{
  "title": "A. J. ALAN STORIES",
  "category": "[RADIO-SERIES]",
  "article": "Before the BBC started in the late 1940s re-broadcasting what few A. J. Alan recordings they had\npreserved, the next airwaves manifestation of the Alan personality occurred in Australia,\nconstituting, in effect, an A. J. programme without A. J. Four years after Lambert’s death\nMelbourne station 3AW revived his art of storytelling, with a boost from the original stories\nthemselves. The narrative voice of “A. J.” was supplied by announcer John Dease, who was also\n“The Professor” on the Australian version of The Quiz Kids.\n[The Listener In, June 1945] “A new 15-minute feature, ‘A. J. Alan Stories,’ will be heard from\n3AW each Thursday at 9 p.m. beginning June 21. Stories will be read by John Dease.\n“The author, A. J. Alan, first told these stories over the B.B.C. It is said that he never broadcast\nfrom scripts, his stories being told spontaneously as he stood before the microphone. They are\npreserved only because his wife, listening to the broadcasts, noted them in shorthand. For some\ntime the B.B.C. refused to divulge Alan’s name, and much publicity was built up about his so-\ncalled ‘ghost voice’.”\n[The Listener In, June ??, 1945, “The A. J. Alan Stories on 3AW”] “The ‘A. J. Alan’ stories which\nfirst made their appearance on the B.B.C. in the middle ‘30’s have belatedly arrived on the\nVictorian air. 3AW has shown the good sense to introduce this enjoyable feature which\nrepresents, I believe, the first attempt to write a series of short stories deliberately for radio. In\nother words, the stories are written to be listened to, not merely to be read in printed form.\n“ ‘A. J. Alan’ is a pseudonym, and I understand that in the B.B.C. presentation they were read by\nthe author, whose easy, intimate style contributed greatly to their success. The stories range over\nthe whimsical, ghostly, fantastic and thrilling and should make it worth any listener’s while to\ntune in at 9 on Thursday nights. John Dease reads the stories, and on the whole reads them very\nwell—though perhaps a shade too quickly and with just a little too much heartiness.\n“Reading radio stories is an art not fully developed in Australia, and John Dease has both the\nopportunity and the ability to create a tradition.”",
  "origination": "3AW-3CV, Melbourne, Victoria.",
  "duration": "June 21-December 20, 1945.",
  "personnel": "John Dease (voice of “A. J. Alan”), Victor Lloyd (announcer).",
  "extant_recordings": "None.",
  "chronology": "A. J. ALAN STORIES (3AW-3CV, MELBOURNE)\n[Thursday—9:00-9:15 PM]\nJune 21, 1945\n“Castle in Wales”\nJune 28, 1945\n“First of April”\nJuly 5, 1945\n“The 19 Club”\nJuly 12, 1945\n“My Adventure in Norfolk”\nJuly 19, 1945\n“Charles”\n[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]\nJuly 26, 1945\n“The B.B.I.”\n[Thursday—9:00-9:15 PM]\nAugust 2, 1945\nAugust 9, 1945\n“The Hair”\nAugust 16, 1945\n“The Dream”\nAugust 23, 1945\n“The Suitcase”\nAugust 30, 1945\n“H2”\nSeptember 6, 1945\n“Wandering Minstrels”\nSeptember 13, 1945\n“A Coincidence”\nSeptember 20, 1945\n“Cabman’s Shelter”\nSeptember 27, 1945\n“An Impromptu Dance”\nOctober 4, 1945\n“Mr. Warbeck”\nOctober 11, 1945\n“Wottie”\nOctober 18, 1945\n“A Joyride”\nOctober 25, 1945\n“17:45”\nNovember 1, 1945\n“My Adventure on Dartmoor”\nNovember 8, 1945\n“Percy the Prawn”\nNovember 15, 1945\n“The Picture”\nNovember 22, 1945\n“The Zoo Tickets”\nNovember 29, 1945\n“The Diptych”\nDecember 6, 1945\n“The Diver”\nDecember 13, 1945\n“The Sweep”\nDecember 20, 1945\n“Cinderella Up to Date”",
  "sources": "PERIODICALS: The Argus [Melbourne];\n(Special thanks to Ian Grieve for information supplied.)",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}