How Sound
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Balance and The Minnesota Marriage Amendment
Reporter Sasha Aslanian on balanced reporting during Minnesota's gay marriage debate. [...]
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Josh: Growing Up With Tourette’s
Happy Birthday to Teenage Diaries! To mark the occasion and the production of five updated stories, HowSound features a story dissection with producer Joe Richman recorded in 2009. [...]
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The Vietnam Tapes of Lance Corporal Michael A. Baronowski
A tip for figuring out your top ten radio documentaries: Start with "The Vietnam Tapes of Lance Corporal Michael A. Baronowski" by Christina Egloff with Jay Allison. [...]
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Recording in Remote Locations
Headed out to report in a faraway place? Dan Grossman says "Be prepared." Dan shares intriguing sounds and important field preparation tips on this HowSound. [...]
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My Kingdom For Some Structure
Producer Bradley Campbell says story structure is a like a map, it shows you were to go. For this episode of HowSound, Bradley drew story structures on napkins (really) and we dissect his drawings. [...]
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Generation Putin
International reporting is an order of magnitude more challenging than local reporting. Producers Sarah Partnow and Sarah Stuteville talk about the travails of overseas reporting in the former Soviet Union for their latest documentary, Generation Putin. [...]
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What If There Was No Destiny?
If only there was a quadratic equation for ethics, right? Plug in the variables and the equation spits out the answers. No such luck which means we've got to talk it through, like we do on this episode of HowSound with Radiolab reporter Pat Walters. [...]
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Curious City
Talk to any radio old-timer and they will wax on and on and on about “localism.” I think it’s in their blood. Localism, is, essentially, a commitment to local public service, the idea that a radio station exists to serve its community. Localism holds that programming should be informed by the needs and interests [...]
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Three Records from Sundown
Striking the right tone. "Three Records from Sundown" by Charles Maynes sets the perfect tone to relate the music and life of singer Nick Drake. [...]
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Tiny Spark
"Tiny Spark" is an impressive new podcast from Amy Costello. Amy produces in-depth investigative stories about non-profits and foundations. [...]
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The Tale of Lot 180
WLRN reporter Kenny Malone offers his strategy for creative storytelling: a clever central question, story motion, and place. This episode features Kenny's ear catching story about Florida's Unclaimed Property Auction, "The Tale of Lot 180." [...]
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‘Til Death Do Us Part
Sara Archambault Heather Radke r It’s possible I have a problem. Have you ever noticed how many HowSounds feature stories where death is a theme? It must be approaching ten. Is that a lot? And guess [...]
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Leaving A Mark
“I have a small swastika tattoo on my left arm that I want to have covered up.” From Bruce Roderick’s Craigslist ad. (Photo by Emily Hsiao.) r Here’s what I want to know: On the radio, why don’t we hear more conversations with interesting people? Not newsmakers, not academics, not [...]
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The Burning Question
Audie Cornish gets my vote for the best smile in public radio. Audie is co-host of NPR’s All Things Considered. (Photo by Doby Photography/NPR) r The interview may be the core of what we do as radio producers. Conduct a solid interview and the rest will follow. Blow [...]
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Jad’s Brain
r Okay, we’re goin’ in! Grab your earbuds and don your spelunking light. Our destination? Jad Abumrad’s brain. This could get weird. Jad’s a co-host and the producer of Radiolab, a science (and more) program produced at WNYC. Several years ago, Ira Glass was [...]
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The Seance
C’mon, you know you wish you were at this seance! (Photo courtesy Bob Carlson) r I wish I could tell you there are hundreds and hundreds of opportunities for independent producers to get their work on the radio. Sadly, I can’t. But, one consistently good outlet [...]
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The Green Lawns of Texas
Whatever you do, don’t let a little snow on top of brown lawns get in the way of reporting on a drought. (Image by Krissy Clark, Midland, Texas.) r It’s always a mystery to me — how does a reporter travel to a place they’ve never been [...]
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A Trip to the Dentist
Not Larry’s actual tooth (as far as I know). r On this edition of HowSound, set the “Way-Back Machine” to 1977 for a legendary story — Larry Massett’s psychedelic “A Trip to the Dentist.” The piece is legendary in public radio circles for two reasons. One, it was assembled on three, [...]
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Alleged Illegal Searches
Antonio Rivera is featured in Ailsa Chang’s award-winning story on New York City Police Department’s alleged illegal searches. Rivera claims the police removed marijuana from under his clothes then arrested him for displaying marijuana publicly. (Photo courtesy Ailsa Chang/WNYC) r Ailsa Chang is relatively new to [...]
