Radio Free Roscoe


Radio Free Roscoe is a Canadian teen comedy-drama television series. The series was filmed in Toronto, Ontario and produced by Decode Entertainment. It first aired on August 1, 2003, on Family in Canada. It has also been dubbed in French in the province of Quebec and aired on Vrak. The show was later aired on The N in the United States, where the show received funding for a second season. The series ended on 27 May 2005 because The N decided to stop funding the show, and Family, along with Decode Entertainment, could not fill the gap in the production budget. The show was shown on Family until 2007, when it was replaced. In early 2008, The N began rebroadcasting reruns. As of 2019, episodes can still be found on the Canadian station Chrgd.
The pilot was first filmed in New Jersey, with an entirely different cast. At that time, the show was going to be based in Nutley, New Jersey and was to be titled Radio Free Nutley. The show was never picked up. Decode Entertainment later decided to move production to Toronto and change the cast and title of the show, leading to the show's production and broadcasting. Despite the change in filming location, the show was still set in suburban New Jersey.

Premise

Four teens in the suburban New Jersey town of Roscoe start attending Henry Roscoe High School. There, they are fed up with their school's radio station, "Cougar Radio", dictating unto the masses how to live, plus the rather overbearing Principal Waller, who seems to favour the popular students, so they create their own pirate radio station called Radio Free Roscoe. Lily Randall, Ray Brennan and Robbie McGrath are old friends, and find a friend in Travis Strong when they form the radio station. Each of them assume a radio alias to conceal their identity.
In their time at Roscoe High, the four friends confront various challenges, such as when Ray has a crush on Lily, when Lily and Travis date briefly, and other relationships between the members of RFR and their schoolmates. Examples include Lily and River Pierce, Travis and Parker Haynes, and Ray and Grace. Life at Roscoe High gets especially complicated when Robbie falls for the Cougar Radio DJ, Kim Carlisle.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Note: each member of Radio Free Roscoe assumes a pseudonym for broadcasting the radio show, allowing them to remain anonymous and thus prevent the administration from shutting the show down.
The final two episodes of the series included all of the main and supporting cast, excluding Bridget and Audrey.
All members of RFR have been, at some point, part of Cougar Radio. Travis considered joining in Episode One. Ray joined Cougar Radio because he didn't like concealing himself behind his persona "Pronto". Kim Carlisle convinced Robbie to join. Lily joined River Pierce to get air time for her band. Regardless of the rational basis, none of the RFR members departs permanently.

Guest stars

There are a total of 52 episodes. On Family, the episodes aired as two seasons, and on The N the episodes aired as four seasons, although both channels have aired all 52 episodes.

Media releases

There are two official Radio Free Roscoe products.

Awards

RFR is currently in syndication on these stations:
Country/RegionChannel
ABC
Latin AmericaBoomerang
The N
TVP2
Teen TV
Rai Gulp and Rai 2

Panda Biggs
RFR was formerly syndicated on these stations:
Country/RegionChannelLanguage
CanadaVRAK.TVFrench
BrazilBoomerangBrazilian Portuguese
PolandZigZapPolish
United KingdomNickelodeonEnglish
FranceFrance 2 and Canal JFrench
FinlandYLE TV2English
Arutz HaYeladimEnglish