Audio Drama: Podcasting, Community and Story

Audio Drama explores this rapidly evolving form of podcasting and storytelling that has surged into the mainstream. Lance Dann discusses how shows such as Blackout, The Cipher, and Sandman represent an attempt to harness the techniques and tropes of visual media to introduce audio drama to a wider audience. He contrasts these productions with the works of the emergent audio fiction scene, an online community that tells stories that are rich in diversity, speak with a strong queer voice, and can be read as a direct response to the brutal media cycle of Trump’s America.

The author also explore the more literary work of podcasters, carries out the first critical examination of the burgeoning real-play RPG podcast scene, explores how audio drama has expanded in the English speaking world and other cultures, and investigates the potential of podcast drama as a positive form of children’s media. Through close listening, interviews with prominent producers and creators from across the field of audio drama, audience analysis, and production studies, the author creates the first critical analysis of audio drama.

Lance Dann is Senior Lecturer in Audio and Digital Media Production in the School of Art, Design and Media at the University of Brighton in Hastings, UK. He is a multiple Radio Academy Award-winning producer, academic and sound designer, as well as co-author of Podcasting (Bloomsbury, 2019). He is a former associate member of The Wooster Group, Commissioner of Programming at Resonance 104.4FM (London), a regular contributor to BBC radio, and creator of the transmedia drama The Flickerman.