“You’re traveling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are those of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead-your next stop, the Twilight Zone.” -Rod Serling
That was the lead-in for one of the most popular television shows in America many years ago. The Twilight Zone was wildly popular in its day, and it still maintains a fan base to this day. However, these days the series is being converted. The episodes are being recorded one-by-one as radio dramas, and they are available from twilightzoneradio.com/
I found out about these episodes by accident. One night, I was driving home late from work, and it was just after midnight. I was looking for something to keep me awake on the radio, and I found a local station that was playing one of the Twilight Zone radio dramas. I was amazed! When I got home, I stayed in the car for an extra fifteen minutes just to be able to hear the ending of the episode. From that day I was hooked. Every Friday night I would stay up late and turn on my radio to listen to the newest episode.
After a few months, my local station stopped carrying the shows, and I just drifted away from them. However, they popped in my head a while later, so I looked them up online. They had a website! I quickly downloaded the three free full-length episodes (mp3 format) that they offer, and I was able to enjoy each of them on my own time. My favorite was “Five Characters In Search of An Exit” starring Jason Alexander. The other two were good, but “Long Distance Call” sure was creepy!
The radio dramas, like their old television counterparts, make use of extremely talented individuals to make each show the very best it can possibly be. Some of the people that star in the dramas include Stacy Keach (narrator), Jane Seymour, Jason Alexander, Lou Diamond Phillips, Luke Perry, Jim Caviezel, Adam West, and many more! Their collected talents make each show a masterpiece, and they work hard to make each one as lifelike and captivating as possible.
The producer of the shows, Carl Amari, maintains a blog at twilightzoneradio.blogspot.com/. He updates listeners with information on the newest available shows and other Twilight Zone news.
There is also a link on the main page that allows you to find out if a local radio station carries the shows. If you are one of the unlucky ones, you may purchase any episode you like from their store!
Give it a try. The three free episodes can be streamed directly from the site, or you can download the files. Radio entertainment is significantly different from television, because you must make use of your imagination to put the scenes together. You must also use your ears to determine what is happening as opposed to your eyes, but it is definitely worth the effort. I guarantee that you will be blown away by the great work that these people are doing.
