# Could the radio drama make a coemback? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 17, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745 "2018-03-17T19:29:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/21 "2018-03-19T02:15:23Z")
I did like the way GK put it. TV fits on that little screen. You can get a bigger TV, but it still ends at the edges of the screen. Radio drama, or whatever, does not have those physical limitations. It extends outward to the limits of your imagination. Or something to that effect. Now, if we can just train people to exercise their imaginations, rather than being spoon-fed images. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/22 "2018-03-19T02:47:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I came in to mention this,. They ran new radio dramas back in the 1980s. So radio certainly had at least one comeback. Eventually they stopped the original productions, and then, KNX, at least–the station that aired them in L.A.–changed to just playing really old productions of various radio shows. This would support **kanobi 65** ’s point that, while there is an audience, it’s not enough to support the cost of new productions. KNX dropped that drama hour about 15 years ago, but it might have continued had they had something more current. While they had a few good programs (like _The Third Man_), in the end they mostly were playing just about anything, and a lot of it was–in my opinion–just not very good, regardless of the age. There is a certain audience who will listen to just about any old-timey radio–the nostalgia audience. It doesn’t matter how bad it is: they just listen to it because it’s old time radio. Some non-commercial stations have special broadcast for them, but that audience couldn’t sustain new productions, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/23 "2018-03-19T03:20:19Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I think this a big part of it. ISTM that radio dramas require a fairly high level of concentration to follow, maybe because it’s only one sense. Even while watching TV today, many people are simultaneously doing things on their phones or computers, and I suspect that it’s easier to “partially pay attention” to a TV drama than it is with a radio drama. Similar to a book on tape, it’s probably easier to listen to them in the car/bus/train. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/24 "2018-03-19T03:20:59Z")
We have a “Readers’ Theater”, where the cast will set up five or six microphones at an old folks’ home to record their versions of old radio dramas. And the residents get to relive their salad days. Great idea, though I wonder how hard it is to edit out Ol’ Man Jablonski’s snoring. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/25 "2018-03-19T03:54:43Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In the US? I’d say almost no chance. People would choose podcasts. Other places? The BBC still does radio dramas, and apparently people like them. Right. Never say never, given that community radio exists and some OTR fan could take a notion to perform some new scripts in the booth at a college radio station in the back end of nowhere, but anything people listen to will be like [Welcome To Night Vale](http://www.welcometonightvale.com/) or [Wolf 359](http://www.wolf359.fm/) or [The Truth](http://www.thetruthpodcast.com/subscribe/) or [any of the others from this list](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/arts/fiction-rising-podcasts-grow-dramatic.html) or [this list](https://imgur.com/gallery/8zyHl) or [this list](https://player.fm/featured/audio-theater) or [this list](https://www.thepodcasthost.com/fiction-podcasts/best-audio-fiction-podcasts/) or any other lists you might find. Seriously: The death of a medium (radio) does not mean the death of a genre or a form. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/26 "2018-03-19T03:57:59Z")
When I was a lad, _CBS Radio Mystery Theater_ ran at 11pm. Because it had a theme that fit the late-evening broadcast. Which was good, because I was in bed by then. Works pretty well to be lying in bed in the dark, listening to stories designed to give you bad dreams. The one that sticks in my mind was the executive who had a heart condition, so the doctor prescribed a cat (to teach him how to relax). ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/27 "2018-03-19T06:37:28Z")
As a kid, I fondly remember traveling with the family at night. And listening to radio dramas in the Pontiac Chieftan. But this before color TV. As and adult I enjoyed _Tres Patinas_ a pre-Castro Cuban theater. It is a hoot! But, like others have said, there are so many sources today that can provide entertainment. But, if you had a good script and an exclusive it could work. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/28 "2018-03-19T12:16:49Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Thanks to everyone for suggestions – I also searched “BBC4” and found quite a few “videos that are just audio” on Youtube. BBC4 is a digital TV channel. Radio 4 is the BBC’s speech/news radio channel (and AFAIK they don’t mind overseas audiences accessing it on the internet, unlike their TV channels). PS: maybe not entirely relevant here, but radio drama has been considered a serious and significant art form in Germany for quite a while: [https://www.goethe.de/en/kul/med/20746648.html](https://www.goethe.de/en/kul/med/20746648.html) ---
**Author:** ![Fortyfold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7c8e57/32.png) [@Fortyfold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fortyfold)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/29 "2018-03-19T18:07:08Z")
There’s also Radio 4 Extra (Radio 7 as was), which broadcasts nothing but old radio dramas/comedies. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/30 "2018-03-19T18:22:38Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In the US? I’d say almost no chance. People would choose podcasts. Other places? The BBC still does radio dramas, and apparently people like them. What significant distinction are we making between “radio drama” and “podcast?” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/31 "2018-03-19T18:52:52Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > What significant distinction are we making between “radio drama” and “podcast?” It’s not clear to me whether the OP was asking about specifically drama that was _broadcast on the radio_, or whether (s)he was asking about audio drama no matter how it was made available. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/32 "2018-03-19T19:46:58Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In the US? I’d say almost no chance. ^That You might find some old timers that would get into it, but the rest of America is hooked into ultra high definition visual effects. I can’t imagine them listening to a story and creating the images in their minds, I really can’t. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/33 "2018-03-19T20:05:02Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Tangentially to this thread, I used to listen to [CBS Radio Mystery Theater](https://www.cbsrmt.com/synopsis.html) all the time when I was a child/teen. Spent many a night in our cabin in the northern Minnesota woods listening to CBSRMT. We didn’t have electricity there so reading books by lamplight or listening to a battery powered radio were our entertainment. It was fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/34 "2018-03-19T20:18:15Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > ^That > > You might find some old timers that would get into it, but the rest of America is hooked into ultra high definition visual effects. I can’t imagine them listening to a story and creating the images in their minds, I really can’t. Which explains why nobody listens to people read books. Nope. Nobody. Absolutely nobody listens to what Audible produces. (Why do I bother? You aren’t going to get my sarcasm.) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/35 "2018-03-19T20:19:02Z")
Obviously there’s no market for broadcasting audio dramas over the radio. That’s not going to work, because Americans don’t listen to the radio anymore except in their cars while driving to work. That market is dead, dead, dead. But Americans listen to a metric shitload of long-form audio, in the form of audiobooks and podcasts. So what the OP wants already exists. ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/36 "2018-03-19T20:37:53Z")
CBC did it as recently as 2011. Between three hundred and six hundred thousand listeners a week on radio and online. > **[Afghanada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanada)** > > Afghanada is a Canadian radio drama which aired on CBC Radio One and Sirius Satellite Radio. The 103 episode series began on November 3, 2006, and concluded its sixth and final season on December 30, 2011. > The half-hour episodes were broadcast on CBC Radio One Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. local time (3:30 p.m. Newfoundland Time) and 11 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. Newfoundland Time), and on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 159 Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and 3 a.m. Eastern Time. > Afghanada was created by Jason... ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/37 "2018-03-20T02:10:15Z")
It is not just that we are used to high definition visual effects, we are used to on demand entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/38 "2018-03-20T03:17:10Z")
The pictures are better on radio. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/39 "2018-03-20T10:26:46Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Tangentially to this thread, I used to listen to [CBS Radio Mystery Theater](https://www.cbsrmt.com/synopsis.html) all the time when I was a child/teen. > . I also remember listening to it when I was a teen. I can still remember the opening of every show: “The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents… (sound of creaking door closing). Hello, I am E.G. Marshall…” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/40 "2018-03-20T10:47:09Z")
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