Science Fiction on Radio

Reviews by Jerry Stearns.

There has been science fiction on radio since November, 1932 when Buck Rogers went on the air on the CBS network. There were single programs of an SF or Fantasy nature before that, but this 15-minute serial was the first sustained attempt at the genre. With some exceptions early SF programs were aimed at younger listeners, until competition from television in the Fifties forced radio to try to attract more adult audiences in all programming. The Shadow was one show that had frequent SF oriented plots, especially some that were written by Alfred Bester for the Australian version.

In 1950 three Science Fiction series premiered on American radio. 2000 Plus, on Mutual, was a weak show hosted by John W. Campbell. Cloud Nine was so weak that it's disappeared almost without a trace. But NBC's Dimension X adapted stories from the leading magazines of the time. Many of them have become classics in the field. Stories by Bradbury, Heinlein, Sturgeon, and Asimov were prominent. The series lasted only 18 months, but was revived in 1955 as X Minus One. Some of the Dimension X scripts were redone on the new series, and many more were done with a reverence for, and understanding of the field, and with good actors and well-written adaptations.
Some of my favorites from the Dimension X and X Minus One series include Robert Heinlein's "Universe" and "Requiem", Clifford Simak's "Junkyard", Robert Sheckley's "Skulking Permit", Fritz Leiber's "A Pail of Air", Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" (in which they condensed six stories into a single half-hour program, and did it beautifully!), and "The Martian Death March", by Ernest Kinoy, one of the two primary writers who adapted the stories into radio scripts for both series.
You can find a program log of these shows and their original air dates via Lou Genco's OTR Web pages.

These older shows are available on tape from a number of sources. Many collectors distribute them individually in their catalogs. Commercial venues like, Adventures in Cassettes or Radio Spirits, have sets of programs available in a handy vinyl case. Addresses of these places can be found through Lou Genco's Old Time Radio pages. And there is a new set of four CDs of these OTR SF shows due out soon. Look for it in the Audio Books section of bookstores.

If you just want to hear a lot of excerpts from these shows, as well as some SF from such series as Escape, Suspense, Buck Rogers, Space Patrol, or Buzz Corey, Space Cadet, send Email to Fred Berney, who assembled "Radio's Golden Age of Science Fiction", a four-tape set that does a really good job of showcasing the essences of over 100 radio stories from "those thrilling days of yesteryear."

Contemporary Science Fiction Radio

Since we're talking about the Science Fiction anthology radio series, I'll mention a more modern version of those old shows. "Sci-Fi Radio" was a 26-show series produced for Public Radio by Kevin Singer, who is now the executive director of the professional organization, Association of Independents in Radio (AIR). It followed the formula of X Minus One in that it adapted classic magazine short stories for radio.
Singer's choice of stories was truely Excellent! "Dark Benediction" by the recently late Walter M. Miller, Jr.; James Tiptree, Jr.'s "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?"; Roger Zelazny's "Home Is The Hangman"; "Ballad of Lost C'Mell" by Cordwainer Smith, Lewis Padgett's "The Twonky"; and Poul Anderson's "Call Me Joe." Henry Kuttner, Bob Shaw, Ursula K. LeGuin, Robert Silverberg, Michael Bishop, Ray Bradbury, Robert Sheckley, Philip K. Dick, and Arthur C. Clarke and more were also represented in the series. They were very well produced, with good scripts, though the acting and direction was sometimes a bit stiff, possibly from using actors not familiar with how to do radio. They still can induce a Sense of Wonder and stimulate the imagination.
Unfortunately, the rights on the stories ran out after a couple years, and they are not available on tape or on the air any more. We hope that sometime it will be commercially possible to reissue them.

For some SF Audio that is available, I've got a couple of suggestions for this time around. "The Funnt File" is an SF Sitcom for radio, a continuing story that is still evolving as you read this. The first four episodes are available on tape, two more are in the production stage, and six more are ready to assemble. The characters are - shall we say, not exactly transdimensional. We finally begin to see a hint of depth of character by the third episode, with the central guy, Dirwood Funnt, showing the most "thickness." None of them sound like they are very bright. A character named 'Freak' has most of the good lines. Mostly the story moves along and is interesting, though I thought spending more than 5 minutes in one episode describing how to shave was not the best use of precious air time. Mark Banash is the producer, and you can inquire about the series by writing to Tharsis Productions at tharsispro@aol.com.

My other current suggestion is "The Apotheosis Saga", which is also still under production by Cephalopod Productions in Bloomington, IN. Kevin Swan and Jason Cole are winding out a story of a netsurfer who gets special privileges and can act almost like a god on the net, until the Reality Police come after him. It's funny, it's well written and acted, it's lavishly produced, and it's only one third done. My only complaint is that they need a wider range of voices for greater recognition, and more women's voices. Take a look at their Web Page for more info, but you can also call LodesTone Productions for a free catalog at 800-411-MIND.

That's all for this issue. I'll be back again with more from the Theater of the Mind on Science Fiction on Radio.

Jerry Stearns is the producer of Sound Affects: A Radio Playground on KFAI-FM in Minneapolis, MN. He has written and produced science fiction radio comedy for over seventeen years. His most recent production is Tumbleweed Roundup, a cowboys and aliens movies recollection.