Fictionalized Storylines Absent from Podcasts?

goldenglove asks: "With the recent boom of Podcasts online, there seems to be a glaring hole when you try to search for free podcasts that have fictionalized stories, and semi-concrete plotlines. The podcast videocast scene seems to be saturated with content that is about news or about personal life, centralizing around information rather than entertainment. Why is this? The only exceptions I've found are the recently released Marcus Hates His Job free TV show sponsored by Sprite, and the Finnish distributed movie: StarWreck -- although entertaining, a very thin selection. Does Slashdot have any recommendations of uninhibited, undiscovered content in this field?"

Comments

What about...

[Landak]

Have you tried good 'ol Radio 4?

Not a podcast I know, but, and I hate to sound like I'm spamming, one of the best non-music sources of audio on this planet that I know about. You can get selected programmes - From Our Own Correspondent, for example - as podcasts (they're in the iTunes database of podcasts), and listen live, albeit over an EVIL real stream. In terms of fiction, radio four really is top notch - watch out for some of the plays, and have fun for the 'Listen again' buttons. Download the stream, and convert to MP3 for iPod-liciousness. Yes, I hate streams too...

Part of the reason I think we see lots of information-orientated podcasts is simply because most commercial radio seems to be not exactly unbiased - and doesn't cover 'speciality' subjects - and, it has to be said, probably because good original fiction is a hell of a lot harder to produce than throwing a skirt infront of a microphone and feeding the result into a DJ-4000 box (á la Bart).

Oh! And for 'erotic fiction' that is actually quite good, as well as a not-really-smutty talk about the adult industry, try open source sex (If you're into that kind of thing).

Re:What about...

[TheWanderingHermit]

Not just BBC (as in Radio 4, as the parent points to), but if you do a search for "Old Time Radio", or OTR as it is sometimes called, you can find quite a bit. I just downloaded several days worth of MP3s of Sherlock Holmes, some done with Rathbone, some with Conway, and many others playing Holmes and Watson. While the best links were on, I believe, the Londian Sherlockian Society, there are other places to obtain these particular recordings.

But don't think it's just Sherlock Holmes shows. I've been a fan of old time radio since I first heard episodes of the Lone Ranger in the early 1970s. By then most dramatic radio productions were off the air, but there are hundreds of sites that offer recordings of shows broadcast up through the 50s, or, in some cases, even some that were on the air later. Once you search and find a few of these sites, believe me, you will never have a shortage of fictional stories to listen to again -- even if you live to be 100! I'd provide links, but there's just too many to pick from. Just Google for terms like OTR and Old Time Radio. From there, I'm sure you'll get more ideas.

Talent

[duffbeer703]

Talking about computers to a quick cam doesn't require much. Writing a coherent story and creating an entertaining performance is a non-trivial task.

Re:Talent

[munpfazy]

Redundant? Second thread in the whole linup, posted 8 minutes after the article, and it's modded redundant?

Anyway, on the topic at hand:

That's a very good point. It's certainly easier to make a professional sounding documentary/interview/polemic than it is to make a believable piece of narrative fiction.

But, it is also true that there has been a conspicuous absence of fiction in radio for a long time. Even among the big, relatively well funded public radio powerhouses, fiction is hard to come by, and what little there is tends to be the same stilted, rehashed stage plays that have been boring audiences for decades. With a few exceptions (Joe Frank, Selected Shorts, several short run BBC series, etc.), entertainment radio has come to mean almost exclusively documentary and interview. While it may be easier to produce good documentary, even if you have funds and access to talent, that in itself doesn't seem quite enough to explain why fiction has disappeared from the radio. Perhaps what the parent poster sees in postcasts is just an extension of the same phenomenon.

Re:Talent

[duffbeer703]

I think its a use problem. We have too many entertainment outlets, and the public as a whole gravitates more toward "easy" entertainment like movies, TV or video games that don't require alot of attention to get value from.

Think about how radios are used today -- probably about 60% in the car, 35% while cooking/studying/etc. Listening is a secondary task.

Reading a book or paying attention to a radio drama requires constant attention -- you cannot divert your attention to something else and get anything out of the story.

Re:Talent

[Marillion]

I agree. The closest I've seen so far is Tiki Bar TV. Even then, the storeys aren't that coherent. Not that these episodes really need to be coherent to be entertaining.

Earthcore

[Wolfbone]

You might like this: http://www.scottsigler.net/earthcore/ I did, even though it's not the sort of book I'd normally choose to read.

