Before I crank up the volume on the awesomeness of radio plays, I have to dial through some nostalgia. Like, get the needle on why I like them! It’s weird, but it’s because of my dad.

We used to listen to CBC Radio on the drive home Friday nights when he picked me up from work. It was always dark. When we landed in the driveway close to midnight, we just sat there and listened until the end. Someone always died.   

It still fascinates me how much audio can accomplish. Voice actors do a lot with pace and tone, but directors and writers create a virtual world we can imagine with our eyes closed. Audiobooks don’t compare. Sound effects popping out of the darkness, shrieking screams, gasping and sobbing — leaps into the mind.   

The king of horror says radio is a great medium for terror!

Stephen King admits he loves radio dramas. In his book Danse Macabre where he dives into all things horror — he writes, “radio’s greatest strength […] is the mind’s innate obedience, its willingness to try to see whatever someone suggest it see, no matter how absurd.”    

Well, my mind is susceptible to suggestion, like I see the ad I buy the chips — that susceptible. So, when I listen to radio dramas and hear — crreeeak — I think the worst.  

Pet Sematary was adapted as a full cast dramatization for radio by the BBC in 97. The opening scene is packed with chaos — things get eerie when the family takes a walk out back and finds the graves.   

Secret Window, Secret Garden was also made into a radio drama by the BBC in the late 90s. It gets tense at Tashmore Lake when Mort and the “Man in the black hat” argue over who wrote the damn story first. — Sounds of shuffling feet on the dirt, commotion, raised voices — this is not going to end well for Shooter if that’s his real name.  

Stephen King novels adapted for radio!

Pet Sematary — pet comes back to life

Secret Window, Secret Garden — writer goes insane

Find more on YouTube

Try these radio plays!

Midnight Cab — Toronto cabbie seems to attract crime

Suspense Radio Drama — a new take on classic suspense

Lux Radio Theater — adapted Broadway plays

CBS Radio Mystery Theater — mysteries in a nutshell

Stations don’t broadcast radio drama’s as regular features anymore, but they’re still around.

Podcast dramas are the new radio plays. Search for radio drama or radio play in your podcast app. A list will pop up offering everything from vintage classics to contemporary skits. One that stands out for me is Suspense Radio Drama. It’s a revival of classic suspense with all new plays by Hollywood actors! They’re a Young Entertainer Awards winner and a Peabody Webby Voice Arts Awards finalist — How cool is that?   

In their first episode, “Cool Air” a young writer befriends an elderly man in the apartment above. The listener is in the old brownstone building with the heroine as she labours up the stairs wheezing with asthma. When she visits the not long for this world ageing neighbour, we feel the chill in the air as the air conditioner — clicks — on — clicks — off. Subtle. Effective.  

Midnight Cab, by James Nichol, is probably my favourite series dramatized for radio. It’s set in Toronto and follows Walker Devereaux, an aspiring author from Thunder Bay.

He drives around the city, cabbing some unsettling fares. Episodes like “The Face in the Window,” set the stage for a cozy mystery drama.   

The series is good at creating a mental image of the surroundings — we’re in a cab with Walker. We’re creeping into an abandoned building with Walker. We’re always with Walker!  Much of the communication happens over a dispatch radio … static … chhh “Walker, are you there?” click.    

That’s Krista on dispatch. She works the nightshift, and she’s dating Walker — it’s complicated.    

Everything about this show is layered. The bonus of a series is how it builds on a longer storyline and how it has room to show more of the landscape. We’ve been all over Toronto, on rainy nights, we’ve been to rural outskirts, and we’ve gotten into some scrapes. We’ve even been to Thunder Bay and back with this show. It feels like we’re in the front seat with Walker — and it’s the best seat in the house!  

Confession time

I’m going to share a secret with you — I want to write a radio play. It’s a bold admission, considering the genre is a bit of a lost art. Maybe it’s my urge to cheer for the underdog, or perhaps, like Emma, from Fond Memories, I like obsolete technology.

Hey constant reader! What’s your dial set to?

Marsha Masseau

I’m Marsha, an avid virtual-world-traveller! Digging into the fictional worlds – in books, plays and films – of other writers has become a passion. To my mind, every story fits a broader context, and I want to understand what makes them work or not.