RADIO EINSTEIN by hollywoodandallthat

When I was working for NPR in the early 90s I was in the process of developing a radio drama series based on Martin Amis's "Einstein's Monsters" (with the author's enthusiastic blessing). This was to have combined historical audio, interviews with nuclear scientists and commentators, and dramatizations, to explore the psychological and sociological impact and legacy of the nuclear threat. We prepared this demo that incorporated material from actual scientists with excerpts from two stories: "The Immortal" and "The Time Disease", as well as Amis's introductory essay, "Thinkability". Alas, NPR decided to phase out its drama programming before we went into full production, so the series was cancelled. Nevertheless, you can get an idea of what the series would have sounded like from these extracts.

On a sound design note, the extraordinary deep tones you hear at around 7:45, in the transition from the "Radio Einstein" announcer to "The Immortal", are actually a recording of sand dunes in the Mojave Desert. The recording was made by the legendary environmental sound designer Bernie Krause, whom I met at a conference at Skywalker Sound (George Lucas's post-production facility in Marin County). I was looking for something to convey a suitably apocalyptic soundscape, and this fitted the bill perfectly. Bernie very kindly let me borrow this unique recording for the project.

You can read more about this on my blog: http://hollywoodandallthat.com/2014/08/06/einsteins-monsters-martin-amis-the-bomb-and-thinking-the-unthinkable/

With MARK WALDSTEIN (The Time Disease), LEN GORMAN (The Immortal), GEORGE PRESTON (Radio Einstein), RONALD GOLDMAN (The Author), LISA MULLINS (Announcer).

Engineer: KEN ROGERS

Writer, Producer, Director: MARK WARD