AM/FM Radio
AM/FM Radio is a short-form game in which two or more performers each represent a different radio station or program. A host "changes the dial" and the active performer must immediately continue their broadcast. The game rewards commitment to distinct vocal styles and the ability to maintain a running bit through interruptions.
Structure
Setup
- Two or more performers each represent a different radio station or program format.
- Each performer is assigned a station before the game begins: a news station, a sports channel, a classical music station, a talk radio program, a dramatic serial.
- A host serves as the dial, calling which station is active.
How the Game Works
- The host calls a station and that performer begins broadcasting immediately, picking up exactly where they left off the last time they were active.
- When the host changes the station, the active performer freezes mid-broadcast and the new station begins.
- Each station maintains its own ongoing content: a news anchor continues their broadcast, a talk show host continues the call they were taking, a DJ continues their program.
What Makes It Work
- Each station must have a genuinely distinct voice, pacing, and register. Stations that all sound the same collapse the game.
- The performer must remember where they were when their station went off air and resume from that exact point.
- The continuity across channel changes creates a comedic accumulation: each time a station returns, it has moved forward in its own story.
Variations
- The stations share a common topic from different perspectives: a breaking news story covered by a news channel, a sports channel, and a classical music station simultaneously.
- Audience members spin a visible dial to change stations.
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"You are your station. You are always broadcasting. When I flip to you, you resume exactly where you left off. When I flip away, you freeze in place and wait. Your job is to stay in your station's voice and to remember exactly where you were."
Common Notes
- Each station should have a distinct physical posture and energy as well as a distinct vocal quality. Stations that are physically identical despite different content are harder for the audience to track.
- Memory is essential. Performers must track not only their content but their emotional and physical state at the moment they were last cut off.
- The caller should listen for natural moments to switch: a cliffhanger, a dramatic pause, or the exact middle of a sentence.
Common Pitfalls
- Stations do not develop their own ongoing story between channel changes. Each return to a station should find it further along, not restarted.
- The host changes stations too rapidly for any station to establish content worth returning to.
- Stations blur into each other because their vocal and physical qualities are too similar.
How to Perform It
Audience Intro
"We have [number] radio stations here tonight. [List each station briefly.] I'm the dial. When I point to a station, they broadcast. When I change the dial, they freeze and another station comes on. Let's see what's on."
Cast Size
- Ideal: Three to four performers, each representing a distinct station.
- Two stations work but reduce the channel-surfing variety.
Staging
- Performers stand in a line or scattered across the stage, each in a defined position representing their station.
- The host moves or gestures between them visibly.
Wrap Logic
- The game ends when each station has had two or three turns and the accumulated story of each has reached a satisfying point or button.
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How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). AM/FM Radio. Retrieved September 29, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/amfm-radio
The Improv Archive. "AM/FM Radio." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/amfm-radio.
The Improv Archive. "AM/FM Radio." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/amfm-radio. Accessed September 29, 2026.
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