H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

), 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 Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator/on-screen host, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series ' ...

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 Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

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, with ...

'' (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 settin ...

'' (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 opposin ...

; amongst the writers they employed were the novelist James Hanley and poet

Louis MacNeice Frederick Louis MacNeice (12 September 1907 – 3 September 1963) was an Irish poet and playwright, and a member of the Auden Group, which also included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis. MacNeice's body of work was widely a ...

, 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 Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...

, '' 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 treat ...

'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 crossroads ...

'' (1949). Following World War II the BBC reorganized its radio provision, introducing two new channels to supplement the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

(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 Caryl Lesley Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is a British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non- naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes.

'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, Englan ...

Joe Orton John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his death in 1967, was short but highly influential. During this brie ...

'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 th ...

, which showcased new dramatists".

John Mortimer Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole. Early life Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London, ...

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, o ...

'', a

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

series which starred

Leo McKern Reginald "Leo" McKern, Order of Australia, 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 notabl ...

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 ''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...

'',

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 i ...

'', 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 thea ...

. 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,

Brendan Behan Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (christened Francis Behan) ( ; ga, Breandán Ó Beacháin; 9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican activist who wrote in both English an ...

Rhys Adrian Rhys Adrian Griffiths (28 February 1928 – 8 February 1990) was a British playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for his radio plays, which are characterised by their emphasis upon dialogue rather than narrative. Radio dramatist Rhys A ...

Alan Plater Alan Frederick Plater (15 April 1935 – 25 June 2010) was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s. Career Plater was born in Jarrow, County Durham, although his family ...

;

Anthony Minghella Anthony Minghella, (6 January 195418 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007. He won the Academy Award for Best Directo ...

Alan Bleasdale Alan George Bleasdale (born 23 March 1946) is an English screenwriter, best known for social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people. A former teacher, he has written for radio, stage and screen, and has also written novels. ...

, and novelist

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

. Novelist

Susan Hill Dame Susan Hill, Lady Wells, (born 5 February 1942) is an English author of fiction and non-fiction works. Her novels include ''The Woman in Black'', '' The Mist in the Mirror'', and ''I'm the King of the Castle'', for which she received th ...

also wrote for BBC Radio, from the early 1970s. Henry Reed was especially successful with the

Hilda Tablet Hilda Tablet is a fictitious "twelve-tone composeress" created by Henry Reed in a series of radio comedy plays for the British Broadcasting Corporation's Third Programme. Hilda is the inventor of '' musique concrète renforcée'' (literally, "r ...

plays. Irish playwright Brendan Behan, author of ''

The Quare Fellow ''The Quare Fellow'' is Brendan Behan's first play, first produced in 1954. The title is taken from a Hiberno-English pronunciation of ''queer''. Plot The play is set in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. The anti-hero of the play, The Quare Fellow, is never ...

'' (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 Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...

's ''

Under Milk Wood ''Under Milk Wood'' is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, commissioned by the BBC and later adapted for the stage. A film version, ''Under Milk Wood'' directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released in 1972, and another adaptation of ...

'' (1954),

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

's '' All That Fall'' (1957),

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

's ''

A Slight Ache ''A Slight Ache'' is a tragicomic play written by Harold Pinter in 1958 and first published by Methuen in London in 1961. It concerns a married couple's dreams and desires, focusing mostly on the husband's fears of the unknown, of growing ol ...

'' (1959), and

Robert Bolt Robert Oxton Bolt (15 August 1924 – 20 February 1995) was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter, known for writing the screenplays for ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''Doctor Zhivago'', and '' A Man for All Seasons'', ...

's '' 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 ''Embers'' is a radio play by Samuel Beckett. It was written in English in 1957. First broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 June 1959, the play won the RAI prize at the Prix Italia awards later that year. Donald McWhinnie directed Jack ...

'' was first broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 June 1959 and won the RAI prize at the

Prix Italia The Prix Italia is an international Television, Radio-broadcasting and Web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with the ...

awards later that year. Robert Bolt's writing career began with scripts for '' Children's Hour''. '' 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 David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Awards, Academy Award, Emmy Award, Emmy, and Tony Award, Tony for his ...

and 1988 for television, starring

Charlton Heston Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film ''The Ten C ...

. While

Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of ...

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's ''

In Parenthesis ''In Parenthesis'' is an epic poem of the First World War by David Jones first published in England in 1937. Although Jones had been known solely as an engraver and painter prior to its publication, the poem won the Hawthornden Prize and the adm ...

