A Leading Internationally Popular Entertainment of the 19th Century - Radio Drama

 All of us are aware of many recent technological developments across the world and we have many widely recognized mediums of entertainment. Let's reflect on our olden days when there weren’t so many technological inventions. People did need entertainment in those days and they got it mainly by going to fairs and at their places of worship during special occasions. With the advent of Radio, entertainment at home was made possible. It soon became the most popular broadcast medium to bring drama into one’s room. Thus, Radio drama came into existence.

Radio drama dates back to the 19th century but it is said to have traced its roots back to the 1880s. In 1881, A French engineer Clement Ader had filed a patent for “Improvements of Telephone Equipment in Theatres”.Radio drama has challenged the belief that sound drama is a blind medium, by showing how the radio narratives have blurred the dividing line between the fiction and reality in modern media. Radio dramas started in the 1920’s in The United States of America. It slowly started spreading its branches in other countries. A Rural Line on Education was a brief sketch written for the radio and was aired on Pittsburgh’s KDKA in 1921. It all began with a transmission by the BBC on 16th February 1923-Three different types of scenes from Shakespeare's plays were broadcasted. Radio dramas became very popular in the 1930’s, many plays from different genres were broadcasted. It started growing in popularity as every country started experimenting with their own ways of presenting radio dramas to make it engaging for its listeners.

Radio drama is a pure sound driven drama with no visual component. It only depends on dialogue, music and sound effects which helps its listener to creatively visualize the character and the story. It might be auditory in the physical dimension but, it is equally powerful as a visual force in the psychological dimension.

  Plays written particularly for radio dramas would include sound effects and music to elevate the mood and facilitate better understanding for the listeners. The plays are written very carefully so that the idea conveyed is well received. Radio drama thrives on strong narratives that focus mainly on the characters, scenes, and plotlines and makes sure the listeners don’t get confused.

 Features of Radio Drama

• As the drama here is fully dependent on sound, actors can play more than one role as only voice needs to be altered.
• Enormous value and importance are given to the voice as body language, expressions or gestures are not required.
• There is no need for scene blocking and prop change, actors only have to know the mic movements.
• Radio plays can be set almost anywhere. There are no physical limits as the set change or scene change is only conveyed through sound effects.
• Radio plays often included more dialogues as the happenings in the scene can only be conveyed by the actors verbally for the clear understanding of the listeners.
• Plays are often short compared to stage plays.
• Less number of actors are involved as too many actors will make it difficult for the listeners to distinguish the characters.
• They are not live, they are recorded and can be edited to make it perfect to go on air.

 Britain’s Richard Hughes’s A Comedy of Danger, was the world’s first original radio play, broadcasted on 15th January 1924. By 1927 two large networks, NBC and CBS completely dominated the local radio stations. Mystery and detective series were popular. The year 1930 was called the “Golden Age of Radio Drama” as the competition between the network companies was high. Its technology is relatively inexpensive, so it was a launching pad for new playwrights. John Martimor, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, and many popular personalities wrote for radio in the early years of their careers. After the success of Beckett's “Waiting for Godot”, he explored the sound medium with his plays “All that Fall(1957) and Embers(1958). The interest in radio drama has been worldwide. Even in India, there was a high demand for radio dramas among the listeners. Vividh Bharati, a service of All India Radio has a long-running Hindi radio drama- Hawa mahal.

 Radio dramas hold a special place in the hearts of drama lovers. Most materials are now available in the internet archives. Still, beginners who want to explore their writings and drama techniques take up this challenging platform as a training ground. How much ever technologies develop, certain valuable sources cannot be ignored as they have become a part of our being.