Sound School Podcast

I hope you're not squeamish. On this HowSound, I take a scalpel to a profile on papermaker Joanne Rosser. Let's peel back the surface of the story to reveal its narrative and production innards.

Imagine spending 5 years working on your PhD studying killer whale vocalization. Then imagine deciding you don’t want to be an ocean biologist. That's how Ari Daniel got into radio. Hear his secret to clear and understandable science reporting.

Initially, "The Secret" by Carma Jolly seems like it might be a story about Carma's brother and his near-death experience. Then, suddenly, story takes a sharp turn. In that moment, I was hooked by the story and Carma as a producer.

If NPR reporter Robert Smith isn't the king of the stand-up, he surely is the prince. Robert lays out his methodology for solid stand-ups.

A few years ago, right around the time newspaper readership plummeted and papers shut-down one after another, Reporter Sean Corcoran left newspaper reporting for radio. He talks about how reporting differs in the two media.

There's a compelling story to be found in every day life, even a ukulele orchestra.

Studs Terkel, America's interviewer, would be 100 today! Happy Birthday Studs!! Syd Lewis worked with Studs for a 25 years. I chat with Syd about Studs and her documentary Working With Studs, produced by Atlantic Public Media.

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. Columbia University's John Dinges talks about fact checking.

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 the workshop and she produced a story on what just might be the weirdest building on Cape Cod — a geodesic dome built by Buckminster Fuller. Listen to Katie’s story, “Bucky’s Dome” on this edition of HowSound. And, if you’re interested in learning how to produce radio, check out the Transom Story Workshop. Come to Cape Cod, find something weird, then make a story about it.

On this HowSound, we listen to clips from Brian’s work that exemplify solid visual storytelling for radio — walking waste deep in ocean water for Climate Change and Faith Collide in Kiribati; recording a man in a wheel chair in a parking lot that doesn’t comply with the American With Disabilities Act for This American Life; putting bad tape to work to create visuals in an economics story; and some good-ole-fashion “shoe leather reporting” that yielded an excellent example of “show, don’t tell” for a piece on police lay-offs in Newark, New Jersey. Have a look…. I mean…. Have a listen. FYI, Brian’s a producer for This American Life. He got his start in radio through fellowships at NPR — The Kroc Fellowship and the Above the Fray Fellowship.

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 to be interviewed when I featured this story last year. “A Square Meal, Regardless” follows the last days of John Gallagher with his caring friend Cedric Chambers. John is dying of cancer and Cedric radically changed his life to take care of him. Throughout the weeks John and Cedric are together, Jen recorded interviews and documented their daily lives. She says being there — a stranger with a microphone — felt uncomfortable at minimum and morally wrong at worst. She thinks of it as trespassing on an incredibly private moment especially since John and Cedric were uneasy about her visits. For years, she was haunted by documenting this story.  Only recently has she come to terms with it. I’m very thankful she agreed to speak with me for HowSound. Please have a listen to this remarkable story — one of my favorites from the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Then tell us about times you felt uneasy about your work.

Robert Krulwich's stories are always ear-catching and dramatic whether they're on radio, television, or in person at conferences. He practically forces you to want to know what happens next. How the heck does he do that?! I asked him.

Radio stories usually aren't very complicated. Generally, you can place stories into two categories--the argument story and the narrative story. Whitney Jones produced a somewhat different story last fall while he was at the Transom Story Workshop.

Once you've finished producing a story, what are you supposed to do with all the tape? Just let it sit on a shelf? This HowSound will stretch your ears with a sound art piece by Kara Oehler, Jason Cady, and Ann Heppermann.

Kelly McEvers is a mic-slinger. Draws from the hip. Records with precision. Not afraid. (Okay, maybe a little afraid.) On this HowSound, she is unabashed about her adrenaline addiction, her critique of the NPR sound, & her approach to radio stories.