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Passing Stranger: The East Village Poetry Walk
It used to be people would say “Oh, the 1940s and 50s, that was the Golden Age of radio.” Maybe ten years ago they were right. Now, I’d say the 2010s are Golden Age of Radio. Take radio itself then add on satellite radio, HD radio, the internet, podcasts, mobile devices… the deluge [...]
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She Sees Your Every Move
“Fan Man” from Michelle Iverson’s Night Surveillance Series, 2006. r Finally. A LONG overdue HowSound on scoring — using music in a story. Jonathan Mitchell’s provocative piece about photographer Michele Iversen goes under the HowSound audio microscope. Jonathan is a master at using music [...]
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Dissecting Joanne Rosser, Papermaker
Story dissection tools. r I hope you’re not squeamish. On this HowSound, I take a scalpel to a profile on papermaker Joanne Rosser. I peel back the surface of the story to reveal its narrative and production innards. No blood. No stench. Just audio storytelling under [...]
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One Species at a Time
Science reporter Ari Daniel Shapiro gets the low-down on Posidonia, a seagrass, from scientist Alex Lorente. (Photo by Manel Gazo in L’Estartit, Spain.) Imagine spending five years working on your PhD studying Norwegian killer whale vocalization. Then imagine deciding you no longer want to be an ocean biologist. [...]
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The Secret
Carma Jolly produces for the CBC and moonlights as a snow sprite. r Initially, “The Secret” by Carma Jolly seems like it might be a story about Carma’s brother and his near-death experience caused by Spina bifida. But then, about four minutes in, the [...]
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Stand-Ups
NPR Reporter, Robert Smith. Photo by Lam Thuy Vo. Robert Smith’s stories for National Public Radio regularly bring a spark to news programs full of “just-the-facts-ma’am” stories. Robert does it by going live — narrating to tape on location. Freestylin’, if you will. No script. Just Robert and the moment. In [...]
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Two Cape Cods
WCAI’s Senior Reporter, Sean Corcoran in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Sean Corcoran made the leap. And just in time. A few years ago, right around the time newspaper readership plummeted and papers shut-down one after another, Sean left newspaper reporting for radio. He was smitten by the [...]
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Mighty Tiny
Susan Anarino and her tiny but mighty ukulele on Cape Cod. (Photo by Joanna Solotaroff.) r Joanna Solotaroff was a student of mine at the Transom Story Workshop this spring. When Joanna said she wanted to do a story on a Ukulele Orchestra I thought to myself “Yeah, whatever. [...]
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Happy Birthday Studs!
Studs Terkel being Studs. (Photographer, unknown.) Today, HowSound marks the 100th birthday of Studs Terkel — America’s interviewer. Who didn’t Studs interview?! He chronicled the life of 20th century America from the ground up in books like Working, Race, and The Good War. Syd Lewis worked with Studs for [...]
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Fact Check This
Seek the truth and report it. That’s the core of journalism. But the truth needs to be checked — fact checked. And when you don’t….. well, just ask the folks at This American Life. Last January, This American Life aired a program called “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory.” It featured the story [...]
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Bucky’s Dome
Katie Klocksin on the hunt for the weird. Last fall, Australian radio host Richard Fidler visited the radio class I teach — The Transom Story Workshop. Richard repeatedly said to the class “Go for the weird.” Katie Klocksin got the message. Katie was a student at [...]
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Show, Don’t Tell
Brian Reed — with tape rolling — wades into a lagoon on Kirabati to learn how high the sea has risen. (Photo by Claire Anterea) Brian Reed has a knack for visual radio. Brian employs, with great effect, the old writing maxim “show, don’t tell.” On [...]
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A Square Meal, Regardless
John Gallagher (l) and Cedric Chambers at their “everything-must-go” yard sale in Machias, Maine, in 2007. (Photo by Jenny Calivas.) r Jen Nathan produced “A Square Meal, Regardless” in 2007 and she’s been reeling from the experience ever since. So much so that she didn’t want [...]
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Krulwich on Gorilla Cage Drama
I just listened to a slew of “Hmmm….”, Robert Krulwich’s science podcast for NPR. I couldn’t stop listening. One, then another, then another. If the phrase for a good book is “page turner,” Robert’s podcasts are a “click-wheel turner.” The same goes for Radiolab, the science program from WNYC that Robert co-hosts with [...]
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Leaving
Whitney Jones r Radio stories usually aren’t very complicated. Generally speaking, you can probably place stories into two categories. The first is the argument story — these people say this, these other people disagree. The second is the narrative story — the piece is organized chronologically as a sequence [...]
