'''Radio drama''' (audio drama), which had its greatest popularity in the United_States and in most other countries before the spread of Television, depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the story in her or his "mind's eye". In the television era, some audio drama has been produced and marketed that owes much to radio drama, without ever being broadcast on radio. Among the most famous radio dramas are ''Under_Milk_Wood'', a 'Play for Voices' by Dylan_Thomas, and Orson_Welles's 1938 radio version of ''The War of the Worlds'', which convinced large numbers of listeners that an actual invasion from Mars was taking place. Often considered the first radio drama is ''Danger'' by Richard Hughes, broadcast by the BBC on 15_January 1924. Radio drama remains popular in much of the world. Many film, stage and TV writers got their start in radio drama, including Tom_Stoppard and Caryl_Churchill. 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 is a good training medium for drama writers as the words written form a much greater part of the finished product; bad lines cannot be obscured with 'stage business'. The lack of visuals also enable fantastical settings and effects to be used in radio plays where the cost would be prohibitive in a visual medium. ''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 organisation 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'' and ''Thunderbirds''. Radio dramas can be regularly heard on the Canadian_Broadcasting_Corporation (Radio 1), on RTÉ in Ireland, and the BBC's Radio 4, Radio 3, and BBC_7. Radio 4 in particular is noted for its radio drama, with strands such as ''The Afternoon Play'' broadcasting hundreds of one-off plays per year, in addition to Serials and Soap_operas such as ''The_Archers''. The British commercial station Oneword, though broadcasting mostly book readings, also has some radio plays in instalments. Radio drama can also be found on ACB_radio produced by the American_Council_of_the_Blind. 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. With 21st-century technology, modern radio drama, also known as audio theater, has begun an exciting new movement. Local radio drama groups such as Crazy Dog Audio Theatre (from Ireland), Texas Radio Theater, and FreeQuincy Radio Theater (from Wisconsin) have kept the spirit of radio drama alive. Audio drama released directly to CD or cassette tape rather than ever being broadcast is a related format to radio drama. == Programs/series == *Perdition_City_web_audio_drama_@_DaveFilms.US *Adventures_in_Odyssey *Amos 'n' Andy *The_Black_Mass *CBS_Radio_Mystery_Theater *Dimension_X; later X_Minus_One *Earplay *Escape *The_General_Mills_Radio_Adventure_Theater; later ''CBS Radio Adventure Theater'' *The_Goon_Show *The_Green_Hornet *Gunsmoke *Inner_Sanctum *Jane_Arden *Left_Behind *The_Life_of_Riley *Lights_Out *The_Lone_Ranger *The_Lord_of_the_Rings (BBC radio version) *Lum_and_Abner *Lux_Radio_Theater *Mercury_Theatre_On_The_Air *The_National_Radio_Theater_of_Chicago *The_New_Adventures_of_Sherlock_Holmes *Nick Danger; see also Firesign_Theater, Dear_Friends *NPR_Playhouse *Quiet_Please *Sears_Radio_Theater; later ''Mutual Radio Theater'' *Star_Wars_(radio) *The_Shadow *Suspense *Unshackled ==See also== * Audio_theatre * Books_on_the_radio * BBC_Radio_4 * BBC_7 * Old-time_radio * Oneword * Radio_comedy * Radio_programming * Sound_effects * ZBS ==External links== *Perdition City web audio drama. *Radio drama and Audio Books * Radio drama and literature webcast listings * BBC Radio 4 drama page * BBC Radio 3 drama page * BBC 7 drama page * BBC World Service Play of the Week (RealAudio streaming) * CBC radio drama home page * RTÉ Radio 1 Drama * Mercury Theatre on the Air website provides all of the famous Orson_Welles radio dramas in RealAudio and MP3. * The Live365 netstation hub has many stations that broadcast the old-time radio dramas. * Seeing Ear Theatre provides MP3 files of contemporary dramas on a science-fiction theme. * Graymatters Old Time Radio Streaming Links Web Page * Epguides UK radio show episode guide * Soundstage -- radio theatre from WMNF in Tampa * Offramp - improvised radio theatre * Pendant Productions - original, full-cast audio dramas featuring Superman: The Last Son of Krypton, Star Trek: Defiant, James Bond and more to come, including Indiana Jones. Available for free download in .mp3 format. * Amateur_voice_actingAmateur Voice Acting , groups involved in producing audio drama. * Darker Projects audio dramas - free to download stories from [[fan fiction] versions of Doctor_Who, Star_Trek, Quantum_Leap, etc.] ! Category:Drama De:Hörspiel Is:Útvarpsleikrit Nl:Hoorspel Ja:ラジオドラマ Sv:Radioteater