Though I remember hearing reruns of shows like The Shadow when I was in elementary school, my love of radio drama really started in Junior High with NPR Playhouse. This now defunct drama showcase, combining British and Canadian programs with the odd homegrown series, was like an audio version of Masterpiece Theatre. In some ways, it was even better because they also included programs in the science-fiction and fantasy genre, such as the BBC Radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
It was through NPR Playhouse that I first encountered The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. In addition to becoming the first in a series of best-selling books, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has been turned into everything from a movie to a computer game. Its first and best incarnation, though, remains the BBC Radio series that debuted this day in 1978.
Radio is a great medium for science-fiction not just because the sets always look great but also because the nature of the medium puts the listener's mind at the center of the story. Writing about the radio series in 1985, Adams said he wanted it to sound like a rock album where "the voices and the effects and the music [are] so seamlessly orchestrated as to create a coherent picture of another world".
Adams, the production team and of course the cast absolutely succeeded. When you listen to the show, whether the setting is Magrathea, Milliways or even Earth, your mind is there. If you like the Hitchhiker's Guide series but only know it from the books or TV show, you owe it to yourself to seek out the original. Though it's hard to find on compact disc in the US, it's available for (legal) download from sources like audible.com. Your iPod will be honored to play it.
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