'' in 1946 and '' The Anathemata'' in 1953, for the BBC Third Programme, and novelist

Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited ''BLAST,'' the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His novels include ''Tarr'' ( ...

's ''The Human Age'' (1955). Among contemporary novels that were dramatised were the 1964 radio adaptation of

Stan Barstow Stanley Barstow FRSL (28 June 1928 – 1 August 2011) was an English novelist. Biography Barstow was born in Horbury, near Wakefield in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His father was a coal miner and he attended Ossett Grammar School. He work ...

's '' 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 CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and NBC radio dramas were cancelled in 1960. The last network radio dramas to originate during American radio's "

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

", '' Suspense'' and ''

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar ''Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar'' is a radio drama that aired on CBS Radio from February 18, 1949 to September 30, 1962. The first several seasons imagined protagonist Johnny Dollar as a private investigator drama, with Charles Russell, Edmond O'B ...

'', ended on September 30, 1962. There have been some efforts at radio drama since then. In the 1960s,

Dick Orkin Richard Alan Orkin (July 9, 1933 – December 24, 2017) was an American voice actor and commercial radio producer who created the '' Chickenman'' radio series and ''The Secret Adventures of the Tooth Fairy''. His voice was used in many radi ...

created the popular syndicated comic adventure series '' Chicken Man''. ABC Radio aired a daily dramatic anthology program, ''

Theater Five ''Theatre-Five'' (aka ''Theater-Five'' or ''Theatre 5'') was a radio drama series, presented by ABC between 1964 and 1965. The series used an anthology format, presenting a number of short (20-minute) radio plays across a number of genres, a numbe ...

'', in 1964–65. Inspired by ''

The Goon Show ''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September 19 ...

'', "the four or five crazy guys" of the

Firesign Theatre The Firesign Theatre (also known as the Firesigns) was an American surreal comedy troupe who first appeared on November 17, 1966, in a live performance on the Los Angeles radio program ''Radio Free Oz'' on station KPFK FM. They continued app ...

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

's '' The Zero Hour'' for Mutual,

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

's ''

Earplay ''Earplay'' was the longest-running of the formal series of radio drama anthologies on National Public Radio, produced by WHA in Madison, Wisconsin and heard from 1972 into the 1990s. It approached radio drama as an art form with scripts written ...

'', and veteran

Himan Brown Himan Brown (July 21, 1910 – June 4, 2010Himan Brown obituary.< ...

's ''

CBS Radio Mystery Theater ''CBS Radio Mystery Theater'' (a.k.a. ''Radio Mystery Theater'' and ''Mystery Theater'', sometimes abbreviated as ''CBSRMT'') is a radio drama series created by Himan Brown that was broadcast on CBS Radio Network affiliates from 1974 to 1982, a ...

'' and ''

General Mills Radio Adventure Theater ''The General Mills Radio Adventure Theater'' was an anthology radio drama series with Tom Bosley as host, which aired on the CBS Radio Network in 1977. Himan Brown, already producing the ''CBS Radio Mystery Theater'' for the network, added this ...

''. These productions were later followed by the '' Sears/Mutual Radio Theater'', '' The National Radio Theater of Chicago'', ''

NPR Playhouse ''NPR Playhouse'' was a series of radio dramas from National Public Radio. The series was a successor to the NPR series ''Earplay'' and was discontinued in September 2002. Beginning on March 1, 1981, the ''Playhouse'' production of the first of ...

'', and a newly produced episode of the former 1950s series ''

X Minus One ''X Minus One'' is an American half-hour science fiction radio drama series that was broadcast from April 24, 1955, to January 9, 1958, in various timeslots on NBC. Known for high production values in adapting stories from the leading American a ...

''. Works by a new generation of dramatists also emerged at this time, notably

Yuri Rasovsky Yuri Rasovsky (July 29, 1944 – January 18, 2012) was an American writer and producer working in radio drama in the United States. He founded and operated The National Radio Theater of Chicago from 1973 to 1986 and later formed the Hollywood ...

Thomas Lopez Thomas Lopez, aka Meatball Fulton (born 1935), is president of the ZBS Foundation and one of the foundation's founders. He writes and produces the ZBS Foundation's audio drama productions. When he was working in radio in the 1960s, Lopez took " ...

of ZBS and the dramatic sketches heard on humorist

Garrison Keillor Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...

's ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

''.

Brian Daley Brian Charles Daley (December 22, 1947 – February 11, 1996) was an American science fiction novelist. He also adapted for radio the ''Star Wars'' radio dramas and wrote all of its episodes. Biography Daley was born in Englewood, New Jersey ...

