1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: and a lot of all things tech and on Monday 5 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: we released a special episode about three D audio, and 6 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: in it I had some examples of three D audio 7 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: within the show. Now, typically for a show like tech Stuff, 8 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: three D audio isn't you know, a natural fit. I mean, 9 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: I don't think anyone needs the experience of hearing me 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,639 Speaker 1: virtually walk around them while I explain technology. We might 11 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: do the occasional soundscaping for an episode, but that's about 12 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: the extent of it. Where three D audio really shines 13 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:59,040 Speaker 1: is in dramatized audio fiction podcasts, or maybe the occasional 14 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: re enact it for something like true crime podcasts. And 15 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: that got me thinking about the old art form of 16 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: radio theater or radio drama. I have a personal connection 17 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: with radio drama. I used to be a member of 18 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:17,399 Speaker 1: the board for the Atlanta Radio Theater Company or art 19 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: c a r TC. I also wrote and performed with 20 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: Artsy for several years, as did another Stuff host Stuff 21 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: You Missed in History Classes Tracy Wilson did the same. 22 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: My father still writes and performs with them. The Atlanta 23 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: Radio Theater Company typically doesn't perform or record old radio 24 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: drama scripts, like existing ones from the forties or fifties. Rather, 25 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: the company mainly focuses on original works and radio adaptations 26 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: of existing works, and largely in the speculative fiction genres, 27 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: so stuff like science fiction and horror and fantasy. When 28 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: I was writing ups for them and performing in shows, 29 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: it was really before podcasts had become a big thing. 30 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: There wasn't much place for radio drama outside of a 31 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: niche market here in the United States. We might once 32 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: in a while have a piece that would be broadcast 33 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: on local public radio, but otherwise we were pretty much 34 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,959 Speaker 1: limited to doing live performances, typically at things like science 35 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: fiction conventions, and making recordings. That was pretty much it. 36 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: Flash forward just a few years and now radio drama 37 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: or audio drama or audio theater or theater of the 38 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:41,880 Speaker 1: mind is back in full force. There are so many 39 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: podcasts that fall into that general category. Some do close 40 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: to the old style of the original serials of the 41 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:55,639 Speaker 1: radio days. Some take the art form to really unusual places, 42 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: freed from the concerns of broadcast standards, people can really 43 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: ex floor of the medium. So today I thought we'd 44 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: look a little bit at the history and evolution of 45 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: radio theater. We can talk about how art and technology 46 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 1: combined to create an experience for the listener. And it's 47 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: really cool stuff because it's not just the technology, it's 48 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: how do you use that technology to do something specific? 49 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: How do you create an outcome with that technology that 50 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,679 Speaker 1: involves not just tech but art and psychology. But let's 51 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: get a few basic ideas out of the way. Theater 52 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: in general relies partly upon the imagination of the audience, 53 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: and I referenced this in the three D audio episode 54 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: in which I recited the prologue to Shakespeare's Henry the Fifth. 55 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: In that prologue, a member of the theater known as 56 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: the chorus implores the audience to utilize their imaginations to 57 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: fill out the action of the play. The actors can't 58 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 1: bring up horses on stage or fill up the theater 59 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: with an entire army, and yet the action of Henry 60 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: the Fifth references such things. Is talking about a war 61 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: between England and France. So it's the audience's job to 62 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: supply the show with those elements they have to imagine 63 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: them to be. Thus, it's part of the willing suspension 64 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: of disbelief. Yes, you know that in reality you are 65 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: actually inside a theater, perhaps standing on the ground, looking 66 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: at a stage, and you're watching actors in costumes pretending 67 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: to be people who have been dead for more than 68 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: a century. But you suspend that disbelief to get lost 69 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: in the story. Stories are powerful things. I mean, they 70 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 1: connect us to our history and to each other. It's 71 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: an ancient form of communication and one that still has 72 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:54,920 Speaker 1: incredible power today. Well, radio drama has no visuals whatsoever. 73 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:59,159 Speaker 1: So the challenge for a radio drama writer, as well 74 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: as for perform and producers, is to create an audio 75 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: experience that compels the audience to engage their imaginations and 76 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: supply everything that you cannot. The brilliant part of this 77 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: is that an audience's imagination can always exceed anything you 78 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: might manage to do were you to produce the show 79 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: in some other medium. So Peter Jackson had a budget 80 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: of hundreds of millions of dollars to make The Lord 81 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: of the Rings movies, but a good radio production can 82 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,159 Speaker 1: make a comparable experience for a fraction of the price. 83 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,039 Speaker 1: As long as the audience goes along for the ride, 84 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:39,720 Speaker 1: your imagination is going to be far more spectacular than 85 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:44,160 Speaker 1: any big budget special effects. But it also means that 86 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,919 Speaker 1: the audio production has to supply enough information for the 87 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: audience to know what's going on so that they can 88 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:55,800 Speaker 1: imagine things. That is its own challenge. So how do 89 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:59,479 Speaker 1: you convey action in a way that seems natural to 90 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: the list her? There's nothing like listening to say, a 91 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: horror story on the radio, and here one character say 92 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,480 Speaker 1: to another, Oh, no, he's reaching into his coat and 93 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: pulling out what is it? It's a knife, a big, sharp, 94 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: pointy knife, and now he is holding the knife in 95 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:21,280 Speaker 1: a threatening way and advancing upon us with malicious intent. 