Science Fiction on the radio, worldwide

This is going to be a long shot. Who still listens to the radio, after all, except for some background noise at breakfast? ;-)

After Antimuzak invited me into his BBC Radio 3 den ;-) I found this:

"Words & Music: Space
Sunday 11 May 2008 22:20-0:00 (BBC Radio 3)
(22.00 hrs BST is 21.00 UTC/GMT -- listen live online, or "listen again" for up to seven days)
Miranda Richarson and Tim McMullan read works by Walt Whitman, Arthur C Clarke, Wordsworth and Craig Raine, as well as from Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. With music evoking the sound of space, including Brian Eno's Apollo, Holst's The Planets and Frank Sinatra's Fly me to the Moon. Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes"

So, I thought "How about opening a thread where we collect interesting SF broadcasts on the radio?"
Courtesy of the Internet, we can access radio stations worldwide!

If you know of an interesting broadcast that is accessible via the internet, let us know! And don't fear to post about a non-English broadcast, some of us aren't Anglophones, and others like to sharpen their language skills :-). So French, German or Spanish broadcasts might find their audience, too. And with the right software, you can set up a timed recording to catch that Australian radio station at 3 a.m. ;-) . Don't forget to note the time as UTC/GMT as well.

Hey, gal, we were just talking about this on another thread! I'm pissed because I just got a nice shortwave and can't pick up BBC, all that fine broadcasting (which was the whole point in getting the bloody thing).

Perhaps we can expand this thread to included not merely new radio but old radio dramas as well--"X Minus 1" and all that. Is that okay?

There has been a bit of discussion on SF radio but it would be nice to see it all consolidated on one thread. I just ordered something like 100 episodes of "X Minus 1" from a chap on the west coast (USA) for dirt cheap and eagerly look forward to that.

The official Philip K. Dick site has a broadcast you can listen to of a dramatization of an old PKD story ("Colony") from the early 1950's.

I LOVE radio dramas. It's definitely a lost art. Hope lots of folks will contribute sites, links and references to this thread, it should be great fun...

Cliff, get yourself a decent (!) soundcard for your computer and you're set :-). I think meanwhile the BBC are streaming virtually all their programming. And lots of it is also on listen again.
I also have a Grundig SW/LW radio, but rarely use it anymore. I got a cable that connects the line-out of my PC to my Stereo amplifier and was set. With my current setup, I get near-CD quality (I think the soundcard is not quite decent...).
I get a quarterly journal by our national "DeutschlandRadio" that lists all features, radio dramas etc. for the next three months. Anyone understand German here? I might give a tip or two (DeutschlandRadio are streaming their complete programme too, but some of it cannot be "listened to again").

Riiiight.

Sound card.

Have you paid attention at ALL when I discuss the fact that I consider my computer a magic box with a genie inside? I can't do ANYTHING without either my wife or sons looking over my shoulder, making sure I don't destroy something in one of my stuttering rages.

Technological idjit, that's me.

Just delegate the task to wife or sons then. It's almost as straightforward as replacing or augmenting rams. Typically screwed in instead of clipped in. Generally comes with directions too!

Gwen: showing off by writing a message in Sanskrit is frowned upon on any internet forum, but especially those that include people who, like me, were dropped a lot as a child.

I feel like that chick in the coop with a bald spot where the other little bullies have been pecking him.

Tech talk (shudder)...

There is freeware available for creating an internet radio station as well as warez, I don't know if they are free, that would take a recorded voice and music, either recorded or original, and put them together to create... a radio play complete with soundFX and backgrounds.

If we had one or six of the writers on here create a five to ten minute radio play, I'm sure we can find someone who can put it all together to be broadcast over the internets.

Cliff, if you are one of the writers, you won't have to work on the tech side. Me, Hey, it was my idea. I did the hard part.

Cliff,

I just ordered something like 100 episodes of "X Minus 1" from a chap on the west coast (USA) for dirt cheap and eagerly look forward to that.


Go to www.archive.org. It's a bit of a messy site to look though, but you can download every episode of "X Minus 1" and "Dimension X" (and "Suspense" and "Escape" and "Gunsmoke" and on and on and on...) for free.

There are other site that are easier to navigate. I'll send 'em to you when I get home from work. (For now, try googling "calfkiller BBC" He has all kinds of old BBC and OTR shows and they are pretty well organized.