's 1981 adaptation of the

blockbuster Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to: *Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived. Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain ** Bl ...

space opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and soci ...

film ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' for ''NPR Playhouse'' was a notable success. Production costs on this serial were mitigated by the support of

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...

, who sold the rights to NPR for a nominal $1 fee, and by the participation of the BBC in an

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companies ...

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 ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based o ...

'' in 1983 and ''

Return of the Jedi ''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who ...

'' in 1996. Thanks in large part to the National Endowments for the Arts and

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

, 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 Joe Frank (August 19, 1938 – January 15, 2018) was a French-born American writer, teacher, and radio performer best known for his often philosophical, humorous, surrealist, and sometimes absurd monologues and radio dramas he recorded often i ...

, working out of

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...

in Santa Monica. The

Sci Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

presented an audio drama series, '' 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 The ''Tom Joyner Morning Show'' is an American nationally syndicated radio program, hosted by veteran broadcaster Tom Joyner. The program, which aired on Urban contemporary- and Urban adult contemporary-formatted stations across the United States, ...

'' 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 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

: 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'' on the

World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

(1997–2005) * ''

Silver Street ''Silver Street'' is a radio soap opera broadcast on the BBC Asian Network from 24 May 2004 to 26 March 2010. It was the first soap to be aimed at the British South Asian community, Broadcast history It was introduced in 2004 as part of the S ...

'' (2004–10) on the Asian Network In September, 2010

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

began airing its first ongoing soap opera, ''

You Me Now ''You Me ... Now'' is New Zealand's first radio soap opera written and created by All The Way Home Productions. Season One was 25 episodes long and originally aired on Radio New Zealand in 2010. After a successful run, "You Me Now" was picked up ...

'', which won the Best New Drama Award in the 2011 New Zealand Radio Awards. On

KDVS KDVS (90.3 FM) is an American student and community radio station based in Davis, California. Featuring a freeform programming format, the station is owned by Regents of the University of California. Broadcasting at 13,000 watts, it is one of ...

radio in

Davis, California Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Da ...

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 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 Selected Shorts is an event at New York's Symphony Space on the Upper West Side, in which screen and stage actors read classic and new short fiction before a live audience. The stage show began in 1985 and continues today at Symphony Space's Pet ...

'', a long-running NPR program broadcast in front of a live audience at

Symphony Space Symphony Space, founded by Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller, is a multi-disciplinary performing arts organization at 2537 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Performances take place in the 760-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (also called Pe ...

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 ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...

'' 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 ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'', ''

Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Crof ...

'', '' Thunderbirds'' and ''

The Tomorrow People ''The Tomorrow People'' is a British children's science fiction television series created by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran from 30 April 1973 to 19 February 1979. The theme music was ...

''. In 2013 BBC Radio 4 released a radio adaptation of ''

Neverwhere ''Neverwhere'' is an urban fantasy television miniseries by Neil Gaiman that first aired in 1996 on BBC 2. The series is set in "London Below", a magical realm coexisting with the more familiar London, referred to as "London Above". It was d ...

'' by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

, 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 ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

'' 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 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

in Ireland, and

RNZ National RNZ National ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa Ā-Motu), formerly Radio New Zealand National, and known until 2007 as the National Programme or National Radio, is a publicly funded non-commercial New Zealand English-language radio network operat ...

in New Zealand. The

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

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 ''

The Afternoon Play ''The Afternoon Play'' is a British television anthology series, which consists of standalone contemporary dramas first shown during the daytime on BBC One. The first episode, entitled "Turkish Delight", aired on 27 January 2003. Since, a total ...

'', 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 Oneword Radio was a British commercial digital radio station featuring books, drama, comedy, children's programming, and discussion. The station was available in the UK via digital radio ( DAB) and digital television (Freeview DVB-T and Sky Di ...

, 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 The American Council of the Blind (ACB) is a nationwide organization in the United States. It is an organization mainly made up of blind and visually impaired people who want to achieve independence and equality (although there are many sighted ...

; on the

Sirius XM Book Radio Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Alpha CM ...

channel from

Sirius XM Satellite Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius ...

(previously Sonic Theater on XM); and occasionally in syndication, as with Jim French's production ''

Imagination Theater ''Imagination Theatre'' is an American syndicated radio drama program airing on FM and AM radio stations across the United States. It features modern radio dramas. The program first aired in 1996. Originally produced by Jim French Productions, t ...

''. Several community radio stations carry weekly radio drama programs including

KBOO KBOO is a non-profit organization, listener-funded FM Community radio station broadcasting from Portland, Oregon. The station's mission is to serve groups in its listening area who are underrepresented on other local radio stations and to provi ...