96 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:24,839 Speaker 1: I mean, that doesn't That doesn't really come across well, 97 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: does it? Now? Granted I read that with you know, 98 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,039 Speaker 1: a tongue in cheek, goofy approach. But even if I 99 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:33,840 Speaker 1: had tried to read that like I was scared, it 100 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:37,720 Speaker 1: doesn't come across naturally at all. Right, So radio drama 101 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: has its own challenges. Balancing out elements like suspense or 102 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,919 Speaker 1: a comedy or action with keeping things sounding natural is tricky. 103 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:48,600 Speaker 1: So in the great history of radio drama. There are 104 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: examples that are really fun and some that are real clunkers, 105 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: which is no surprise there. It's the same with any 106 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: art form. Now, storytelling and theater are ancient forms, and 107 00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 1: so it should stand as no surprise that once clever 108 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:06,040 Speaker 1: humans figured out a way to transmit sounds over great distances, 109 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:09,360 Speaker 1: they would use that technology to tap into this very 110 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: human activity. And arguably we can say that the birth 111 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: of the radio drama goes back to our buddy Clement Otter. Now, 112 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: if you listen to my episode about three D Audio, 113 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: you heard me talk about how Otter or aider set 114 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: up what was effectively a selection of telephone microphones at 115 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: the Paris Opera and he ran lines to a suite 116 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: of rooms in a building that was a couple of 117 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: kilometers from the opera house. So guests of the Paris 118 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: Electrical Exhibition could go into one of these rooms and 119 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: hold up a receiver to each year, so a telephone receiver, 120 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: but one for each year left end right, and they 121 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: could hear audio from those different microphones on the stage, 122 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: which created a kind of primitive stereo effect. Otter's invention 123 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: predated the age of radio by a couple of decades. 124 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: Honors work formed the basis of a new type of 125 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: business called the teatro phone or the theater phone. The 126 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: company Do Teatrophone was incorporated near the end of the 127 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: nineteenth century and promoted the service They made honors demonstration 128 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,960 Speaker 1: an ongoing business. They would get permission to set up 129 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: microphones at various performance venues and then people would be 130 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 1: able to listen in on those and you could either 131 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: listen in by using a coin operated telephone, which were 132 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: located in places like hotels and clubs and cafes, and 133 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:39,440 Speaker 1: you just pay a small fee to listen to about 134 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: five minutes worth of transmission. Alternatively, you could subscribe to 135 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:48,439 Speaker 1: the service for a recurring fee and listen more frequently. 136 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:51,960 Speaker 1: For those Parisians who were more important and rich enough 137 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: to have a telephone installed in their own home, they 138 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:57,839 Speaker 1: could even subscribe to the service from home and listen 139 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: in whenever they liked the perform Minses carried by the 140 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 1: tatra phone weren't catered for audio. Rather, it was a 141 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: way for tech savvy and trendy Parisians to take in 142 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,920 Speaker 1: the latest opera or play in an innovative way. In 143 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: some ways, it helped increase accessibility to art, since each 144 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,839 Speaker 1: theater house has a limited number of seats, and the 145 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 1: theater phone created opportunities for someone to experience a show, 146 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,319 Speaker 1: even if it was only an audio and even if 147 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:30,079 Speaker 1: the show had sold out. But the shows were being 148 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 1: performed in front of audiences as fully staged productions, so 149 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: if you were in the audience, you were seeing a 150 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: full play, So they weren't designed to be experienced just 151 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 1: through sound alone. And I'm sure there were cases of 152 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: people wondering exactly what the heck was going on on 153 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,640 Speaker 1: stage while they were listening in the theater phone got 154 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: started around eight ninety, which was well before what we 155 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: would consider radio broadcasts. There were people experimenting with radio 156 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 1: around that time. It took a lot of work and 157 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:03,800 Speaker 1: a lot of convergence in the world of physics to 158 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:07,199 Speaker 1: get a deep enough understanding of what radio waves are, 159 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: how they work, how you can generate them, how you 160 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 1: can encode information onto them, and how you could receive 161 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: and then decode the information to play those signals back 162 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: and get audio to go through. All of that work 163 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: would be way too much for this episode, and besides, 164 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 1: I've actually covered this a few times before. It's also 165 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: a story that has some really big personalities in it, 166 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: like Marconi and Tesla and Edison. It gets really complicated 167 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 1: and really dramatic, but that's drama about radio, not drama 168 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:46,240 Speaker 1: performed on radio. So we're gonna move on now. You 169 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: could argue that the first radio broadcast was in n 170 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,839 Speaker 1: six with Reginald Fessenden sending out a radio signal of 171 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:57,360 Speaker 1: him playing you know, Christmas songs on violin and reading 172 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,200 Speaker 1: passages from the Bible. But that was a bit of 173 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:02,360 Speaker 1: a one off, and the only folks who really heard 174 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: that broadcast were somewhat confused radio operators on ships in 175 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 1: the Atlantic Ocean. Fessenden's broadcast used amplitude modulation or a M, 176 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: and I suppose we should talk about modulation for a second, 177 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: just to understand how it works. So with radio, you 178 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 1: need to generate a signal of a specific frequency or hurts. 179 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: So when you look at a radio station, those numbers 180 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: of the radio station relate to the frequency of the 181 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 1: radio signal, and frequency refers to the number of cycles 182 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: of a radio wave passing a given point per second. 