Sci-Fi Radio

Sci-Fi Radio was a US anthology series broadcast on National Public Radio from September 1989 to February 1990. The show featured a range of big-name science fiction writers, from pulp giants such as Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore and Cordwainer Smith to more recent authors, such as Ursula Le Guin, Roger Zelazny and Bob Shaw.

​Please note that the episode numbers given below are merely the order in which the episodes are thought to have been broadcast — they are not the actual episode numbers.
Episode 1: I'm Scared

​A radio DJ receives a tape from a listener who believes that the flow of time is being altered by human nostalgia. Don’t be confused by the musical and slightly meta introduction to the episode — it’s all part of the script.

​First broadcast: 10 September 1989.
Original Story by Jack Finney.
​Cast: David Kent, Dale Castle, Gloria Hawking, Rick Spiegel, Charlotte Taylor, Gary Moody, Ken Page, Kevin Singer.
Episode 2: Dark Benediction

​A man travels through a post-apocalyptic United States after humanity has fallen victim to a parasitic alien plague.

First broadcast: 17 September 1989.
Original Story by Walter M. Miller Jr.
​Cast: Bob Hess, Rosemary Rowntree, Jerry Haynes, George Latchford, David Roth, Jean Evans.
Episode 3: Light of Other Days

A couple stop at a remote farmhouse to purchase a pane of ‘slow glass’, a type of glass through which light takes many years to pass, thus allowing the viewer to see events from the past.

First broadcast: 24 September 1989.
Original Story by Bob Shaw.
​Cast: John Davies, Charlotte Taylor, Jerry Haynes.
Episode 4: The Ballad of Lost C'Mell

A genetically engineered ‘Underperson’ falls in love with a Lord of the Instrumentality, and together they fight to free the Underpeople from their second class status in society.
​
​First broadcast: 1 October 1989.
Original Story by Cordwainer Smith.
​Cast: Gary Moody, Charlotte Taylor, Cecilia Flores, Jerry Nelson, Howard Fischer, Pam Doherty, Joe Conte, John Davies, Rick Spiegel, Kevin Singer, Oscar Willes.
Episode 5: Sales Pitch

A hapless consumer is plagued by a sales robot intent on selling itself to him, whether he likes it or not.

​First broadcast: 17 October 1989.
Original Story by Philip K. Dick.
​Cast: Rick Spiegel, Charlotte Taylor, Bryce Armstrong, Pam Doherty, David Roth.
Episode 6: The Diary of The Rose

A psychologist undergoes a political awakening whilst treating a political prisoner.

​First broadcast: 22 October 1989.
Original Story by Ursula K. Le Guin.
​Cast: Nancy Drotning, Charles Carroll, Gloria Hawking.
Episode 7: Frost And Fire

On a planet with searing days and freezing nights, radiation has mutated the human lifespan to a mere eight days. One man however refuses to accept that his reduced longevity is inevitable.

​First broadcast: 29 October 1989.
Original Story by Ray Bradbury.
​Cast: Ken Page, Charlotte Taylor, Gary Moody, Esther Benson, Charles Carroll.
Episode 8: The Cold Equations

A stowaway is discovered on an emergency shuttle carrying life-saving medical supplies to a space colony. The shuttle does not have enough fuel to land with the extra weight of the unexpected passenger. There is only one option…
​
​First broadcast: 12 November 1989.
Original Story by Tom Godwin.
​Cast: Rosemary Rowntree, Gary Moody, Gloria Hawking, Bob Reid, Connie Nelson, Dwaine Dancer, Kevin Singer, Oscar Willes.
Episode 9: Sundance

A Native American undergoes a crisis of conscience whilst preparing a planet for colonisation by exterminating an alien species.

​First broadcast: 19 November 1989.
Original Story by Robert Silverberg.
​Cast: Charles Carroll, Mark Walders, Wert Caine, Nance Williamson.
Episode 10: The Wall of Darkness

On an alien world, a project to discover what lies beyond The Wall, an impenetrable boundary which no-one has ever crossed, comes to fruition.