Thanks, mon, I'll definitely have a look once you find those links.

I ordered those "X Minus One" programs because the guy had already burned them onto disks so I wouldn't have to figure out the MP3 bullshit, find some way of saving them, etc. On disk, I can listen to them up in my office or when the Burns family takes one of their road trips. Our internet computer is downstairs, in the dining room, so we can keep track of how much time the kids are spending on it. My computer upstairs is for writing ONLY (an ancient Mac, I don't think it has enough memory for the internet thing).

I have written a couple of radio plays for CBC Radio up here in Canada and I love, love, LOVE the format.

Right now, Sherron (my wife) and I are preparing a podcast of my novel. The recording has been challenging and fun and I can certainly see how the process could be adapted for the performance and recording of a radio play. You can do all sorts of voice and sound effects. Sher has even composed (with GarageBand software) some theme music and music to link the various sections of the story. Fascinating...

A British Classic from the fifties "Journey Into Space" by Charles Chilton.

http://www.journeyintospace.co.uk/

Oh the memories ......

That's great, Geoff! But is there anywhere you can download the original 1950's episodes?

I checked the link and either the time limit had expired or I did something wrong because instead of "Journey into Space", there were a couple of Anthony Minghella radio plays in the archive.

Any thoughts?

#8 jseger9000 - cool website thanks. I'm sampling "Mars is Heaven" -

Very interesting that a Lustig is a major character in the initial landing party ---Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles also has a Lustig as one of the early explorers to Mars, and his parents Leif and Anna later go to Mars to find him.

I expect I'll nab a bunch of those for later. Might even be good for listening to at the gym.

hmmmm, the parallel to Martian chronicles is beyond eerie...small town earth on Mars now, haha. Just looked it up. It IS based on RB's short story. Cool.

#11, Cliff: It's timed out. Some clicks into the page gave me this: "Journey Into Space: Frozen In Time" will be broadcast as the Saturday Play on Saturday 12th April on Radio 4. "
Still I am going to tape next Saturday's play (Two Planks and a Passion). Already grabbed an Australian Afternoon play today :-). That website is bloody addictive (and what else can a woman do when dradio.de's archives are inaccessible for maintenance? *g*).

Gwen,

hmmmm, the parallel to Martian chronicles is beyond eerie...small town earth on Mars now, haha. Just looked it up. It IS based on RB's short story. Cool.

X Minus 1 and Dimension X LOVED Ray Bradbury. There are a number of his stories as episodes. The Martian Chronicles is really a series of stories. On those shows they adapted various stories as individual episodes and they also tried condensing all the stories into a single episode that is just called The Martian Chronicles.

Cliff,

That's great, Geoff! But is there anywhere you can download the original 1950's episodes?

Try here: Calfkiller BBC. Scroll down below Journey to the Center of the Earth and you will find all the Journey Into Space eps you requested. (They look to be listed a little out of order. I believe Operation Luna is the beginning even though they are midway down the list.)

BBC7 has an hour block of science fiction and fantasy every day at 6:00 pm (their time) and they also have a listen again feature. Most are dramatizations but there are some straight readings. Currently they are working through The House on the Borderland and are starting Midwich Cuckoos today (which should be available for listen again starting tomorrow).

Here's the link for the Midwich Cuckoos: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/wednesday/rams/1800.ram . It's not up yet but should work from Thursday morning on, for a week.

That's great stuff, gang, thanks.

Your question to me earlier seems to have been answered, Cliff. The recent R4 play appears to be there as well.

Thanks, Geoff. You lucky Brit bastards seem to have some pretty fine radio programs.

Not to mention "The Mighty Boosh" and, a particular favorite, "Black Books". We have nothing to compare to that here in jolly old Canada.

I've just played episode 1 of "Operation Luna", hearing it for the first time since the fifties/sixties. The music and electronic effects are really very reminiscent of the times, but it is very well done and you can see why it was so popular at the time.

One bit that really shows how times have changed, is a snatch of conversation just after the have taken off, overcome a radio fault (alien inspired I'm sure), switched off the ATOMIC MOTOR we have this little gem:

quote
Mitch: How about a cigarette Doc? Do You think the Oxygen supply will stand it?
Doc: Yes, I think it can. Shall I get them Jet?
Jet: Yes, Doc, One each........................

