American Family Radio, Exploring the Word, Revival Theme Song?

Purely audio-visual dramatized functioning

Radio drama (or audio drama, sound play, radio play,^[1] radio theatre, or sound theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story: "Information technology is auditory in the concrete dimension but equally powerful as a visual strength in the psychological dimension."^[2] Radio drama includes plays specifically written for radio, docudrama, dramatized works of fiction, as well equally plays originally written for the theatre, including musical theatre, and opera.

Radio drama accomplished widespread popularity within a decade of its initial development in the 1920s. By the 1940s, information technology was a leading international popular entertainment. With the appearance of boob tube in the 1950s radio drama began losing its audience. However, it remains popular in much of the world.

Recordings of OTR (old-fourth dimension radio) survive today in the audio athenaeum of collectors, libraries and museums, as well as several online sites such as Cyberspace Archive.

By the 21st century, radio drama had a minimal presence on terrestrial radio in the United states, with much American radio drama being restricted to rebroadcasts of programmes from previous decades. However, other nations nonetheless accept thriving traditions of radio drama. In the United Kingdom, for example, the BBC produces and broadcasts hundreds of new radio plays each year on Radio 3, Radio iv, and Radio 4 Extra. Like the US, Commonwealth of australia ABC has abandoned broadcasting drama merely in New Zealand RNZ continues to promote and broadcast a diverseness of drama over its airwaves.

Cheers to advances in digital recording and Internet distribution, radio drama experienced a revival around 2010.^[3] Podcasting offered the means of inexpensively creating new radio dramas, in addition to the distribution of vintage programs.

The terms "audio drama"^[4] or "audio theatre" are sometimes used synonymously with "radio drama"; however, audio drama or audio theatre may non necessarily be intended specifically for circulate on radio. Sound drama can also exist found on CDs, cassette tapes, podcasts, webcasts as well as circulate radio.

History [edit]

The Roman playwright "Seneca has been claimed as a forerunner of radio drama because his plays were performed by readers as sound plays, not by actors as stage plays; but in this respect Seneca had no pregnant successors until 20th-century technology made possible the widespread dissemination of sound plays."^[v]

1880–1930: Early years [edit]

Radio drama traces its roots dorsum to the 1880s: "In 1881 French engineer Cloudless Ader had filed a patent for 'improvements of Phone Equipment in Theatres'" (Théâtrophone).^{[half dozen]} English language-language radio drama seems to have started in the United States.^[7] A Rural Line on Didactics, a brief sketch specifically written for radio, aired on Pittsburgh's KDKA in 1921, according to historian Bill Jaker.^[8] Newspaper accounts of the era written report on a number of other drama experiments past America's commercial radio stations: KYW broadcast a season of complete operas from Chicago starting in Nov 1921.^[9] In February 1922, unabridged Broadway musical comedies with the original casts aired from WJZ'south Newark studios.^[10] Actors Grace George and Herbert Hayes performed an unabridged play from a San Francisco station in the summer of 1922.^[xi]

An important turning point in radio drama came when Schenectady, New York'south WGY, after a successful tryout on August 3, 1922, began weekly studio broadcasts of full-length stage plays in September 1922,^[12] using music, sound effects and a regular troupe of actors, The WGY Players. Aware of this series, the managing director of Cincinnati'southward WLW began regularly broadcasting 1-acts (as well every bit excerpts from longer works) in Nov.^[xiii] The success of these projects led to imitators at other stations. By the spring of 1923, original dramatic pieces written specially for radio were airing on stations in Cincinnati (When Love Wakens past WLW's Fred Smith),^{[thirteen] [14]} Philadelphia (The Secret Moving ridge past Clyde A. Criswell)^[15] and Los Angeles (At Home over KHJ).^[16] That same year, WLW (in May) and WGY (in September) sponsored scripting contests, inviting listeners to create original plays to be performed by those stations' dramatic troupes.^{[13] [17]}

Listings in The New York Times ^[18] and other sources for May 1923 reveal at least xx dramatic offerings were scheduled (including i-acts, excerpts from longer dramas, complete iii- and 4-human activity plays, operettas and a Molière adaptation), either as in-studio productions or past remote broadcast from local theaters and opera houses. An early on British drama broadcast was of Shakespeare'south A Midsummer Night's Dream on 2LO on 25 July 1923.^[19]

Serious written report of American radio drama of the 1920s and early 1930s is, at best, very limited. Unsung pioneers of the art include: WLW's Fred Smith; Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll (who popularized the dramatic serial); The Eveready Hour creative team (which began with one-act plays but was soon experimenting with hour-long combinations of drama and music on its weekly variety plan); the various interim troupes at stations like WLW, WGY, KGO and a number of others, frequently run by women similar Helen Schuster Martin and Wilda Wilson Church; early network continuity writers similar Henry Fisk Carlton, William Ford Manley and Don Clark; producers and directors like Clarence Menser and Gerald Stopp; and a long list of others who were credited at the time with any number of innovations merely who are largely forgotten or undiscussed today. Elizabeth McLeod's 2005 book on Gosden and Correll'southward early work^[xx] is a major exception, as is Richard J. Manus's 2006 report of horror radio, which examines some programs from the late 1920s and early on 1930s.^[21]

