“Watch with your eyes closed”
Our Story
The Genesis of a Dream
Radio Star Media was created by Craig Larsen in 2024.
As early as Craig can remember, his dream was to become a writer. Some of his earliest memories are of his mother reading stories to him and his brother and sister before bed. Craig can still remember fighting sleep as he found himself transported to the other worlds that seemed to rise magically from the pages of book after book, created by nothing but words alone.
Some years later, Craig discovered an old radio left abandoned in the basement of the family’s house in St. Louis. An ancient pink Philips, cracked in half, held together with tape. At this point, the family didn’t own a TV. His parents listened to classical music on an old hi-fi in the living room, but most of the family’s time was spent silently in books.
When he first found the radio, a thin cord inside the set had broken, and twisting the tuning knob no longer moved the needle between stations. Craig took the case off the radio, managed to tie the cord back together, then slowly began to explore this primitive portal to the world of sound.
His first discovery was music. Crocodile Rock buzzed from the radio’s tinny speaker like an explosion. His next discovery was an FM station which played old time radio shows, late at night. CBS Radio Mystery Theater. The Whistler. Suspense. Night after night, after a late-night talk show, Craig found himself staying up after midnight, fighting sleep again, to listen to the short skits which made sense out of an otherwise chaotic world. These late-night plays offered an escape into another universe, where good prevailed over evil and no questions were left without answers.
Fast forward some decades later, after publishing a couple of novels – MANIA in 2009, and then THE SECOND WINTER in 2014 – while working on another mystery, it suddenly occurred to Craig, with the force of a small epiphany, that the idea he was elaborating into a novel would actually lend itself perfectly to a radio thriller like the ones he loved so much from his childhood. And so BUNNY was born.
Craig’s idea was not to create an audiobook or, as in the case of many of the shows dating back to the 1940’s, a narration aided with a few recognizable sounds, but rather to build an immersive, cinematic experience for a listener. Something mesmerizing. Something with a hook. Something with suspense. But also something deep. Something beautiful. A film you could watch with your eyes closed.
Radio Star Media was created in order to realize this dream. BUNNY is the first of what Craig hopes will be many productions.
Listen On
Tune In to BUNNY
Dive into the world of BUNNY, our first captivating podcast. Now available on all major platforms including Amazon Music, Spotify, iHeart, Podbean, and Castbox. Experience an immersive audio journey that transforms your listening experience. Join us as we redefine storytelling through sound.
Who Killed Bunny Loving?
BUNNY is a film you can watch with your eyes closed.
Unsolved Crime Watch is an investigative true crime podcast in its seventh season, and its hosts, Paul Warren and Molly Daniels, have reached a crossroads. They have been coasting for years now on the success of their third season, which led to the release of a man wrongfully convicted of murder in a notorious case in Texas, and they are in need of another hit.
Fifteen years ago, in his senior year in high school in Montgomery, Alabama, one of Paul’s classmates, Bunny Loving, was murdered, left on the side of a road to bleed to death, her throat slit ear to ear. Johnny Vaughn, her boyfriend, was convicted of the murder. His conviction, though, rests on flimsy circumstantial evidence, and he has proclaimed his innocence from the day of his arrest. When Johnny, incarcerated in a penitentiary in Alabama, calls Paul out of the blue and asks him to take up his case as the next season of Unsolved Crime Watch, Paul, Molly, and producer, Stanley see an entree into an investigation they hope will bring them the success they need.
Comprised of 5 episodes, each about an hour and a half in length, BUNNY takes the listener back home to Alabama with Paul. To some extent, as Paul begins to uncover the tangled web of unanswered questions surrounding Bunny’s murder, the focus of the story is simply its mystery. Who killed Bunny Loving? As the story unfolds, however, it becomes a much more personal journey for Paul, back into the tumult of his childhood.
Credits
BUNNY was written, directed, and produced by Craig Larsen.
Sound design, audio editing, and music composition was provided by Josh Allen.
Theme music was composed by Anthony David Cousins.
Other music was licensed through Audio Network.
Cast, in alphabetical order, included:
Skylar Alley, Natasha-Dawn Bignell, Willie Billingsley, Marqus Bobesich, Kyle Colton, Aubrey DiVincenzo, Derrell Doss, Jon Egbert, Kate Gill, Tim Harper, Parker Hughes, James D. Jackson Jr., Brian Larsen, Laura Lofland, Amy Margolis, Shaunte Monet, Jontae Patterson, Sam Rhodes, Robert Salas, Rob Stoller, Sophia Strother Lewis, Megan Tusing, and Andrew Winson.
Cover photography was provided by Steve Chadwick Photography. Cover art was modeled by Haven Kemmer.
BUNNY is a production of Radio Star Media, LLC.
Discover the World of Sound with Radio Star Media
At Radio Star Media, we invite you to explore the vast landscape of audio storytelling. Each production is crafted with care, bringing you mysteries and narratives that evoke imagination and wonder. Uncover the beauty and depth of sound, where every story becomes a journey waiting to be experienced.
