"Could this be the beginning of the end for radio drama?"

Don't touch that dial: the threat to radio drama | Television & radio | The Guardian

The reason, of course, is cost. At £23,000 per hour, the BBC spends on radio drama about one 40th of what it might pay for an hour of television. Hampton's White Chameleon is a marquee production for Radio 4, and yet there are no White Chameleon baseball caps, no Dionysian trailers, no egos being massaged (no time). Gather its entire cast and crew together, and you would not have enough people for a football match. This, BBC bosses argue, is why Radio 4's main evening slot, the Friday Play, will cease to exist from next year; it was either save there, where the audience is smallest, or cut everything else beyond the bone.

Welcome to the media ghetto, British Audio Drama. You'll find it well populated.

Jeez. £23,000 per hour. (That's a touch over $35,000 in "real" money. *ahem*) The Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, in over 25 years of producing award-winning radio drama, hasn't spent that much money altogether. We'd shoot a puppy -- well, maybe in the leg, only to wound -- for $35,000.

In 'Mind Movies,' the Word Picture Continues to Appeal to Eager Ears

via online.wsj.com

It's no surprise to me that the Theater of the Mind still has the power to enthrall listeners. I suspect you're aware of it as well.
I did find it a bit startling to learn that Susan Loewenberg, the head of L.A. Theatre Works, isn't a big fan of the genre.
"Mind movies"? That's the label the Wall Street Journal likes for what we do?

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Man, 96, holds pre-emptive wake

BEAVERTON, Ore., Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A 96-year-old photographer in Oregon said he decided to plan and hold his own wake prior to his death so he could attend the event.
Hugh Ackroyd, 96, said he held the wake for family and friends Sunday at the Beaverton home of friend Edda Sigurdar, The Oregonian reported Monday.
"Well, why not?" Ackroyd said of leading his own wake. "Why bother when (I'm) dead?"
Ackroyd, a father of two whose wife died about 12 years ago, sat in his padded wheelchair and greeted his friends as they arrived for the event. He said one of his favorite items at the wake was a wreath bearing a ribbon reading: "Eventually, Hugh, rest in peace."
"It's quite magnificent," Ackroyd said of his wake.

via upi.com

Now we can advertise the Bumpers Crossroads episode "Bradbury's Funeral Home" as being "ripped from tomorrow's headlines". Although, Ron, I have to say I'm sorry you didn't think of that wreath.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master
Here's a photo from the Portland Oregonian.

Phrenotherapy on the go

via techeblog.com

Apparently they've chosen to go with the "happiness hat" instead of "electroyamulke" or "phrenobeanie".

Is this a joke? I'm not sure, but I don't think so.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Where's your Radio "Experience"?

Hear 2.0: Where's your Radio "Experience"?

In my opinion not nearly enough thought, effort, and investment goes into the 'experience' of radio - so busy are we cutting costs and minimizing risk.

Experiences worth having generally come from the addition of creative inspiration.

If you want to compete with a torrent of creatively inspired distractions, consider whether you're creating 'radio' or an authentic, eye-catching and ear-catching consumer 'experience.'

Can anyone doubt this? Read the whole thing.

Cthulhu Tuesday - The Wrong Medium

Every now and again, I do a web search for "Lovecraft news", just to see what comes up. Among the finds this time were these DVD reviews:

H. P. Lovecraft's From Beyond
Regina Leader-Post

Sporting cheap and often laughable special effects, this film presumably expected to horrify people with its alien-like creature bursting through a skull and other "scary" special effects. But even by 1986 standards, the effects are fake-looking, as are the blood and guts that are scattered liberally through the film, and it's considerably less scary than it is funny.

...Entirely forgettable, From Beyond has little to offer other than laughs at its campiness, and a reminder of how low-budget filmmaking by those with higher aspirations looked, back in the day.



H.P. Lovecraft's the Tomb
REEL ADVICE

I resolve to never again knowingly write about anything that Ulli Lommel does.

Lommel's The Tomb defies explanation. He's locked a bunch of people in that all-too-familiar warehouse set of his and let them run around in a vaguely Saw kind of atmosphere as they try to accomplish the ludicrous task of figuring out why they're there in the first place and the much more rational task of trying to get out alive.

---

I'd like to recommend that you forego these gems and try an audio-drama adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's works. The special effects in your own mind are much better than anything Hollywood can build.

Modesty forbids me from pointing out that one popular source makes its latest live production, The Colour Out of Space, available for free download.

And if that one satisfies, there's a five-part adaptation of The Shadow Over Innsmouth featuring author (and gifted actor) Harlan Ellison, also for free.

For now...