183 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:40,200 Speaker 1: All radio waves travel at the same speed, which is 184 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:43,960 Speaker 1: the speed of light, but the actual length of those 185 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:48,480 Speaker 1: waves themselves are different. So a radio wave that has 186 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: you know, that's really long is going to have fewer 187 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: cycles per second than a radio wave that's really short. 188 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:56,680 Speaker 1: Both are traveling at the speed of light, but the 189 00:11:56,800 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 1: long waves are is going to be fewer of them 190 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 1: per second. It So, let's say you have got a 191 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,320 Speaker 1: way to broadcast a radio wave of fifty killer hurts. 192 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: That means fifty thousand radio waves will pass a given 193 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:12,680 Speaker 1: point in a second. This is the approximate frequency that 194 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: Festenden used. Well, if you just sent out a smooth 195 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:19,720 Speaker 1: radio wave of fifty killer hurts and you didn't do 196 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:22,840 Speaker 1: anything to it, someone with a radio receiver tuned to 197 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:25,760 Speaker 1: the frequency of fifty killer hurts would really only see 198 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 1: if a signal was coming through or not. But no 199 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,880 Speaker 1: meaningful information is coming across. You have to transform that 200 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:35,559 Speaker 1: signal in some way. Now, the way a m works 201 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:40,320 Speaker 1: is by changing or modulating the amplitude of a radio signal. 202 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,520 Speaker 1: That is, changing the height of the peaks and the 203 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:48,040 Speaker 1: depths of the valleys that the radio wave makes. And 204 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,760 Speaker 1: you've got your carrier wave of fifty killer hurts. You 205 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:53,800 Speaker 1: encode information on top of that carrier wave with modulating 206 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,840 Speaker 1: an amplitude, and a receiver picks up the fifty killer 207 00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 1: hurt signal and decodes those modulations, and that's how you 208 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:04,239 Speaker 1: get the playback of the audio. FM radio or frequency 209 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: modulation works a little differently. Rather than changing the amplitude 210 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 1: of a carrier wave, and you make slight changes to 211 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 1: the radio waves frequency. Now you don't change it a lot, 212 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: because if you go too far outside the carrier waves 213 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: home frequency, the receiving radio won't be able to stay 214 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: tuned to it. But either way, you can modulate that 215 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:28,040 Speaker 1: wave to carry information with it, and the receiving radio 216 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: tuned to that frequency can demodulate it and play the 217 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 1: transmitted audio. It would take a decade and a half 218 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,560 Speaker 1: for the first commercial radio stations to begin operations. One 219 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 1: reason for that was a little thing called World War One, 220 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: or what people back then referred to as the Great War, 221 00:13:45,679 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: because you know, calling something world War one right from 222 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 1: the start marks a level of pessimism we just don't need. Now, 223 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:56,240 Speaker 1: that's not to say people weren't experimenting and creating early 224 00:13:56,440 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 1: radio broadcast stations during this time. They were. There was 225 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:05,320 Speaker 1: the predecessor to San Jose's k CBS, there was Canada's 226 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: x w A, which would evolve into c I in 227 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: w A. Few colleges established their own small stations as well, 228 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: like Union College, which had a station called to YU, 229 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: which evolved into w r U c UH. Some people 230 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 1: called Pittsburgh's k d K a station the first real 231 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 1: commercial radio station. It's hard to give a definitive first 232 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:33,040 Speaker 1: because many of these early stations were only broadcasting some 233 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:35,480 Speaker 1: of the time, like for a couple of hours a day, 234 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: and sometimes to a relatively small service area, and there 235 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 1: were very few people who could, you know, actually listen 236 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 1: in on them. There were also radio stations that served 237 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:48,360 Speaker 1: as wireless telegraph stations. In the United States, the military 238 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 1: took control of those types of stations because they were 239 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: part of a vital communications infrastructure during World War One, 240 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: and at the conclusion of the war, the U. S. 241 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:00,440 Speaker 1: Government told the Navy, hey, you should return those stations 242 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 1: to the original owners, which wasn't something that the Navy 243 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:06,960 Speaker 1: was too terribly keen on doing. And part of the 244 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: reason for that, you know, why the Navy was so 245 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: reluctant was that a lot of those stations were owned 246 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: by foreign companies, and the Navy viewed the radio communication 247 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: system as critical to the national security of the United States, 248 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 1: so there was a lot of pressure to move ownership 249 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:27,120 Speaker 1: of these radio stations to domestic companies, which again, these 250 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 1: stations were mostly about sending wireless telegraphs rather than you know, 251 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 1: radio broadcasts as we would think of them. From this situation, 252 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: the Radio Corporation of America or r c A was formed. 253 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: The technology had reached a stage that allowed for the 254 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: transmitting and receiving a radio signals, and companies like our 255 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:51,040 Speaker 1: CIA had the opportunity to sell radio sets to American consumers. 256 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 1: But these Americans would need stuff to listen to or 257 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: else the radios wouldn't be very useful, and so our 258 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,480 Speaker 1: CI A was also in the business of creating radio 259 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:04,000 Speaker 1: station networks and producing content to air over the radio. 