Some other notable early radio drama, one of the get-go specially written for the medium in the UK, was A One-act of Danger past Richard Hughes, broadcast by the BBC on January fifteen, 1924, about a grouping of people trapped in a Welsh coal mine.^[22] 1 of the primeval and most influential French radio plays was the prize-winning "Marémoto" ("Seaquake"), by Gabriel Germinet and Pierre Cusy, which presents a realistic business relationship of a sinking ship before revealing that the characters are actually actors rehearsing for a broadcast. Translated and broadcast in Germany and England by 1925, the play was originally scheduled past Radio-Paris to air on October 23, 1924, but was instead banned from French radio until 1937 because the authorities feared that the dramatic SOS letters would be mistaken for genuine distress signals.^[23]

In 1951, American writer and producer Arch Oboler suggested that Wyllis Cooper's Lights Out (1934–47) was the first true radio drama to brand utilise of the unique qualities of radio:

Radio drama (equally distinguished from theatre plays boiled down to kilocycle size) began at midnight, in the centre thirties, on one of the upper floors of Chicago's Merchandise Mart. The pappy was a rotund writer by the name of Wyllis Cooper.^[24]

Though the series is oftentimes remembered solely for its gruesome stories and audio furnishings, Cooper's scripts for Lights Out were afterwards recognized every bit well written and offered innovations seldom heard in early radio dramas, including multiple first-person narrators, stream of consciousness monologues and scripts that assorted a duplicitous grapheme's internal monologue and his spoken words.

The question of who was the starting time to write stream-of-consciousness drama for radio is a difficult one to reply. By 1930, Tyrone Guthrie had written plays for the BBC like Matrimonial News (which consists entirely of the thoughts of a shopgirl awaiting a blind date) and The Flowers Are Not for You to Pick (which takes identify within the heed of a drowning man). After they were published in 1931, Guthrie'due south plays aired on the American networks. Effectually the same time, Guthrie himself also worked for the Canadian National Railway radio network, producing plays written by Merrill Denison that used like techniques. A 1940 article in Variety credited a 1932 NBC play, Drink Deep by Don Johnson, as the showtime stream-of-consciousness play written for American radio. The climax of Lawrence Holcomb'due south 1931 NBC play Skyscraper too uses a variation of the technique (and then that the listener can hear the last thoughts and relived memories of a man falling to his death from the championship edifice).

There were probably earlier examples of stream-of-consciousness drama on the radio. For example, in December 1924, actor Paul Robeson, then actualization in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones, performed a scene from the play over New York's WGBS to critical acclamation. Some of the many storytellers and monologists on early 1920s American radio might be able to claim even before dates.

1930–1960s: Widespread popularity [edit]

Perhaps America'southward most famous radio drama broadcast is Orson Welles' The State of war of the Worlds (a 1938 version of H. G. Wells' novel), which convinced large numbers of listeners that an actual invasion from Mars was taking place.^[25] Past the late 1930s, radio drama was widely popular in the United States (and also in other parts of the world). In that location were dozens of programs in many different genres, from mysteries and thrillers, to soap operas and comedies. Amidst American playwrights, screenwriters and novelists who got their get-go in radio drama are Rod Serling and Irwin Shaw.

Radio programme written and performed in Phoenix, Arizona by children of Junior Artists Guild (Federal Arts Programme, 1935).

In Great britain, however, during the 1930s BBC programming, tended to be more loftier forehead, including the works of Shakespeare, Classical Greek drama, as well equally the works of major modernistic playwrights, such equally Chekhov, Ibsen, Strindberg, and and so along. Novels and short stories were as well frequently dramatised.^[26] In improver the plays of contemporary writers and original plays were produced, with, for example, a broadcast of T. S. Eliot's famous verse play Murder in the Cathedral in 1936.^[27] Past 1930, the BBC was producing "twice as many plays as London'due south West Cease" and were producing over 400 plays a twelvemonth by the mid-1940s.^[28]

Producers of radio drama soon became enlightened that adapting stage plays for radio did non e'er work, and that there was a need for plays specifically written for radio, which recognized its potential as a singled-out and different medium from the theatre. George Bernard Shaw'south plays, for instance, were seen as readily adaptable.^[29] All the same, in a lead article in the BBC literary journal The Listener, of 14 Baronial 1929, which discussed the broadcasting of 12 neat plays, it was suggested that while the theatrical literature of the past should not exist neglected the hereafter lay mainly with plays written specifically for the microphone.

In 1939–40, the BBC founded its own Drama Repertory Visitor which made a stock of actors readily available. After the state of war, the number was effectually fifty. They performed in the groovy number of plays broadcast in the heyday of BBC radio drama of the 40s–60s.^[30]

Initially the BBC resisted American-style 'soap opera', only eventually highly popular serials, like Dick Barton, Special Agent (1946–51), Mrs Dale's Diary (1948–69) and The Archers (1950– ), were produced. The Archers is nevertheless running (October 2017) and is the world'due south longest-running lather opera with a total of over 18,400 episodes.^[31] There had been some before serialized drama including, the 6 episode The Shadow of the Swastika (1939), Dorothy L. Sayers's The Human Born To Be King, in twelve episodes (1941), and Front Line Family (1941–48), which was broadcast to America equally function of the endeavor to encourage the United states to enter the war. The show's storylines depicted the trials and tribulations of a British family, the Robinsons, living through the war. This featured plots about rationing, family members missing in action and the Rush. After the war in 1946 it was moved to the BBC Light Programme.^[32]