Re:Earthcore

[trendyhendy]

Also, check out Ancestor, the latest podcast novel by the same author. He's up to episode 15.

Cory Doctorow

[samrolken]

http://www.craphound.com/podcast.php Cory Doctorow is an award-winning science fiction author who reads his stories in podcasts. Audio only, though.

Since you have so much time on your hands

[Anonymous Coward]

Why don't you create one? Then ask yourself your own question. I think you will find your answer there.

that's actually kind of funny...

[Malor]

Wow, that question was a bit of a shock. Do you realize that you are using a slick 2005 device, and asking for content that was last popular in the 1940s? Everything old really is new again.

It'd be cool if more people thought like you did, the old-time serial radio shows were neat. You can still hear them on NPR on the weekends... Robert Blake hosts an old-time radio show. You could probably convert that for your iPod.

Other podcasts

[Laith]

Escape Pod (Sci-Fi/Fantasy) http://www.escapepod.info/

PodioBooks (various) http://www.podiobooks.com/

LibriVox (books in the public domain) http://librivox.org/

Re:Other podcasts

[M1FCJ]

Escape pod is also now at more easier to remember link. EP028. Your Corporate Network and the Forces of Darkness was just so incredibly funny... It's one of my favourite podcasts.

radiolovers.com

[Anonymous Coward]

Check out radiolovers.com. There have a very large select of old time radio shows. (GIGABYTES of it). Not just fiction, but variety shows as well.. its very interesting (at least to me it is) to hear what was popular in the 40's. Interesting snapshot of society. Just think what peeople 60 years from now will think about us from our entertainment... Fear Factor, Survivor, etc.

DTV

[booch]

I've started using DTV on my Mac. It's basically Internet TV done mostly right, where anyone can create a "channel". I've found many good videocasts, some of them fiction. My favorite is Bush's Speech Writer. Turns out it's a commercial production by Comedy Central, but who cares? I don't know about audiocasts though. I'd suspect NPR would have some.

Why the hell do you want this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just keep pirating TV shows like everyone else.

http://www.radiolovers.com/

[Blakey Rat]

http://www.radiolovers.com/

They did it best in the 40s and 50s when podcasting was called "radio shows."

Not podcasts as such, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/ has plenty of stuff that mplayer can turn into mp3 files real easily.

Doesn't surprise me in the least.

[hey!]

If you think of something, write it down, and look at it later, chances are you'll still think it's brilliant.

If you say something, record it, and play it back, your suckiness will be all to apparent.

Re:Doesn't surprise me in the least.

[Ashley Bowers]

Like your post! Should also put in the warning "BEWARE known to cause laughter in adults"

Two quickies

[yotto]

First: Spaceship radio at http://www.spaceshipradio.com not only does sci-fi radio dramas from the 50's, but also is working on coming out with new content.

Second: Planet Retcon at http://planetretcon.com is my website and I'm working on episode 1 of an original "sitcom in space" sort of podcast.

Re:Two quickies

[yotto]

Oops, I surrounded that second one with and but I actually used the greater than and less than symbols.

Good Fction Podcasts

[Van Vleck]

For podcast books there's Podiobooks which has a number of books on offer, both new and public domain.

For comedy sketch and short story, there's Firesign Theatre where you can browse the comedy albums (they've been making them for 40 years) and from each album download sample tracks. They also have a podcast.

For podcast short story and essay, there's The Seanachai. Patrick Mclean comes from advertising, I think, so he has some good writing chops. He has a series called "How to Succeed in Evil without really Trying." It's very funny.

And, pants down, the best monologist in the business is Joe Frank. A free membership on his site allows you to stream a number of full-length shows.

There's also Transom.org where hopeful producers submit stuff for NPR-type program directors to peruse. Much of it is downloadable, and it includes fiction.

Lastly, I shamelessy plug myself. Of course, if I could actually shamelessly plug myself and record it on podcast, I would have a lot more listeners. Pferdzwackur's Tin Man is exactly what the original post was asking for. Original serial fiction, with bells and whistles attached.

One 4 my Mizkatonik homiez

[tsm_sf]

Check out Podcast of the Red Death for an original story set in Lovecraft-land. It's rough around the edges, but pretty interesting if this sort of thing is your bag.

Escape Pod?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://escape.extraneous.org/ These guys have some original fiction. It's a regular release with shows that can be listened to on your way to work.

Re:Escape Pod?

