H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
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novel), which inspired stories of a mass panic that, though greatly exaggerated, signaled the power of the form. By the late 1930s, radio drama was widely popular in the United States (and also in other parts of the world). There were dozens of programs in many different genres, from mysteries and thrillers, to

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

s and comedies. Among American playwrights, screenwriters and novelists who got their start in radio drama are Rod Serling and

Irwin Shaw Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913 – May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best known for two of his novels: '' The Young Lions'' ...

Radio program put on by children of Junior Artists Club Federal Art Project WPA Phoenix AZ 1935

In Britain, however, during the 1930s BBC programming, tended to be more high brow, including the works of Shakespeare, Classical Greek drama, as well as the works of major modern playwrights, such as

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

, Ibsen,

Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

, and so forth. Novels and short stories were also frequently dramatised. In addition 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 ''Murder in the Cathedral'' is a verse drama by T. S. Eliot, first performed in 1935, that portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral during the reign of Henry II in 1170. Eliot drew heavily on the writin ...

'' in 1936. By 1930, the BBC was producing "twice as many plays as London's West End" and were producing over 400 plays a year by the mid-1940s. Producers of radio drama soon became aware that adapting stage plays for radio did not always work, and that there was a need for plays specifically written for radio, which recognized its potential as a distinct and different medium from the theatre.

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's plays, for example, were seen as readily adaptable. However, in a lead article in the BBC literary journal '' The Listener'', of 14 August 1929, which discussed the broadcasting of 12 great plays, it was suggested that while the theatrical literature of the past should not be neglected the future lay mainly with plays written specifically for the microphone. In 1939–40, the BBC founded its own Drama Repertory Company which made a stock of actors readily available. After the war, the number was around 50. They performed in the great number of plays broadcast in the heyday of BBC radio drama of the 40s–60s. Initially the BBC resisted American-style 'soap opera', but eventually highly popular serials, like '' Dick Barton, Special Agent'' (1946–51), ''

Mrs Dale's Diary ''Mrs Dale's Diary'' was the first significant BBC radio serial drama. It was first broadcast on 5 January 1948 on the BBC Light Programme, later BBC Radio 2; it ran until 25 April 1969. A new episode was broadcast each weekday afternoon, wit ...

'' (1948–69) and ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural sett ...

'' (1950–), were produced. ''The Archers'' is still running () and is the world's longest-running soap opera with a total of over 18,400 episodes. There had been some earlier serialized drama including, the six episode ''The Shadow of the Swastika'' (1939),

Dorothy L. Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...

's ''

The Man Born To Be King ''The Man Born to Be King'' is a radio drama based on the life of Jesus, produced and broadcast by the BBC during the Second World War. It is a play cycle consisting of twelve plays depicting specific periods in Jesus' life, from the events ...

'', in twelve episodes (1941), and ''

Front Line Family ''Front Line Family'' was a British radio soap opera initially broadcast on the BBC's North American shortwave service. It ran from April 1941 until 1948 when it was replaced by ''Mrs Dale's Diary''. The show's storylines depicted the trials an ...

'' (1941–48), which was broadcast to America as part of the effort to encourage the US 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 Blitz. After the war in 1946 it was moved to the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

. The BBC continued producing various kinds of drama, including docu-drama, throughout

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

; amongst the writers they employed were the novelist James Hanley and poet Louis MacNeice, who in 1941 became an employee of the BBC's. MacNeice's 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 war MacNeice had written well over 60 scripts for the BBC, including ''

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

'' (1942), which starred Laurence Olivier, '' The Dark Tower'' (1946), and a six-part radio adaptation of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

's ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

'' (1949). 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 National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

and Regional Programmes). These were the BBC Light Programme (dating from 29 July 1945 and a direct successor to the wartime General Forces Programme) and the

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...

(launched on 29 September 1946). The BBC Light Programme, while principally devoted to light entertainment and music, carried a fair share of drama, both single plays (generally, as the name of the station indicated, of a lighter nature) and serials. In contrast, the BBC Third Programme, destined to become one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces in post-war Britain, specialized in heavier drama (as well as the serious music, talks, and other features which made up its content): long-form productions of both classical and modern/experimental dramatic works sometimes occupied the major part of its output on any given evening. The Home Service, meanwhile, continued to broadcast more "middle-brow" drama (one-off plays and serializations) daily. The high-water mark for BBC radio drama was the 1950s and 1960s, and during this period many major British playwrights either effectively began their careers with the BBC, or had works adapted for radio. Most of playwright Caryl Churchill's early experiences with professional drama production were as a radio playwright and, starting in 1962 with ''The Ants'', she wrote nine productions with BBC radio drama up until 1973, when her stage work began to be recognised at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...

