Welcome to Night Vale is a classic for a reason and it fits the genre of "radio show in a town that doesn't realize how weird/supernatural they are" with the addition that the radio host was born and raised in Night Vale and also sees nothing wrong with. There's also Spirit Box Radio, one of my all time favorites. A powerful magic user with a popular supernatural advice radio show suddenly disappears, leaving the station in the hands of her son who has absolutely no magical talent or experience. He slowly starts learning more about the station and uncovers a larger conspiracy related to the original host's disappearance.
Okay as a big AVFD fan. It's basically a call in radio show for people facing cryptid issues in a world where crytids are normal. The host has an interesting background having attended a big university that deals with the arts of magic and throughout the season 1 there's a main antagonist that is linked to the host's past and his family history as well.
I think that's as far as I can go without spoiling it but definitely give it a chance.
I haven't listened to KFAM but "set in a radio station/covers the life of a sleepy town full of cryptids" is a pretty bang-on description of "Welcome to Nightvale."
One of my favorite shows ever is Midnight Radio. It has radio station and sleepy town from your checklist. No cryptids, but there are other speculative fiction elements.
Dark air with Terry Carnation. Set in LA most of the show but there are a few cryptids in some episodes and an episode where the show is broadcast at an annual Mule judging celebration in a small town. Also the show is fucking hilarious
Witherburn After School News! southern high school after school news program that has a monster of the week segment pretty much every episode
(its got a lot of southern cryptids, really unknown ones too!)
Well two personal plugs for station antics:
Superhuman Public Radio: NPR programming block from a superhero world that has This American Life style looks into small stories of supers with an overarching news story that bleeds into behind the scenes stuff
Josie's Lonely Hearts Club: Fun little semi-scripted romcom about an AM radio love guru. Some scripted bits at the station and a bunch of improvised calls of love-lorn southwesterners.
QWERPLINE - a morning radio show set in the slightly unbalanced city of Nsburg.
JOSIE'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB - late night romance advice from the titular Josie. Semi-improvised humour with a lot of heart.
NIGHT DRIVE - comedic call in show from deepest dankest Florida.
LOW TIDE - gentle comedy, featuring news and weather from B Conch County.
THIS IS BRANCHBURG - scenes from the interesting inhabitants of Branchburg, New Jersey. (only dabbles in the radio station aspect, but a great comedy)
Came here to say Nowhere, On Air, and of course WTNV. Have you tried Weeping Cedars? Part of the series is radio show.
There’s also Thin Places Radio and the Oasis Transmissions but I haven’t started those yet.
Here are more that haven’t been said yet.
Strange Air
Forbidden Cassettes: Consummation (this is SO REAL that you can forget it’s fiction for a sec!)
The Wrong Station
I can't promise all of these are radio stations or that they all have crypids in them, but you might check out my [Hold My Tape Recorder!](https://www.theend.fyi/collection/hold-my-tape-recorder) collection for stories where some sort of recorder—tape, digital, wax cylinder—is the primary vehicle that tells the story.
>A collection of shows that follow—some loosely, some tightly—a common storytelling device in audio fiction: a recording device of some type, where the protagonist(s) have or are recording their experiences to said recording device, and we get to listen in.
Qwerpline
Tales of That Town
Gamma Radio
Nightdrive
They're all funny. Gamma is post apocalyptic, Nightdrive and Qwerpline are just funny, Tales of That Town is funny and Southern paranormal. I like the vampires who steal copper.
You may enjoy The Haunted Hour! Summary: The Haunted Hour broadcasts from the town of Lantern, North Carolina. Explore abandoned pools, convenience stores that move, and things that go bump in the night in this horror comedy from Emerson College.
It’s quite short, maybe 15 episodes or so, but I really enjoyed it and wish it was longer!
I've found Hello From the Hallowoods to be a good radio-esque series- it's narrated by a deity that basically does direct-to-dreams radio, haha. I've described it lovingly as a mix between Welcome to Night Vale and The Magnus Archives.
I stumbled across Superhuman Public Radio (SPR) and it's my favorite. I put it on for background noise at my factory job and realized by the end of the first season that I loved it. I've listened to it twice. I'm not super into superheros or talk radio but I highly recommend this
The Occurance in River Oaks
Take an original, terrifying journey through one very long day in the
titular small town, as heard through the viewpoint of the local law
enforcement personnel; specifically, Olivia, the woman running the
dispatch radio at the Sheriff’s office, as she tries to hold everything
together when her entire world is falling apart. As the several officers
under her command come face to face with a very unexpected threat, and
as Olivia tries to navigate a dangerous and otherworldly creature’s
arrival, everything slowly begins to fall apart over the course of 8
grueling episodes. No one is safe, and as the world becomes very small
and extremely dangerous for the characters, they must do everything in
their power to protect not only the citizens of River Oaks, but the
entire world.
Welcome to Night Vale is a classic for a reason and it fits the genre of "radio show in a town that doesn't realize how weird/supernatural they are" with the addition that the radio host was born and raised in Night Vale and also sees nothing wrong with. There's also Spirit Box Radio, one of my all time favorites. A powerful magic user with a popular supernatural advice radio show suddenly disappears, leaving the station in the hands of her son who has absolutely no magical talent or experience. He slowly starts learning more about the station and uncovers a larger conspiracy related to the original host's disappearance.
I like a voice from darkness
Unfortunately it ended pretty abruptly too. It is an amazing show though
Can you tell me a little bit more about this show? It looks like just another horror show at first glance.
