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RADIO DRAMA I:Stage Dramas, Early Radio Dramas, Ethics, Classification

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Introduction to Broadcasting ­ MCM411
VU
LESSON 14
RADIODRAMA I
Drama in literature is as old as mostother story-telling formslike novels and shortstories are;
whenShakespeare wrote Romeo andJuliet and enthralled theaudience to pave the wayfor
classicalwritings in this form, he was not the pioneer of this genre of literature.Drama; writing
story in dialogue form, wasalready existing, thoughlittle known. Then cameothers, felt the
livelinessand vibrancy in this form of communication and worked to further this part of
literature.
Oneprime reason for thepopularity of stage hasalways been the dramasexpressed with all
vitalityand ferocity throughcharacters some timesdominating and at otherssubduing. When
radiowas introduced in the start of last century, stagedramas had already come to age and
wereone top entertainment forthe common people. Radiodramas actually picked thethread
fromtheaters and gave it a dimension never imaginedeven by the top playwrightsbefore. In
thesubcontinent, the theatersechoed plays of Agha Hasharkashmiri who had a specialknack
in dialogue writing. SyedImtiaz Ali Taj, andKrishn Chandr were notmuch behind. In factthere
were a number of writers engaged in drama writing.
It immediately drew attentionwhen radio came intobeing. Apart from musicand
announcements/news, radio stations startedmaking dramas to build up their audience. But
radioinherited drama from stageand for years it was a replica of stage dramas,which was
heard on radios. We must see howthe stage drama wasbefore the broadcasting mode of
communication.
StageDramas
It was 1840 when a merchant F Cowasjee in Bombay desired to open a theatre. He was
allowed to do so in 1846 when alongwith him Jamshedjee andjeejabhoy founded
subcontinent'sfirst theatre named GrandRoad Theatre. For long it staged English plays. In
1853Parsee Natak Mandli cameinto being and gotpopularity for staging over a 1000 shows
of a play, uttejak mandli, a satire, comic and reflection on various aspects of sociallife. It also
worked as a breakthrough to bring thedrama to middleclasses.
DadabhaiSorabji Patel staged a musical urdu play earlylast century - Benazir babremunir.
ButIndrasabah by Agha HasanAmanat Ali at the darbar of oudh Lacnow in 1885 was a
landmarksuccess already.
Fromtranslations stage broughtdrama to vernacular- hindi,urdu, Bengali andGujarati.
It flourished more in Bombay.Agha hashr Kashmir's Kashmir ki kali and yahudi ki larki,and
thenrustom o suhraab were topranking stage performances.Performers usually spokeloudly
to enable back-seaters to listendialogues. Top playwrights anddirectors includedpremchand,
raambabu saksena, saadat hasanminto, krishn chandr, ahmedshah bokhari andN.M.
Rashid.The dialogues wereinterwoven with songs,verses, and dances.
EarlyRadio Dramas
Thesame set off playwrightalso wrote plays forradio when it came to India in 1926. First in
Bombayand then in Lahore,Peshawar, Delhi and afterpartition to Karachi, Rawalpindiand
Hyderabad.Early days radio dramaswere loud and morelike stage plays. Thencame people
likeRafi Peerzada and Z A Bokhari who worked day in and day out to convertstage plays look
radioplays.
©CopyrightVirtual University of Pakistan
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Introduction to Broadcasting ­ MCM411
VU
Newwriting techniques anddialogue delivery withimmense voice control in speech were
introduced. By the time secondgeneration of writers cameAgha Nasir, Kamal AhmedRizvi,
AshfaaqAhmed, radio had come to age in Pakistan. Hamidmian kay haan, andlegend
TalqeenShah reverberated in the airs of subcontinent notfor weeks or months butdecades.
In between so much experimentswere carried out on dramasthat it has become a story in
itself.
Ethics
No immoral dialogue. No humiliation of any segment of society. No blasphemous storieseven
notagainst government policies.But to create harmony andexpose hypocrisy.
Classification
Verysoon it was realized thatevery drama did notattract every one. In themeantime
audienceanalysis approach wasintroduced and on the basis of research, listenerswere
categorized.Now there were separatedramas for children,military personals, farmersand
ruralpeople, urban aristocraticclass and one as forgeneral public. In anotherway radio
dramaswere classified as historical,translations, romantic (mostlistened category),war-time,
and on social life mainlyshowing bad charactersgetting defeated.