. Joe Orton's dramatic debut in 1963 was the radio play ''

The Ruffian on the Stair ''The Ruffian On the Stair'' is a play by British playwright Joe Orton which was first broadcast on BBC Radio in 1964, in a production by John Tydeman. It is an unsympathetic yet comedic one-act portrayal of working class England, as played out ...

'', which was broadcast on 31 August 1964.

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

's "first professional production was in the 15-minute ''Just Before Midnight'' programme on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

, which showcased new dramatists". John Mortimer made his radio debut as a dramatist in 1955, with his adaptation of his own novel ''Like Men Betrayed'' for the

. However, he made his debut as an original playwright with ''

The Dock Brief ''The Dock Brief'' (US title ''Trial and Error'') is a 1962 black-and-white British legal satire directed by James Hill, starring Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough, and based on the play of the same name written by John Mortimer (creator o ...

'', starring

Michael Hordern Sir Michael Murray Hordern Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (3 October 19112 May 1995)Morley, Sheridan"Hordern, Michael Murray (1911–1995)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online e ...

as a hapless barrister, first broadcast in 1957 on BBC Third Programme, later televised with the same cast and subsequently presented in a double bill with ''What Shall We Tell Caroline?'' at the

Lyric Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London.

in April 1958, before transferring to the

Garrick Theatre The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play, ' ...

. Mortimer is most famous for ''

Rumpole of the Bailey ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, oft ...

'', a British television series which starred

Leo McKern Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notable roles include Cla ...

as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients. It has been spun off into a series of short stories, novels, and radio programmes. Giles Cooper was a pioneer in writing for radio, becoming prolific in both radio and television drama. His early successes included radio dramatisations of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

's '' Oliver Twist'',

William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980 ...

's ''

Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. Themes ...

'', and

John Wyndham John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names ...

's classic science fiction novel '' Day of the Triffids''. He was also successful in the theatre. The first of his radio plays to make his reputation was ''Mathry Beacon'' (1956), about a small detachment of men and women still guarding a Top Secret "missile deflector" somewhere in Wales, years after the war has ended.

Bill Naughton William John Francis Naughton (12 June 1910 – 9 January 1992) was an Irish-born British playwright and author, best known for his play '' Alfie''. Early life Born into relative poverty in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, Ireland, he moved to Bo ...

's radio play ''Alfie Elkins and his Little Life'' (1962) was first broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 7 January 1962. In it Alfie, " th sublime amorality... swaggers and philosophises his way through" life. The action spans about two decades, from the beginning of World War II to the late 1950s. In 1964, Bill Naughton turned it into a stage play which was put on at London's

Mermaid Theatre The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre encompassing the site of Puddle Dock and Curriers' Alley at Blackfriars in the City of London, and the first built in the City since the time of Shakespeare. It was, importantly, also one of the first new the ...

. Later, he wrote the screenplay for a film version, ''

Alfie Alfie may refer to: Theatre and film * ''Alfie'' (play), a 1963 play by Bill Naughton * ''Alfie'' (1966 film), a film based on the play starring Michael Caine * ''Alfie'' (2004 film), a remake of the 1966 film * ''Alfie'' (2013 film), an Indi ...

'' (1966), starring

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

. Other notable radio dramatists included Henry Reed (poet), 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. 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 radio: ''Moving Out'' and ''A Garden Party''. Among the most famous works created for radio, are Dylan Thomas's ''Under Milk Wood'' (1954), Samuel Beckett's ''All That Fall'' (1957), Harold Pinter's ''A Slight Ache'' (1959), and Robert Bolt's ''A Man for All Seasons (play), A Man for All Seasons'' (1954). Beckett wrote a number of short radio plays in the 1950s and 1960s, and later for television; his radio play ''Embers'' was first broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 June 1959 and won the RAI prize at the Prix Italia awards later that year. Robert Bolt's writing career began with scripts for ''Children's Hour''. ''A Man for All Seasons (play), A Man for All Seasons'' was subsequently produced on television in 1957. Then in 1960, there was a highly successful stage production in London's West End and on New York's Broadway from late 1961. In addition there have been two film versions: in 1966 starring Paul Scofield and 1988 for television, starring Charlton Heston. While Alan Ayckbourn did not write for radio many of his stage plays were subsequently adapted for radio. Other significant adaptations included, dramatised readings of poet David Jones (poet), David Jones's ''In Parenthesis'' in 1946 and ''The Anathemata'' in 1953, for the BBC Third Programme, and novelist Wyndham Lewis's ''The Human Age'' (1955). Among contemporary novels that were dramatised were the 1964 radio adaptation of Stan Barstow's ''A Kind of Loving (novel), A Kind of Loving'' (1960); there had also been a 1962 film adaption.