​First broadcast: 3 December 1989.
Original Story by Arthur C. Clarke.
​Cast: Ken Page, Howard Fischer, Jerry Haines, Rick Spiegel, Bob Reid.
Episode 11: Vintage Season

A strange group of tourists seem inordinately insistent on renting a man’s unassuming house.

​First broadcast: 10 December 1989.
Original Story by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore.
​Cast: Greg Losoe, Nance Williamson, Jerry Nelson, Pam Doherty, Shirl Norris, Cecilia Flores, Drew Hunter, Charles Chapman, Dorothy Andrews.
Episode 12: The Grantha Sighting

An Arkansas couple receive a visit from a passing flying saucer.

​First broadcast: 7 January 1990.
Original Story by Avram Davidson.
​Cast: George Latchford, Jean Evans, Melvin Bakerts, Dale Castle.
Episode 13: Call Me Joe

A project to colonise the surface of Jupiter uses genetically engineered ‘pseudo-Jovians’, in telepathic contact with a controller on one of Jupiter’s moons. But whose mind is controlling who?

​First broadcast: 14 January 1990.
Original Story by Poul Anderson.
​Cast: Gary Moody, Rick Spiegel, Bryce Armstrong, Greg Losoe, Gloria Hawking.
Episode 14: Imposter

Is a scientist working on a top secret military project an imposter? Has he been replaced by an alien robot containing a devastating U-Bomb?

​First broadcast: 21 January 1990.
Original Story by Philip K. Dick.
​Cast: Dwaine Fail, Nance Williamson, Matthew Scott-Carlton, Miles Muchner, Rick Spiegel, Oscar Willes.
Episode 15: The Field of Vision

Two astronauts return from Mars psychologically damaged and unable to fully describe their experience.

​First broadcast: 28 January 1990.
Original Story by Ursula K. Le Guin.
​Cast: Wert Caine, Howard Fischer, Rick Spiegel, Greg Losoe, Nance Williamson.
Episode 16: Houston, Houston, Do You Read?

The crew of a NASA spacecraft are thrown forward in time to a future Earth populated only by women.

​First broadcast: 11 February 1990.
Original Story by James Tiptree Jr.
​Cast: Kevin Paige, Jerry Nelson, Gary Moody, Cheryl Norris, Georgia Clinton, Pam Doherty, Emily Kelly.
Episode 17: Shape

An invasion of Earth by shape-shifting aliens is thwarted when the advance party gets a taste of freedom.

​First broadcast: 18 February 1990.
Original Story by Robert Sheckley.
​Cast: Bryce Armstrong, Matthew Scott-Carlton, Charles Carroll, Oscar Willes.
Episode 18: Home Is The Hangman

The creators of a spacefaring robot AI are murdered following the robot’s return to Earth.

​First broadcast: 25 February 1990.
Original Story by Roger Zelazny.
​Cast: Kirk Sisko, Gary Moody, Rick Spiegel, Charles Carroll, John Davies, Rosemary Rowntree.
Episode 19: The Twonky

A man’s new stereo begins behaving very oddly.

​First broadcast: 11 March 1990.
Original Story by Henry Kuttner (as Lewis Padgett).
​Cast: Greg Losoe, Mary Chris Wall, Charles Carroll, Matthew Scott-Carlton, Gary Moody, Fleur Philips, Oscar Willes.
Episode 20: Yanqui Doodle

A super-soldier, recovering in hospital following battle, suffers withdrawal symptoms when the drugs which enhance his skills are withheld.

​First broadcast: 18 March 1990.
Original Story by James Tiptree Jr.
​Cast: Chris Dorites, Pam Doherty, Rosemary Baxter, David Roth, Cecilia Flores, Randy Means, Julio Sedio, Charles Carroll, Oscar Willes, Bryce Armstrong.
Episode 21: Voices Lost In Calling

Is a woman’s phone picking up supernatural voices?

​First broadcast: Unknown.
Original Story by Unknown.
​Cast: Unknown.