# 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:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/41 "2018-03-20T14:22:57Z")
I’m following this thread with great interest. I’ve become a big fan of XM Radio’s Radio Classics (XM148). There are so many great dramas out there. Including, but not limited to: Gunsmoke, Suspense, The Whistler, The Falcon, Have Gun Will Travel, Tales of the Texas Rangers, Dragnet, Gangbusters. Mr. District Attorney, Fort Laramie. Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. There’s a bunch of Sci Fi shows too (X Minus one, Dimension x). Comedies too; but I have discovered that comedies don’t hold up so well. So, that being said; I’m interested in any podcast or radio stations that offers audio dramas. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/42 "2018-05-11T01:14:27Z")
[You might be interested in this post from the LOC:](https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2018/05/inquiring-minds-bringing-radios-golden-age-back-to-life/?loclr=fbloc) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/43 "2018-05-11T13:14:00Z")
[Jim French Productions](http://jimfrenchproductions.com/) is doing them now, with a series of detective stories. A reasonable number of radio stations are playing their weekly program. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/44 "2018-05-11T13:40:00Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > 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. Not over the radio, but I listen to and blog review episodes of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, which the HP Lovecraft Historical Society does on CD and downloadable MP3. They adapt Lovecraft stories (plus a couple of Lovecraft-based stories of their own and one Poe story so far) as if they were broadcasts of an old 1930s radio program: [https://store.hplhs.org/collections/dark-adventure-radio-theatre](https://store.hplhs.org/collections/dark-adventure-radio-theatre). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/45 "2018-05-11T17:11:06Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Are they any different in this respect than standard audiobooks? > [@Miller](#): > > What significant distinction are we making between “radio drama” and “podcast?” You can pause and rewind audiobooks. You needn’t miss an important plot point because that jerk in a BMW cut you off. > [@Enright3](#): > > …Yours Truly Johnny Dollar… The man with the action-packed expense account? > [@GuanoLad](#): > > [Big Finish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Finish_Productions) does a lot of genre audio dramas, mostly for _Doctor Who_… They did seventy–SEVENTY!–with Paul McGann, making the Eighth Doctor, on TV mostly a one-shot deal, the most prolific Doctor. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745/46 "2018-05-11T18:02:42Z")
I’m into a D&D audio drama podcast called Dice Funk. Unlike others they don’t get drawn out into the mechanics as much, and they aren’t traditional dungeon crawls. The first season has a Lovecraftian feel. The second is about a water apocalypse. The third is this trapped town, and the fourth is basically modern day but dystopian. Each deal with platonic themes from the world of forms, intersecting with the D&D world. Its part comedy, with tons of improv, but also drama. And, despite the rather “go with the flow” DM, they get a lot of story structure and thematic completeness out of it. Oh, and one season has them dealing with a barbarian unicorn PC. Forgot to mention that it’s in anthology style, so you can jump in on any season, and only miss some winking callbacks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-radio-drama-make-a-coemback/810745.md?page=2)