260 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: When we come back, we'll look at how this gave 261 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:10,320 Speaker 1: birth to the art form of radio theater. But first 262 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. So in the nineteen twenties, 263 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 1: radio was starting to become a popular medium. Lots of 264 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:30,080 Speaker 1: places began to establish real, honest to goodness radio stations. A. 265 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: T and T began investing in radio stations and formed 266 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,680 Speaker 1: a network of stations in various cities before the company 267 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: decided to exit the industry in nineteen six. At that point, 268 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: our c A purchased a stake in the network that A. 269 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,280 Speaker 1: T and T had been running, and General Electric and 270 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: Westinghouse divided up the other fifty percent of ownership, and 271 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:56,160 Speaker 1: together they formed the National Broadcasting Company or in BC. 272 00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: R c A would later acquire full ownership of NBC 273 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty. Over in the UK you had the 274 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:08,560 Speaker 1: foundation of the British Broadcasting Corporation, which was the predecessor, 275 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: was established in nineteen twenty two with a radio service 276 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 1: called two l oh. It would become the BBC in 277 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:20,159 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty seven. Companies like our c A began offering 278 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:23,960 Speaker 1: up consumer radios for sale, and r c A promoted 279 00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 1: radio by selling tickets to venues that had radios that 280 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:31,159 Speaker 1: could play a live broadcast a big events from across 281 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:35,359 Speaker 1: the country, such as a heavyweight championship boxing match in 282 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:39,160 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty one. It wasn't that dissimilar to the old 283 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:41,960 Speaker 1: theater phones when you think about it, but the whole 284 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 1: point was to lure people in and convince them that 285 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 1: getting a radio set for the home would be a 286 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,960 Speaker 1: really great idea, and it proved to be a huge winner. This, 287 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:54,560 Speaker 1: by the way, was in the pre transistor days, so 288 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,919 Speaker 1: radio amplifiers relied on vacuum tubes, and so a radio 289 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 1: set was a hefty piece of furniture. The typical radio 290 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: looked a bit like a side table, and for many 291 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:07,640 Speaker 1: people in the US and the UK, it was considered 292 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: a must have for the home. There's a bit of 293 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:14,800 Speaker 1: a debate about what the earliest audio drama was that 294 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,480 Speaker 1: was produced for the radio. In nineteen two, w g 295 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:22,439 Speaker 1: Y station in Schenectady, New York, produced an adaptation of 296 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:26,520 Speaker 1: the stage play by Eugene Walter titled The Wolf. The 297 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,720 Speaker 1: original play had a three act structure, but w g 298 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:35,120 Speaker 1: Y program director Colin Hagar was concerned that audiences wouldn't 299 00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:38,480 Speaker 1: have that kind of patience for a full length show, 300 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,400 Speaker 1: so the production team decided to edit the story down 301 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 1: to a tight forty minutes script. Now, I have never 302 00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: seen a production of this play, nor have I heard 303 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:52,119 Speaker 1: the radio version. There's apparently a novelization out there, but 304 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: I haven't read it. I did read a synopsis and 305 00:18:55,440 --> 00:19:00,080 Speaker 1: it sounds like pure melodrama, and pretty dated mel of 306 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,639 Speaker 1: drama at that, But then the original play debuted around 307 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:08,320 Speaker 1: nineteen o eight. So in the play, there's a naive, young, 308 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:12,720 Speaker 1: innocent woman. There's a man who's intent on seeking revenge 309 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:14,920 Speaker 1: for the death of a step sister he never knew 310 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:19,040 Speaker 1: he had. There's the villainous cad who was responsible for 311 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:24,639 Speaker 1: leading said step sister astray, and then there's the the 312 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:28,240 Speaker 1: young woman I mentioned earlier. Her her crusty old father 313 00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 1: is in it too. And it sounds terrible. At least, 314 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: it sounds like I would hate it. But apparently it 315 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,640 Speaker 1: was a big hit for w g Y, and that 316 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,640 Speaker 1: was enough to convince the program director to commission more 317 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:45,160 Speaker 1: adaptations of stage plays for broadcast. Between nineteen twenty two 318 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:51,120 Speaker 1: and nineteen twenty three, that station broadcast forty three different productions, 319 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,400 Speaker 1: and from what I gather, these were all just strictly 320 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:59,400 Speaker 1: readings of existing plays, rather than plays that were catering 321 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: specific lead to audio. However, one thing to keep in 322 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:07,960 Speaker 1: mind is that these performances were all live. Nothing was 323 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:12,679 Speaker 1: prerecorded unless it was very very short. Typically, a large 324 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 1: station would produce a performance live in studio, and if 325 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: it was a production that was shorter than fifteen minutes long, 326 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 1: they might record that performance to aluminium discs and then 327 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:27,960 Speaker 1: send those aluminium discs to regional stations to play from there. 328 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: But the disc can only hold fifteen minutes of audio, 329 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,439 Speaker 1: so anything longer than fifteen minutes absolutely had to be 330 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: performed live because there just wasn't enough capacity to record 331 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:42,439 Speaker 1: them at that time. That meant that, just as is 332 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: the case with live stage theater, there was the opportunity 333 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: for stuff to go wrong. An actor could drop a 334 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:52,400 Speaker 1: line or skip a queue, or a sound effect might 335 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 1: come in too late or too early. The audience probably 336 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,840 Speaker 1: wouldn't be as aware of any problems as the cast 337 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:04,480 Speaker 1: crew would be unless it was something, you know, really spectacular, 338 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: but it did create a type of energy to the performances. 339 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: I mean, there's no take two and the show must 340 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:15,160 Speaker 1: go on. It's generally believed that the first theatrical piece 341 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:19,480 Speaker 1: written specifically for radio was a play titled A Comedy 342 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:23,959 Speaker 1: of Danger, which aired in January fift nineteen twenty four 343 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,919 Speaker 1: in the UK. It was produced in the Savoy region 344 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: and in London, and it was written by Richard Hughes, 345 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,000 Speaker 1: who later wrote the novel A High Wind in Jamaica. 