Many modern sound editors were inspired by early radio dramas. As sound was the only medium with this art form. Artists had to get creative in order to portray a strong immersive experience as the technology at the time was really limiting. There was no DAW so everything had to be practiced as you couldn’t edit as easily as with pro tools. Using tape made for less dub overs.
One of the radio shows that inspired was The shadow, which Orson Welles performed as Lamont Cranston, He performed anonymously throughout 1938. The sound effects and ambience in this show was notable and inspired many.
Another was War Of The Worlds 1938. Orson Welles pioneered sound perspective. The radio drama performed and narrated by Orson Welles. Was famously known to scare and confuse the public into thinking there was an actual alien invasion. His performance and creative use of sound affects was for its time influential.
Orson Wells also worked on Citizen Kane, a masterpiece known by society. In Citizen Kane 1941 Orson Wells took the skills he learnt from radio dramas into film further. The notion of sound design and sound editing was taken to another level. The sound in this particular film was energised. The Sound energised the environment, and this at the time was a rarity as the norm from around 1930-1960s was to to put a score or music over scenes instead of creating ambience with sound effects. Now music can create emotion but too much music can also take a layer of immersion away from the scene. Having no music play can put emphasis on the person to pay attention to whats happening.