Hearing the Work
In Reality Radio we’ve asked radio makers to do a hard thing: describe a sonic craft for the mute page. It’s an enterprise that could bring to mind the line, probably first uttered by Elvis Costello, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture. It’s a really stupid thing to want to do.” Clearly, we don’t think it’s stupid to write about audio storytelling. (For that matter, that dance about architecture could be fascinating.) But throughout the book our contributors describe and explicate radio pieces, and those pieces ought to be heard. We’ve posted samples of our essayists’ works—the very pieces they’ve written about, whenever possible—at realityradiobook.org.” —John Biewen, from his Editor’s Note to Reality Radio
STARLEE KINE: Foreword
Mystery Show podcast: Case #1 Video Store
Starlee Kine pieces from This American Life
JOHN BIEWEN: Introduction
CDS Radio website: Scene on Radio podcast
“Oh Freedom Over Me” by John Biewen and Kate Cavett
CHRIS BROOKES: “Are We on the Air?”
Battery Radio website: “The Letter S“
“Moose River Mine Disaster” by Frank Willis
SCOTT CARRIER: “That Jackie Kennedy Moment”
“A Hitchhiker Along a Lonely Utah Highway,” “Appreciation: Mexican Attorney Sergio Almaraz,” and “Gospel Mission”
Home of the Brave podcast
THE KITCHEN SISTERS: “Talking to Strangers”
“The Road Ranger” and “Tupperware”
Lost & Found Sound: “WHER: 1000 Beautiful Watts, Part I and II” and “Walkin’ Talkin’ Bill Hawkins: Searching for My Father’s Voice”
Kitchen Sisters website: Hidden Kitchens and The Sonic Memorial Project website
ALIX SPIEGEL: “Variations in Tape Use and the Position of the Narrator: Alix Spiegel’s Practical Guide to Different Radio Techniques”
“Shootings Leave Sandy Hook Survivors Rethinking The Odds”
Invisibilia podcast: “Entanglement”
Alix Spiegel pieces from This American Life
JAD ABUMRAD: “No Holes Were Drilled in the Heads of Animals in the Making of This Radio Show”
Radiolab: “Sleep”
More Perfect podcast
IRA GLASS: “Harnessing Luck as an Industrial Product”
This American Life: “Living the Dream”
SARAH KOENIG and JULIE SNYDER: “An Interview with Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder”
Serial podcast
Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder pieces from This American Life
DANIEL ALARCÓN: “Story Time at the Azteca Boxing Club”
Radio Ambulante podcast: “The Stowaways”
KATIE DAVIS: “Covering Home”
Neighborhood Stories: “Steal This Bike”
DAMALI AYO: “What Did She Just Say?”
“Living Flag: Panhandling for Reparations,” “The Paintmixers,” and “White Noise”
damali ayo website
SHERRE DELYS: “Out There”
“Stories from the Heart of the Land: Speaking through the Land,” “If,” and “Jarman’s Garden”
ALAN HALL: “Cigarettes and Dance Steps”
Falling Tree Productions website: “William Thompson IV’s War,” “Knoxville: Summer of 1995,” “Kindertotenlied: Song on the Death of Children,” and “Enter the Garden: A Portrait of Toru Takemitsu”
NATALIE KESTECHER: “Unreality Radio”
“… But I Insisted…: Tailor Made” and “Von Trapped”
GLYNN WASHINGTON: “Finding the Beats”
Snap Judgement: “The Reunion”
DMAE ROBERTS: “Finding the Poetry”
Crossing East: “Hawaiian Pidgin English” and “The Story of Ing (Doc) Hay”
“Miracle on the Streets,” “Angels and Demons,” “The Breast Cancer Monologues,” “Sisters,” and “Mei Mei, A Daughter’s Song”
MediaRites website: Crossing East Archive Project
DAVE ISAY: “Everyone around You Has a Story the World Needs to Hear”
“Remembering Stonewall” and “The Sunshine Hotel”
StoryCorps: “Sarah Littman and Joshua Littman,” “Danny Perasa and Annie Perasa,” “Mary Johnson and Oshea Israel,” and “Alexis Martinez and Lesley Martinez Etherly”
JOE RICHMAN: “Diaries and Detritus”
Radio Diaries: “Mandela: An Audio History,” “Josh’s Diaries: Tourette’s / First Kiss,” “Going Home: Cristel’s Diary,” and “Thembi’s AIDS Diary”
STEPHEN SMITH: “Living History”
American RadioWorks website: “The President Calling,” “Song Catcher, Frances Densmore of Red Wing,” “Battles of Belief,” “Remembering Jim Crow,” and “Korea: The Unfinished War”
APM Reports website
SANDY TOLAN: “The Voice and the Place”
Homelands Productions website: Border Stories, “The Lemon Tree,” “Runaway,” WORKING, and Vanishing Homelands.
MARIA MARTIN: “Crossing Borders”
GraciasVida website: Despues de la Guerras: Central America After the Wars, Latino USA, and Noticias de mi Gente website
KAREN MICHEL: “Adventurers in Sound”
Radio Rookies website: “My Struggle with Obesity by Samer ‘Rocky’ Tayeh” and “Battling Obesity: The Story of Rocky’s Reduction by Samr ‘Rocky’ Tayeh”
Live? Die? Kill? Three Questions in Two Geographies
EMILY BOTEIN: “Salt is Flavor and Other Tips Learned While Cooking”
“Stories from the Heart of the Land”
Emily Botein pieces from WYNC and Third Coast International Audio Festival
JAY ALLISON: “Listen”
Atlantic Public Media website: The Moth Radio Hour, This I Believe, Public Radio Exchange website, WCAI website, Sonic IDs and Transom.org.