A heads up:
I just found that if you access the "Midwich Cuckoos" via the link I gave above, it will play on whatever your favourite media player is, with a rate of 64 kBit/s. If you use BBC's iPlayer, you get a rate of +/- 250 kBit/s. So rather use this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/ and click through to Radio 7 > The Midwich Cuckoos.

Uaaah, that's creepy... - I just listened to the first few minutes of the Midwich Cuckoos (I am recording it now for later "consumption"). But quite an interesting start.

If you understand German, you might want to take a look at this:
Queen Mary 3, science fiction radio play, Deutschlandfunk, Sat. 17 May 2008, 00.05h CEST (UTC+2). I'll be staying up to start the recording (*yawn*, no listen again feature for radio plays at all on this station, for copyright reasons...).

I'll see if I can tune into the Wyndam adaptation.

Unfortunately, I've barely mastered conversational English, let alone German...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/afternoon_reading.shtml
Monday 28 - Friday 8 August:

The Further Adventures of the First King of Mars

By Nick Walker, read by Peter Capaldi

The first manned spacecraft to Mars is plummeting towards the planet with no luxuriously thick atmosphere to slow it down. Will our heroes, boldy lead by their intrepid commander, survive touchdown?

A bit meagre that info, but it might be worth checking out. If anyone is going to listen and to record it, let me know. Since I'll be without internet for the forseeable future (moving on Tuesday), no Afternoon Readings for me.

goodness, thanks! i'll have to check WUNC's broadcast schedule..when i was much more likely to be a nite (or really, early morning owl) i'd often catch those abridged stories when i'd drive into work ~ 4:am and they always made the 30 mile drive more pleasant!
bob

Alas, sadly, my attempt at securing the complete "X Minus One" series on MP3 was for naught. The copy I got was not terrific sound-wise so I returned it, hoping for an exchange, but never got received a replacement copy. When I try to e-mail queries, they get bounced back. Ah, well, it was only a few bucks. I can listen to the program on-line but I wanted something I could take on trips with me or listen to up in my office.

Poor, poor, pitiful me...

Was this from otrcat.com? I've had good luck with them for comedies like Vic&Sade, Benny, etc. There are times when the sources, especially the 30's, just aren't there but X-Minus-One should be OK.

It was Old Time Radio in Brookings, Oregon.

I'm writing a letter but I'm not hopeful of a good outcome, not after 8 weeks of waiting...

BBC Radio 4:

"The Girl Who Touched the Stars
By Mahesh Dattani

Growing up, Bhavna has a dream - she wants to fly to the moon and touch the stars. Her dreams come true - it is 2025, she is an astronaut and soon to be the first Indian woman to fly to Mars. But her childhood is about to come back and haunt her in the most unexpected way."
Online at BBC Radio 4's Listen Again feature until Monday, 26 August, noon-ish (UTC):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/afternoonplay_mon

Thanks for staying on top of this, Girl!

Hope all you sci fi radio geeks can tune in...

Cliff, do your CD players play MP3 CDs? I have copies of Dimension X and X Minus One that are good quality that I will send you for free. (Or I could tell you where to download the MP3s yourself if you'd like.)

How cool! I was just listening to a Dimension X episode and then an X Minus One episode to see what the quality was like. By coincidence I chose Knock. It starts 'The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door.' Wasn't somebody just asking about that story?

I wrote to the chap who sold me the entire "X Minus One" series on one MP3... a flawed recording. Sent the disk back for replacement but...not gonna happen by the look of it.

Are MP3's easy to transfer off a computer to "burn" on a disk? I want to travel with these programs or play them in my office. I have a personal player, one that accepts both MP3 or CD's.

Love these old tyme SF dramatizations...but if it's a pain in the arse, make no special efforts on my behalf please.

>34 CliffBurns: - you should be able to drag and drop the files straight onto a CD (as long as it is formatted first) - basically not much difference between that and the old days of floppies. The only issue you may have is if the disc isn't closed but that's not as common as it once was.

"Click and drag", that's the extent of my knowledge of computer terminology. I'm a Mac/Apple guy, we don't HAVE to know computers, ours never break down...