The BBC continued producing various kinds of drama, including docu-drama, throughout World War II; amongst the writers they employed were the novelist James Hanley^[33] and poet Louis MacNeice, who in 1941 became an employee of the BBC's. MacNeice'southward piece of work for the BBC initially involved writing and producing radio programmes intended to build support for the US, and later Russia, through cultural programmes emphasising links between the countries rather than outright propaganda. By the end of the state of war MacNeice had written well over lx scripts for the BBC, including Christopher Columbus (1942), which starred Laurence Olivier, The Nighttime Tower (1946), and a six-part radio adaptation of Goethe's Faust (1949).^[34]

Following World War II the BBC reorganized its radio provision, introducing two new channels to supplement the BBC Home Service (itself the result of the fusion in September 1939 of the pre-war National and regional Programmes). These were the BBC Lite Programme (dating from 29 July 1945 and a direct successor to the wartime General Forces Programme) and the BBC Third Program (launched on 29 September 1946).

The BBC Low-cal Programme, while principally devoted to light entertainment and music, carried a fair share of drama, both unmarried plays (mostly, equally the name of the station indicated, of a lighter nature) and serials. In contrast, the BBC Third Programme, destined to become ane of the leading cultural and intellectual forces in mail-state of war Britain, specialized in heavier drama (as well equally the serious music, talks, and other features which fabricated upwards its content): long-form productions of both classical and modern/experimental dramatic works sometimes occupied the major part of its output on whatsoever given evening. The Home Service, meanwhile, connected to broadcast more than "centre-forehead" drama (1-off plays and serializations) daily.

The high-water marker for BBC radio drama was the 1950s and 1960s, and during this catamenia many major British playwrights either effectively began their careers with the BBC, or had works adapted for radio. About of playwright Caryl Churchill's early experiences with professional drama production were equally a radio playwright and, starting in 1962 with The Ants, she wrote nine productions with BBC radio drama up until 1973, when her stage piece of work began to be recognised at the Royal Courtroom Theatre.^[35] Joe Orton'southward dramatic debut in 1963 was the radio play The Ruffian on the Stair, which was broadcast on 31 August 1964.^[36]

Tom Stoppard'due south "kickoff professional production was in the 15-minute Just Before Midnight programme on BBC Radio, which showcased new dramatists".^[36] John Mortimer made his radio debut as a dramatist in 1955, with his adaptation of his own novel Like Men Betrayed for the BBC Low-cal Programme. However, he made his debut equally an original playwright with The Dock Brief, starring Michael Hordern as a hapless barrister, first broadcast in 1957 on BBC Third Plan, later televised with the same bandage and after presented in a double bill with What Shall We Tell Caroline? at the Lyric Hammersmith in April 1958, before transferring to the Garrick Theatre. Mortimer is most famous for Rumpole of the Bailey, a British television series which starred Leo McKern every bit Horace Rumpole, an crumbling London barrister who defends any and all clients. Information technology has been spun off into a series of brusque stories, novels, and radio programmes.^[37]

Giles Cooper was a pioneer in writing for radio, condign prolific in both radio and television drama. His early successes included radio dramatisations of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, William Golding's Lord of the Flies,^[38] and John Wyndham's classic science fiction novel Day of the Triffids.^[39] He was also successful in the theatre. The outset of his radio plays to make his reputation was Mathry Buoy (1956), near a small disengagement of men and women notwithstanding guarding a Superlative Cloak-and-dagger "missile deflector" somewhere in Wales, years subsequently the war has ended.^[40] Bill Naughton'south radio play Alfie Elkins and his Footling Life (1962) was first broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 7 January 1962. In information technology Alfie, "[due west]ith sublime amorality... swaggers and philosophises his way through" life.^[41] The activeness spans about ii decades, from the beginning of World War II to the belatedly 1950s. In 1964, Bill Naughton turned it into a stage play which was put on at London'southward Mermaid Theatre. Later, he wrote the screenplay for a film version, "Alfie" (1966), starring Michael Caine.

Other notable radio dramatists included Henry Reed, Brendan Behan, Rhys Adrian, Alan Plater; Anthony Minghella, Alan Bleasdale, and novelist Angela Carter. Novelist Susan Hill also wrote for BBC Radio, from the early 1970s.^[39] Henry Reed was especially successful with the Hilda Tablet plays. Irish playwright Brendan Behan, author of The Quare Fellow (1954), was commissioned by the BBC to write a radio play The Big House (1956); prior to this he had written two plays for Irish gaelic radio: Moving Out and A Garden Political party.^[42]

Amid the most famous works created for radio, are Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Woods (1954), Samuel Beckett'due south All That Fall (1957), Harold Pinter's A Slight Ache (1959), and Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons (1954).^[43] Beckett wrote a number of short radio plays in the 1950s and 1960s, and later for television; his radio play Embers was get-go broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 June 1959 and won the RAI prize at the Prix Italia awards later that year.^[44]

Robert Bolt'south writing career began with scripts for Children's Hour.^[45] A Human being for All Seasons was subsequently produced on television in 1957. Then in 1960, in that location was a highly successful phase production in London'due south Due west End and on New York's Broadway from belatedly 1961. In addition at that place take been two film versions: in 1966 starring Paul Scofield and 1988 for tv, starring Charlton Heston.^[46]

