Radio-ballad
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The radio-ballad is an audio documentary format created by Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, and Charles Parker in 1958. It combines four elements of sound: songs, instrumental music, sound effects, and, most importantly, the recorded voices of those who are the subjects of the documentary. The latter element was revolutionary, for previous radio documentaries used professional voice actors.
The radio-ballads were originally recorded for the BBC. MacColl wrote a variety of songs especially for them, many of which have become folk classics. The trio together made eight radio-ballads between 1958 and 1964. They were: The Ballad of John Axton (1958), about railwaymen, Song of a Road (1959), about road-builders, Singing the Fishing (1960), about herring fishermen, The Big Hewer (1961), about coal miners, The Body Blow (1962), about people suffering from polio, On the Edge (1963), about teenagers in Britain, The Fight Game (1963), about boxers, and The Travelling People (1964), about the nomadic peoples of Britain.
All eight radio-ballads were released on LP, and later on CD.