Wait, Cliff,

Are you saying that all the episodes were crammed together into one MP3 file, or do you mean they stuck all the MP3's onto one disk?

Look, I got one disk and it had ALL the "X Minus 1" programs on it in the MP3 format. I have a personal player that can play either...sadly the disk the chap sent me had a flutter or whatever and it was too annoying so I sent it back, and have heard nuttin' since.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

I finally got the shortwave antennae rigged up properly in my office and am getting better reception.

Christian broadcasters certainly have a HUGE presence on the air here in North America.

The other night I accidentally caught part of a conversation between a host of a Christian show and some chap (never did catch his name). They were discussing the "end times" (of course)...but they had a very strange tangent. The guest was talking about "Watchers", who appear to be similar to Lovecraftian demons, living outside our dimension but scheming to get back in. There are these time chambers somewhere in Jerusalem, see, and when the end of the world comes, these "Watchers" will break through and bring about a reign of evil, etc.

Listened with some measure of fascination and amusement. THIS is why we don't need cable TV...

i'm fully expecting Transdimensional Watchers to show up in yr next story..this reads more like SF than "religion" anyway. We might need to replace our defunct SW radio i gut at the onset of Iraq war # 1 but has since given up the ghost.

I got my radio cheap on eBay--it's an Eton/Grundig but if I had to do it over again, I'd get an older model, made while the company name was just plain Grundig. Eton is a Chinese firm and I don't think the quality of the new radios holds a candle to the old buggers.

Getting the antennae right was helpful too--it's amazing the good things that will happen if you take the time to read the bloody instructions...

Well I guess I should have mentioned The Brightonomicon which has been dramatised on BBC Radio 7 (which has been running a while and is still going).

Also just started on Radio 7 is a reading of Burning Chrome. Two episodes down but you can catch up if you hurry.

Also coming up is -

19 Oct 2008 @ 18:00 - Doctor Who - Dead London (start of a new season of audio stories)
21 Oct 2008 @ 18:30 - Heinlein Centenary - presumably The Green Hills of Earth as it is about Rhysling the blind singer of the spaceways.
22 Oct 2008 @ 18:30 - H.G. Wells's - The New Accelerator

I also recently heard a few snippets of the dramatisation of Iain Banks's The State Of The Art which will be broadcast on 6th March 2009 @ 14:15 on Radio 4 (the afternoon play slot).

For those of you who aren't familiar with the setup all programmes are available to listen to for 7 days after broadcast using the BBC iplayer.

"A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou" broadcasts on London's Resonance FM but you can grab all the shows here:

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/slugoftime/

Readings of classic science fiction short stories followed by discussion.

Also worth checking is MindWebs:
http://www.archive.org/details/MindWebs-SciFi

Which has some great readings of classic short stories.

And of course there are loads of podcasts/audio dramas but you can't go far wrong with escapepod.org

BBC Radio 7's recent web site change now allows you to list available shows by genre:

Science Fiction and Fantasy:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/genres/drama/scifiandfantasy

Radio 4 has a similar feature, but many of the programs listed are those that sometimes show Science Fiction - not that are necessarily playing one now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/genres/drama/scifiandfantasy

Argh. I haven't even burnt last week's harvest of radio plays onto CD...

this is great!~ i'll download a bunch onto my mp3 player and listen to 'em while exercising..i hope non-Brits can download from the bbc? i always get frustrated when i can't watch their tv Wimbledon coverage on line.

Well they aren't podcasts. The BBC ones are usually Real Audio streams. If you know what software to use you can download and save the stream - but it is still in real audio format. Unfortunately if you want them in mp3 then you will have to record 'what you hear' using your soundcard.

Sports (and some other live events like concerts) are about the only things that are restricted to the UK on the BBC.

One place that does do an interesting podcast in a magazine format (but includes a full short story) is StarShipSofa

I am using "no.23" recorder to record it while listening to the audio stream. I can choose between WAV, MP3 and OGG format. MP3 is enough for the quality level (streamed at 64 mbit/s, which doesn't sound perfect on a good stereo or on headphones), WAV allows you to burn a CD that will play everywhere.
There was a discussion on the BBC Radio 3 group a while ago, concerning the various software options and what to switch off before recording.

Thanks! i found a nice video stream recorder..but i don't really usually want to save streamed video.