Radio Drama Resources for Educators

Advice by Tony "Sparx" Palermo

• Producing Audio Theatre with Children.- My own advice on how to get started producing radio drama with children doing the acting and sound effects.

To arrange to make use of my scripts and scores, see The Store

• Other educational resources
• Audiotheater.com -- Henry  Howard's great resource on everything audio drama related.
• Cowboy Pal's Lone Ranger site hosts several Lone Ranger radio episodes in Real Audio format.
  Independent Radio Drama Productions -- a wonderful site with bookstore, links, scripts, the works.
• Read-Along Radio Dramas offers radio shows, their scripts and classroom materials to use radio as a teaching tool.
• Yuri Rasovsky's Audio Dramatist site - lessons, recommended listening, and columns from one of the greatest practitioners of audio theatre since the 1970s.
• My rave review of Radio Spirits' 30 hour collection "The 60 Greatest Old-Time Radio Shows of the 20th Century" (selected by Walter Cronkite.) This collection is the canon of radio drama. All the greatest shows are here.

Listen to some free radio dramas to "see" how it's done

Clips of Tony "Sparx" Palermo's productions

• Life's Little Ups & Downs - My own 3 minute demo clip (MP3) that demonstrates radio's imaginative range. [1.7 Mb]
                      
 Download the  "Life" demo script in PDF format.. You'll need the free Acrobat reader to view or print it.


• Scrooge & Marley - A 4 minute demo lip (MP3) from my adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. [2 Mb]

 
• Other resources
• Mercury Theater on the Air - a site with free Real Audio and MP3 versions of classic shows and even rehearsals!
• The OTR site's Preview Listening Lounge - A variety of free streams of radio shows from Meet Corliss Archer to NPR's A Canticle For Liebowitz to Chickenman. You can even order CD's of many shows.
• The OTR site's Olde Tyme Radio Network -- more free streams of OTR shows.
• BBC Radio Listening site - Streaming audio of BBC music, news, talk and even some radio drama.
• The Liquid Radio Players - A hysterically funny improv troupe that does radio drama. Go to "Sights & Sounds" link.
• Shadow Real Audio Radio Theater - a site offering a different episode of  The Shadow every day.
• Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theater - downloadable MP3 files of modern mysteries.
• The Texas Radio Theater Company - a very energetic  new group with MP3 files and frequent live gigs in Texas.
• Crazy Dog Audio Theater - a talented and funny Irish public radio troupe with CDs and often clips on the RTE.
• Old Time Radio - Thousands of free, categorized old-time-radio shows available for download.
  

Also...

• RUSC Old Time Radio  is a unique and inexpensive subscription site that offers over 3000 old time radio programs in MP3 format for downloading. The selection is vast, with a sampling of many notable programs and vintage news reports. The bit rate is low compared to pop music MP3 files, but the sound is certainly acceptable. You must remember these are transfers from discs and cassettes. Subscription rates are about $7.50 a month for unlimited downloads. Most files are 6-7 Mb, so students with slow modems won't have to wait hours to download a full length program. I highly recommend this site and suggest you download an episode from the following programs:  Columbia Workshop, Mercury Theater on the Air, Lights Out, The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, Gunsmoke, X Minus One, and in particular the 1950 version of "Three Skeleton Key" from the Escape series--which is my sound effects mentor, Cliff Thorsness's finest 1/2 hour. Ned Norris's RUSC is an invaluable resource for fans and students of the medium. You'll learn a lot from these classics.