Final Recording

Below is a link to our final recording of the radio drama.
FINAL RECORDING!

A Brief History of Radio

The invention of the radio cannot be simply accredited to one man.  It is a result of a gradual collaboration of a number of scientists. The radio originally began as wireless telegraphy. Below is a brief chronological list describing the works of the key scientists involved in the development of the radio.

Michael Faraday – In 1831, Faraday undertook a series of experiments, which resulted in the discovery of electromagnetic induction. 

James Clerk Maxwell – Following on from the work of Faraday, Maxwell developed the theory of electromagnetism between the years 1861 and 1865. This theory predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves.

Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti  - Calzecchi-Onesti invented a simple device in 1884 which responded to radio waves. This was then later developed into the first practical radio detector.

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz – Between 1886 and 1888 Hertz became the first person to intentionally transmit and receive radio by proving Maxwell’s theories of waves to be correct. These waves were known as Hertzian Waves.

Roberto Landell de Moura  - Between the years 1893 and 1894, Landell de Moura experimented with wireless transmitters. In 1900, he wirelessly transmitted voice at a public demonstration.

Nicola Tesla - Tesla gave a public demonstration of wireless communication in 1893. He transmitted long distance signals and is the holder of the US patent for the invention of radio.

 On March 8th, 1916, Harold Power, along with his radio company AMRAD, transmitted the first continuous broadcast from Tufts University, U.S.A. This company would then go on to become the first to introduce daily scheduling to radio as well as radio dance programs, the weather, bedtime stories and university lectures. 

 The earliest licensed radio stations date back to the 1920s.  In the UK, the first regular entertainment broadcasts began in 1922 at the Marconi Research Centre. 

 The development of radio as we know it today is very much owed to the ‘Rock and Roll’ era.  Originating in America in the 1940s and 50s, ‘rock and roll’ grew to become one of the most important and influential musical genres of the past century. With such growth came the arrival of major artists such as The Beatles and Elvis Presley. The broadcasting of such artists on the radio saw the sustained usage of radio, which became necessary with the growing number of people who had turned to television. 

 Another influential factor in the sustained use of radio was pirate radio. By definition, pirate radio is ‘an illegal or unregulated radio transmission.’ Pirate radio as we know it today began appearing in the 1960s, with the ‘Summer of Love’ in San Francisco. First called ‘free radio,’ the term pirate radio was then used to describe broadcasting that was beyond government control, such as ‘offshore broadcasting,’ (for example, broadcasting sent offshore from ships which crossed into country borders.) The term then grew to mean broadcasts with no commercials or advertising, therefore which made little or no money and simply existed, for example to express a controversial opinion etc. Pirate radio stations also tend to not pay music copyright fees. This leads to artists losing out on profit. Modern day pirate radio stations in the UK include Britain Radio, Thameside Radio and Dread Broadcasting Corporation. 

 In 1967, the British government requested that the BBC would set up a radio station following the mainstream era of pirate radio. This resulted in the birth of BBC Radio 1, which grew to specialise in pop music during the day and more of a rock sound by night. The first show to be broadcast was the ‘Radio One Breakfast Show,’ and was presented by Tony Blackburn.  

 Since the introduction of BBC Radio One, many more public service broadcasting (PSB) companies have sprung up over the years. Most are also owned by the BBC, with stations such as BBC Radio 4 which deals with radio drama, as opposed to shows such as BBC Radio 2, which, similar to Radio One, relies more on music and ‘pop culture.’ 

 There are two main types of broadcasting. The first, as stated above, is public service broadcasting, and the second is commercial broadcasting. The key difference between the two is that public service broadcasting is partially, or in many cases fully, funded by the public. Commercial broadcasting, on the other hand, is broadcasting with the intention of making a profit and is not funded by the public. Examples of commercial broadcasting stations include Kiss 100 FM, Heart and Classic FM.

 In our society today, I feel that the time of the radio could quite possibly be reaching its end. This is due to the ever growing popularity of the television. Most people would rather watch a programme on television than sit and listen to one on the radio. According to Uswitch.com there are, on average, 3 television sets per household in the UK. This can eventually prove disastrous for the radio industry, especially with the availability of radio stations also on digital television. However, many radio companies have made attempts at regaining some of their market by also creating television channels solely devoted to music, for example Kiss also has its own television station available on digital television. So, in conclusion, I feel that despite its illustrious history, the radio will soon have to give way to television.

