Welcome to Mutual Presents! This week Jack presents another sneak peek at the Mutual Audio Network’s Youtube channel. Every day there is released classic Mutual Broadcasting Network’s amazing shows and this week in honour of this week we praise summer and all things kids stuff with Saturday Story Circle’s Jack Armstrong~ All American Boy, available EVERY Saturday!
Long time listeners of the Sonic Society will know that I’m a fan of many writers, but specific writers have always driven me to be a better writer- Rod Serling, Robert E. Howard, J. Michael Straczynski, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, David Milch, Chuck Dixon, Steven Moffat, Alan Dean Foster, Dash Hammett as just some that come to mind. I have to give props to The Truth podcast. Jonathan Mitchell keeps producing what I adore- anthology tales that are full audio dramas. In this article from The Sarah Awards he details the process of going through and taking a Phillip K. Dick public domain story “Upon the Dull Earth” and adapting it.
In a world of story, it’s wonderful to hear the masters speak again through new voices. There’s a reason why Ray Bradbury felt that Colonial Radio Theatre’s adaptations of his work were the BEST done in any medium. In short, Jerry Robbins has an excellent ear for audio on the page, and assembles an incredible team, but also, as Jonathan could attest, audio is the best place for story.
The world of the future brought to you by the past!
NASA has released large TIF images of a bunch of their posters. You can bet you’re going to see some new Biff Straker images come from these. Do you need art in your audio drama?
Head right over to The Jet Propulsion Lab and remember the great worlds of what yesterday’s tomorrow can bring!
Some folks are quite concerned with the latest budget considerations for the famous British Broadcasting Corporation. Public radio has a long history of audio drama in England, and if the mother country wants to avoid the terrible state that conservatism has placed the CBC in Canada, they might do well to listen to the words of Sir David Attenborough from this Guardian article:
“There is plenty that viewers can do. Politicians don’t wish to be the people who are branded as getting rid of the BBC. They know that the BBC holds a very precious place in a large proportion of voters’ minds and they can’t play fast and loose with it as they would wish.
“When I saw what the [funding] deal was I thought, that’s terrible, that’s a distortion. What the BBC will say, and I daresay they are right, is the alternative was something worse.”
He added: “The basic principle of public service broadcasting is profoundly important. If we lose that we really lose a very valuable thing, you are throwing away one of the most precious things that we have.”
Let’s hope that cooler heads prevail and the people speak up before the BBC gets gutted.
This article on Geekscape was floating around the Internets, and we’re a little upset we didn’t see it sooner.
The author, Witney, provides a list of the top ten old time radio dramas along with links. The shows selected are in order…
10. Brave New World
9. Superman
8. Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
7. Escape “Three Skeleton Key”
6. The Knox Riots
5. Ruby 4(ZBS)
4. War of the Worlds (Mercury Theatre)
3. Johnny Got His Gun
2. Moon Over Morocco (ZBS)
1. Sorry Wrong Number
So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Write your own list in the comments! Goodness knows we have a few that would have included!
There have always been warning cries of the loss of old footage from the days of early film. Here is one of the first comprehensive “calls to action” to protect old time radio. Interviews, news, music and of course radio drama!
This Task Force includes librarians, academics, and radio enthusiasts and they are calling for people who have recorded tapes of these time periods. Read more of Amy Scott’s article in Marketplace.
If you have anything in your basement, join in the fight to save the past for the future!
There are people in the Audio Drama community right miffed at others.
No seriously. We’re as eclectic as any other group, and there’s all kinds of ideas from people as to what is the best way to produce and provide our favourite medium. Here at the Sonic Society we are of the “Yes, please!” to all courses of our favourite meal. Whether people sell their works professionally, or ask for help from Patreon, Kickstarter, or as Cory Doctorow and the Sonic Society says “Let there be free entertainment!” this article Why Give Your Work Away For Free? suggests all kinds of value in the act.
What would you like to do?
If you heard part one of my essay on the Audio Story over at the Audio Drama Production Podcast, you heard that I identify the audio landscape as having three corners like a triangle. Drama and Narrative are pretty easily defined with strong connections to play and novel sensibilities, but the third corner belongs exclusively to Experimental- the realm of sketches, surrealistic art pieces, and sometimes nonsensical aural works. Many of these are great comedic gems that intentionally break the fourth wall or provide some very mixed up non-directive story pieces.
Here’s another great example:
Have a listen to some of Samuel Beckett’s Avant-Garde Radio Plays: All That Fall, Embers, and More available now through youtube. Have a listen to the unusual and provocative!
With thanks to Fred Greenhalgh from Radio Drama Revival for this find, NASA has released a ton of their sounds from their archives for public domain use. Just remember that the NASA logo belongs to them, and that NASA never endorses a product or organization. It’s purpose is to share its findings and exploration with the world!
The Prime Minister of Canada presented the latest budget for the fiscal year with a special Easter egg.
According to Huffington Post Businesss:
“The budget tabled yesterday includes a measure that will extend copyright protection on audio recordings to 70 years as of the recording’s release, from the current 50 years.”
Many who feel that the “Commons”, the idea that we have a shared heritage and a need to maintain a strong public presence feel that the world has been robbed another twenty years of great music. Others feel that this will ensure copyright for musicians who have a longer life span.
Which ever way you look at it, the privatization of all things in our culture seems to be continually accelerating. Some believe this is a good thing. How do you feel?
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