How Radio Told Stories
Radio’s inability to provide a direct image to those who listened to its broadcasts meant that a program’s script had to be written with certain guidelines in order to help the audience place characters and actions; these programs also required the voice actors to record in different accents, tones, pitches, and dialects in order to be able to present an “accurate” portrayal of a different culture, race, or age.
With the lack of a visual representation the writers had to make sure that their scripts would construct and consider the space between characters, as well as keep a clear and direct line of dialogue. In the comedic radio show Fibber McGee and Molly, the audience is able to construct an image representation of what they hear due to sound effects; the doorbell is used as reference point, the audience is able to place a door
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The famous and popular show Amos ‘n’ Andy featured two white men playing the parts of two African American men, and without the ability to show a racist blackface image, the two actors, who were also the creators and writers, had to speak in “Black English (BE)”. This “BE” was English that was broken and phonically spoken, such English was stereotypical and discriminatory but it was a clear, and easy way to be able to attribute race to characters via radio broadcasts. In order to portray different ages, actor would simply raise the tone/pitches of their voices, in the episode “Gas Rationing” of Fibber McGee and Molly, a baby is presented, it is clear that a baby was not being recorded but rather an adult actor replicated the sound of a crying baby. The manipulation of the human voice was what allowed for broadcast to have men, woman, and children of all kinds be portrayed in these radio