While Alan Ayckbourn did not write for radio many of his stage plays were afterward adapted for radio. Other significant adaptations included, dramatised readings of poet David Jones's In Parenthesis in 1946 and The Anathemata in 1953, for the BBC 3rd Program, ^[47] and novelist Wyndham Lewis's The Homo Age (1955).^[48] Amongst gimmicky novels that were dramatised were the 1964 radio adaptation of Stan Barstow'due south A Kind of Loving (1960); in that location had too been a 1962 motion-picture show adaption.^[49]

1960–2000: Decline in the U.s.a. [edit]

After the appearance of idiot box, radio drama never recovered its popularity in the United States. Well-nigh remaining CBS and NBC radio dramas were cancelled in 1960.^[fifty] The last network radio dramas to originate during American radio's "Golden Age", Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, concluded on September thirty, 1962.^[51]

There have been some efforts at radio drama since then. In the 1960s, Dick Orkin created the popular syndicated comic hazard series Chicken Man. ABC Radio aired a daily dramatic anthology program, Theater Five, in 1964–65. Inspired by The Goon Testify, "the four or five crazy guys" of the Firesign Theatre congenital a big following with their satirical plays on recordings exploring the dramatic possibilities inherent in stereo. A brief resurgence of production beginning in the early 1970s yielded Rod Serling'southward The Goose egg Hour for Common, National Public Radio's Earplay, and veteran Himan Brown's CBS Radio Mystery Theater and General Mills Radio Risk Theater. These productions were afterwards followed past the Sears/Mutual Radio Theater, The National Radio Theater of Chicago, NPR Playhouse, and a newly produced episode of the erstwhile 1950s serial X Minus One. Works past a new generation of dramatists also emerged at this time, notably Yuri Rasovsky, Thomas Lopez of ZBS and the dramatic sketches heard on humorist Garrison Keillor'due south A Prairie Home Companion. Brian Daley's 1981 adaptation of the blockbuster infinite opera film Star Wars for NPR Playhouse was a notable success. Production costs on this serial were mitigated by the support of Lucasfilm, who sold the rights to NPR for a nominal $one fee, and by the participation of the BBC in an international co-production bargain. Star Wars was credited with generating a 40% rising in NPR'south ratings and quadrupling the network'south youth audition overnight. Radio adaptations of the sequels followed with The Empire Strikes Back in 1983 and Return of the Jedi in 1996.^{[52] [53]}

Thanks in large part to the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, public radio continued to air a smattering of sound drama until the mid-1980s. From 1986 to 2002, NPR'due south almost consistent producer of radio drama was the idiosyncratic Joe Frank, working out of KCRW in Santa Monica. The Sci Fi Channel presented an sound drama series, Seeing Ear Theatre, on its website from 1997 to 2001. Also, the dramatic serial It's Your World aired twice daily on the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show from 1994 to 2008, standing online through 2010.

2000–present: Radio drama's "New Media" revival [edit]

Radio drama remains pop in much of the world, though most fabric is now available through internet download rather than heard over terrestrial or satellite radio.^[54] Stations producing radio drama often commission a large number of scripts. The relatively low cost of producing a radio play enables them to take chances with works by unknown writers. Radio can be a good training ground for beginning drama writers every bit the words written grade a much greater function of the finished production; bad lines cannot exist obscured with stagecraft.

The BBC's sole surviving radio soap is The Archers on BBC Radio 4: it is, with over 18,700 episodes to appointment,^[55] the world'southward longest-running such programme. Other radio soaps ("ongoing serials") produced past the BBC but no longer on air include:

• Mrs Dale's Diary (1948–69)
• Westway on the Globe Service (1997–2005)^[56]
• Silvery Street (2004–10) on the Asian Network

In September, 2010 Radio New Zealand began airing its first ongoing soap opera, Y'all Me Now, which won the Best New Drama Award in the 2011 New Zealand Radio Awards.

On KDVS radio in Davis, California there are two radio theater shows, Evening Shadows, a horror/fantasy testify paying tribute to archetype one-time-fourth dimension radio horror, and KDVS Radio Theater which unremarkably features dramas well-nigh social and political themes.

The audio drama format exists next with books presented on radio, read past actors or by the author. In Britain and other countries in that location is likewise quite a bit of radio comedy (both stand up-upward and sitcom). Together, these programs provide entertainment where telly is either not wanted or would be distracting (such as while driving or operating machinery). Selected Shorts, a long-running NPR plan circulate in front of a live audience at Symphony Space in New York, originated the driveway moment for over 300,000 people listeners each calendar week during readings of contemporary and classic short stories past well-known professional actors.^[57]

The lack of visuals also enable fantastical settings and effects to be used in radio plays where the price would be prohibitive for movies or tv. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was first produced as radio drama, and was not adapted for television until much later on, when its popularity would ensure an appropriate return for the high cost of the futuristic setting.

On occasion idiot box serial can be revived as radio series. For case, a long-running but no longer popular television set series can be connected every bit a radio series considering the reduced production costs make it cost-effective with a much smaller audition. When an organization owns both television set and radio channels, such equally the BBC, the fact that no royalties have to be paid makes this fifty-fifty more attractive. Radio revivals can also apply actors reprising their telly roles even after decades equally they still audio roughly the same. Series that have had this handling include Doctor Who, Dad's Ground forces, Thunderbirds ^{[ dubious – talk over ]} and The Tomorrow People. In 2013 BBC Radio 4 released a radio adaptation of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, featuring a cast of well known television and moving picture actors.^[58] Neil Gaiman has said he was excited about the radio drama accommodation as it immune the work to be presented with a greater deal of special effects than was possible on television.^[59] In the The states, an adaptation of The Twilight Zone aired to modest success in the 2000s (decade) as a syndicated plan.