1960–2000: Decline in the United States

After the advent of television, radio drama never recovered its popularity in the United States. Most remaining CBS and NBC radio dramas were cancelled in 1960. The last network radio dramas to originate during American radio's "Golden Age of Radio, Golden Age", ''Suspense (radio drama), Suspense'' and ''Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar'', ended on September 30, 1962. There have been some efforts at radio drama since then. In the 1960s, Dick Orkin created the popular syndicated comic adventure series ''Chickenman (radio series), Chicken Man''. ABC Radio Network, ABC Radio aired a daily dramatic anthology program, ''Theater Five'', in 1964–65. Inspired by ''The Goon Show'', "the four or five crazy guys" of the Firesign Theatre built a large 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's ''The Zero Hour (U.S. radio series), The Zero Hour'' for Mutual Broadcasting System, Mutual, National Public Radio's ''Earplay'', and veteran Himan Brown's ''CBS Radio Mystery Theater'' and ''General Mills Radio Adventure Theater''. These productions were later followed by the ''Sears Radio Theater, Sears/Mutual Radio Theater'', ''The National Radio Theater of Chicago'', ''NPR Playhouse'', and a newly produced episode of the former 1950s series ''X Minus One''. Works by a new generation of dramatists also emerged at this time, notably Yuri Rasovsky, Thomas Lopez of ZBS Foundation, ZBS and the dramatic sketches heard on humorist Garrison Keillor's ''A Prairie Home Companion''. Brian Daley's 1981 adaptation of the Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbuster space opera film ''Star Wars (radio), 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 $1 fee, and by the participation of the BBC in an international co-production deal. ''Star Wars'' was credited with generating a 40% rise in NPR's ratings and quadrupling the network's youth audience overnight. Radio adaptations of the sequels followed with ''The Empire Strikes Back'' in 1983 and ''Return of the Jedi'' in 1996. Thanks in large part to the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowments for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, Humanities, public radio continued to air a smattering of audio drama until the mid-1980s. From 1986 to 2002, NPR's most consistent producer of radio drama was the idiosyncratic Joe Frank, working out of KCRW in Santa Monica. The Syfy, Sci Fi Channel presented an audio drama series, ''Seeing Ear Theater, 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, continuing online through 2010.

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

Radio drama remains popular in much of the world, though most material is now available through Internet download rather than heard over terrestrial or satellite radio. 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 as the words written form a much greater part of the finished product; bad lines cannot be obscured with stagecraft. The BBC's sole surviving radio soap is ''

'' on BBC Radio 4: it is, with over 18,700 episodes to date, the world's longest-running such programme. Other radio soaps ("ongoing serials") produced by the BBC but no longer on air include: * ''

'' (1948–69) * ''Westway (soap opera), Westway'' on the BBC World Service, World Service (1997–2005) * ''Silver Street'' (2004–10) on the BBC Asian Network, Asian Network In September, 2010 Radio New Zealand began airing its first ongoing soap opera, ''You 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 show paying tribute to classic old-time radio horror, and ''KDVS Radio Theater'' which commonly features dramas about social and political themes. The audio drama format exists side by side with books on the radio, books presented on radio, read by actors or by the author. In Britain and other countries there is also quite a bit of radio comedy (both stand-up and sitcom). Together, these programs provide entertainment where television is either not wanted or would be distracting (such as while driving or operating machinery). ''Selected Shorts'', a long-running NPR program broadcast in front of a live audience at Symphony Space in New York, originated the ''driveway moment'' for over 300,000 people listeners each week during readings of contemporary and classic short stories by well-known professional actors. The lack of visuals also enable fantastical settings and effects to be used in radio plays where the cost would be prohibitive for movies or television. ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' was first produced as radio drama, and was not adapted for television until much later, when its popularity would ensure an appropriate return for the high cost of the futuristic setting. On occasion television series can be revived as radio series. For example, a long-running but no longer popular television series can be continued as a radio series because the reduced production costs make it cost-effective with a much smaller audience. 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. Radio revivals can also use actors reprising their television roles even after decades as they still sound roughly the same. Series that have had this treatment include ''Doctor Who'', ''Dad's Army'', ''Thunderbirds (TV series), Thunderbirds'' and ''The Tomorrow People''. In 2013 BBC Radio 4 released a radio adaptation of ''Neverwhere (radio play), Neverwhere'' by Neil Gaiman, featuring a cast of well known television and film actors. Neil Gaiman has said he was excited about the radio drama adaptation as it allowed the work to be presented with a greater deal of special effects than was possible on television. In the United States, an adaptation of ''The Twilight Zone (radio series), The Twilight Zone'' aired to modest success in the 2000s (decade) as a syndicated program. Regular broadcasts of radio drama in English can be heard on the BBC's Radio 3, Radio 4 and

Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...

(formerly Radio 7), on RTÉ Radio 1 in Ireland, and RNZ National in New Zealand. The Canadian Broadcasting 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. BBC Radio 4 in today noted for its radio drama, broadcasting hundreds of new, one-off plays each year in such strands as ''Afternoon Play, The Afternoon Play'', as 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 4 programmes. The British commercial station Oneword, though broadcasting mostly book readings, also transmitted a number of radio plays in instalments before it closed in 2008. In the United States, contemporary radio drama can be found on broadcasters including ACB radio, produced by the American Council of the Blind; on the Sirius XM Book Radio channel from Sirius XM Satellite Radio (previously Sonic Theater on XM); and occasionally in syndication, as with Jim French (radio host), Jim French's production ''Imagination Theater''. Several community radio stations carry weekly radio drama programs including KBOO, KFAI, WMPG, WLPP and WFHB. A growing number of religious radio stations air daily or weekly programs usually geared to younger audiences, such as Focus on the Family's ''Adventures in Odyssey'' (1,700+ 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 audio CDs and/or MP3 files and traded by hobbyists today as old-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 broadcast via public radio, while also being marketed on compact discs and via download. Carl Amari's nationally syndicated radio series ''Hollywood 360'' features four old-time radio shows during his four-hour weekly broadcasts. Amari also broadcasts old-time radio shows on ''The WGN Radio Theatre'' heard every Saturday night beginning at 10 pm on 720-WGN in Chicago. In addition to traditional radio broadcasters, modern radio drama (also known as audio theater, or audio drama), has experienced a revival, with a growing number of independent producers who are able to build an audience through Internet distribution. While there are few academic programs in the United States that offer training in radio drama production, organizations such as the National Audio 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 Golden Age. ''Not 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 separate locations. Other producers use portable recording equipment to record actors on location rather than in studios. Podcasts are a growing distribution format for independent radio drama producers. Podcasts provides an alternative to mainstream television and radio which does not necessarily require a pitching process to be made and distributed (as these aspects of production can be learned by the creator) and which have no restrictions regarding programme length or content.

Radio drama around the world

Australia

In Australia, as in most other developed countries, from the early years of the medium almost every radio network and station featured drama, serials, and soap operas as staples of their programming; during the so-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 ''The Adventures of Superman (radio), Superman'', which featured future Australian TV star Leonard Teale in the title role), although these were typically locally produced and performed live to air, since the technology of the time did not permit high-quality pre-recording or duplication of programs for import or export. In this period radio drama, serials and soap operas provided a fertile training ground and a steady source of employment for many actors, and this was particularly important because at this time the Australian theatre scene was in its infancy and opportunities were very limited. Many who trained in this medium (such as Peter Finch) subsequently became prominent both in Australia and overseas. It has been noted that the producers of the popular 1960s Gerry Anderson TV series ''Thunderbirds (TV series), Thunderbirds'' were greatly impressed by the versatility of UK-based Australian actor Ray Barrett, who voiced many roles in Anderson's TV productions. Thanks to his early experience on Australian live radio (where he often played English and American roles), Barrett was considered better than his English counterparts at providing a convincing Mid-Atlantic English ("transatlantic") accent, and he could perform a wide range of character voices; he also impressed the Anderson team with his ability to quickly and easily switch from one voice/accent to another without the sound engineers' having to stop the recording. The effect of the introduction of television there in the late 1950s had the same devastating effects as it did in the US and many other markets, and by the early 1960s Australian commercial radio had totally abandoned radio drama and related programming (including comedy, soapies, and variety) in favour of music-based formats (such as Top 40) or talk radio ("talkback"), and the once-flourishing Australia radio production industry vanished within a few years. One of the few companies to survive was the Melbourne-based Crawford Productions, which was able to make the successful transition into TV production. Despite the complete abandonment of drama and related programming by the commercial radio sector, the government-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) maintained a long history of producing radio drama. One of its most famous and popular series was the daily 15-minute afternoon soap opera ''Blue Hills (radio serial), Blue Hills'', which was written for its entire production history by dramatist Gwen Meredith. It featured many well-known Australian actresses and actors, ran continuously for 27 years, from 28 February 1949 to 30 September 1976, with a total of 5,795 episodes broadcast, and was at one time the world's longest-running radio serial. It was preceded by 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 later, the ABC continued to produce many original Australian radio dramas as well as works adapted from other media. In recent years original radio dramas and adapted works were commissioned from local dramatists and produced for the ABC's 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's decades-long history of producing radio drama (as well as its equally long history of providing daily serialised book readings).