KFAI KFAI (90.3 FM Minneapolis) is a community radio station in Minnesota. The station broadcasts a wide variety of music, and also airs programming catering to many of the diverse ethnic groups of the region. KFAI has frequently been honored by lo ...

WMPG WMPG is a community radio station broadcasting from Portland, Maine. It is located on Bedford Street at the University of Southern Maine Portland Campus. It is affiliated with the college, and a mix of USM students and volunteers from the greater P ...

, WLPP and

WFHB WFHB 91.3 FM is a community radio FM station in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. The station has three translators serving southern Indiana: 98.1 in Bloomington, 100.7 in Nashville and 106.3 in Ellettsville. WFHB has a small paid staff a ...

. A growing number of religious radio stations air daily or weekly programs usually geared to younger audiences, such as

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations ...

's ''

Adventures in Odyssey ''Adventures in Odyssey'' (AIO), or simply ''Odyssey'', is an Evangelical Christian radio drama and comedy series created and produced by Focus on the Family. Aimed at families with children age 12 and younger, the series first aired in 1987 as ...

'' (1,700+ syndicated stations), or

Pacific Garden Mission Pacific Garden Mission is a homeless shelter in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side section of Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1877 by Colonel George Clarke and his wife, Sarah. Nicknamed "The Old Lighthouse", it is the largest homeless she ...

's ''

Unshackled! ''Unshackled!'' is a radio drama series produced by Pacific Garden Mission, in Chicago, Illinois, that first aired on September 23, 1950. It is one of the longest-running radio dramas in history and one of a very few still in production in the Un ...

'' (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

( The National Radio Theater of Chicago) and

(

ZBS Foundation ZBS Foundation, a small non-profit audio production company, was founded by Thomas Lopez (aka "Meatball Fulton") in 1970 with a grant from Robert E. Durand as a working commune, located on a donated farm in Upstate New York. ZBS stands for "Zero Bu ...

) have gained new listeners on cassettes, CDs and downloads. In the mid-1980s, the nonprofit

L.A. Theatre Works L.A. Theatre Works (LATW) is a not-for-profit American media arts organization based in Los Angeles founded in 1984. The intent of the organization is to produce, preserve, and distribute classic and contemporary plays of significance. Along with i ...

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 Carl Amari (born August 20, 1963) is an American film and television producer, actor, director and syndicated radio host, creator of ''When Radio Was''. Biography Amari was born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Triton College and Columbia Colle ...

'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 {{Short description, American media company The National Audio Theatre Festivals, Inc. (NATF) is a US-based organization sponsoring a yearly, five-day workshop on radio drama, voice-over and the audio arts, as well as other special training. Partici ...

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 ''Not From Space'' is a feature-length radio drama broadcast on XM Satellite Radio from 2003. It was the first Internet-based production recording its actors through email, rather than the traditional studio setting. Danielson, Scott"Review of Not ...

'' (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 Portia Faces Life, is an American soap opera first broadcast as a radio series from 1940 to 1953, and then on television for a single season in the mid-1950s. It began in syndication on April 1, 1940, and was broadcast on some stations that carri ...

'' or the adventure series ''

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

'', which featured future Australian TV star

Leonard Teale Leonard George Thiele AO (26 September 192214 May 1994), professionally Leonard Teale, was a well-known Australian actor of radio, television and film and radio announcer, presenter and narrator known for his resonant baritone voice. He is be ...

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 Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 191614 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio. Born in London, he emigrated to Australia as a teenager and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudeville ...

) subsequently became prominent both in Australia and overseas. It has been noted that the producers of the popular 1960s

Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...

TV series '' Thunderbirds'' were greatly impressed by the versatility of UK-based Australian actor

Ray Barrett Raymond Charles Barrett (2 May 19278 September 2009) was an Australian actor. During the 1960s, he was a leading actor on British television, where he was best known for his appearances in ''The Troubleshooters'' (1965–1971). From the 1970s, ...

, 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 The Mid-Atlantic accent, or Transatlantic accent, is a consciously learned accent of English, fashionably used by the late 19th-century and early 20th-century American upper class and entertainment industry, which blended together features reg ...

("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 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

) or

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

("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 Crawford Productions is an Australian media production company, focused on radio and television production. Founded in Melbourne by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, also known as Crawfords ...

, 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 The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

(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'', which was written for its entire production history by dramatist

Gwen Meredith Gwenyth Valmai Meredith OBE (18 November 1907 – 3 October 2006), also known by her married name Gwen Harrison, was an Australian writer, dramatist and playwright, and radio writer. She is best known for her radio serials ''The Lawsons'' (194 ...

