Radio drama

Survival on air

By Jenny Chan

Jenny Chan

Wooden cupboard used for sound effects.

The production of radio dramas peaked in Hong Kong in the '70s.

“At that time, Radio Hong Kong broadcast 52 half-hour radio dramas and a one-hour well-known drama per week,” said Chung Wai-ming. Nicknamed the “Broadcast King”, he has been in the field of radio drama for the last half century.

Newspapers and magazines covered details of radio dramas at that time every day, listing out names of dramas, broadcasters and staff. Some even described popular story plots. These helped promoting radio dramas.

However, radio dramas began to decline in the ’80s when television and computers emerged.

Yiu Sau-ling, a producer at Radio Television Hong Kong Radio 1, said that radio listeners today are more mature.

“According to audience research, listeners are usually older people.

“Young people prefer playing computer games to listening to radio dramas,” Miss Yiu said.

Drivers, the blind and housewives are loyal radio drama listeners.

“Radio dramas are not only entertainment now,” she said.

““Radio dramas provide listeners with vast amounts of updated information and deliver positive messages by producing many realistic stories.

“These stories reflect social problems and encourage people to overcome their difficulties.”

There is another kind of radio drama which promote new films, stage dramas, or novels.

“Creating a good radio drama is expensive,” said Miss Yiu. “Wages of script writers are high. Since the late ’80s, radio stations tend to buy scripts of popular novels and then dramatize them.”

Now radio drama script writers are freelancers, also writing for television programs and films.

Radio dramas are no longer done live now. Studios are computerized. Technicians mix and adjust background music and create sound effects with advanced equipment.

Similar to script writers, radio drama broadcasters work as freelancers.

Said Mr. Chung: “Broadcasters were professionals in the past. Because there was no recording equipment, all programs were live.

“Technical supporters created live sound effects in the studio to add realism to the dramas.

“To imitate the crash of thunder,” he continued, “technicians rolled a dumbbell on a wood piece.

“Variations of imitated sound depended on the control of the technicians.

“Broadcasters had to practise and rehearse many times as well.”

According to Miss Yiu, radio stations have not recruited full-time radio drama broadcasters for over a decade.

“Radio stations stopped providing training courses for new broadcasters about 14 years ago,” she said.

Most broadcasters are also dubbers of films or television programs.

Some disc jockeys take part in radio dramas as well.

“Another reason for the absence of full-time broadcasters is that nowadays young people want to be disc jockeys rather than broadcasters.

“Radio stations also invite famous pop stars, like Eason Chan and Andy Hui, to broadcast in order to attract young listeners. Radio stations design tailored scripts for pop stars.”

The broadcasting time of radio dramas these days is much shorter.

“Hong Kong people are busy,” said Miss Yiu. “Listeners don't have the patience to listen to long serials.

“Nowadays radio dramas end within one or two weeks, instead of lasting over a hundred episodes.”

Moreover, the timetable of programs has changed.

“In the morning, cheerful and lively dramas such as family stories are broadcast.

“In the afternoon, light-hearted love stories based on famous novels are on air,” said Miss Yiu.

Another obvious change is the promotion.

Newspapers and magazines are no longer enthusiastic about reporting radio dramas.

However, radio stations benefit from the by-products of radio dramas.

The sound tracks and the theme songs of the radio dramas are recorded in compact discs for sale.

Some radio dramas are made into films and comics as well, such as Merry Go Round.

In contrast to television dramas and computers, which satisfy the audience’s visual and audo senses, radio dramas attract audience merely through audio.

“Radio drama is struggling,” said Mr. Chung. “The production of radio dramas has dropped around 80 percent, compared with its golden time.”

Miss Yiu predicted that because of the limited budget, radio stations will keep reducing the production of radio dramas.

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