Castelnou, France. Photo by Scarlett Messenger Quiet Please
Written and directed by celebrated author Wyllis Cooper, the widely acclaimed old time radio program Quiet, Please was first aired on June 8, 1947 over the Mutual Broadcasting System. In this period, several similarly themed anthologies graced the American airwaves. However, it was this series that garnered notoriety during the golden age of radio and was lauded as an innovative and creative work of genius by both critics and academics alike. In fact, Professor Richard J. Hand from Glamorgan University praised Quiet, Please as an “extraordinary body of work,” and its writer Cooper as “one of the greatest authors of horror radio.” Quiet, Please was a mish mash of several literary genres, with supernatural encounters gaining the most prominence.
Dali Museum, Figueres, Spain. Photo by Scarlett Messenger X Minus One
Most of the stories for X Minus One were culled directly from the pages of Galaxy. Many of SF’s most popular authors got mass exposure through this series, and even today X Minus One is still generally considered a cornerstone of radio drama.
Most, if not all, of the famous sci-fi authors have had stories featured in this series: Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, just to name a few.
Béziers, France. Photo by Scarlett Messenger Nightfall
Nightfall is the title of a radio drama series produced and aired by CBC Radio (see Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) from July 1980 to June 1983. While primarily a supernatural/horror series, Nightfall featured some episodes in other genres, such as science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and human drama. One episode was even adapted from a folk song by Stan Rogers. Some of Nightfall’s episodes were so terrifying that the CBC registered numerous complaints and some affiliate stations dropped it. Despite this, the series went on to become one of the most popular shows in CBC Radio history, running 100 episodes that featured a mix of original tales and adaptations of both classic and obscure short stories.
The Art of Storytelling show began in the spring 2007 as Brother Wolf sought a way to support the art form world-wide. Every couple of weeks he posts a new interviews on the podcast. Each guest covers a different aspect of the art of storytelling. The interviews are conducted in person or in a conference call format which anyone is welcome to participate on the call. You are welcome to join a call or just listen online, use iTunes, or your podcasting software.
Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain. Photo by Scarlett Messenger Selected Shorts
There is a theme to each Selected Shorts episode and performance. Several stories are presented around each theme. The stories are always fiction, sometimes classic, sometimes new, always performed by great actors from stage, screen and television who bring these short stories to life. Evenings are often co-hosted by writers, literary producers, and other interesting characters.
Carcassonne, France. Photo by Scarlett Messenger Spark London
Spark London has been called Britain’s first true storytelling club. Everyone is welcome to sit back and listen, or you can get stuck into the action and tell your own story. There are only three rules at Spark:
1) It must be true
2) It must be your own story, and
3) It must be under five minutes long.
With a different theme each time, you’ll soon find yourself talking to friends and strangers about moments from each other’s lives. Our aim is always to connect people through true stories.
Dali Museum, Figueres, Spain. Photo by Scarlett MessengerSnap Judgment
Snap Judgment is a themed, weekly NPR storytelling show. We focus on presenting compelling personal stories – mixing killer beats with real drama to produce cinematic, dramatic and kick-ass radio. We are sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and distributed through NPR and Public Radio Exchange (PRX).
The Stanford Storytelling Project is an arts program at Stanford University that explores how we live in and through stories and, even more importantly, how to deepen our lives through our own storytelling. Our mission is to promote the transformative nature of traditional and modern oral storytelling, from Lakota tales to Radiolab, and empower students to create and perform their own stories. The project sponsors courses, workshops, live events, and grants. In 2012, we created a new radio show, State of the Human, where we share stories that deepen our understanding of single, common human experiences—fighting, giving, lying, resilience—all drawn from the experiences and research of the Stanford community. Tune in every Wednesday at 5pm on 90.1 KZSU or download our podcast on iTunes.
From PRX’s Radiotopia, Nick van der Kolk’s Love + Radio features in-depth, otherworldly-produced interviews with an eclectic range of subjects, from the seedy to the sublime. You’ve never heard anything like it before. New installments are added monthly.
Based in Chicago, the Third Coast International Audio Festival (TCIAF) curates sound-rich audio stories from around the world and shares them with as many ears as possible – on the radio, on the Internet, and at public listening events all over the place. Operating year-round, Third Coast offers producers and listeners a multitude of ways to celebrate audio storytelling.
Ideas and Resources to Grow Your Storytelling Skills
