I think it would be awesome to have a radio station that exclusively reads books, particularly stories.

The morning show would consist of short stories that run about ten minutes each, and than have short commentary, traffic & weather, and a few commercials, before returning to a new story.

There could be time blocks for novel reading, where one or two chapters are read a day; genre hours, where there are longer short stories based on a particular genre; and even a poetry hour, where poetry is read and reflected on. perhaps there could even be a period of time devoted to small-time and local authors.

All the stories will be read by talented dramatic readers, who could make the speech as interesting as the words, and parts of dialogue could be dubbed by voice actors.

The advertisement could be covered by brief commercial breaks, and by the publishers advertising books through our readings.
-- jabberbox, Nov 18 2008

NPR: Selected Shorts podcast http://www.npr.org/....php?siteId=9911210
[jutta, Nov 19 2008]

audible.com http://www.audible.com/
2 downloaded audiobooks/month for $23. Wish it were cheaper, but it's still worth it for me. [jutta, Nov 19 2008]

SIRIUS XM Book Radio, formerly Sonic Theater http://www.xmradio....nnelpage.xmc?ch=163
Satellite radio + subscription fee = more niche programming, yay. [jutta, Nov 19 2008]

Back before television, when radio was the storytelling medium of choice, there used to be a lot more dramatic readings; you can still find some recordings of old-time radio shows as MP3 files. (I've tried listening to some of the detective stories, but they haven't aged all that well - the pap of brash heroes and damsels in distress was harder to stomach than I'd expected.)

I use a mix of NPR and an audible.com subscription + ipod instead. I hate radio ads with a passion, and it's nice to not miss pieces of the story if you can't tune in at a specific time.
-- jutta, Nov 19 2008


We got some mp3s and CDs of old radio stories to listen to on long road trips. The advertisements from the sponsors for long-forgotten products are the best.

"Ask your furnace man about Blue Coal! It burns cleaner and hotter!"
-- snoyes, Nov 19 2008


Throughout Australia there are a network of radio stations for vision impaired people. Local to Melbourne, this station is 3RPH (Radio for the print handicapped).

This station reads stories in the method that you describe (they have a crime timeslot, a science ficiton timeslot etc) as well as reading all of the major Victorian newspapers and magazines.

The only real part where Vision Australia Radio parts from your idea is that the stories and news articles are read by volunteers rather than trained actors, and the station is funded by donation rather than advertisements.
-- reap, Nov 19 2008



random, halfbakery