The Sonic Society is RABID after a bite of Crazy Dog’s The Silver Tounged Devil

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The Sonic SocietyThe latest Sonic Society podcast includes one of Crazy Dog Audio Theatre‘s Diabolic Playhouse segments that was originally broadcast on RTÉ (Ireland National Radio). We’ve recently been debating the difference in quality between professional and amateur audio drama. Check out this show to see the professionals as The Sonic Society is presenting…
The Silver Tounged DevilThe Silver Tongued Devil
A documentary of poetry, pretension, and possession.

We reviewed this show and the rest of the Diabolic Playhouse series in early 2005, this is what Scott wrote about “The Silver Tongued Devil”: “This entire piece is done like a radio documentary, NPR-style, complete with interviews of average people about the ‘Silver Tongued Devil’. The actors who did these segments were perfect! If I had listened to this on the radio without knowing that Crazy Dog had done it, I’d have thought it was news. Who is the ‘Silver Tongued Devil’? He’s an incredibly famous poet from Cork who has the god-like ability to make people swoon with his words. Again, the piece is multi-layered, achieving both hilarity and poignancy.”

BBC7’s The 7th Dimension does the classics: 2001: A Space Odyssey and Brave New World

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BBC 7's The 7th DimensionBBC7’s the 7th Dimension will be airing two Science Fiction classics back to back starting monday weekdays for two weeks. First, Arthur C. Clarke’s novel 2001: A Space Odyssey as produced by radio legend Dirk Maggs. Followed by a definitely abridged version of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Details follow…

2001: A Space Odyssey
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by William Roberts
10 X 15 Minute Episodes – Approx. 2.5 Hours [ABRIDGED?]
BROADCASTER: BBC7’s The 7th Dimension
BROADCAST: Monday to Friday at 6:30pm (repeats 12:30am) UK Time*
When an enigmatic monolith is found buried on the moon, scientists are amazed to discover that it’s at least 3 million years old; the spaceship Discovery, its highly trained crew and self-aware, ultra-capable computer, HAL are sent to investigate.

*This has been broadcast twice before: (in 2001 on BBC Radio 4 and on BBC7 in November 2005)

Brave New World
By Aldous Huxley; Read by Anton Lesser
10 X 15 Minute Episodes – Approx. 2.5 Hours [ABRIDGED]
BROADCASTER: BBC7’s The 7th Dimension
BROADCAST: Monday to Friday at 6:45pm (repeats 12:45am) UK Time*
A nightmare vision of the future, where humans are battery farmed and cloning and consumerism is rife.

*This has been broadcast at least once before on BBC Radio 4

These will both be avilable via the Listen Again service shortly after they air.

Jesse Willis

RTÉ Radio 1 makes ‘tax breaks for sexual intimacy’ Radio Drama

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Online Audio - RTÉ Ireland Radio 1Our UK correspondent, Roy, reports that RTÉ Radio 1 (Ireland Public Radio) will be airing another promising sounding show this Sunday (October 8th @ 20:02) in their “Sunday Playhouse” slot.

It is 2021 and with falling birth rates, tax breaks are available for sexual intimacy. But only for the right kind of couple… The Intimacy Initiative by Gerard Stembridge is the second in RTÉ Radio 1’s Drama Human Right’s Season and explores notions of sexual rights.

The Intimacy Initiative
By Gerard Stembridge; Performed by a FULL CAST
Radio Broadcast – Approx 1 Hour [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: RTÉ Radio 1
Broadcast: Sunday Oct 8th 2006

Thanks Roy!

posted by Jesse Willis

Commentary: Podcast Audio Drama vs. Professional Radio Drama

Meta SFFaudioI like a good podcast as much as the next guy. Heck, maybe even a little more than the next guy. BUT… SFFaudio lately has become an endless parade of posts about podcasts. Great podcasts, excellent podcasts, check-this-out-it’s way-cool podcasts.

In a recent post, Jesse said that one of the podcast audio drama series is one of his two favorite audio dramas. And that gave me pause. Wait a second here, I thought. Time out. Seriously? And the door opened to all kinds of issues. The main one being this:

There seems to have developed a dual standard of excellence on SFFaudio. First, there’s the FREE standard of excellence. Meaning, if it’s free, the standard for excellence appears to be lower. I couldn’t possibly call the audio drama I’ve heard via podcasting “excellent” if I compare it with almost any professional audio drama.

In reviews and commentary, I think we should be comparing audio dramas to audio dramas. The finest audio dramas ever produced – THOSE are the gold standard. People like Dirk Maggs, Roger Gregg, and Yuri Rasovsky continue to produce first-rate audio drama, and 99% of the amateur stuff is… well, it’s amateur stuff.

I’m all for letting folks know what’s out there – that’s really SFFaudio’s mission. But, in reviews and commentary, a reviewer needs a single standard of excellence, not two. If a piece of amateur audio drama garners a great review, it ought to compare favorably with a professional piece of audio drama that also got a great review. The same goes for podcast novels.

James Tiptree, Jr. Biographer and "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" Radio Drama

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James Tiptree, Jr: The Double Life of Alice SheldonJulie Phillips, biographer and author of James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice Sheldon, speaks about the science fiction writer in this week’s episode of To The Best of Our Knowledge. The podcast is available through iTunes subscription or through its RSS feed and may also be downloaded as an mp3 file from here.

A 1990 radio dramatization of Tiptree’s Hugo and Nebula award-winning story, “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” that was broadcast on WBAI radio’s Hour of the Wolf on August 26 is available for streaming replay from their audio archives or may be currently accessed as a RealAudio mp3 download.

This Sci-Fi Radio production aired in two half-hour episodes. The first episode runs from 53:40 – 1:21:30 and the second episode runs from 1:25:50 – 1:53:50. A 2-hour long interview with Phillips from the August 5 program of Hour of the Wolf is also available from their streaming archives and as an mp3 file.

Links to Tiptree stories available online are given on Phillips’ web pages. The first chapter of James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice Sheldon can be read at the New York Times First Chapters web pages (requires free registration at the NY TImes site).

A New Pendant Productions: A META Podcast – This Week In Pendant!

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This Week In Pendant - PodcastThis Week In Pendant! is a BRAND NEW podcast that outlines the ongoing audio dramatizations of Pendant Productions (one of two rivals in my affection for best audio drama umbrella group). The premiere episode has the founder and executive producer of Pendant, Jeffrey Bridges, bringing you the Pendant news, show announcements and an interview with Emilie Leadley as well as an exclusive preview clip from episode 4 of Umket Industries Presents: The Dixie Stenberg and Brassy Battalion Adventure Theater. Subscribe via this feed:

http://www.pendantaudio.com/twip_podcast.xml

posted by Jesse Willis