24 | The Writer • May 2020
Well-written radio drama allows the listener to fill in
visual details, using imagination to paint the picture inside
their own head. Instead of being voyeurs, the audience
becomes an active participant in the creative process. This
joyful intimacy with the audience that I’ve experienced in
my years writing for radio (for companies such as Radio
Theatre Project and others) is gratifying in a different way
from writing for stage, film, or in print mediums.
A passion for radio drama led to a recent resurgence of
the genre in the United States and United Kingdom. Many
modern scripts bring a comic twist to the Golden Age
tropes, especially in mystery, noir, and science fiction. Hor-
ror can also translate well in radio, because the sounds pro-
voke the psychological response in the listener that the
Sweet Young Thing tiptoeing down into the dark basement
elicits onscreen.
Some companies produce and record radio dramas com-
pletely in the studio, broadcasting either live or after they’ve
edited; other companies perform on stage in front of an
audience, recording and either broadcasting live or upload-
ing it for later listening to sites like SoundCloud. The pieces
are written and rehearsed. The sound is produced by Foley
artists, who use a combination of live cues created at a table
full of unusual props to generate specific noises, pre-
recorded cues, and music. The name “Foley” comes from
Jack Donovan Foley, a Hollywood sound technician and
early pioneer of sound effects as silent films transitioned
into ones with audio in the 1930s. Foley used common
items to recreate sound effects like footsteps, clothes rus-
tling, paper folding, etc. He added and created the effects in
sync with the film during post-production to enhance the
film rather than relying on the sounds shot during the takes
while filming.Writing a successful radio script
Productions need writers, and one of the joys of radio for a
writer is crafting a script that excites multiple imaginations:
producer, director, actor, and, ultimately, audience. Neces-
sary elements include things all writers are used to dealing
with: great dialogue, tight plots, spectacular pacing, solid
storytelling, compelling characters – all incorporated within
a specific time frame. But, unlike with other formats, it’s
vital to use sound to drive the narrative and reveal character.
“When I consider a submission, I look for a script that
uses sound to put the listener into the world of the play,”
says James Wicker, Literary Manager of The Radio Theatre
Project and an actor in the company. “First of all, there
needs to be clarity. Characters’ names need to be used
repeatedly so that the audience knows who is speaking.A FOGHORN BLAST.FOOTSTEPS. LIGHT, HURRIED.A SECOND SET OF FOOTSTEPS,
HEAVIER, MORE MEASURED.A DOOR HINGE CREAKS.FOOTSTEPS, FASTER THIS TIME.A GUNSHOT.A SCREAM.A BODY HITS THE GROUND.THE GUN DROPS.FOOTSTEPS HURRYING AWAY.In radio drama, a sequence of sounds like this
one tells a story. The listener can see the progres-
sion of events in the mind’s eye, filling in location
and detail. The choice of these sounds, their
arrangement, and what was left out in this particu-
lar sequencing can tell more than one story,
depending upon the choices made by the actors,
director, and sound artists.
History of the form
Radio drama (and comedy, variety, music, and
soap opera) was an entertainment staple between
the late 1920s and early 1950s, when 82% of
households depended on radio for entertainment.
Boston Blackie starring Dick Kollmar and The
Adventures of Nero Wolfe starring Sydney Green-
street (yes, that Sydney Greenstreet, the Fat Man
from The Maltese Falcon) were popular in the late
1940s/early 1950s, along with variety shows fea-
turing Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman and
the comedy of George Burns and Gracie Allen.
The 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds lives
in infamy. Despite a disclaimer labeling the show
fiction, some listeners believed the “news reports”
of aliens invading New Jersey.