. 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 Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

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 Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation ( gr, Ραδιοφωνικό Ίδρυμα Κύπρου , tr, Kıbrıs Radyo Yayın Kurumu), or CyBC (ΡΙΚ, KRYK), is Cyprus' public broadcasting service. It transmits island-wide on four radio and two domestic ...

(RIK) features radio plays in the

Cypriot Greek Cypriot Greek ( el, κυπριακή ελληνική or ) is the Varieties of Modern Greek, variety of Modern Greek that is spoken by the majority of the Cyprus, Cypriot populace and Greek Cypriot diaspora. It is considered a divergent dialect ...

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 The Three Investigators is an American juvenile detective book series first published as "''Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators''". It was created by Robert Arthur Jr., who believed involving a famous person such as movie director Alfr ...

''). Berlin's

Prix Europa {{notability, Events, date=March 2021 PRIX EUROPA – The European Broadcasting Festival – is the Europe's largest annual tri-medial festival and competition. The event takes place in the third week of October in Berlin, Germany. PRIX E ...

includes a Radio Fiction category.

India

Vividh Bharati The Vividh Bharati Service (VBS; ) of All India Radio was conceptualized to combat Radio Ceylon in 1967. Due to the Indian Government stopping its short wave relay centers, VBS is only available on the Internet. Vividh Bharati radio channel w ...

, a service of

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

, has a long running Hindi radio-drama program: ''

Hawa Mahal The Hawa Mahal is a palace in the city of Jaipur, India. Built from red and pink sandstone, it is on the edge of the City Palace, Jaipur, and extends to the ''Zenana'', or women's chambers. The structure was built in 1799 by the Maharaja Sawai ...

''.

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 , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

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 Voice acting in Japan is an industry where actors provide voice-overs as characters or narrators in media including anime, video games, audio dramas, commercials, and dubbing for non-Japanese films and television programs. In Japan, and a ...

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 is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

, novels and

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

, 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 Radioteatret is a department of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation which produces audio plays for radio broadcasting. It was established in 1927. In January 2021, ''Verdens Gang'' cited a report from NTB, saying that Radioteatret ow isbeing ...

(Radio drama in Norway) has existed since 1926.

Poland

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, 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 Stanisław Mateusz Ignacy Wyspiański (; 15 January 1869 – 28 November 1907) was a Polish playwright, painter and poet, as well as interior and furniture designer. A patriotic writer, he created a series of symbolic, national dramas within ...

's play, was produced in 1925 while the first radio drama written for radio was produced in 1929.

Polish Radio Polskie Radio Spółka Akcyjna (PR S.A.; English: Polish Radio) is Poland's national public-service radio broadcasting organization owned by the State Treasury of Poland. History Polskie Radio was founded on 18 August 1925 and began making ...

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 ''Matysiakowie'' (''The Matysiaks'') is one of the most popular Polish radio dramas. The series tells a story of a fictional Polish family, ''Matysiakowie'', from Powiśle, Warsaw. History The programme debuted in 1956, and with one 25-minute ...

'', 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 George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...

's ''

A Game of Thrones ''A Game of Thrones'' is the first novel in ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on August 1, 1996. The novel won the 1997 Locus Award and was nominated for both ...

'',

Mario Puzo Mario Francis Puzo (; ; October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author, screenwriter, and journalist. He is known for his crime novels about the Italian-American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia, most notably ''The Godfather'' (1969), which ...

's ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, ...

'',

Ken Follett Kenneth Martin Follett, (born 5 June 1949) is a British author of thrillers and historical novels who has sold more than 160 million copies of his works. Many of his books have achieved high ranking on best seller lists. For example, in the ...

's ''

The Pillars of the Earth ''The Pillars of the Earth'' is a historical novel by British author Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England. Set in the 12th century, the novel covers the time between the ...

'' or Robert Kirkman's '' 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 ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' and ''

Horrible Histories ''Horrible Histories'' is an educational entertainment franchise encompassing many media including books, magazines, audio books, stage shows, TV shows, and more. In 2013, Lisa Edwards, UK publishing and commercial director of Scholastic Corpora ...

''. 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 Lat Luang ( th, ลัดหลวง) is a town ''(Thesaban Mueang)'' in the Phra Pradaeng District Phra Pradaeng ( th, พระประแดง, ) is a district (''amphoe'') of Samut Prakan province in Thailand. History Phra Pradeang was ...

(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