{"id":17012,"date":"2013-08-12T23:50:51","date_gmt":"2013-08-13T03:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=17012"},"modified":"2013-08-12T23:50:51","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T03:50:51","slug":"night-vale-needs-to-sound-more-like-art-bell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2013\/08\/12\/night-vale-needs-to-sound-more-like-art-bell\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Night Vale’ needs to sound more like Art Bell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So I finally got around to checking out the \u201cWelcome to Night Vale<\/a>\u201d podcast:<\/p>\n

Welcome to Night Vale<\/em>\u00a0is a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff\u2019s Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events.<\/p>\n

Turn on your radio and hide.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I read the transcripts from the first two episodes at this Tumblr fan site<\/a> and I was won over by the delicious, delirious storytelling. Here\u2019s the very first bit:<\/p>\n

Hello listeners. To start things off I\u2019ve been asked to read this brief notice: the city council announces the opening of a new dog park at the corner of Earl and Summerset near the Ralph\u2019s. They would like to remind everyone that dogs are not allowed in the dog park. People are not allowed in the dog park. It is possible you will see hooded figures in the dog park. Do not approach them. Do not approach the dog park. The fence is electrified and highly dangerous. Try not to look at the dog park, and especially do not look for any period of time at the hooded figures. \u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That got me hooked. Writers Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor have painted a surreal universe with aptly chosen odd-ball details, suggestive hints, gonzo riffs and deadpan understatement.\u00a0It\u2019s creepy and funny and quotable and very well done overall.<\/p>\n

So then I listened to the podcast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ugh<\/em>. No. This is not at all what I had been reading. The conceit of the show is that you\u2019re listening to a community radio station serving the isolated and very strange desert town of Night Vale. Read transcripts of the show and that is exactly the voice you will encounter. It\u2019s the idiosyncratic voice of a strangely serene, reassuringly incurious and matter-of-fact community radio host. But the podcast itself does not allow you to encounter that voice.<\/p>\n

You won\u2019t hear<\/em> that voice in the podcast. What you\u2019ll hear, instead, is a book on tape, read by the narrator of a book on tape using his very best books-on-tape narrator\u2019s voice. That\u2019s not the voice of a community radio host. It\u2019s the voice of someone who has apparently never heard a community radio host. This voice has nothing to do with the premise of the show.<\/p>\n

Reading transcripts of the show, I heard<\/em> the voice of this small-town radio host and it drew me into the story. Listening to books-on-tape-narrator guy reading those same words took away that voice and pushed me out<\/em> of the story.<\/p>\n

The storytelling of Night Vale is really good, but the form needs to complement the content. It should be a radio play, not a book on tape. And it should be a radio play that sounds<\/em> like a radio broadcast<\/em>. Somebody like Roy Blount Jr. or Tom Bodett should be reading this stuff. Maybe Tim Russell<\/a>.\u00a0Heck, Glenn Beck<\/em> would be pretty good. Or Don Imus. Joe Frank<\/a> probably sounds too much like Joe Frank, but\u00a0George Noory<\/a> or Art Bell<\/a> would be terrific. Maybe all they really need is someone who can do a good Jean Shepherd<\/a> imitation.<\/p>\n

But not books-on-tape-narrator guy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still quite fun, and I still recommend it, even despite BOTNG. But I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be listening to more episodes of the podcast. I\u2019ll keep reading the transcripts, though, and I\u2019m really looking forward to the inevitable book. On paper, not audio.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The storytelling of Night Vale is really good, but the form needs to complement the content. It should be a radio play, not a book on tape. And it should be a radio play that sounds like a radio broadcast. Somebody like Roy Blount Jr. or Tom Bodett should be reading this stuff. George Noory or Art Bell would be terrific. Or just find someone who can do a good Jean Shepherd imitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n'Night Vale' needs to sound more like Art Bell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The storytelling of Night Vale is really good, but the form needs to complement the content. It should be a radio play, not a book on tape. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Night Vale' needs to sound more like Art Bell","description":"The storytelling of Night Vale is really good, but the form needs to complement the content. It should be a radio play, not a book on tape. And it should be a radio play that sounds like a radio broadcast. Somebody like Roy Blount Jr. or Tom Bodett should be reading this stuff. George Noory or Art Bell would be terrific. 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