[Wolfger]

It's actually http://www.escapepod.org/ now. Much easier to remember.

Try this

[chriseyre2000]

This guy is looking for voice actors for his sf story podcast:

http://childrenofthegods.blogspot.com/

If you want more audit stories take part...

Do not forget ...

[psergiu]

...the all fictional TikiBar TV !!! Curse the French !

Fiction for your IPOD

[EnderWigginsXenocide]

alt.binaries.multimedia.mp3.audiobooks.fiction
alt.binaries.multimedia.mp3.audiobooks.sci-fi
alt.binaries.multimedia.mp3.audiobooks.mystery
alt.binaries.multimedia.mp3.audiobooks.spokenword

is no-one watching

[dJOEK]

Pure Pwnage? www.purepwnage.com

Respect theTalent

[Anonymous Coward]

"Talking about computers to a quick cam doesn't require much. Writing a coherent story and creating an entertaining performance is a non-trivial task."

Then putting it onto a P2P network even when the artists has explicitly ask people not to, and giving the artists the middle finger when they complain is going to make the "non-trivial task" even harder (1). Maybe to the point that they quit*, and people start asking slashdot "Well why aren't there any good open-source 'commercial quality' games?" or "Why's there a glaring content hole?".

*Or look at what's ahead and don't go in that direction. Kind of what's happening to IT and CS.

(1) And before any of you open your mouth, it's not always about money. I know people who have free websites, and explicity ask that you don't distribute the content. Simply direct people who are interested to their site. But no! People still distribute widely.

Sonny Bono owns you

[tepples]

Do you realize that you are using a slick 2005 device, and asking for content that was last popular in the 1940s?

Things like this are why the fiction industry has lobbied so hard for copyright term extensions.

Legal?

[tepples]

You've got at least one AC agreeing with you.

But aren't most of these recorded radio shows still copyrighted (until 2067 under State of New York copyright) and all rights reserved?

Re:Legal?

[Blakey Rat]

If you read the copyright information on the radiolovers.com website, you'll find that they believe (and they have good reason to believe) that all the recordings on the site are in the public domain. If they find information to show that some of them might still be under copyright, they will pull the show.

There's a possibility that they are violating copyright laws, but if you read their case, it looks pretty strong to me.

Re:Legal?

[pla]

But aren't most of these recorded radio shows still copyrighted (until 2067 under State of New York copyright) and all rights reserved?

Yes under US (or various state) laws; but "no", by virtue of the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which trumps US law every time.

The VAST MAJORITY of OTR shows have irretrievably vanished due to exactly those laws designed to "protect" the interests of the copyright holder. A part of our (well, on Slashdot, our grandparents') culture gone forever.

Some of them never existed as recordings, just live shows. Many did get recorded, but either those recordings have decayed beyond useability over time, or simply got thrown out as trash (such as almost all of the pre-1960s Dr Who radio episodes).


Copyright and patents exist for the SOLE purpose of encouraging people to create intangible "property". Although we can debate the ethics of downloading the newest BoyBand(tm)'s MP3s off the net, the entire idea of copyright presumes that eventually their music will enter the public domain, thereby enriching us all.

When copyright becomes a tool that permits (even encourages) eradicating all traces of that content, the copyright holder has very blatantly broken their side of the social (and arguably legal) contract that allows them to make money from their ideas in the first place.

Capitol Records v. Naxos

[tepples]

If you read the copyright information on the radiolovers.com website, you'll find that they believe (and they have good reason to believe) that all the recordings on the site are in the public domain.

Here, I quote directly from radiolovers.com:

all such recordings are generally in the public domain, as sound recordings were not allowed under the previous copyright law and that such recordings have not been granted copyright status under the new laws

Sound recordings were not restricted under federal copyright law until 1972. However, sound recordings were restricted under state law prior to 1972, and federal copyright law does not preempt state law protection for pre-1972 sound recordings until the end of 2067. Capitol Records v. Naxos.

Penguin books

[Anonymous Coward]

Penguin books have a podcast of their own. Normaly this only includes extracts of audiobooks, however from now until the 3rd of Jan you can download all of the novel A Christmas Carol.

The Pocket and the Pendant

[Anonymous Coward]

Try "The Pocket and the Pendant" -- it's a full scifi/fantasy audiobook podcast for free at www.pocketandpendant.com. It is also #1 on Yahoo's podcast directory in the Entertainment category: http://podcasts.yahoo.com/search?t=1&p=entertainme nt