Into the Ether

Available for over a year

What happens to a documentary medium which evaporates into the air? In this Archive on 4, we explore how our memory for radio documentaries might shape the sound of their future. Unearthing audio treasures from the radiophonic past and fragments of lost features, this documentary explores the creative invitations of radio’s past and asks whether the imaginative possibilities of the medium might change if we chose to remember it differently. Featuring an interview with David Hendy, Emeritus Professor in Media and Cultural History at the University of Sussex and author of The BBC: A People's History. Archive featured (in order of appearance): SOS (a work for voices by Barry Bermange, 1978) Savoy Hill (produced by Denis Lewell, 1959) The Afterlife (by Barry Bermange with composer Delia Derbyshire, 1965) People Talking: Night in the City (by Denis Mitchell, 1955) I Remember (produced by Maurice Brown, 1962) Jason and the Thunderbirds (produced by Mairi Russell, 1992) Spools of Time (by Chris Brookes, 2007) Sound in Mind (produced by Desmond Briscoe and Michael Smee, 1979) Private Dreams and Public Nightmares (produced by Donald McWhinnie with music and sound by Daphne Oram, 1957) Heartsong (produced by Sara Conkey, 1998) Symphony of the Body (by Michael Bright, 1978) Setting Sail (produced by Piers Plowright, 1985) Quotations from The Art of Radio by Donald McWhinnie (1959) and research support from Dr David Butler and the John Rylands Library. Original music by Phil Smith, with additional music by Eleanor McDowall Produced and presented by Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4