346 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,960 Speaker 1: The story behind how A Comedy of Danger it came 347 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: to be as pretty entertaining just by itself. Hughes was 348 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:47,560 Speaker 1: meeting with a director named Nigel Playfair on January eleven, 349 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty four. Playfair had agreed to provide two hours 350 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:57,239 Speaker 1: of entertainment to broadcast on the radio by and he 351 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:01,120 Speaker 1: had planned to have some poetry readings and some readings 352 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:04,760 Speaker 1: of excerpts from Jane Austen works, but he hadn't quite 353 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:07,879 Speaker 1: found enough material to fill up the two hours, and 354 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 1: he lamented that it sure would be nice to have 355 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: something that was composed specifically for the medium of radio, 356 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:19,160 Speaker 1: rather than just adapted from some other source. Hughes agreed 357 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:22,159 Speaker 1: with Playfair and said he wished that he could have 358 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,399 Speaker 1: written such a piece, and Playfair essentially set the hook, 359 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:28,320 Speaker 1: and Hughes, eager to try his hand at the task, 360 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: agreed to try and write something for Playfair, and he 361 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:34,320 Speaker 1: stayed up all night in order to have a finished 362 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 1: play in Playfair's hands by the following morning. And that's 363 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:42,200 Speaker 1: how the first radio play was written, in haste, behind 364 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:46,080 Speaker 1: deadline and in a desperate attempt to fill up air time. 365 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: It would not be the last time those criteria would 366 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,679 Speaker 1: apply to a piece that was written for radio, the 367 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,720 Speaker 1: play would also feature sound effects, something pretty novel at 368 00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,960 Speaker 1: the time. While actors would read the lines, other performers 369 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:03,439 Speaker 1: would use a mishmash of various props and odds and 370 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,800 Speaker 1: ends to create the soundscape for the show. In the 371 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:11,200 Speaker 1: film world, these became known as Folly effects, named after 372 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:15,240 Speaker 1: a great artist in the field, Jack Effects. Wait, no, 373 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I meant Jack Foley. Whether for audio, theater 374 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: or film, the folly effects artist has to have impeccable timing. 375 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,400 Speaker 1: The sound effects complete the scene and give the audience 376 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,920 Speaker 1: information that they normally would pick up with their eyes. 377 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,640 Speaker 1: If it were a standard play, characters in motion might 378 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: be accompanied by the sound of crunching shoes on gravel, 379 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: or maybe squishy sounds to represent walking through a muddy field. 380 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,639 Speaker 1: A door opening might signal that someone has entered or 381 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:51,480 Speaker 1: left a room, and you know, a good sound effect 382 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:53,840 Speaker 1: can really lift the need for characters to have to 383 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: say all that clunky stuff I mentioned earlier. In this episode, 384 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:01,800 Speaker 1: Hughes also wanted to avoid having a narrator. He felt 385 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 1: that that would be a bit like cheating, and he 386 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: wanted to convey all the necessary information through the action 387 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,200 Speaker 1: of the play and through the dialogue, and again this 388 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:13,680 Speaker 1: is tricky stuff. When I was writing for the Atlanta 389 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:17,600 Speaker 1: Radio Theater Company, I frequently would use a narrator, mostly 390 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:20,600 Speaker 1: for comedic effect, but otherwise I tried to avoid it 391 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: as much as I could, because I agree it does 392 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: take the listener out of stuff. A comedy of Danger 393 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:31,280 Speaker 1: takes place deep below ground and a coal mine in Wales. 394 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:34,359 Speaker 1: An early line in the play is the lights have 395 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,240 Speaker 1: gone out, something that Playfair had actually suggested, as he 396 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:42,080 Speaker 1: and Hughes were first musing about the possibility of radio 397 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,639 Speaker 1: play and an audience that might listen to the piece 398 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,639 Speaker 1: in total darkness. The studio they broadcast from was a 399 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,960 Speaker 1: padded room with a single microphone. So in order to 400 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:57,280 Speaker 1: create the effect of people in an underground gallery in 401 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:00,360 Speaker 1: a coal mine, Playfair had all the actors at play 402 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 1: their parts with buckets on their head to create that 403 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:05,439 Speaker 1: kind of echoe sound. I'm not making that up. According 404 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:08,240 Speaker 1: to Hughes himself, that's how they achieved the effect of 405 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:11,720 Speaker 1: being in an echoe chamber to to actually as a 406 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:16,000 Speaker 1: with a buckethead. The script is actually available online, as 407 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: are recordings of various performances of the piece. You can 408 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,879 Speaker 1: listen to them. The YouTube has quite a few of them, 409 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:28,240 Speaker 1: and it features three main characters. There's Jack, Marie and Backs. 410 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,359 Speaker 1: All three of these characters are touring the coal mine 411 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,719 Speaker 1: for some odd reason and the lights go out and 412 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,879 Speaker 1: soon the three characters are going through various stages of 413 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:43,000 Speaker 1: panic and resolution as they ponder their fate, which has 414 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:45,159 Speaker 1: made all the more chaotic upon the sound of some 415 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 1: explosions and rushing water. It's a bit of an odd piece. Um. 416 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 1: There are characters who vacillate between being resolute in the 417 00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: face of certain death and trying to negotiate with the 418 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,159 Speaker 1: hours that be so that they can live longer. But 419 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,119 Speaker 1: it is an interesting one. Playfair, being a bit of 420 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 1: a rogue, arranged for the press to hear the broadcast 421 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,639 Speaker 1: from a special room with a loudspeaker in it. And 422 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,240 Speaker 1: the loudspeaker had a lot more power behind it than 423 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: a typical radio set would, and it would give the 424 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:20,840 Speaker 1: press the ability to actually hear what was going on 425 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,160 Speaker 1: with the broadcast. In fact, Hugh said the average radio 426 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 1: listener would probably have trouble distinguishing the various sounds, and 427 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:32,160 Speaker 1: to cap it off, Playfair allegedly arranged to set off 428 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,399 Speaker 1: the equivalent of firecrackers in the room next to the 429 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:38,960 Speaker 1: press to augment the explosion effect heard in the piece. 430 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,439 Speaker 1: The press, unaware that the boom they heard came not 431 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:45,720 Speaker 1: from the loudspeaker but from the room next door, were 432 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 1: suitably impressed. Hughes was very clever to have set a 433 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:54,080 Speaker 1: play in a completely dark setting. His characters couldn't see anything, 434 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:56,920 Speaker 1: so there was no need for them to describe their 435 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 1: surroundings or even describe each other, or the voices would 436 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,479 Speaker 1: give all the clues to the audience. Jack and Marie 437 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:08,199 Speaker 1: are obviously young, they are played by young actors, and 438 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:12,320 Speaker 1: they have young voices. Backs is an older man, and 439 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,159 Speaker 1: the information the audience needed was all right there in 440 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:19,160 Speaker 1: the performance, and thus the era of radio drama was born. 441 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:24,520 Speaker 1: Radio drama emerged largely because there was a need for content, 442 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: just as Playfair had expressed that was universal. You had 443 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:33,200 Speaker 1: this new technology that allowed people to broadcast programming across 444 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 1: wide regions. You had sponsors who are willing to pay 445 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 1: to have advertisements read out over the air to the listeners. 