Paley Center for Media050

Any media fanatics in the house? The Paley Center for Media (formerly known as the Museum of Television & Radio) can answer just about any questions they might have about a future in broadcasting, and then some. Whether they Love Lucy or want to know more about Orson Welles' War of the Worlds prank, this is the place.

Daily Screenings and Radio Presentations: From noon until closing time, the Museum presents a wide variety of programs in two screening rooms and two main theaters. Pick up a copy of the daily schedule at the front desk in the Diane English and Joel Shukovsky Information Center in the Danny Thomas Lobby to see what's playing.

Also available in the lobby are complete schedules for exhibitions and screening series that have been organized by the Curatorial Department. Programming from current series and exhibitions is shown throughout the day, and the schedule will tell you what's ahead in the coming months.

The Ahmanson Radio Listening Room, with its five preprogrammed listening series, offers a unique way for visitors to experience the radio collection. The Museum also offers live and taped radio broadcasts throughout the year, where stations from across the country come to the Ralph Guild Radio Studio to broadcast their shows. These events are usually open to the public.

Access to information on the Museum's vast collection is literally at your fingertips in the Stanley E. Hubbard Library. (You must make a reservation to use the Library at the lobby front desk when you arrive.) Using a Macintosh computer, you search the database for the television or radio program of your choice. A Visitor Services staff person will be glad to assist you at any time!

When you find a program you want, you reserve it and then go to a console room, where you watch or listen to the program at a monitor with headphones.

Throughout the year, performers, critics, writers, directors, producers, and journalists come to the Museum to discuss topics ranging from the collaborative process behind programming to significant events in the media industry. The seminars include television and radio clips from the Museum's collection, and time for the audience members to ask questions.

Special for kids: "Re-creating Radio" is a two-hour workshop where children ages nine to 14 produce an old-time radio drama using scripts, sound effects, and music. The workshop takes participants through the many stages of radio production, including casting, microphone and sound effects training, and a cue rehearsal, before putting on a "live" broadcast. The series brings to life stories in the tradition of Superman, The Shadow, and The Lone Ranger. The performance is recorded, and each participant receives an audiocassette following the workshop.

Enrollment is limited to twenty people per workshop. Tickets, at $10 per participant, must be purchased in advance of the workshop date, by phone or in person at the Museum.

Workshops may also be reserved at a group rate of $125 (a great party idea). For reservations call 310.786.1014, Wednesday through Friday, 12n to 5pm.

Family membership runs $100/year and gets you in to some of the museum's fun family events.

Call 310.786.1025 for daily information on scheduled activities.

Note: The Museum has no lunchroom facilities, and no eating or drinking is allowed on the premises.