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 of events. (To be sure, I’m painting with a broad brush.)
Whitney Jones produced a somewhat different story last fall while he was at the Transom Story Workshop where I teach. His story “Leaving” falls in the “narrative story” category but instead of one single sequence of events, “Leaving” follows two — a parallel narrative. That’s unusual.
The reason you don’t hear parallel narratives on the radio too often is because they’re complex. They require more attention from a listener who, typically, is doing something else while they listen. So, in recognition of that, producers and editors tend to simplify. That’s smart.
But, if the writer pays close attention to keeping the two separate narratives clear and simple then brings them together in the end in a satisfying manner, I think a parallel narrative can work on the radio and I’d like to hear more of them.
Definitely, Whitney’s parallel narrative works and works well. But you should weigh in. Have listen and post your thoughts.
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, a composer, created something very different. They re-purposed tape and made sound art. I’m sure someone’s done that before, but, frankly, I can’t think of it.
The piece they produced is “Chorus of Refuge” and it’s a song comprised of interviews collected for Ann and Kara’s series on Weekend America called “One Thing.” Originally, “Chorus of Refuge” was intended for museum installations where six radios played six interviews broadcast from six transmitters all at once. HowSound doesn’t have six-channel surround sound so we’re featuring the stereo mix — just two channels, left and right.
During a recent interview, Ann and Jason cited a handful of creative influences that inspired “Chorus of Refuge” most notably the groundbreaking radio documentary from Glenn Gould, “The Idea of North.” Ann also named sound artist Janet Cardiff while Jason says he had Renaissance music like Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli, Gloria in mind as well as the poetry of Jackson Mac Low and Emmett Williams, both of whom wrote poems to be read by two or more people simultaneously.
So, be prepared. This HowSound will stretch your ears. That’s a good thing!
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, Kelly is unabashed about her apparent adrenaline addiction, her critique of the NPR sound, and her approach to mic-slinging radio stories. To show you what I mean by “mic-slinger,” I feature a piece she produced for Working, a Marketplace series produced by Homelands Productions. The story is about pirates — dudes with machetes who rob cargo ships in Indonesia. Have a listen and you’ll agree — her nickname should be “Mic-slinger.”
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 also the manager of the the school’s radio station, WHJE. Brian’s students produce all kinds of radio including public radio-style commentaries and features. In addition to all the life and learning skills provided by radio storytelling, Brian says radio helps young people find their voice, literally and figuratively, which is important for personal development.
One of the better pieces to come out of his program is “Different, Not Disabled” by Ian Kathen, who is now a senior at the school. We’re featuring Ian’s story on this edition of HowSound along with a short primer on youth radio with Brian and Jones Franzel, the Director of Generation PRX, an initiative to support youth produced radio.
I hope you’ll be inspired to check out more youth radio after listening to the podcast:
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 is just about everything from escalators to the pyramids — then listen to this instead.
On this edition of HowSound, Roman talks about a bit about the design of the podcast and podcasting writ large.
I should mention, too, Roman’s other major audio endeavor, Public Radio Remix. It’s a montage of ear candy produced for PRX — documentaries, sound art, features, podcasts, aural treasures…. Roman’s the DJ, if you will.
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 professional mic and recorder, she used the built in mic on an answering machine and then edited on a boom box cassette player.
Really.
Eventually, Hillary worked at This American Life and half-a-dozen other radio programs. Now, she’s harnessed the creative spark again, this time with a podcast — The Longest, Shortest Time.
On this HowSound, Hillary talks about inspiration, podcasting, and motherhood.
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 a story by interviewing and spending time with the woman and her animals. Nothing works. All you’re left with is a bunch of great tape and no clear way to organize it — no story.
What do you do?
In short, that’s what happened to producer Joel Supple. This fall, Joel attended the Transom Story Workshop to learn the craft of radio storytelling. While she was there….. I guess I should probably say “here” not “there” since I taught the workshop….. so….. While she was here, Joel stumbled upon Veronica Worthington and her menagerie in West Dennis on Cape Cod. Joel spent a few hours with Veronica and collected a ton of great tape but….. no story.