446 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:45,120 Speaker 1: But how do you fill up all that time. Most 447 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:49,600 Speaker 1: radio stations would balance out their programming with newscasts music 448 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:52,439 Speaker 1: and other forms of entertainment, and a lot of that 449 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: came in the form of reading existing material out over 450 00:27:55,800 --> 00:28:00,399 Speaker 1: the air, but the adaptation of dramatic works and more ordinally, 451 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: the creation of works intended specifically for the medium position 452 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:08,720 Speaker 1: Radio for a transformation, and that meant there was a 453 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:13,080 Speaker 1: sudden demand for storytellers to create or adapt material and 454 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:17,639 Speaker 1: for actors to perform it. Over the following years, tons 455 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:21,680 Speaker 1: of different radio programs began to take shape, hundreds of them. 456 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 1: Our CIA had a real stranglehold on a lot of 457 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:29,200 Speaker 1: the radio in the United States, owning two NBC radio networks. 458 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:33,960 Speaker 1: Both of them were called NBC. One was designated NBC 459 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: Red Network and the other was NBC Blue Network. They 460 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:43,000 Speaker 1: each independently had their own programming, so Red had its 461 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: own slate of programs and Blue head its. Occasionally one 462 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 1: would end up airing content that that originated from the other, 463 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: or they would both air the same live event, but 464 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: that was pretty rare. They pretty much stayed distinct from 465 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 1: each other, although our c A owned both of them. Now. 466 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:05,120 Speaker 1: The NBC Blue Network would eventually evolve into the American 467 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: Broadcasting Company or ABC. The U s Government kind of 468 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 1: stepped in and forced our c A to divest itself 469 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: of one of the NBC networks. In the late nineteen twenties, 470 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:20,160 Speaker 1: the CBS Radio network took shape, and there was really 471 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: fierce competition between CBS and NBC for talent, with networks 472 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: signing performers and writers to exclusive contracts that would last years. 473 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: This was the time of Old Time Radio or o 474 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: t R. You could find radio dramas across every genre, 475 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: soap operas, police procedurals, westerns, science fiction, horror, children's shows, 476 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:50,120 Speaker 1: superhero shows and more. Shows that would go on to 477 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:53,719 Speaker 1: become television programs got their start on the radio, like 478 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, or Dragnet or the 479 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:02,160 Speaker 1: Jack Benny Program. And this was also era of sponsored programming. 480 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 1: A lot of shows would feature prominent sponsor spots. Frequently 481 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 1: they would actually weave sponsor bits into storylines or even 482 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: into the titles of the shows. There was perhapst Blue 483 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,040 Speaker 1: Ribbon Town, which was a comedy variety show. There was 484 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: Oldsmobile Program which was another variety show, or the General 485 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:27,520 Speaker 1: Mills Radio Adventure Theater, for example. And there were some 486 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: shows with titles that really made me wonder what the 487 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 1: heck they were, like, for example, The Strange Doctor Weird. Now, 488 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:37,600 Speaker 1: based on what I've read, it sounds like it was 489 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,960 Speaker 1: kind of a Twilight Zone style show, but it was 490 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:44,320 Speaker 1: one that was frequently repurposing scripts that have been used 491 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: for a similar show titled The Mysterious Traveler. So apparently, uh, 492 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: the Strange Doctor Weird would take scripts written for The 493 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 1: Mysterious Traveler, condense them into shorter formats, and then broadcast them. 494 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,000 Speaker 1: Then there were other shows with great titles like I 495 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:05,080 Speaker 1: Was a Communist for the FBI, which was a crime 496 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,040 Speaker 1: series that ran in the nineteen fifties. There was The 497 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:11,720 Speaker 1: Goon Show, which was a British comedy radio program that 498 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:15,320 Speaker 1: would inspire the likes of Monty Python, and the Fire 499 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,600 Speaker 1: Sign Theater. Firesign Theater is another great example they made 500 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: absurdist radio theater programs. Some of my favorite radio theater 501 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 1: comedy came out of Fire Sign Theater, like Nick Danger 502 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 1: Third Eye. When we come back, we'll talk about a 503 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 1: few other standouts in radio theater and also where the 504 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:37,080 Speaker 1: art form is now. But first let's take another quick 505 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:49,239 Speaker 1: break by radio drama made up about four percent of 506 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,880 Speaker 1: network programming in the US, much of the radio drama 507 00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:56,320 Speaker 1: was short form and sketch based, so it was stuff 508 00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:59,360 Speaker 1: that you could fit into more of a variety show format. 509 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:02,320 Speaker 1: If you listen to programs like The Jack Benny Show, 510 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,560 Speaker 1: you'll hear several scenes that can more or less stand 511 00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:08,920 Speaker 1: alone and serve as comedic vehicles for the various performers, 512 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:11,840 Speaker 1: and they do string together to make a full story, 513 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:14,080 Speaker 1: but it feels more like a program that could cater 514 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,400 Speaker 1: to people who just tune in for a short while, 515 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:19,760 Speaker 1: rather than necessarily hearing the whole thing. But there were 516 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: artists who really wanted to push the boundaries of the 517 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:26,520 Speaker 1: established formats, some who wanted to take more of a 518 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:30,480 Speaker 1: slow and methodical paste is storytelling. A lot of early 519 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:35,120 Speaker 1: radio drama is packaged as these really short, exciting bursts 520 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:38,840 Speaker 1: of activity, typically ending on some sort of cliffhanger in 521 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: order to encourage people to tune into the next episode. 522 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: I think of it as sort of the Dan Brown 523 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,560 Speaker 1: approach to writing, where every chapter has to be a 524 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:48,720 Speaker 1: cliffhanger to get you to go to the next chapter. 