22oon & 8pm & 4am

PLAYS/DRAMA

WAR OF THE WORLDS

War of the Worlds Returns with a BANG courtesy of Radio Drama Reivial.

This week we take a bow to radio drama history by clobbering Grover’s Mill New Jersey with a big ball of fire and pissed off laser-toting Martians. Yes, folks, it is the War of the Worlds – and one of the most exquisite re-creations of it ever produced, the 50th anniversary production by Otherworld Media released in 1988.

GRAMMY-nominated for Best Spoken Word production, digital sound design by Oscar-winner Randy Thom at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch, an international broadcast event, this contemporary NPR/CNN version of the Orson Welles classic stars Jason Robards with Hector Elizondo, Steve Allen, CBS newsman Douglas Edwards and public radio personalities Scott Simon and Terry Gross.

1pm & 9pm & 5am

IN CONVERSATION…..GREENLIGHT BOOKSTORE

If you love books you probably have a favourite bookstore where you can go and know that not only will there be shelves of a wide variety of books where you can immerse yourselves but also knowledge, tips and conversation all around you. Brooklyn has one such store that recorded a range of interviews with bestselling authors.  Today’s episode originally aired on 15th August and features Tom Rachman (The Imperfectionists) who talks with Susan Kamil, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Random House and Dial Press, about his new novel, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, and why writing books is like flying with the Marx Brothers. Also: reviews of The Story of Land and Sea by Katie Simpson Smith and Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey and reviews of books released that week.

 2pm & 10pm & 6am

POETRY featuring Ben Jonson, Rumi, Classic Women Poets and more

Poetry is often cited as our greatest use of words. The English language has well over a million and poets down the ages seem, at times, to make use of every single one. But often they use them in simple ways to describe anything and everything from landscapes to all aspects of the human condition. Poems can evoke within us an individual response that takes us by surprise; that opens our eyes and ears to very personal feelings.

Forget the idea of classic poetry being somehow dull and boring and best kept to school textbooks. It still has life, vibrancy and relevance to our lives today. In this hour we’ll be listening to poets of the quality and breadth of Ben Jonson, Rumi and themes including Hell and Classic Women Poets

All of them are from a dedicated poetry publisher – Portable Poetry who believe that poetry should be a part of our everyday lives, uplifting the soul & reaching the parts that other things can’t. Their range of audiobooks and ebooks cover volumes on some of our greatest poets to anthologies of seasons, months, places and a range of themes. Check them out on your usual digital store such as Amazon or iTunes or at https://www.deadtreepublishing.com/  That’s Portable Poetry – poetry that carries you through!

 3pm & 11pm & 7am

ALTERNATIVE RADIO with Maureen Webb on Hackers and Democracy

The digital age has given birth to hackers who carry out cyberattacks on our personal data, on pipelines, energy grids and meat processing plants. There are also other hackers who practice the sharing of software, open sourcing and the secure free flow of information. Maureen Webb says those hackers “are making some of the most important contributions to preserving our liberal deocratic tradition in the 21^st century.”

4pm & Midnight & 8am

The Damon Runyon Theatre

New York has given rise to many authors who record and memorialise its streets and people.  Damon Runyon is one such author who brings the New York story and its cast of characters to vibrant life.  His tongue-in-cheek tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, gangsters and dolls appeal to our sense of what we think we know.  Their colorful monikers; ‘Big Jule,’ ‘Harry the Horse Thief,’ ‘Good Time Charlie,’ or ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ immediately give life to his sparkling words. And life is bigger, exuberant; better.

The veteran Radio actor John Brown voices the recurring ‘Broadway’ character so central to every episode which today are Lonely Heart and Broadway Complex

5pm & 1am & 9am

THE PODCAST HOUR – THE JO SHOW

Audiobookradio is delighted to launch a new strand, namely the Podcast Hour.  Our first podcast is the Jo Show presented by silky voiced Jo Sands and features a wide range of creatives with plenty to say….she calls it soul sipping maybe because her guests do some soul searching as Jo always gets to the parts that other interviewers don’t reach as you are about to find out.  Today her guest is Jaime Hinkson, Jamaican born, writer, producer, and musician, who when not in Miami creating his own music, travels the world as keyboardist for Julian Marley’s band.

 6pm & 2am & 10am

HOLLYWOOD STAGE – Red River

In our Hollywood Stage presentation John Wayne reprises his role as Tom Dunston and his journey west to build a cattle empire. He adopts a young boy, Matthew, orphaned by an Indian raid. Returning from the Civil War Mathew helps his father on a massive cattle drive only for their relationship to completely fall apart as Father is pitted against Son.

7pm & 3am & 11am

SHORT STORIES

The Namesake by Willa Cather. Read by Christopher Ragland

Pullitzer Prize winning American author, Willa Cather sets her story, the Namesake, in the Paris studio of the great sculptor Lyon Hartwell at the turn of the 20^th century.  Seven young aspiring student artists who admire his work hear Hartwell relate aspects of his life in this well crafted story which is said to be inspired by Cather’s own unlce.

When I Was a Witch by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.  Read by Laurel Lefkow

This story, although not as well known as The Yellow Wallpaper is another fine example of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s early feminist short stories.  It is a humorous fantasy about a woman that makes a deal with the devil to have her wishes come true and uses this power to shape the world.