Regular broadcasts of radio drama in English tin be heard on the BBC's Radio 3, Radio four and Radio four Actress (formerly Radio 7), on RTÉ Radio 1 in Ireland, and RNZ National in New Zealand. The Canadian Dissemination Corporation produced notable radio plays in Calgary and Toronto in the postwar decades, from which many actors and directors proceeded to international careers, but abolished its radio drama department in the 1970s and finally ceased production of radio dramas in 2012.^[60] BBC Radio 4 in today noted for its radio drama, broadcasting hundreds of new, one-off plays each year in such strands as The Afternoon Play, equally well as serials and soap operas. Radio 4 Extra broadcasts a variety of radio plays from the BBC's vast archives and a few extended versions of Radio four programmes. The British commercial station Oneword, though dissemination mostly book readings, besides transmitted a number of radio plays in instalments before it closed in 2008.

In the Us, contemporary radio drama tin can exist plant on broadcasters including ACB radio, produced by the American Council of the Bullheaded; on the Sirius XM Volume Radio channel from Sirius XM Satellite Radio (previously Sonic Theater on XM); and occasionally in syndication, as with Jim French's production Imagination Theater. Several community radio stations bear weekly radio drama programs including KBOO, KFAI, WMPG, WLPP and WFHB.

A growing number of religious radio stations air daily or weekly programs commonly geared to younger audiences, such as Focus on the Family's Adventures in Odyssey (one,700+ syndicated stations), or Pacific Garden Mission's Unshackled! (1,800 syndicated stations – a long-running radio drama), which is geared to adults. The networks sometime sell transcripts of their shows on cassette tapes or CDs or make the shows available for listening or downloading over the Internet. Transcription recordings of many pre-television shows have been preserved. They are collected, re-recorded onto sound CDs and/or MP3 files and traded by hobbyists today every bit former-time radio programs. Meanwhile, veterans such as the late Yuri Rasovsky (The National Radio Theater of Chicago) and Thomas Lopez (ZBS Foundation) have gained new listeners on cassettes, CDs and downloads. In the mid-1980s, the nonprofit L.A. Theatre Works launched its radio series recorded before live audiences. Productions have been circulate via public radio, while likewise being marketed on compact discs and via download.^[61] Carl Amari's nationally syndicated radio series "Hollywood 360" features 4 old-fourth dimension radio shows during his 4-hr weekly broadcasts. Amari also broadcasts one-time-fourth dimension radio shows on "The WGN Radio Theatre" heard every Sat night beginning at ten pm on 720-WGN in Chicago.

In addition to traditional radio broadcasters, mod radio drama (also known as audio theater, or audio drama), has experienced a revival, with a growing number of contained producers who are able to build an audience through internet distribution.^[iii] While there are few academic programs in the U.s. that offer preparation in radio drama production, organizations such every bit the National Sound Theatre Festival teach the craft to new producers.

The digital age has also resulted in recording styles that differ from the studio recordings of radio drama's Gilded Age. Non from Space (2003) on XM Satellite Radio was the first national radio play recorded exclusively through the Internet in which the voice actors were all in split up locations. Other producers utilize portable recording equipment to record actors on location rather than in studios.^[3]

Podcasts are a growing distribution format for contained radio drama producers. Podcasts provides an alternative to mainstream idiot box and radio which does not necessarily require a pitching procedure to be made and distributed (equally these aspects of production can be learned past the creator) and which have no restrictions regarding program length or content.^[54]

Radios drama effectually the world [edit]

Australia [edit]

In Commonwealth of australia, as in nigh other developed countries, from the early on years of the medium almost every radio network and station featured drama, serials, and lather operas as staples of their programming; during the and then-called "Golden Years" of radio these were hugely popular. Many Australian serials and "soapies" were copies of American originals (e.g., the popular soap Portia Faces Life or the adventure series Superman, which featured future Australian TV star Leonard Teale in the title part), although these were typically locally produced and performed live to air, since the technology of the time did not let high-quality pre-recording or duplication of programs for import or export.

In this period radio drama, serials and lather operas provided a fertile training basis and a steady source of employment for many actors, and this was particularly important because at this fourth dimension the Australian theatre scene was in its infancy and opportunities were very limited. Many who trained in this medium (such every bit Peter Finch) after became prominent both in Australia and overseas.

Information technology has been noted that the producers of the pop 1960s Gerry Anderson Telly series Thunderbirds were greatly impressed by the versatility of UK-based Australian actor Ray Barrett, who voiced many roles in Anderson's Idiot box productions. Thank you to his early feel on Australian live radio (where he often played English and American roles), Barrett was considered better than his English counterparts at providing a disarming Mid-Atlantic English ("transatlantic") accent, and he could perform a wide range of grapheme voices; he also impressed the Anderson team with his power to chop-chop and easily switch from one voice/accent to some other without the sound engineers' having to cease the recording.^[62]

The effect of the introduction of tv set there in the late 1950s had the aforementioned devastating furnishings equally it did in the U.s. and many other markets, and past the early 1960s Australian commercial radio had totally abandoned radio drama and related programming (including comedy, soapies, and diversity) in favour of music-based formats (such as Top 40) or talk radio ("talkback"), and the one time-flourishing Australia radio production industry vanished within a few years. 1 of the few companies to survive was the Melbourne-based Crawford Productions, which was able to make the successful transition into Tv set production.

