I hate the term “old time radio” but if I use that term you immediately know what I am talking about so I am forced to use it.
What images (Sounds?) come into your mind as you hear the term “old time radio” though?
Amos and Andy? Dick Tracy? Jack Benny? Inner Sanctum? Orson Welles’ War Of The Worlds broadcast?
What if I told you that on top of what you think of as “old time radio” there was a dearth of amazing genre series that most likely slipped through the cracks of pop culture and were just waiting for you to discover them?
Radio plays and serials did not end once TV took over as is commonly misremembered… they merely changed.
In the 1970’s we had National Lampoon Radio for the stoners, Rod Serling’s Zero Hour for the Sci-Fi fan, a Fantastic Four series with none other than Bill Murray as Johnny Storm, radio dramas of Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings and in 1980 the great Canadian series Nightfall… there was even a college radio drama of Cerebus The Aardvark.
Not to mention that reruns of Inner Sanctum, Macabre, Beyond Tomorrow, Quiet Please and even Lights Out were still played on many AM stations to fill out the hours. Then there is the most famous radio play ever, the 1938 Orson Welles adaptation of War Of The Worlds, still played to this day on many radio stations every Halloween.
In recent years though there has been a resurgence in not just admiration for the serials of old but for new radio dramas. Night Terrors, Chillers, Tales From Beyond The Pale and even 2000AD have all had amazing radio dramas pop up in the last half decade or so.
Why do these old serials persist with new audiences and why the (relatively) sudden reapplication of them for a new generation?
I think it’s due to the fact that, both then now, they boast a level of quality that is unheard of in the Youtube and iTunes era. Take a listen to the somewhat mislabeled Chillers series for example, despite being called Chillers and most of the stories being straight science fiction these contain some of the best voice acting I have ever heard.
I was knocked on my ass by the acting in the episode Corona. The late Robin Williams stole the show as the Harlequin in Harlan Ellison’s fantastic Repent Harlequin Said The Ticktockman by the BBC.
Simon Pegg shows up as Strontium Dog in the 2000AD series (even crossing over with Judge Dredd himself in an episode or two), Ron Perlman and Vincent D’Onofrio make appearances in Tales From Beyond The Pale and this is just a sample of the great voice talent the new material brings. It takes a great actor to make a picture out of only audio, and these shows nail it. Just think about how much you use your eyes to create a picture in your head for anything and everything and not realize that these radio plays do that with only sound and fury.
A great accomplishment indeed.
The older series may not have larger actors in them (I did mention Bill Murray but also John Belushi, Richard Belzer and Karen Allen all were part of the National Lampoon series and you can find many, now, famous actors starting out in the old serials) but they had writing that will take you by surprise in both it’s honesty and it’s sheer power.
Sure, there are always going to be cliched stories with telegraphed twists but then you run across something like “The Book Of Hell” from Nightfall and you are completely unprepared for the next 24 minutes in both originality and unpredictability.
Grab some of the old National Lampoon Radio Hour episodes (uncut if possible and not the reedits that Sirius played a few years ago) and you will hear some of the most graphic (for over the air radio) and biting comedy the 70’s had to offer. Lights Out episodes can still send shivers up your spine, they have a genuine atmosphere of dread and horror that I feel is unmatched. The few Witches Tale episodes that survived their creator going crazy and burning the masters are true tales of horror and evil. Even only Inner Sanctum‘s still have a power that grabs you.
Outside of the 2000AD serials (which I can’t recommend higher) the recent Tales From Beyond The Pale is the newest radio drama which grabs you by the throat, production value unlike anything I have heard coupled with adult (not porn) stories that you have to hear. If you have never worked in radio then you have no idea just how much effort goes into productions like this. Tales From Beyond The Pale and the 2000AD plays have productions that dwarf your expectations down to the minute details.
That takes a level of commitment most movies can’t live up to.
There is even the Intergalactic Nemesis which is something beyond even these already high end productions.
Intergalactic Nemesis is a live radio play, with the actors right in front of you as is the sound FX lady and the music person, played out to comic book panels projected onto the screen. If you have not seen the Intergalactic Nemesis, it is a show to behold.
- I am sure I missed some classic series from being mentioned here but just know that radio is still very much alive today and worth checking out. Many of these great shows can only be found via bootlegs nowadays but Tales From Beyond The Pale can be purchased on CD (or even Vinyl now) at talesfrombeyondthepale.com
- The 2000AD dramas can be purchased at from Big Finish Productions.
- Nightfall can be downloaded from the Internet Archive as can many of the other shows I mentioned here tonight.
