Revolution in the Echo Chamber (Book)

Audio Drama's Past, Present and Future

Revolution in the Echo Chamber is a sociohistorical analysis of British and US radio and audio drama from 1919 to the present day. Building on historical analysis, this book provides contemporary perspective, drawing on trends from the current audio drama environment to analyse how people listen to audio drama, including podcast drama, today – and how they might listen in the future.

Edition

Revolution in the Echo Chamber is a sociohistorical analysis of British and US radio and audio drama from 1919 to the present day. This volume examines the aesthetic, cultural and technical elements of audio drama along with its context within the literary canon. In addition to the form and development of aural drama, Leslie Grace McMurtry provides an exploration of mental imagery generation in relation to its reception and production. Building on historical analysis, Revolution in the Echo Chamber provides contemporary perspective, drawing on trends from the current audio drama environment to analyse how people listen to audio drama, including podcast drama, today – and how they might listen in the future.

Leslie Grace McMurtry is a lecturer in radio studies at the University of Salford (School of Arts and Media). Her work has been published by The Journal of Radio and Audio Media, Palgrave Communications and The Journal of Popular Culture.

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction – Why Bother with Audio Drama?

Chapter 1: Audio drama in the context of the literary canon

Chapter 2: Audio drama and listening

Chapter 3: Audio drama techniques and effects

Section 2 – History (1919–2010)

Chapter 4: British radio drama (1919–60)

Chapter 5: US radio drama (1919–60)

Chapter 6: Why US audio drama died and British audio drama survived

Chapter 7: The ascendance of the background medium: Drama on American and British radio, 1960–2010 

Section 3 – Audio Drama Today

Chapter 8: Current British audio drama

Chapter 9: Current US audio drama

Section 4 – The Future of Audio Drama

Chapter 10: Listening now

Chapter 11: The post-Serial world and listeners of the future

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