525 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 1: And that's what a lot of early radio theater was 526 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:55,440 Speaker 1: like too. But then we get to nineteen thirty eight 527 00:32:56,120 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 1: and a famous or perhaps infamous radio broadcast that would 528 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:07,800 Speaker 1: have its own reputation, UH, which was largely unearned, as 529 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: we will learn. So the production was a piece by 530 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:16,480 Speaker 1: the Mercury Theater on the Air, which was on CBS Radio. 531 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,800 Speaker 1: The star and host for this program was Orson Wells, 532 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:23,360 Speaker 1: who of course would go on to become a lauded 533 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:31,440 Speaker 1: actor and filmmaker. In October Night, the Mercury Theater Ensemble 534 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 1: performed an adaptation of H. G. Wells is classic The 535 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:41,320 Speaker 1: War of the World's Now. In the book, Martians invade 536 00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 1: Earth because the resources of Mars are running dangerously low, 537 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:50,120 Speaker 1: and the Martians are using giant machines and heat rays 538 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: to wreak havoc on Earth, attacking towns. UH. The show is, 539 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,920 Speaker 1: or the novel rather said in Britain. So towns and 540 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:03,280 Speaker 1: Britain are just totally level. London is emptied because of 541 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:07,120 Speaker 1: these attacks, and the Martians essentially lay waste to the 542 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: towns and are seemingly unstoppable. But eventually the narrator of 543 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 1: the novel discovers that the Martians are all dying off 544 00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:18,480 Speaker 1: because they have no immunity to earthly pathogens, and so 545 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:21,840 Speaker 1: they essentially all caught a cold and died. In other words, 546 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:27,360 Speaker 1: Wells's theater group performed a dramatized adaptation of this story 547 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,200 Speaker 1: for the radio, and the first half of the program 548 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 1: comes across like a newscast, and in fact, the show 549 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 1: didn't have commercial breaks, so it felt like it was 550 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:42,080 Speaker 1: kind of a genuine newscast approach. There's a famous myth 551 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:45,560 Speaker 1: that lots of people totally flipped out when they heard 552 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:49,600 Speaker 1: the broadcast, believing it to be a legitimate newscast rather 553 00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:53,520 Speaker 1: than a radio play, and the story goes that huge 554 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 1: groups of people panicked, believing Earth to have been invaded 555 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:00,239 Speaker 1: by Martians and that entire cities were being level as 556 00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:02,800 Speaker 1: a result of it. However, the truth of the matter 557 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:05,919 Speaker 1: is that there was no widespread panic. The streets were 558 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,320 Speaker 1: not filled with people trying to flee to the countryside. 559 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:12,480 Speaker 1: The press of the day made it sound as though 560 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:14,960 Speaker 1: Wells had really pulled a fast one on the American 561 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:19,400 Speaker 1: public and given everyone a real fright before Halloween, but 562 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:23,000 Speaker 1: there doesn't seem to be any evidence for that. There 563 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:26,480 Speaker 1: were a few isolated incidents of people being a little 564 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: concerned about hearing this newscast and wondering what was going on, 565 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:34,799 Speaker 1: but there was no like mass hysteria. However, the War 566 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 1: of the World's broadcast helped put Wells on the cultural map, 567 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,359 Speaker 1: and it also elevated the art form of the radio play. 568 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 1: Leaning on that newscast format, created new ways to tell stories, 569 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,680 Speaker 1: ways that leveraged how radio works and got around some 570 00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:53,920 Speaker 1: of the awkward elements we've already talked about. And in fact, 571 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,440 Speaker 1: if you're a fan of shows like Welcome to night Vale, 572 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:00,600 Speaker 1: they owe a lot to the War. The War olds 573 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,439 Speaker 1: you listen to that show and you realize that it's 574 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:08,680 Speaker 1: taking that sort of newscast approach. I often think of 575 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:13,359 Speaker 1: Welcome to night Vale as being a combination of Twilight Zone, UH, 576 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:17,000 Speaker 1: the Prairie Home Companion radio Show, and War of the 577 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:22,680 Speaker 1: World's and it does it extremely well. Generally speaking, in 578 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,000 Speaker 1: the United States, the years between nineteen twenty and nineteen 579 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:30,360 Speaker 1: fifty are considered the golden age of radio drama, but 580 00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:33,400 Speaker 1: by the nineteen fifties television was starting to make up 581 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:38,800 Speaker 1: ground and began sapping summer radio's talent and money. Stars 582 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:40,960 Speaker 1: who had made a name for themselves on the radio 583 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:44,640 Speaker 1: moved over to TV, and a lot of shows and 584 00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:49,279 Speaker 1: people who worked on them weren't able to make the move. Now, 585 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,160 Speaker 1: what's really sad is that a lot of these shows 586 00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:56,040 Speaker 1: of that era they were never recorded. They were always 587 00:36:56,080 --> 00:37:00,000 Speaker 1: intended as live broadcasts, and you know, reruns weren't always 588 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,480 Speaker 1: a thing. So the radio drama began to fade from 589 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:07,480 Speaker 1: speakers and from minds. We've got, like, you know, scripts 590 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 1: of different shows, and there are lots of recordings. It's 591 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:14,400 Speaker 1: not like every show went unrecorded, but a lot of 592 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,640 Speaker 1: them did, so there are a lot of lost episodes. 593 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,759 Speaker 1: Radio would switch over to formats that were more like 594 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:24,520 Speaker 1: news and music and talk radio here in the US, 595 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:28,680 Speaker 1: but you didn't hear nearly as much dramatized fiction not here. 596 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:32,880 Speaker 1: But in the UK it was a different story. The 597 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:37,120 Speaker 1: British Broadcasting Corporation is a state run corporation, not a 598 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:41,680 Speaker 1: private company, and while radio drama effectively went into hibernation 599 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:45,880 Speaker 1: here in the States, the UK would continue producing radio 600 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:50,839 Speaker 1: dramas well beyond nineteen Some radio programs would later make 601 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,440 Speaker 1: the leap from radio to TV, even as late as 602 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:57,319 Speaker 1: the two thousand's. For example, The Mighty Boush, which is 603 00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:02,320 Speaker 1: a truly weird comedy series, originally debuted on the radio 604 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:06,240 Speaker 1: in two thousand one, It grew out of little comedy 605 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:10,360 Speaker 1: shows that the creators were doing in pubs and small 606 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:14,040 Speaker 1: theaters in in the UK, so they got a radio 607 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,080 Speaker 1: series in two thousand one, and later The Mighty Bush 608 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:21,439 Speaker 1: became a TV series in two thousand four. And if 609 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:25,040 Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about, then lift the old 610 00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:29,200 Speaker 1: shoe and drink your Bailey's because I'm old Greg. And 611 00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:36,000 Speaker 1: then there's The Archers Man The Archers. Okay, So The 612 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:40,319 Speaker 1: Archers is a radio drama that originally aired in the 613 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: UK back in nine. It's still going today. There have 614 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:52,480 Speaker 1: been more than nineteen thousand, four hundred episodes of the 615 00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:56,799 Speaker 1: Darned Thing, which makes my fift hundred episodes seem like 616 00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 1: nothing in comparison. I mean Lowsers. The Archers is set 617 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:06,040 Speaker 1: in a fictional small village in England and it follows 618 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:09,680 Speaker 1: the lives of you know, simple country folk as it were. 619 00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:12,280 Speaker 1: I don't mean that as like an insult or anything. 