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To explore national radio drama histores, the Hungarian Radio Drama History Research Group at �鶹��ý organized the European Symposium of the History of Audio Drama and have now published a book version of the papers presented there.

Authors are from 9 countries. We initiated this conference to begin mapping the radio drama corpora of European countries. With  this data  in  hand, we  aim  to  identify  exemplary  works  and authors  who introduced new and innovative elements to the language of radio. Our long-term goal is to determine and compare the styles that defined national radio drama schools especially those that have achieved international influence. We follow the footsteps of film historians –similar work had been already completed for moving pictures: the history(histories) of the European cinema. However, most national bodies of radio drama work remained invisible and unmapped.

The book presents initial surveys of several radio drama markets that have never been explored: the radio drama historis of Albania, Moldova, and Vojvodina (Serbia) are presented for the first time along with a fresh look at German radio drama schools. Additionally, a set of case studies offers a more in-depth look at specific radio dramas: Polish experimental works, Fellini’s radio plays, acoustic works in contemporary arts, a soap opera broadcast on local Hungarian community stations, the Croatian radio documentary school, and a detailed analysis of pre-war studio productions of a classic Hungarian drama. The final chapter presents preliminary findigs from a survey of 18,000 Hungarian-language radio dramas, underscoring the importance of radio drama databases in the absence of accessible audio recordings.

The book is open-access and is available at

Photo source: Fortepan