columbia workshop Archives - Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama

Showcase #32 – Columbia Workshop – On a Note of Triumph

Philip Robotham — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 21:47:39 +0000

Hi folks,
This is our audio drama showcase where we discuss great public domain audio dramas on a weekly basis. If you are subscribed to our newsletter and registered on our site you will have free access to these great audio downloads.
As a bookend to Norman Corwin’s famous “We hold these Truths” broadcast (showcased here a few weeks ago) we thought you might enjoy “On a Note of Triumph”. In this episode Corwin celebrates the close of the war in Europe. For those of us who were born after the terrible years of the second world war it is hard to imagine the relief that victory brought. In the immediate aftermath of the war optimism was high, the horrors of the death-camps were now known, the cold war had not yet begun, and the threat from Japan still remained. Celebration was mixed with grief over the extraodinary loss of life and the prospect of more losses to come. This broadcast is an extraodinary window into the experience of those days. If we feel a shudder at some of the more obvious elements of propaganda in the piece, it is also hard to miss how little we have learned from the horror of that war.

Audio cover for Columbia Workshop – On a Note of Triumph

Showcase #32 (27.0 Mb) Right-click and select “Save Target As” to Download.

Don’t forget to check out the scripts we publish at http://weirdworldstudios.com/product-category/our-products/. We also have great free samples and wallpapers you can download from our downloads page.

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Showcase #24 – Columbia Workshop – The Fall of the City

Philip Robotham — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 01:32:04 +0000

Hi folks,
This is our audio drama showcase where we discuss great public domain audio dramas on a weekly basis. If you are subscribed to our newsletter and registered on our site you will have free access to these great audio downloads.
Today we showcase The Fall of the City! This dramatised poem by Archibald McLeish was so successful, and received so much listener praise, that it created a new genre of radio (mastered and championed by Norman Corwin who we featured a few weeks ago in Showcase #20).
Please Enjoy.

Audio cover for Columbia Workshop – The Fall of the City

Showcase #24 (10 Mb) Right-click and select “Save Target As” to Download.

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Audio Showcase #20 – Columbia Workshop – The Undecided Molecule

Philip Robotham — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 00:40:48 +0000

Hi folks,
This is our audio drama showcase where we discuss great public domain audio dramas on a weekly basis. If you are subscribed to our newsletter and registered on our site you will have free access to these great audio downloads.
Today we showcase Columbia Workshop! In the United States the airwaves are considered public. They are licensed to private organisations who can broadcast upon them. In exchange for this benefit, radio stations were required to provide a certain amount of public interest programming (covering news and political events etc.). In a somewhat self-serving manner, many stations interpreted this requirement rather broadly and some decided that the public interest was served by providing a space for trying out experimental and risky programming. Columbia Workshop was among the most famous of these experimental shows. The Undecided Molecule, by Norman Corwin (often referred to as the Poet Laureate of radio for his success at bringing dramatised poetry to radio) is a wonderful example of this experimentation. Groucho Marx plays the judge delightfully in this fantasy play for children with a serious educational intent.
Please enjoy this week’s play entitled “The Undecided Molecule”.

Audio cover for The Columbia Workshop – The Undecided Molecule

Showcase #20 (6.68 Mb) Right-click and select “Save Target As” to Download.

The post Audio Showcase #20 – Columbia Workshop – The Undecided Molecule appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.