Cyprus

Since around the early sixties the 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 by established writers, but also from new writers through the Writing Contest of Cypriot Sketches issued annually by CyBC (RIK)

Germany

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, radio drama boomed. Between 1945 and 1960 there were more than 500 radio plays every year. The German word for radio drama or audio play is . Today Germany is a major market for radio plays worldwide. In particular, audio plays on CD are very popular. A popular audio play serial of Germany and of the world is '' (''Three Investigators''). Berlin's Prix Europa includes a Radio Fiction category.

India

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

Republic of Ireland

RTÉ Radio Drama is one of the oldest audio theatre departments in the radio world.

Japan

Radio dramas began in Japan in 1925, and enjoyed a great level of popularity after the hit of ''Tankou no Naka''. This resulted in the NHK hiring famous writers to write radio drama scripts for 500 yen, which in 1930 was equivalent to 1 million yen in the present day. 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 as "drama CDs" (). They are also referred to in Japanese as "voice dramas" (). Many such audio dramas are based on anime, manga, novels and video games, but there are also many that are completely original. Though most drama CDs are commercial products made by corporate entities, there has been a growing number of ''doujin'' audio dramas in recent years due to it being easier for hobbyists to obtain the equipment required to make recordings, and the Internet making distribution easier.

Norway

Radioteatret (Radio drama in Norway) has existed since 1926.

Poland

In Poland, radio dramas are sometimes called "the theater of the imagination" ( pl, teatr wyobraźni, links=no). The first Polish radio drama, ''Warszawianka'' based on Stanisław Wyspiański's play, was produced in 1925 while the first radio drama written for radio was produced in 1929. Polish Radio has been successfully producing radio dramas since then – between 1925 and September 1939, over 2,500 were made. In 1956, Polish Radio started broadcasting ''Matysiakowie'', which is currently one of the longest-running radio plays in the world. Audio plays based on literature are also popular in Poland, this is how the sound adaptations of George R. R. Martin's ''A Game of Thrones'', Mario Puzo's ''The Godfather (novel), The Godfather'', Ken Follett's ''The Pillars of the Earth'' or Robert Kirkman's ''The Walking Dead (comic book), The Walking Dead'' were created. Since 1988, the Polish Radio Theater has awarded the ' awards to actors and authors of radio dramas.

Thailand

A low power radio station "M.C.O.K. Radio 2" (formally Pira FM) introduces a new programming block called ''M.C.O.K. 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 November 2021, Radio dramas were scrapped and replaced with more (Audio-Described) programmes – ''All At Sea'', ''Dad's Army'', ''Mrs. Brown's Boys'' and ''The Outlaw''. The radio station broadcasts on 87.2 MHz every evening / late night. Due to the nature of low-power VHF propagation, the coverage is very limited, the radio station can be heard only in Lat Luang (Bangkok / Samut Prakan area). It is the first radio station in Thailand to broadcast both English radio / TV programmes on FM.

References

External links

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 Audio Dramatist
Treatise on writing, producing, performing and directing audio plays in the 21st century.

(archived at the Wayback Machine)
National Audio Theatre Festivals
Radio drama workshop.

BBC sources

* The BBC Story – The Written Archives

* Radio Plays & Radio Drama webpage (England)

* ''British Radio Drama – A Cultural Case History'' by Tim Crook

{{Authority control Radio drama,

History

1880–1930: Early years

1930–1960s: Widespread popularity

1960–2000: Decline in the United States

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

Radio drama around the world

Australia

Cyprus

Germany

India

Republic of Ireland

Japan

Norway

Poland

Thailand

See also

References

Further reading

External links

BBC sources