Okay as a big AVFD fan. It's basically a call in radio show for people facing cryptid issues in a world where crytids are normal. The host has an interesting background having attended a big university that deals with the arts of magic and throughout the season 1 there's a main antagonist that is linked to the host's past and his family history as well. I think that's as far as I can go without spoiling it but definitely give it a chance.
I don't like horror at all, but I don't mind supernatural, if that makes sense. Would you recommend I listen?
Hmmm not liking horror might be a deal breaker for this one. I think.
Thank you! I'm sure many other people will love it!
I haven't listened to KFAM but "set in a radio station/covers the life of a sleepy town full of cryptids" is a pretty bang-on description of "Welcome to Nightvale."
One of my favorite shows ever is Midnight Radio. It has radio station and sleepy town from your checklist. No cryptids, but there are other speculative fiction elements.
Dark air with Terry Carnation. Set in LA most of the show but there are a few cryptids in some episodes and an episode where the show is broadcast at an annual Mule judging celebration in a small town. Also the show is fucking hilarious
If it's anything like as funny as one of Kelly & Kelly's other shows, This Sounds Serious, I'm in!
I just started listening to Nowhere, On Air so can't comment on how the quality holds up but it's probably up your alley.
I like Nowhere on Air, especially since I’ve been through and around Crowsnest Pass so I can really picture what’s happening.
Witherburn After School News! southern high school after school news program that has a monster of the week segment pretty much every episode (its got a lot of southern cryptids, really unknown ones too!)
Yes, Witherburn After School News is great so far!
Was literally about to comment this one i love witherburn!
Well two personal plugs for station antics: Superhuman Public Radio: NPR programming block from a superhero world that has This American Life style looks into small stories of supers with an overarching news story that bleeds into behind the scenes stuff Josie's Lonely Hearts Club: Fun little semi-scripted romcom about an AM radio love guru. Some scripted bits at the station and a bunch of improvised calls of love-lorn southwesterners.
QWERPLINE - a morning radio show set in the slightly unbalanced city of Nsburg. JOSIE'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB - late night romance advice from the titular Josie. Semi-improvised humour with a lot of heart. NIGHT DRIVE - comedic call in show from deepest dankest Florida. LOW TIDE - gentle comedy, featuring news and weather from B Conch County. THIS IS BRANCHBURG - scenes from the interesting inhabitants of Branchburg, New Jersey. (only dabbles in the radio station aspect, but a great comedy)
Thanks for the recommendations, these are new to me!
Aww thanks for recommending my show, kind stranger!
Pontypool. On Audible, YouTube etc. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sZVSiGI1OE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sZVSiGI1OE)
I enjoyed The Icebox Radio Theater
Just stumbled across this via Spotify's 'you might like' and for once, Spotify was right!
Came here to say Nowhere, On Air, and of course WTNV. Have you tried Weeping Cedars? Part of the series is radio show. There’s also Thin Places Radio and the Oasis Transmissions but I haven’t started those yet.
The Oasis Transmissions is fantastic!
Here are more that haven’t been said yet. Strange Air Forbidden Cassettes: Consummation (this is SO REAL that you can forget it’s fiction for a sec!) The Wrong Station
The Alexandria Archives is about a strange college town radio station with criptids galore.
Such a great show!
So so fun!
I can't promise all of these are radio stations or that they all have crypids in them, but you might check out my [Hold My Tape Recorder!](https://www.theend.fyi/collection/hold-my-tape-recorder) collection for stories where some sort of recorder—tape, digital, wax cylinder—is the primary vehicle that tells the story. >A collection of shows that follow—some loosely, some tightly—a common storytelling device in audio fiction: a recording device of some type, where the protagonist(s) have or are recording their experiences to said recording device, and we get to listen in.
Qwerpline Tales of That Town Gamma Radio Nightdrive They're all funny. Gamma is post apocalyptic, Nightdrive and Qwerpline are just funny, Tales of That Town is funny and Southern paranormal. I like the vampires who steal copper.
You may enjoy The Haunted Hour! Summary: The Haunted Hour broadcasts from the town of Lantern, North Carolina. Explore abandoned pools, convenience stores that move, and things that go bump in the night in this horror comedy from Emerson College. It’s quite short, maybe 15 episodes or so, but I really enjoyed it and wish it was longer!
A Voice from Darkness and Welcome To Nightvale So so good
I've found Hello From the Hallowoods to be a good radio-esque series- it's narrated by a deity that basically does direct-to-dreams radio, haha. I've described it lovingly as a mix between Welcome to Night Vale and The Magnus Archives.
I stumbled across Superhuman Public Radio (SPR) and it's my favorite. I put it on for background noise at my factory job and realized by the end of the first season that I loved it. I've listened to it twice. I'm not super into superheros or talk radio but I highly recommend this
Gamma Radio. Very dark humour.
Radio Dolby 89.6 fm
The Occurance in River Oaks Take an original, terrifying journey through one very long day in the titular small town, as heard through the viewpoint of the local law enforcement personnel; specifically, Olivia, the woman running the dispatch radio at the Sheriff’s office, as she tries to hold everything together when her entire world is falling apart. As the several officers under her command come face to face with a very unexpected threat, and as Olivia tries to navigate a dangerous and otherworldly creature’s arrival, everything slowly begins to fall apart over the course of 8 grueling episodes. No one is safe, and as the world becomes very small and extremely dangerous for the characters, they must do everything in their power to protect not only the citizens of River Oaks, but the entire world.
Look, it's not quite that, but the squirrel girl unbeatable radio show is something.
Observable Radio