Despite the complete abandonment of drama and related programming past the commercial radio sector, the regime-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) maintained a long history of producing radio drama. 1 of its about famous and pop serial was the daily 15-minute afternoon soap opera Blue Hills, which was written for its entire production history past dramatist Gwen Meredith. It featured many well-known Australian actresses and actors, ran continuously for 27 years, from 28 Feb 1949 to 30 September 1976, with a total of 5,795 episodes circulate, and was at in one case the world'south longest-running radio serial. It was preceded past an earlier Meredith serial The Lawsons, which featured many of the same themes and characters and itself ran for 1299 episodes.

In the 1960s and subsequently, the ABC continued to produce many original Australian radio dramas as well as works adjusted from other media. In recent years original radio dramas and adjusted works were deputed from local dramatists and produced for the ABC'south Radio National network program Airplay, which ran from the late 1990s until early 2013. In late 2012 ABC management imposed budget cuts and axed a number of long-running arts programs, thereby ending the national broadcaster'due south decades-long history of producing radio drama (as well as its equally long history of providing daily serialised book readings).

Cyprus [edit]

Since around the early sixties the Republic of cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (RIK) features radio plays in the Cypriot Greek dialect. They are called Cypriot (radio drama) sketches and they are mainly about Cyprus's rural life, traditions and customs, its history and its culture. The works are written past established writers, only also from new writers through the Writing Competition of Cypriot Sketches issued annually by CyBC (RIK) ^[63]

Germany [edit]

The first German radio drama was produced in 1923. Because of the external circumstances in postwar Germany in which most of the theaters were destroyed,^{[ citation needed ]} radio drama boomed. Between 1945 and 1960 there were more than 500 radio plays every year. The German give-and-take for radio drama or audio play is 'Hörspiel'. Today Federal republic of germany is a major market place for radio plays worldwide.^[64] In particular, audio plays on CD are very popular. A pop audio play serial of Germany and of the world is "Dice drei ???" (Three Investigators).

Berlin's Prix Europa includes a Radio Fiction category.^{[ citation needed ]}

India [edit]

Vividh Bharati, a service of All India Radio, has a long running Hindi radio-drama plan: Hawa Mahal.

Republic of Ireland [edit]

RTÉ Radio Drama is one of the oldest audio theatre departments in the radio world.^[65]

Nippon [edit]

Radio dramas began in Japan in 1925, and enjoyed a dandy level of popularity afterwards the hitting of "Tankou no Naka".^{[66] [67] [68]} This resulted in the NHK hiring famous writers to write radio drama scripts for 500 yen, which in 1930 was equivalent to ane million yen in the nowadays day.^[69]

Due to voice acting in Japan having its own distinct culture, audio dramas continue to be popular in Japan, where they are now primarily released on disc equally "drama CDs" (ドラマCD). They are too referred to in Japanese as "vox dramas" (ボイスドラマ). Many such audio dramas are based on anime, manga, novels and video games, but there are as well many that are completely original.^[70] Though about drama CDs are commercial products made by corporate entities, there has been a growing number of doujin sound dramas in contempo years due to it beingness easier for hobbyists to obtain the equipment required to brand recordings, and the net making distribution easier.^[71]

Norway [edit]

Radioteatret (Radio drama in Norway) has existed since 1926.^[72]

Thailand [edit]

A low power radio station "M.C.O.Grand. Radio 2" (formally Pira FM) introduces a new programming block called "M.C.O.Thou. Television" - aims to replace the regular evening music programmes. The programming block is composed of British radio dramas and an Audio-Described version of British TV programmes such as Doctor Who, EastEnders and Horrible Histories.

Since 1 Nov 2021, Radio dramas were scraped and replaced with more (Audio-Described) programmes - All At Sea, Dad's Regular army, Mrs. Brown's Boys and The Outlaw. The radio station broadcasts on 87.two MHz every evening / late nighttime. Due to the nature of low - power VHF propagation, the coverage is very express, the radio station can be heard just in Lat Luang (Bangkok / Samut Prakan expanse). Information technology is the first radio station in Thailand to broadcast both English radio / Television receiver programmes on FM.

See also [edit]

• Amateur vox acting
• BBC Radio iv
• BBC Radio 4 Extra
• Books on the radio
• Full cast audiobook
• Listing of films based on radio series
• List of radio soap operas
• Old-fourth dimension radio
• Performance art
• Pingshu
• Podcasts
• Radio comedy
• Radio programming
• Sat Dark Theatre
• Telly play

References [edit]

