ABU Revives Radio Drama Art-form

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Radio Drama Workshop conducted its first Radio Drama Workshop in Colombo in partnership with MBC Networks-Sri Lanka. Radio professionals from nine countries participated in this first-ever event of its kind which spanned over 4 days. This radio content creation event received excellent reviews from the participants and other professionals on the concluding day, 29 July.

With the theme “Radio Drama for Digital Age”, this innovative regional workshop was attended by over 50 participants. Workshop participation also had students and professors of media departments of Colombo and Kelaniya Universities in Sri Lanka

The workshop  led by two award winning facilitators from Romania and ex-BBC examined the structure, soundscapes, and storytelling style of drama from around the world, to extracting models and ideas that participants could take away and use in their respective stations. Some highly successful model from Europe explained how short dramas using minimum dialogues and sound effects attract younger audiences using new platforms.

This workshop is a precursor to the inaugural ABU Radio Drama Festival taking place in 2017.