Once a playwright has written successful radio plays and experienced the freedom of the air, he is likely to find the restrictions natural to the stage play irksome. There are, of course, problems of technique to be overcome, but once these have been dealt with there is a much wider field open for exploitation.
In writing a radio play you can move about an unlimited stage. In a mere 30 seconds you can switch the story from Australia to China, from the tropics to the Arctic regions. The screen play, of course, has some of these advantages, but in many instances the radio medium is even more elastic than the film. Once the most effective methods of using sound have been mastered the possibilities are almost unlimited.
That there is a great deal to be learned about "sound" technique is obvious from the varied results obtained by radio plays, but there has been steady improvement.
To show how quickly and effectively action may be brought to the listener over the air take as an example a play in which it is necessary to introduce a bullock waggon on its lawful occasions. Over the air the listener hears the lowing of the bullocks, the cracking of the whips, and, probably, a minor burst of pro-faulty. In 15 or 30 seconds the listener has the whole picture in front of him. To convey the same impression adequately elsewhere it would take from 700 to 800 words of description, assures
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