©CopyrightVirtual University of Pakistan
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Table of Contents:
  1. BROADCASTING:Historical Facts about Radio, Wireless and Radio
  2. CLASSIFICATION OF PROGRAMS:NEWS, Language, Sensationalizing
  3. CURRENT AFFAIRS:Talk Shows, Discussions, Seminars, Live Shows
  4. OUTDOOR BROADCASTING I:VIP Movement, Suddenly Assigned Events
  5. OUTDOOR BROADCASTING II:Pakistan Day March Past, General Elections
  6. CURTAIN RAISER:Political, Financial, Sports, Academics
  7. RADIO FEATURE:Personality Features, Features on Events
  8. MUSICAL PROGRAMS:Classical Music, Light and Film Music, Folk Music
  9. RADIO DOCUMENTARY:Narrative, Dramatized, Imagination, Close to places
  10. DISC JOCKEY:Women in Focus, Daily/ Weekly Division, Making Titles
  11. VOICE IN BROADCASTING:Speech, Accent, Loudness, Stress
  12. NOISE:Physical, Medium itself, Problem at sender’s end, Semantics
  13. STUDIO:Drama Studio, Studios for Talk Shows/ Discussions, Music Studios,
  14. RADIO DRAMA I:Stage Dramas, Early Radio Dramas, Ethics, Classification
  15. RADIO DRAMA II:Selection of director, The Playwrights, Script, Voices
  16. ADVERTISEMENT – INCOME GENERATION:Similarities, More Analysis
  17. ADVERTISERS’ APPROACH:Dramatized, Dialogue based, News
  18. FM – A NEW GENERATION IN BROADCASTING:Low Cost, The Difference
  19. MICROPHONE TO TRANSMITTER:Amplifiers, Modulator, Transmitter
  20. WRITING SCRIPT FOR RADIO BROADCAST:NEWS Script, Interviews
  21. INTERACTIVE BROADCASTING:On-line, E-mails, Interview, Views in News
  22. REVISION:CURRENT AFFAIRS, RADIO FEATURE, MUSICAL PROGRAMS
  23. HISTORY OF TELEVISION:Early History, The Black & White Images, Color Television
  24. PAKISTAN TELEVISION (PTV):The Excitement, Timing, Live Broadcast
  25. BROADCASTING LAWS:Laws in the 19th century, Press Council of Pakistan
  26. REPLICAS OF RADIO BROADCAST:The Staff, News Reading, Programming
  27. NEW SCRIPT WRITING AND DIRECTION TECHNIQUES:TV Script
  28. SETS:Permanent Sets, Hot & Cover Sets, Special Sets, Economical
  29. CAMERA SHOTS – THE VISUAL LANGUAGE:Angle Shots, Movement shots
  30. LIGHTS IN VISUAL BROADCASTING:Light Temperature, Light and Distance
  31. INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR:NEWS and Interviews, Dramas and Music
  32. BROADCASTING AND MEDIA IMPERIALISM:The truth in the debate
  33. ENVIRONMENT OF TV BROADCAST:Optical Illusions, POV, Depth of Field
  34. BUDGET:First Part, Second Part, Third Part, The Sponsors
  35. COMPARISON AND CONTRAST OF DIFFERENT RADIO AND TV FORMATS:TV NEWS
  36. CURRENT AFFAIRS – FROM RADIO TO TV:Seminars, Interviews
  37. PRE-PRODUCTION:Brain Storming, Scripting a new program, Approval
  38. PRODUCTION & POST-PRODUCTION:Booking Shifts, Rehearsals
  39. TV ADVERTISEMENTS – MONEY WITH ENTERTAINMENT:Early Phase, Getting Spots
  40. ENIGMA OF MORE CHANNELS:The Investment, Fresh Ideas, Closure of channels
  41. ANCHORPERSON:Appearance and Confidence, Job Opportunities
  42. COMPARISON BETWEEN RADIO AND TV BROADCAST:The Difference, Script
  43. TERRESTRIAL TO SATELLITE TO CABLE TV:Cable Network, CD Channels
  44. CAREER IN BROADCASTING:Production, Direction, Lighting Director, Script Writer
  45. REVISION (LESSON 23 TO 44):Broadcasting Laws, PEMRA, Budget