitants The Space Blots; Miss Cynthia the Witch. Bob-2000 computer picks Universal Top 10: “The Mokele Mbembe Special” by The BCR Band. Ads: Illumo-Namby Dust Bunny Cages; Horse of Ether; L’il Otto Ottoman; Ivory Joe Hunter Soapstone.
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpace1989-0201
The Little City in Space: Farther Out November 22, 1989, a pre-Thanksgiving Post-Void late nite repast, with music, collages, Schnickelfritz, Jerry & Stu, with turkey trots in the twilight zorn.
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceFartherOut1989-1122
LCS Farther Out September 5, 1990: Classic clips from LCS’ Golden Cage! Big 13! Freimannhonger’s! Oyster Laboratories Plaster Dab! Joblines! Hello Doctor!
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceFartherOut1990-0905
featuring the talents of Stu & Damon Mathews, Peter Stenshoel, Rob Ordahl, Johnny & Danny Olson, Brian Anderson, Jeff Pike
Download Revue #9: first half: Little City In Space February 21, 1981; second half: April 5, 1989 with special voice cameos by Paul Zaiser, Miriam Stonehill, Blanche Fubar; Jeff Pike as a very wise man.
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue9-2003-0830
Download Revue #10 LCS “Best Of”s (aired KFAI via Musical Transportation Spree 11-29-03) MCs Stu Mathews, Chuck Isle; additional material with Rob Ordahl, Jeff Pike, Peter Stenshoel, Damon Mathews, Rich Kraft, Miriam Stonehill
September 27, 1980: Ads for Precious Metal Systems; Thunder Bread!; Fred’s Friendly Foods; Foster Tong interview; Universal Top 12; Straight From the Sod (Pre-LCS Post Void script); John Glenn Cafeteria Menu; Bob 2000 Computer; Buying Skis; Singing in the Shower
June 17, 1979: LCS 6th Month Anniversary Spectacular! Ads for Hotplate’s Formal Wear; Dog Mechano Dog; Bob’s Fun Factory; You Brand Pens & Pencils; Queen’s Food Hoist; Atomic Waste Bar & Grocery; Out-of-Space News; Nick Hotplate’s Sports; Jobs; Eve Hallow Grooming Tip
December 18, 1981 Xmas Excerpt
hear it all http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue10-2003-1129
DOWNLOAD REVIEW #13 Post-Void political candidates use The Little City in Space as platform to launch campaigns into orbit with oratory satirical & hilarious! Archived from November 1980 by Stu & Chuck. Retro-transmission on the Musical Transportation Spree sponsored by Scrum Chewz (new ad); also featuring the talents of Damon Mathews, Peter Stenshoel, Rob Ordahl, David Stenshoel, Mark Masyga, Miriam Stonehill. Listen:
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue13-2004-0731
DOWNLOAD REVIEW #14
Best of Sept 6, 1980 w/ Ads: Plate Tectonics; Wacky Finger & Eye Glue; Don’t Blame Me; Martian Moon Maiden Voyages; Scam-Butall; Senator Flakk tours Brain-Mix; News in Briefs; Paul Bunny; http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadReview14
DOWNLOAD REVUE #15 Best of April 11, 1981 featuring U.F. No! Repellant; Skit: “Night Crew” by The Post Void Radio Theatre; Jack Swekkmakk Wine Report; The George Scrubya Brush; New music by Dick Dammit; Paul Bunny Report. Edited by Stu Mathews, Chuck Isle; showcased on Chris Waterbury’s Musical Transportation Spree. W/ Jeff Pike, Damon Mathews, Peter Stenshoel
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue15
Thank you so much for the LCS uploads… what a blast from the past!
An early, short demo by The Post Void Radio Theatre featuring the voices of Damon, Stu, Peter & Jeff
http://archive.org/details/LittleCityInSpaceSpdfDemo
DOWNLOAD REVUE #18
Little City in Space April 23, 1983: special guest Dave Vischer joins Stu & Damon Mathews in Communications Central. This Week’s Scratchy Record; Paul Bunny Report; News from Nowhere; Otto’s Nose Wear; Oomphavision Theater; Sports & Joblines. Re-transmission via Chris Waterbury’s Musical Transportation Spree, with emcees Stu & Chuck.
http://archive.org/details/CuserspeterMichaeldesktoplittleCityInSpaceDownloadRevue18-
Editor’s Note: Little City in Space Download Revue can account for all shows, except for Show #11 (missing). Shows #16 and #17 featured material archived as part of the series Golden Cage of Radio.