Radio, podcast and audio drama in Spain: Recovery and transformation of a dormant genre

Lying dormant for decades after being one of radio’s star attractions during the twentieth century, audio drama seems to be making a comeback in Spain thanks to the emergence and consolidation of podcasting. This phenomenon is being promoted equally by the new digital platforms and by traditional broadcasters. This research aims to explain how the podcast is helping to revive drama and to what extent the new productions will allow radio stations to preserve their identity or if the latter will be forced to reinvent themselves due to the peculiarities of this new format. The results confirm both hypotheses. The fact is, there has been significant growth in production during three well-defined periods. Moreover, at the same time, fiction is changing in terms of its characteristics, content and production techniques, as the rich heritage accumulated over the last century has been lost with the passing of time.