Genre

At first, we began looking into the idea of urban myths. The genre sounded like a good idea to transfer to a radio drama, however after conducting some initial research we did not find any particular urban myths that caught our eye. We then decided on the idea of 'teen-drama.' After researching into other teen-dramas across numerous media formats, we discovered that most offered a highly unrealistic representation of teenagers/young adults. Most represented them as being drug-addicts or constantly on the lookout for trouble and committing crimes. We decided to go against this media-caused, stereotypical view of young adults. We decided to represent teenagers as more concerned about their futures. 

Cues, Links and Styles in Our Script

By definition, cues are ‘short pieces of written material that the presenter reads between items.’ Cues act as a kind of guideline for the presenter and introduce the next spoken item on the programme. In this way, they act similarly to stage directions in drama productions,  giving instruction to the presenter or performer.

In order to represent a real radio drama, we used cues in a similar way. At the end of each scene, we faded out and at the beginning of the next we faded in. This both indicated the passing of time and also clearly showed the break in between scenes. 

The following extract from our script is an example of how we used cues in our radio drama. It is the introduction to the ‘bar’ scene.

‘Fade In.

Bar door swings open.

Loud background bar noise - glasses clinking, drinks being poured, people talking and laughing loudly.’

When writing our scripts, in addition to considering cues as described above, we also had to select the right style for the genre of the radio drama. Should we use a melodramatic style of writing? Or perhaps slightly pantomime and over-the-top? As our drama included every-day incidents and decisions, we chose to use very realistic language. As it was based around the decisions of teenagers, we used the style of language that is commonplace in teenage society:

‘Hiya, you alright babes? How’re you feeling?’

The above extract shows how teenagers were represented in our radio drama. The use of ‘babes’ is a key element in this as the stereotypical teenager uses such language on a regular basis.

Micro-Elements of Radio Production

As there is no visual understanding for the audience in any radio drama, they must completely rely on the use of sound. The use of sound can be separated into smaller sub-categories such as sound effects, voice, music and also silence. 

Voice.

In our radio drama, the use of voice perhaps the most relied upon aspect to convey emotion. The lexical choices we used, for example the use of slight slang words such as 'babe' acted as a representation of the way in which teenagers/young adults speak. On the contrary to this, the parental character pronounced words correctly and used no slang. This was to represent the way in which perhaps a more middle-aged person may talk. In addition to this, this also showed a clear divide in terms of maturity between the teenagers and the parental character. We also lowered the pitch of the teacher's voice to make the character an authority figure. We also attempted to create emotion through our own voices when acting.

Sound Effects/Music

Sound effects also played a key role in our radio drama. They were used to re-create the scenes in a realistic way. The most notable example of this is the bar scene. As you can hear from the clips below, the pre-edited version just seems like a normal conversation that could be held anywhere. However, with the added effects of clinking classes and light background conversation, it gives a much more realistic representation of a bar. I feel that, overall, the sound effects were used effectively, but there was a definite lack of music. I feel that with the inclusion of more music it would have improved the realistic feel of the radio drama.

The following sound clips are both of the bar scene described above. The first is the pre-edited version and the second is the version used in the final piece. 

snippet pre changes 4.mp3

snippet wth sound effects 4.mp3

Silence

Silence was used in two main ways, to indicate the break in between scenes and to create tension between the characters. I feel that the use of silence in between scenes was relatively successful; it is clear that there is a scene change. However, I do feel that silence could have been used more effectively to create a more tense atmosphere at certain moments in the piece. 

Production Diary Week Thirteen

We finished recording the final version and edited. Many of the sound effects, such as the clinking glasses in the bar scene, were used in the same place. We then burnt the final version to CD.

Production Diary Week Twelve

We decided to re-record the whole of our radio drama. This was to include the decision of the pregnancy, therefore making our narrative multi-linear, and also to dispose of the ‘white noise.’ We used the soundboard and midi-controller to a greater effect to do this.