I think radio dramas could be successful today

Cafe Society
1

Radio is in a rut. More and more people are getting sick of the same 30 or 40 songs rotating all day every day on their station, whether it be country or top 40 or classic rock. A lot of people are tentatively turning to talk radio, but the choice is limited. It’s mostly political, or call-in shows where the callers are always annoying and inane (even on NPR people ask some of the dumbest questions I’ve ever heard, I think just to hear themselves on the air.)

I’ve listened to a lot of old dramas on Sirius Radio Classics. I like the idea and the format, but the dramas are boring by today’s standards and the comedies aren’t funny anymore. The science fiction shows are good but that’s probably just because I like old science fiction, and they don’t play them very often.

I think modern radio dramas could be very good. I doubt they’d be a huge mainstream phenomenon, but I bet they could do well enough to more than justify their own airtime. Audiobooks are pretty popular. They could make the shows available for download (for a fee or with commercials), a week or so after the original air dates so people could follow continuing series’ that they missed, or listen whenever/wherever they want on their portables.

I think science fiction would still work well. Drama would work very well. I’m not sure about comedy. Where it would really shine, though, I think, would be horror and suspense. Nothing is scarier than what you don’t see.

I’d also like to see the superhero genre get another chance. Superman was a very popular radio show in its day.

2

The BBC has a fantastic selection of radio programmes (heh). They do everything from plays to comedy shows to dramas to documentaries to book readings - tons of stuff. I download and listen to their stuff all day long, and it’s better than American TV, IMHO. Very underrated.

3

There have been dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of radio dramas, continuing shows, mini-series, and every other variation you could think of in the past 30 years. You’re never heard of any of them. That puts your contention into perspective.

Radio dramas sometimes do get a cult localized fan base. There’s no possible chance of them getting anything more.

4

The problem is people don’t listen to the radio long enough to follow along with a 30 or 60 minute plot. Most radio listening is done in cars, where you’re obviously limited by the length of the trip. Even in homes and offices, radio is normally a background medium which doesn’t get your full attention. You can appreciate talk radio even if you only actually listen to one caller out of a group. You can appreciate All Things Considered or Morning Edition if you only get to hear one story out of an hour’s program. You can’t really appreciate a radio drama if you only hear five minutes of it.

There’s also the cost of writers, a cast, music and sound effects that don’t exist in other formats.

5

Yes, as I understand it, radio drama is alive and well in Britain. (Where are you downloading them from, Smeghead?)

Some people are still making old-style radio drama here in the U.S., whether for broadcast on local and/or satellite radio (e.g. Imagination Theater) or available online (e.g. Decoder Ring Theater, Pendant Productions, Darker Projects, BrokenSea Audio). (I have sampled all of these, but not enough to really comment on their quality.)

And in case you didn’t know, many of the old-time radio dramas are in the public domain and can be freely downloaded from places like The Internet Archive (or there are people who’ll sell you CD-ROMs or DVD-ROMs full of shows on mp3).

6

Were they advertised and given a modern web-presence and made available for download? The fact that I’ve never heard of them says more to me than that they can’t be successful.

7

Radio dramas are hell to listen to. I’ve tried more than I should have and they all move so slowly it hurts. I only did it because my dad got some tapes for a present and insisted they were “really George”.

8

Rules forbid…

9

Isn’t the beeb public?

10

That’s true, but the purpose of almost all call-in radio is pure RO–it’s not a question of the quality programing you’re looking for–nobody wants that, apparently.

You know that what you’re suggesting is already available to some degree, right?

Yes. Radio drama was biggest before TV.

Yeah, even if some people grew to like it, the cost would prohibit the conceivable audience.

Yeah, I know. All those ideas? They hurt my brain, too.

11

BBC radio is free to listen to in the UK, and is streamed live (or for a limited period) over the internet, but the BBC still retain the copyright in their shows, like any other production company.

