The Lake Wapello Radio Play

By Vance Polton

Yeah, You read that right.

And so the hunt was on. I was determined to find that radio play. Two years later, in 2020, while I didn't find a recording of the broadcast, I did find the script complete with musical and sound effect cues.  While the play, which was a WPA project, was really about the Report on the Iowa Twenty-Five Year Conservation Plan it was told around the story of the construction of Lake Wapello.  

For those of you that have a copy of the Conservation Plan, Lake Wapello is on page 112.  For those who don't, I'll get to that on a Wednesday in the near future, I've found a decent digital copy. Finding a used printed copy is neither easy to do or cheap. My printed copy came from Kentucky and ended up being a copy that had come from the University of Iowa's Library Collection. 

I have, of course, attached a copy of the play as well as an audio recording of the Iowa Corn Song which served as most of the background music for the play.  So sit back, it's after supper and the family has gathered around the radio.  The radio's vacuum tubes have warmed up and the radio play is about to begin.......

P.S.     This Saturday, I will be sending out an early special "Statewide Edition" of Wayback Wednesday due to scheduling conflicts next week with the Iowa AFS and Fisheries Statewide. Some will say: Well that ain't history, It wasn't that long ago! While many current fisheries employees will reply: I wasn't even born yet!   And yes I was born before this event happened.  So grab your gold blazers, and Kline, Wunder, Waters, and Moore you guys might want to dust off your slide shows and speaking notes! We'll be heading back in time to .......