1. ^ LC subject heading.
2. ^ Tim Crook: Radio drama. Theory and practice Archived 2014-07-01 at the Wayback Automobile. London; New York: Routledge, 1999, p. 8.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Wall Street Journal; Newman, Barry (2010-02-25). "Return With Us to the Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear – Via the Internet". Wall Street Journal.
4. ^ Compare the entry to Hörspiel e.g. in: dict.cc – Deutsch-Englisch-Wörterbuch
5. ^ Martin Banham (ed.). The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1995, "Radio drama", p. 896.
6. ^ Tim Crook: Radio drama. Theory and practise. London; New York: Routledge, 1999, p. fifteen.
7. ^ Historian Alan Beck reports in The Invisible Play: B.B.C. Radio Drama 1922–1928 that "The first English experiment in radio drama" took identify October 17, 1922, in Great U.k.. But U.S. stations were broadcasting drama prior to this. Encounter post-obit.
8. ^ Bill Jaker, March 27, 1998, electronic mail post to the OTR Assimilate
9. ^ "OPERA CARRIES 1,500 MILES BY RADIO PHONES," November 12, 1921 Chicago Tribune; "Radi-Opera" Nov 17, 1921 Chicago Tribune
10. ^ "TWO PLAYS Past WIRELESS," February iv, 1922, New York Times; "MILLION TO HEAR MUSICAL COMEDY," February 12, 1922 Los Angeles Times; "You lot Can HEAR Unabridged Testify By RADIO Telephone," February 19, 1922 Mansfield (OH) News.
11. ^ July 1922 wire service story which appeared in the July 19, 1922 Lima (OH) News (nether headline: "Acting By RADIO IS A WEIRD SENSATION") and the July 23, 1922 Charleston (SC) Daily Mail (under headline: "PRESENTING A PLAY OVER THE WIRELESS IN NEWEST Wrinkle")
12. ^ New York Times and Hartford (CT) Courant radio listings, Baronial 3, 1922; New York Times radio listings, September xi, 19, and 25, 1922; "Volition Give Dramatic Productions By Radio" September ii, 1922 The (Fort Wayne, IN) News-Lookout man; LOCAL RADIO FANS TO HEAR "Officeholder 666" November 3, 1922 Fayetteville (AR) Democrat; "MADAME Ten" FROM WGY Th NIGHT, November 21, 1922 Fayetteville (AR) Democrat.
13. ^ ^{a b c} Lawrence Lichty, "Radio Drama: The Early Years" in Lawrence Lichty and Malachi Topping (eds): American Broadcasting (New York, Hastings House, 1975).
14. ^ April ii, 1923 Hamilton (OH) Evening Periodical radio listing.
15. ^ "WRITING RADIO PLAYS IS LATEST," May 27, 1923 Oakland (CA) Tribune.
16. ^ April 22, 1923 Los Angeles Times radio listings; "KHJ TRAVELS IN PRETENSE Country," April 23, 1923 Los Angeles Times.
17. ^ "Competition for Prize Radio Drama Opens September 1," August 19, 1923 Washington Post; "G. Eastward. COMPANY HAS PRIZE FOR RADIO DRAMA," September 7, 1923 Waukesha (WI) Daily Freeman.
18. ^ Compare The New York Times – Archive 1851–1980
19. ^ "SHAKESPEARE". www.britishdrama.org.uk.
20. ^ Elizabeth McLeod, The Original Amos 'n Andy: Freeman Gosden, Charles Correll, and the 1928–1943 Radio Serial. McFarland & Co, 2005.
21. ^ Richard J. Hand, Terror on the Air!: Horror Radio in America, 1931–1952 McFarland, 2006.
22. ^ Richard Hughes, 'A Comedy of Danger' in 'The Invisible Play': B.B.C. Radio Drama 1922–1928 past Alan Beck.
23. ^ "Maremoto, a radio play (1924)," Réseaux, 1994, Volume 2, Numéro 2 p. 251–265
24. ^ "Theatre Arts (July 1951):"Windy Kilocycles" by Curvation Oboler". richsamuels.com.
25. ^ Koch, Howard, The Panic Broadcast: The Whole Story of Orson Welles' Legendary Radio Prove Invasion From Mars, Avon Books, 1971.
26. ^ Meet reviews in The Listener
27. ^ "The Poetic Quality", Grace Wyndham Goldie. The Listener (London, England), Wednesday, January viii, 1936; p. 78; Upshot 365.
28. ^ "Radio broadcast recordings". The British Library.
29. ^ See, for example, "A Listener'south Commentary", R. D. Charques. The Listener (London, England), Wednesday, October 23, 1929; p. 553; Issue 41.
30. ^ "Soundstart – The Radio Drama Company". BBC.
31. ^ The Archers airs 15,000th episode, BBC News, 2006-11-07
32. ^ [ane] "British Radio Drama – A Cultural Case History" past Tim Crook.
33. ^ Linnea Gibbs, James Hanley: A Bibliography. (Vancouver: William Hoffer, 1980), p. 165.
34. ^ Poets.org
35. ^ "Caryl Churchill". www.doollee.com.
36. ^ ^{a b} "International radio drama". www.irdp.co.uk.
37. ^ "John Mortimer Radio Plays": [ii]; filmreference.com/picture/69/John-Mortimer.html John Mortimer Biography (1923–2009)
38. ^ The Listener (London, England), Th, September ane, 1955; p. 349; Issue 1383.
39. ^ ^{a b} Deacon, Alison Deacon, Nigel. "RADIO DRAMA, APPLES, EKEGUSII, POTATOES, EARLY MUSIC, Mandy Giltjes". www.suttonelms.org.uk.
40. ^ "Critic on the Hearth", J. C. Trewin. The Listener (London, England), Thursday, June 28, 1956; p. 903; Result 1422.
41. ^ Deacon, Alison Deacon, Nigel. "Beak Naughton radio drama – DIVERSITY WEBSITE". www.suttonelms.org.uk.
42. ^ The Columbia encyclopedia of modern drama, by Gabrielle H. Cody; "Brendan Behan" – RTÉ Athenaeum [3]
43. ^ J. C. Trewin, "Critic on the Hearth." Listener [London, England] v Aug. 1954: 224.
44. ^ Prix Italia "PAST EDITIONS – WINNERS 1949 – 2007" Archived 2012-03-03 at the Wayback Auto
45. ^ British Radio Drama – A Cultural Case History by Tim Crook
46. ^ A Man for All Seasons (1966) – IMDb [iv]; A Man for All Seasons (Idiot box 1988) – IMDb [five]
47. ^ "Critic on the Hearth", Philip Hope-Wallace. The Listener (London, England), Thursday, November 28, 1946; p. 767; Outcome 933; "Critic on the Hearth", Martin Armstrong. The Listener (London, England), Thursday, May 14, 1953; p. 815; Upshot 1263.
48. ^ "The Human Age"", Wyndham Lewis. The Listener (London, England), Thursday, June ii, 1955; p. 976
49. ^ "A Kind of Loving – The Literature of Stan Barstow":[6]; A Kind of Loving (1962) – IMDb [seven]
50. ^ Jim Cox, Say Goodnight, Gracie: The Last Years of Network Radio, pp. 145–148.
51. ^ John Dunning, On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 742. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-three.
52. ^ Robb, Brian J. (2012). A Brief Guide to Star Wars. London: Hachette. ISBN978-one-78033-583-iv . Retrieved 21 July 2016.
53. ^ John, Derek. "That Time NPR Turned 'Star Wars' Into A Radio Drama – And It Actually Worked". NPR.org. All Things Considered, National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 20 June 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
54. ^ ^{a b} Lichtig, Toby (24 April 2007). "The podcast'due south the thing to revive radio drama". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-04-12 .
55. ^ "The Archers – Frequently Asked Questions – BBC Radio 4". BBC.
56. ^ "Eight years of Westway end". BBC News. 2005-x-28. Retrieved 2010-04-12 .
57. ^ "Listen – Selected Shorts". selectedshorts.org.
58. ^ Mellor, Louise (six March 2013). "Neil Gaiman'south Neverwhere BBC Radio 4 launch report". London: Den of Geek. Retrieved 2013-06-18 .
59. ^ LicHatfullhtig, Jonathan (4 March 2013). "Neil Gaiman, Natalie Dormer and More Talk Neverwhere". London: SciFiNow. Retrieved 2013-06-thirteen .
60. ^ White, Nancy J. (ix November 2012). "Legendary CBC radio drama studio to shut". The Toronto Star.
61. ^ Maughan, Shannon. "L.A. Theatre Works at 40". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 6 February 2018.
62. ^ Bergan, Ronald (September 9, 2009). "Ray Barrett". The Guardian. London.
63. ^ "Cypriot Sketch". Cybc-media.com. 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-29 .
64. ^ Torsten Wissmann, Geographies of Urban Audio, 2016, Routledge (publisher; in the year 2014 published by Ashgate Publishing), p. 204. Cite: "Deutschland is the virtually important marketplace for audio plays"
65. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2021-06-01. Retrieved 2020-01-sixteen . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy equally title (link)
66. ^ NHK編『放送の五十年 昭和とともに』 日本放送出版協会、1977年 pp.fourteen-26「ラジオの夜明け」
67. ^ 岩淵東洋男『わたしの音響史』 社会思想社、1981年 pp.146-167「『効果』の歩み」
68. ^ "炭坑の中".
69. ^ 『放送の五十年』pp.28-30「ラジオドラマのはじまり」
70. ^ 「空想美少女用語辞典」『空想美少女大百科 電脳萌え萌え美少女大集合!』宝島社〈別冊宝島〉、1999年1月3日、245頁。ISBN 4-7966-9421-8。
71. ^ https://booth.pm/ja/browse/%E3%83%9C%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B9%E3%83%89%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9E%E3%83%BB%E3%83%89%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9ECD
72. ^ "Radioteatret". Shop norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Retrieved 23 September 2016.

