RADIO DRAMA

1. RADIO DRAMA

2. ABOUT RADIO DRAMA • Radio drama is a form of audio storytelling broadcast on radio. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the story. • Radio drama achieved widespread popularity within a decade of its initial development in the 1920s. By the 1940s, it was a leading international popular entertainment. • With the advent of television in the 1950s, however, radio drama lost some of its popularity, and in some countries, has never regained large audiences. • However, recordings of OTR (old-time radio) survive today in the audio archives of collectors and museums. • Thanks to advances in digital recording and internet distribution, radio drama is experiencing a revival.

3. THE HISTORY OF RADIO DRAMA • Radio drama seems to have started in the United States. • Serious study of American radio drama of the 1920s and early 1930s is, at best, very limited. • Elizabeth McLeod's recent book on Gosden and Correll's early work is a major exception, as is Richard J. Hand's 2006 study of horror radio, which examines some programs from the late 1920s and early 1930s.

4. One of the first radio drama written in UK - Danger by Richard Hughes, broadcast by BBC, January 15 • One of the earliest and most influential French radio plays was the prize-winning "Marémoto" ("Seaquake"), by Gabriel Germinet and Pierre Cusy • In 1951, American writer and producer Arch Oboler suggested that Wyllis Cooper's Lights Out (1934–47) was the first true radio drama to make use of the unique qualities of radio • Radio drama (as distinguished from theatre plays boiled down to kilocycle size) began at midnight, in the middle thirties, on one of the upper floors of Chicago's Merchandise Mart. • By 1930, Tyrone Guthrie had written plays for the BBC like Matrimonial and The Flowers Are Not for You to Pick. • They were published in 1931 • Guthrie's plays aired on the American networks

5. RADIO DRMA- WIDESPREAD POPULARITY Widespread popularity • Perhaps America's most famous radio drama broadcast is Orson Welles's The War of the Worlds, 1938 • By the late 1930s, radio drama was widely popular in the United States • There were dozens of programs in many different genres, from mysteries and thrillers, to soap operas and comedies.

6. RADIO DRAMA TODAY • Radio drama remains popular in much of the world. • The relatively low cost of producing a radio play enables them to take chances with works by unknown writers. • On the BBC there are two on-going radio soap operas: The Archers on BBC Radio 4 and Silver Street on the Asian Network. • On occasion television series can be revived as radio series. • When an organization owns both television and radio channels, such as the BBC, the fact that no royalties have to be paid makes this even more attractive. • Regular broadcasts of radio drama in English can be heard on the BBC's Radio 3, Radio 4 and BBC 7 • BBC Radio 4 in particular is noted for its radio drama

7. In the U.S., radio drama can be found on ACB radio • In the mid-1980s, the non-profit L.A. Theatre Works launched its radio series recorded before live audiences • With 21st-century technology, modern radio drama, has experienced a revival • The digital age has also resulted in recording styles that differ from the studio recordings of radio drama's Golden Age.

8. A sample of Radio 4 Drama’s • Biographical- ‘women’s hour’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vspgz • Classic and period- ‘Classic serial’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vrbq7 • Crime- ‘A Charles Paris Mystery’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/genres/drama/crime • Political- ‘Afternoon Play’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/genres/drama/political • Relationships and romance- ‘Classic serial’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/genres/drama/relationshipsandromance • Soaps- ‘The Archers’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/genres/drama/soaps