“Radio affects most intimately, person-to-person, offering a world of unspoken communication between writer, the speaker, and the listener.”
Marshall McLuhan
Since I was pretty little I always had such a deep fascination with audio dramas. Yeah, I was secretly a weird kid. I remember listening to War of the Worlds for the first time after a deep interest in aliens developed after watching Signs. I would pop the audio on in the background on my computer, and usually play some sort of video game with the sound turned off. Oh the good old days.
Here recently I don’t really have too much time to enjoy TV or even movies really. I’ve considered listening to audiobooks, which I will on occasion on my commute, but I have rediscovered my long lost love for audio dramas. I searched through the deepest depths of Spotify to find some newer ones to dive into, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed with what I found.
The first one that really caught my eye was The White Vault. This is an INCREDIBLE horror audio show that delivers, quite literally, chilling tales from a research station in the frozen tundra of Iceland. The writer was great at writing the dialogue for each of the characters, and the audio engineers set the creepy atmosphere to 100% to set the stage. It was so well written, and was really what inspired me to look into writing audio dramas myself.
What a lot of people really don’t know about me is that I’m a superhero nerd. Yeah, I admit it. Growing up with Spider-Man and Batman has followed me into adulthood, and it’s something I hope I can enjoy with my kids one day. On my search for some new audio shows, I stumbled upon BatmanThe Audio Adventures. Now this one was truly next level in terms of production. The writing is like a mix between the 90’s animated show and the early 1960’s Batman. There was some awesome casting for voice actors too. Seth Myers plays Jack Ryder and Kenan Thompson plays commissioner Gordon. The show is actually created by Warner Bros, so the production value has a great deal of backing, and it definitely shows for the overall product. It’s a true thrill ride from beginning to end, and I highly recommend it for ANY superhero fan whether you are a DC or Marvel fanboy. We can like both brands I promise…
The one I’m actually currently in the middle of as of the writing of this post is Star Trek: Outpost. This is a fan production that you truly could’ve fooled me if you were to tell me this was a professional production created by Paramount. The story follows a StarFleet officer who is assigned his first executive officer position, and is assigned as Captain of his first ship. It’s quite the way to kick off the narrative, throwing the main character into the driver seat as soon as possible. The storytelling is that of true Star Trek fashion. It’s full of adventure, discovery, and the occasional filler episodes that really provides to plot at all except to develop characters a little more. That’s just Star Trek for you, and these fan writers do an excellent job replicating that.
Audio dramas are an old art form, but hasn’t died as some predicted it would. Especially in the age of streaming music and podcasts, an amature can make a solid show with nothing more than great wirting and a smart phone. Believe me, I’m working on one myself. It’s way easier than you think it is. I encourage all of my readers to give audio dramas a try. They can unlock your imagination the same as reading a book, and provide a higher level of immersion than TV could never do. On your next stormy or snowy day, grab yourself a nice cup of coffee, sit down in your comfy chair, and pop on one of these great shows. It’ll send you to worlds you couldn’t possibly imagine otherwise.
-John McCool
John McCool 