Farther reading [edit]

• Tim Crook, Radio Drama: Theory and Practise. London; New York: Routledge, 1999.
• Armin Paul Frank, Das englische und amerikanische Hörspiel. München: Fink, 1981.
• Walter K. Kingson and Rome Cowgill, Radio Drama Acting and Production: A Handbook. New York: Rinehart, 1950.
• Karl Ladle: Hörspielforschung. Schnittpunkt zwischen Literatur, Medien und Ästhetik. Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, 2001.
• Sherman Paxton Lawton, Radio Drama. Boston: Expression Visitor, 1938.
• Peter Lewis (ed.), Radio Drama. London; New York: Longman, 1981.
• Dermot Rattigan, Theatre of Audio: Radio and the Dramatic Imagination. second edition. Carysfort Printing, 2003.
• Neil Verma, Theater of the Listen: Imagination, Aesthetics, and American Radio Drama. Chicago: University of Chicago Printing, 2012.

External links [edit]

Look upwards radio drama in Wiktionary, the free lexicon.

• Audio-Drama.com A directory of audio drama websites.
• The Audio Drama Production Podcast Instructional podcast on the production of audio drama.
• The Well-tempered Sound Dramatist Treatise on writing, producing, performing and directing audio plays in the 21st century.
• Necrology of Quondam Radio Personalities (archived at the Wayback Machine)
• National Audio Theatre Festivals Radio drama workshop.

BBC sources [edit]

• The BBC Story – The Written Archives: [8]
• Radio Plays & Radio Drama webpage (England): [9]
• British Radio Drama – A Cultural Case History by Tim Crook: [10]

nievesblaint.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_drama

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