"Trauma" ads mine radio drama with mock 911 calls

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC is reviving the art of radio theater in ads for its upcoming medical drama "Trauma" that dramatize mock 911 calls.

The radio ads enact an emergency, a call to a 911 operator and the aftermath, complete with voiceover from the point of view of the responding paramedic.

"The show is about these characters who are defined by these moments between life and death, and we wanted to capture that in the campaign," said Adam Stotsky, president of entertainment marketing for NBC. "Part of the trick with radio is to break though and engage. This is the lost art of radio storytelling."

The network is buying time on stations in the top 13 radio markets so that its two-minute ads will run as the only sponsored content during two-hour programing blocks.

NBC also is partnering with Yahoo for a new interactive product to promote "Trauma," which premieres Monday night. Users can change the skin of their Yahoo home page to a "Trauma" theme and interact with the characters from the show -- the first time the Web portal has offered this technology in the U.S.

(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)