Are radio dramas a dead entertainment?

[quitofilms]

I used to enjoy them but now find them hard to find on the actual radio. Can't find anyone that listens to them regularly either. Has their time passed? Can they come back?

[aahhaa]

Q-man- IS that a teddy bear behind you? It looks like a Teddy Bear, or a Koala Bear or whatever they've got DownUnder there...

Current radio is in a coma; induced by massive corporations who keep drumming the same 11 songs into our heads. The grocery, the malls, even elevators here are playing R&R that came out half a century ago- older than most of the customers!

British radio airs serial stories like some whodunnits & Dr. Who with good success, so its not impossible with the right stories.

Once again, here's the Screen Directors Playhouse download:
http://www.archive.org/details/ScreenDirectorsPlayhouse

also check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Dir ... _Playhouse

Why? Well, this was a different method of promoting movies- by making them short radio dramas (but it works great to educate writers). Over 100 proven box office films reworked as radio drama- with original cast and director.

Take Stagecoach- its still got Wayne and the same plot, but its been squeezed into 1/2 hour.
How? What was essential and what could be tossed? Did the pacing change? Could a good movie be ruined by doing this?

ps For scifi- here's another link
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query ... 3Aaudio%29

[vedus hate]

There's at least one on CBC radio one that I try to listen to regularly called Afghanada. Oddly enough about Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. I'm sure there are others but Canada has some pretty cool and diverse radio amongst the garbage.

[ntay]

I stopped listening to the radio ages ago...never anything good on, it's either political bullshit, crappy music or old music.

Didn't even know they still made radio dramas, to be honest.

[SlackerJ]

I'm a big fan of the Goon Show, which is an old radio drama. And I'd have to vote no, radio dramas are not dead, sir...

[TwistedPixel]

Yep, dead as disco. Probably more so. No one wants to sit and use their OWN imagination anymore.