Richard Durham, Black Radio Dramatist In The 1940s

One writer I would like to know more about is Richard Durham (1917-1984), a Chicago-based black radio dramatist (probably the only one in the 1940s) who wrote all the episodes for three series: Destination Freedom, Democracy U.S.A. , and a black soap opera, Here Comes Tomorrow.

During Black History Month this year, Max Schmid, the host of The Golden Age of Radio on New York's Pacifica station WBAI played the episode of Destination Freedom that dramatized Harriet Tubman's role in helping slaves escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

If there isn't a biography of Richard Durham, there should be. His work was an important contribution to old-time radio and to people's awareness of and appreciation for the achievements of  people of African descent.

Durham deserves to be as well-known as historians Carter G. Woodson (the father of what was then known as Black History Week) and J. A. Rogers.

Is Radio Drama (In The United States) Dead?

I recently received from HarperCollins a review copy of a paperback psychological thriller called The House on the Cliff by Charlotte Williams, a British author. The one thing that struck me was her back page bio which noted that Williams "works in radio drama, writing original plays and adaptations."

I love radio drama.It has for a long time been known as the "theatre of the mind" because it allows listeners to use their imaginations as they gather around their radios. Unfortunately, radio drama is a dying art in the United States. I hope some enterprising radio producer or broadcast station will make an attempt to revive it. The late radio producer Himan Brown in the 1970s tried to with the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre but failed. That was probably because the productions were too much of a throwback to radio as it was done in the 1930s and '40s rather than doing something innovative or experimental.