By Rebecca Rider

rebecca.rider@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — When campers stood behind the microphone at Horizons Unlimited on Tuesday afternoon, they transformed into familiar characters: Lois Lane, Perry White, Clark Kent.

They took turns weaving a familiar catchphrase one line at a time:

“Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane — it’s Superman!”

Under the careful, silent direction of Kyle Whisenant, who serves as the STEM bus teacher during the school year, campers re-created a 1945 Superman radio broadcast.

It takes some time, learning all the parts and where to come in. But after a while, the campers fell into a rhythm, cueing in on their parts, learning where to stand, and making sound effects with feet, hands and the help of a clipboard.

This is the second year Horizons Unlimited has held a camp for radio and TV broadcasting, two forms of media that campers might think is old hat. But Whisenant is there to show them otherwise.

Broadcasting, he said, is all about learning to communicate effectively — skills that are still needed in this day and age. And for many who are inundated by visual media, the fields hold hidden treasures.

“They make videos all the time at school,” he said. “… That’s old to them. Radio is a completely different animal.”

But first, they needed to be familiar with the genre. On Monday, Whisenant had students listen to old radio shows, including the infamous 1938 “War of the Worlds” broadcast by Orson Welles.

Students even have the chance to write their own radio show, building it from scratch — story, advertisements, sound effects and all. It’s a feature of the camp that’s been a big hit.

“They’re running off like crazy — writing, writing, writing,” Whisenant said.

In its first year, students were asked to focus on “history mystery” type stories. This year, Whisenant and other instructors gave kids free reign. Though there have been some noticeable genre favorites, Whisenant said he’s seen a lot of horror, murder mysteries and detective stories.

Dale Kepley’s group is working on a dinner murder mystery.

“We have to make a story so we can do a radio broadcast,” Kepley said.

He and the other two group members have been working to fashion an intrigue-filled plot in which a detective, a stranger, a carpenter and a blacksmith go to a mansion for a midnight dinner.

Kepley said he became interested in the camp when he found out that he’d have the opportunity to create his own broadcast.

“I was like, ‘Get me in this,’” he said.

He joined with a friend, Will Kesler, and the two plan to attend another Horizons camp later in the summer.

“It’s incredibly fun,” Kepley said.

Contact reporter Rebecca Rider at 704-797-4264.