On this HowSound we feature to Joel’s piece — her first ever — and I talk about solving the conundrum: How do you produce a story when there is no story?
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 aren’t there more radio stories featuring archive audio — oral histories, news reels, odd bits of audio flotsam? It seems like an obvious source of content and story ideas, doesn’t it?
Fortunately, producer Joe Richman understands the power and pleasure of storytelling with archive tape. On this edition of HowSound, we feature Joe’s radio story about the historic crash of a B-52 bomber into the Empire State Building — the video alchemized for radio.
Joe’s not alone, of course, but the field of producers using archive tape isn’t crowded. American Radio Works comes to mind. So, too, does Lost and Found Sound by the Kitchen Sisters. And, there’s Talking History, a radio program produced at the State University of New York at Albany. Anybody I’ve missed?
There seems to be a trend afoot in documentary radio — working directly with musicians to compose music for a story. In fact, some producers are using music to tell the story, not just score it. That’s one hundred eighty degrees in opposition to standard journalistic practice of not using music at all. And, it’s pretty damn interesting.
“Kohn” by Andy Mills is a compelling example of this trend. (So, is Long Haul Productions’ “The Natural State” which we featured on HowSound a few episodes back.) Andy worked with Hudson Branch, a band from Chicago. They composed music to accompany and become part of the story about Andy’s friend, Kohn. Other people working in this vein are Charles Spearin and The Books.
Andy received the “Best New Artist” award from the Third Coast International Audio Festival in 2011 for his production. Well deserved, I’d say. And, RadioLab picked up the story and produced their own version. Andy’s version and RadioLab’s version make for an interesting comparison.
Speaking of comparisons, Kohn is accompanied by Hudson Branch as he sings a unique version of Grey Room by Damien Rice. Check out the original.
Have a listen and post your thoughts about music and documentary storytelling.
“As a teacher of new radio producers, I encourage students to do something risky – plan a story before going out to report it.
Sounds counterintuitive, right? Producers are supposed to enter the field to find the story, not impose one. Well, I agree with that, to be sure. But I also think it’s important to dream about what a story could be in advance.”
The Public Radio Exchange is an online marketplace for distribution, review, and licensing of public radio programming. PRX is also a growing social network and community of listeners, producers, and stations collaborating to reshape public radio. The mission of PRX is to create more opportunities for diverse programming of exceptional quality, interest, and importance to reach more listeners. Go to prx.org for more.
Rob Rosenthal
Rob is a radio teacher and freelance producer. He taught radio at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies for eleven years. In the fall of 2011, he's teaching a seven-week, radio storytelling workshop with Transom.org. Currently, he's producing audio slideshows for the Open Society Institute.
Whitney Jones
Rob is a radio teacher and freelance producer. He taught radio at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies for eleven years. In the fall of 2011, he's teaching a seven-week, radio storytelling workshop with Transom.org. Currently, he's producing audio slideshows for the Open Society Institute.
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 also the manager of the the school’s radio station, WHJE. Brian’s students produce all kinds of radio including public radio-style commentaries and features. In addition to all the life and learning skills provided by radio storytelling, Brian says radio helps young people find their voice, literally and figuratively, which is important for personal development.
One of the better pieces to come out of his program is “Different, Not Disabled” by Ian Kathen, who is now a senior at the school. We’re featuring Ian’s story on this edition of HowSound along with a short primer on youth radio with Brian and Jones Franzel, the Director of Generation PRX, an initiative to support youth produced radio.
I hope you’ll be inspired to check out more youth radio after listening to the podcast:
Youth Radio
Blunt Youth Radio
Radio Rookies
Stories at PRX tagged “youth-produced”
Youthcast, a PRX podcast featuring youth radio stories
Here’s to your happy ears!
Best,
Rob
Podcast: Download (Duration: 15:00 — 13.8MB)