As someone who a) pays for the BBC’s excellent radio service through my TV licence fee, and b) has, in a small way, written for BBC radio, I appreciate their care in this matter.

12

Been listening to the Red Panda on Decoder Ring Theatre all day… It’s awsome! I highly recommend it!

13

I don’t know if there is really a wide market for radio dramas, but I would definitely listen. Like Cisco, I started listening to Radio Classics on satellite radio. It made my commute go by a lot faster. The comedies are generally not too funny anymore, but I like the mystery and noir shows. A modernized version would be far more welcome than another local sports or talk radio station.

14

It’s incredibly difficult to make money in radio, even when appealing to the broadest possible base of listeners (which is the current strategy, adopted by Clear Channel and the like). Creating more niche specialization is not going to help their cause.

15

There is something to this suggestion, but I don’t think that this problem is insurmountable.

I have been a huge fan of radio drama, for decades. I have collected thousands of thousands of hours of programming, spanning from as far back as the 1930s, right up until the glorious present.

Marriage put a big dent in my listening, though - because my habit was to listen to radio programs in bed, before sleeping. An hour, at least - and sometimes quite a bit more, if Morpheus was being coy.

Now, I sometimes listen in transit, and sometimes (byt infrequently,) at work. Air travel? Stock me up.

I doubt that we’re ever going to go back to “It’s Monday night! Let’s all listen to The Mercury Theatre on the Air,” but we can increasingly have whatever media we want, whenever we want it.

I think if more people were exposed to radio drama that appeals to their general interest, people would be inclined to listen to more radio drama. It’s a great medium, somewhere between print and film in the way that it engages you.

The SciFi Channel did some very nice work with their Seeing Ear Theatre, with very good production values and (more importantly) writing. This is on par with some of the best of British radio drama, although of course it doesn’t have as much of the broad appeal that BBC’s straight drama programs do.

The CBC has some good radio drama, but it’s probably too darned Canadian to have much appeal elsewhere.

When I try to encourage people to listen to radio drama, I go easy on the classic stuff, because (although I love the classics from golden age,) it’s easy to give people the idea that this is a dead medium. It’s not! Some of the contempory efforts are actually much better than the old stuff, where a lot of the charm comes from simple nostalgia.

16

If you’re a British license fee payer, yes.

17

What are some of the best modern (say, after 1990) radio dramas, British or otherwise?

18

I don’t know who produced them, but there’s a whole series of the Francis Durbridge mysteries (Paul Temple) out of Britain. I think they’re post 1990.

19

My family and I listened to plenty of old-time radio tapes during car trips*. Despite having a set of comedy and dramas, we could never get into the dramas.
That being said, I do enjoy audio-only stories. Books-on-tape for road trips are a form of this, and some are made into full audio dramas. Some better than others: my wife’s complaint about an audio drama version of “The Mist” is that the audio volume levels were inconsistent and the characters kept saying things like, “look at that!” That sort of thing is just lain stupid for such a medium.

Taking the Marshall McLuhan approach, somebody is going to have to come up with an original radio drama that takes advantage of the medium, including the short attention spans of modern listeners, for it to be successful.

(In the end, I weep for the imaginations of the next generations…)

*: I can still hear the line played in front of every tape: “This old-time radio program was originally aired live, long before the advent of high-fidelity. As a result, you may detect an occasional surface noise or volume drop due to transmission problems so common to old radio. We hope however, that any variance in audio quality will not take away from your pleasure in listening to this, one of the all time favorite shows…”

20

The Beeb did the remaining three Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy books a couple of years ago, complete with the original cast (except for the voice of The Guide, who had sadly died). They’re excellent, very funny, and also provide an “out” for the depressing ending of Mostly Harmless.

Personally, I’d like to see Radio Drama done during peak hour so there’s something to listen to in the car on the way home, besides annoying immature faux-celebrity DJs who think they’re so great because they’re on the radio and shit music.