620 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,480 Speaker 1: It's literally kind of the focus of the show. And 621 00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:18,440 Speaker 1: episodes were on about twelve minutes each these days. So 622 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:22,520 Speaker 1: while radio theater had an unbroken history in the UK, 623 00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:25,000 Speaker 1: over here in the US we didn't really see a 624 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:29,759 Speaker 1: return to it until we started getting these dramatic audio podcasts. 625 00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:33,440 Speaker 1: You did have organizations like the Atlanta Radio Theater Company 626 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,480 Speaker 1: that kept the art form alive, kept on generating new 627 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:43,360 Speaker 1: works using the techniques and the uh the approaches of 628 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:49,440 Speaker 1: old time radio with some flare of new time technologies 629 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:51,800 Speaker 1: to throw in there, like we could throw in digital 630 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:54,160 Speaker 1: effects if we wanted to, which was kind of cool. 631 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:59,160 Speaker 1: But outside of those small groups, you didn't really see 632 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:03,440 Speaker 1: much radio theater. Maybe once in a while it's kind 633 00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:06,919 Speaker 1: of a special performance, but other than that, not so much. 634 00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:11,920 Speaker 1: But then in podcasts we started to see it take off. 635 00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:15,400 Speaker 1: There are a lot of shows that are all about 636 00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:20,840 Speaker 1: narrative fiction, radio drama style stuff. I mean, there's The 637 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:26,840 Speaker 1: God's Head, Incidental, the Pnumbra podcast, the Magnus Archives. You know, 638 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:30,919 Speaker 1: we've got the Thirteen Days of Halloween. Like, there are 639 00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:36,839 Speaker 1: lots of programs that tap into this now and it's 640 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:41,239 Speaker 1: really an exciting time for storytellers. Soundscaping and three D 641 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:44,640 Speaker 1: audio have opened up new opportunities to create rich audio 642 00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:47,960 Speaker 1: experiences for listeners, and it is important for us to 643 00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:52,160 Speaker 1: remember that cool effects don't necessarily mean that you will 644 00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:55,480 Speaker 1: have a good show, but when they're used properly, with 645 00:40:55,520 --> 00:41:00,000 Speaker 1: the right material, they can really elevate a piece into 646 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:06,240 Speaker 1: something special. I really love radio theater. I love theater 647 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:09,000 Speaker 1: in general, but radio theater has a special place in 648 00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:12,280 Speaker 1: my heart. When it has done well, when it's written 649 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:16,520 Speaker 1: well and performed well, it can be incredibly entertaining or 650 00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 1: unsettling or really make you think it is hard to 651 00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:24,680 Speaker 1: do well. I have been in lots of different radio 652 00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:29,360 Speaker 1: productions that, not necessarily through the fault of anyone in particular, 653 00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:32,759 Speaker 1: maybe didn't go as planned. You know, maybe there were 654 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:36,960 Speaker 1: technical issues, maybe someone had a script that was missing 655 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:40,200 Speaker 1: a page. Those sort of things do happen. It's just 656 00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:44,280 Speaker 1: like with live theater. As I said, things can go wrong. Um, 657 00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:47,480 Speaker 1: but when things are going really well, it it just 658 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:51,319 Speaker 1: it clicks and you get something special. In fact, my 659 00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:54,799 Speaker 1: co host of large Nerdron Colleider Aerial Cast, and she 660 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:59,839 Speaker 1: and I have performed in numerous radio theater productions um 661 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:02,759 Speaker 1: at least, and several of them were on based on 662 00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:06,680 Speaker 1: Heineland stories, which was kind of interesting. So if you 663 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:09,960 Speaker 1: are interested in more radio theater, go check out the 664 00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:13,359 Speaker 1: various audio drama podcasts that are out there. We have 665 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:17,240 Speaker 1: some on I Heart Radio. They are phenomenal. I highly 666 00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:22,440 Speaker 1: recommend them. But there's no shortage of radio drama style 667 00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:26,040 Speaker 1: shows out there, and I'm sure there's something out there 668 00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:28,840 Speaker 1: for you. If this is the kind of thing you're into. 669 00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:32,360 Speaker 1: You can even look up the Atlanta Radio Theater Company. 670 00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:35,440 Speaker 1: A lot of their recordings are available to listen to 671 00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:39,040 Speaker 1: right now. They've recorded many of them in podcast form, 672 00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:43,680 Speaker 1: including stuff that I wrote back in the day. Um 673 00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:47,080 Speaker 1: and they also have a catalog of recordings that you 674 00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:50,280 Speaker 1: can order if you want to listen to specific shows. 675 00:42:50,719 --> 00:42:54,000 Speaker 1: They do great work. Make sure you check those out. 676 00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:56,880 Speaker 1: And that's it for this episode. A little bit of 677 00:42:56,880 --> 00:42:59,520 Speaker 1: a shorter one today, but it was a fun thing 678 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:03,760 Speaker 1: to talk about. We'll be getting back to more technologically 679 00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:07,520 Speaker 1: oriented episodes. This one was sort of the merger of 680 00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:11,480 Speaker 1: art and tech, and I love talking about that as well. 681 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:14,919 Speaker 1: I'm sure i'll revisit that in the future. But if 682 00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:17,560 Speaker 1: you have suggestions for things I should cover in future 683 00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:20,279 Speaker 1: episodes of tech Stuff, reach out let me know. The 684 00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:22,920 Speaker 1: best way to do that is over on Twitter. The 685 00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:26,759 Speaker 1: handle we use is tech Stuff h s W and 686 00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:35,400 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is 687 00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:38,560 Speaker 1: an I heart radio production. For more podcasts from my 688 00:43:38,680 --> 00:43:42,319 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, 689 00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:44,400 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.