Star Wars (radio)
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| Other names | The New Hope |
|---|---|
| Genre | Radio drama |
| Running time | 6 hours |
| Country | USA |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | NPR/KUSC |
| Syndicates | BBC Radio 1 |
| Starring |
Mark Hamill |
| Written by | Brian Daley |
| Directed by | John Madden |
| Executive producer(s) | Richard Toscan Carol Titelman |
| Narrated by | Ken Hiller |
| Recording studio | Westlake Recording Studios, West Hollywood, CA |
| Air dates | March 9, 1981 to June 8, 1981 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Opening theme | Star Wars Main Theme |
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| Genre | Radio drama |
|---|---|
| Running time | 4 hours 15 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | NPR/KUSC |
| Starring |
Mark Hamill |
| Written by | Brian Daley |
| Directed by |
John Madden Tom Voegeli |
| Executive producer(s) | Jon Bos |
| Narrated by | Ken Hiller |
| Recording studio | A&R Studios, New York City |
| Air dates | February 14, 1983 to April 25, 1983 |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Opening theme | Star Wars Main Theme |
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|
| Genre | Radio drama |
|---|---|
| Running time | 4 hours 15 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language(s) | English |
| Starring |
Joshua Fardon Perry King Ann Sachs Anthony Daniels Bernard Behrens Arye Gross Paul Hecht John Lithgow Brock Peters |
| Written by | Brian Daley |
| Directed by | John Madden |
| Produced by | Tom Voegeli, Julie Hartley |
| Narrated by | Ken Hiller |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Opening theme | Star Wars Main Theme |
An expanded radio dramatization of the original Star Wars trilogy was produced in 1981, 1983, and 1996. The first two radio series, based on Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, were produced and broadcast by National Public Radio (NPR) as part of NPR Playhouse. A dramatization of Return of the Jedi was produced by most of the same team and also broadcast on NPR.
The radio serials were made with the full cooperation of George Lucas, who, in exchange for a dollar each, sold the rights to KUSC-FM, the public radio affiliate at his alma mater, the University of Southern California (USC). Lucas also permitted the use of original sound effects and music from the films.
In the 1980s, radio drama was in decline in the USA. An associate dean of the University of California School of the Performing Arts, Richard Toscan, was keen to champion this art form. Toscan was supported by John Houseman, the producer responsible for Orson Welles's 1938 radio production of The War of the Worlds. He began with the dramatisation of short stories by Raymond Carver on KUSC-FM, a campus radio station affiliated to NPR. Following this production, Toscan collaborated with Houseman and NPR producer Frank Mankiewicz on a project to revive the fortunes of NPR Playhouse, the umbrella title for drama productions on NPR. At the suggestion of one of Toscan's students, Joel Rosenzweig, they developed an idea for adapting the 1977 epic space opera film, Star Wars, for radio. The popularity of Star Wars would certainly attract new, younger listeners, but they feared that the production costs would be prohibitively high. However, the production team's academic connections proved to be advantageous; USC was the alma mater of the writer and director of Star Wars, George Lucas, and Lucasfilm quickly granted the rights to KUSC, including the rights to the use of original Star Wars music and sound effects, for a token fee of one dollar.
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