Is Old Time Radio the New AudioBook, er...

Listening to a few audio books/audiocasts/drama on a podcast and am immediately reminded of what I used to do late Sunday night growing up in the metropolis of Olympia, Washington. Sunday night the local radio station used to broadcast radio dramas; murder mysteries mostly with cool sound effects, dramatic readings and eerie music. I loved 'em. Even as a small nerd with no appreciable social skills, I enjoyed the audio picture that they painted. A creaky door opens, footsteps, a male voice hushing someone, a gasp.. Cue the Intro Music. Loved 'em. Listened to them in the kitchen next to the speaker that was connected to the radio in the front room because nobody else wanted to listen. You can't, or at least I couldn't, listen to a radio drama and do anything else like read or watch TV or do my homework; talk with your parents. You had to Listen to the Drama.

My parents kind of laughed at me because many of the radio dramas I was listening to were the ones they listened to when they were young and radio dramas were the TV shows of the day.

Now there are audio podcasts that, rather then be a boring person talk about their life - wow, how exciting - are radio dramas. Except without the good sound effects. But with (sometimes) cool music. One thing I noticed, though, were the podcast dramas were mostly told by one person: a narrator. And sometimes a friend would drop in to add an additional voice, especially if the podcaster were male and needed a female voice.

So the question of the day is, Are AudioNovels the New Old Time Radio Dramas? (Of course they are, what kind of a question is that? But so far they're not as good, in my nimble opinion, but then my memory is probably playing tricks on me and making me think those old radio dramas were pretty good when in fact they sucked.)

Some audionovellas include: PodioBooks, Barfly, and Murder By Design. Among a rack of others. (If you noticed that Scott Sigler is not on the list, well, you noticed so you know about him. If you don't know about him and his audio empire, google him or traipse on over to PodioBooks and try to avoid his name.) And the ultimately famous librivox which has books swept from the public domain and read by a whole host of real people. You can listen to a person read Don Quixote to you, if you wish.

In any case, please enjoy your healthy eating habits, enjoy the new old time radio dramas and let me know if you know of any other audio novellas that I should be listening to. (For the record, I'm not a big fan of fantasy, science fiction, or fan fiction. Why? I guess I read too much of it when I was young.)

Peace, my little lambchops. Live Long and Prosper.