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Chorus of Refuge
Once you’ve finished producing a story, what are you supposed to do with all the tape? Just let it sit on a shelf? Some producers will re-purpose their interviews — turn them into a print piece or maybe fashion a new radio story. Producers Kara Oehler and Ann Heppermann, along with Jason Cady, [...]
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The Pirate
Kelly McEvers Kelly McEvers is a mic-slinger. Draws from the hip. Records with precision. Not afraid. (Okay, maybe a little bit afraid.) Kelly is NPR’s Baghdad correspondent but, lately, she reports from throughout the Middle East — especially the countries where the revolutions aren’t working, as she puts it. On this HowSound, [...]
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Different, Not Disabled
Radio storytelling is an excellent teaching tool for young people in practically any classroom. It builds skills in writing, research, public speaking, interviewing, interpersonal communication, time management, information management, media literacy… shall I go on? Brian Spilbeler gets this. He teaches radio at Carmel High School in Carmel, Indiana, just north of Indianapolis. He’s [...]
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99% Invisible
r 99% Invisible is my new favorite podcast. A little bit RadioLab, a touch of This American Life, and a lot of Roman Mars, the producer. There’s everything to like about the podcast. Each episode makes visible some “in-broad-daylight-but-you-never-noticed-it-until-this-podcast” element of architecture and design. If you’re not curious about the built environment — which [...]
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The Longest, Shortest Time
r Hillary Frank launched a decade-long career in radio with an answering machine as a tape recorder. In college, Hillary was dead-set on getting a story on This American Life. The fact that she had no radio experience what-so-ever didn’t matter. She just made a story and sent it in. But, instead of a [...]
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Veronica’s Backyard
r Imagine this: You’ve met a total character. She’s kind of eccentric. She has forty-one animals in her backyard and it’s not a farm. And, just about every time she talks, she says something amazing. In radio parlance, she ‘spits tape.’ But, there’s no story. You pull out all the stops trying cull out [...]
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The Plane That Flew Into the Empire State Building
r Listen to the audio in this video. It’s perfect for radio. With some clever editing, narration, and other content such as interviews with survivors of the crash, you could easily turn this into a radio story. Why doesn’t that happen more often? The 20th century was captured in sound. Why [...]
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Kohn
Andy Mills won "Best New Artist" at the 2011 Third Coast Filmless Festival. Well deserved. Have a listen. [...]
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Edward Stephenson, Tobacco Auctioneer
Tobacco warehouse, Richmond, Virginia, circa 1918. r Keys to good storytelling: strong, simple writing; solid voicing; professional recording and mixing; compelling characters; a seductive narrative; visuals….. What else? John Biewen says “sure-handedness,” a compelling, internal logic where one idea flows seamlessly [...]
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Seizure’s Lament
r The Third Coast International Audio Festival is three days of ear candy. Producers from around the world travel to Chicago to share work, talk shop, and, most importantly, listen. Unfortunately, Third Coast only happens every other year. So, 2012 is a Third Coast year. However, the geniuses at Third Coast went and invented [...]
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The Natural State
Natural gas well. Photo by Long Haul Productions. r A little bit of criticism is okay. It’s good to hear constructive (and, sometimes, not-so-constructive) feedback. However, a LOT of criticism, especially if it’s pointed, well…. that’s just plain hard to take. National [...]
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Inner-City Reality Check
Katie Davis reports from her porch.* r Katie Davis doesn’t look very far for the stories she produces. In fact, they often come to her…. on her front porch. For many years, Katie has reported stories for public radio direct from her home, the [...]
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The Five Percent Rule
The amount of effort Sally Herships put into her first investigative journalism piece….. well, it’s enough to drive you to smoke! “The Five Percent Rule” is Sally’s 10-month-long foray into investigative reporting, a story on the under-pricing of tobacco on military bases. The piece aired on Marketplace in June of 2011 as part [...]
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Fighting With My Dad
Producer Richard Paul and his father, Bob. In 2005, Richard Paul produced a story for Studio 360 called “Fighting With My Dad.” Richard hasn’t talked to his dad since. “I can’t think of anything more fraught,” Richard says, “than doing a story that explores intimate things about your relationship with your parents.” On [...]
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Four Feet Under
Eugene Rand and Bill True dig it right -- four feet deep, corners squared. (Photo by Clay Bolton, 2011.) News on July 30, 2011: We’re now up on iTunes. Go ahead and subscribe. The button is in the sidebar. Here it is, the first HowSound, the backstory to great radio storytelling. And, we [...]
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- PRX: Public Radio Exchange
- English
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