Ellie Adder, PI being a radio show has no images, thus we create images in the listeners mind with voices, music and sound effects. Most of the sound effects are created in a practical manner, by acting out the event. Some sound effects are difficult to create in person (A jet airplane crashing for example), so effects are purchased from specialty companies, usually Sound Dogs.

In Spies by the Sea, the spies are using a radio transmitter to send shipping information to submarines offshore. They have a hidden antenna. Ellie and her associates identify the location of the spies when they hear the antenna being raised. I needed the sound of a ratchet jacking up a long pole to represent the raising of the antenna. See the video below for how that sound was created.