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Warga, Jake/Archives

HV006- Radio Dial

KPRK art-deco building, Livingston MTHearing Voices from NPR®
006 Radio Dial: Signals from the Sky
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-05-26 (Originally: 2008-04-09)

“Radio Dial” (52:00 mp3):

Play audio:

Radio stories about radio, then stories about radio stories:

“Dueling XMTRs! #3: VOIRI vs. the World” (2003 / 1:01 excerpt) ShortWaveMusic

These “Dueling Transmitters” are an atmospheric found-sound un-manipulated mix of Spanish ham-radio operators, slow Morse code, data squalls, and the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran. From the Shortwavemusic blog post “The Effects of Radiation.”

“Urbana FM” (2004 / 4:05) Jake Warga

An FM radio station in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, is called Urbana. It’s hip, bilingual, plays music from all over the world, and is famous in Uruguay for its 30-second sound portraits featuring the voices of famous people mixed over avante-garde music.

“Radio Reloj” (2005 / 1:02 excerpt) Vocal Sampling

The Cuban a-capella ensemble approximates a radio dial with their vocal chords. From the group Vocal Sampling’s (site | space) CD Una Forma Mas.

“The Grotesque” (2007 / 1:07 excerpt) Myke Weiskopf

Shortwave/music mixes by LA sound artist Myke Dodge Weiskopf, off his 30: a Retrospective 1976-2006

“WWV- The Tick” (0:46) Douglas Grant

The government’s all-time all-the-time radio station goes commercial, voiced by former WWV announcer John Doyle.

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Faces: Africa

By BG 2010.05.18 tags: , , . Comment»
Work by: Jake Warga

Now showing at the Seattle Art Museum a photo-audio exhibit, by HV producer Jake Warga, of “Faces: Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya.” Features digital stills projection with field recordings:

One hundred faces introduce individuals from many cultures in five African countries, a collection that became part of Jake Warga’s response to his work as a public radio producer since 2007. As he states, “Journalism’s tendency is to talk only of numbers — numbers starving, numbers infected, numbers displaced — while individuals are easily hidden, their unique details lost in the shadows.” He started out with a conventional search for numbers and statistics, but Warga later decided to take a “tree-for-the-forest approach” by focusing on individuals.

Art exhibit poster

Dubai: Jumeirah Mosque

By BG 2010.04.16 tags: , , , . Comment»
HV/Story/ Work by: Jake Warga

Woman in veil inside mosqueThe clerics at the Jumeirah Mosque in the United Arab Emirate of Dubai are opening their doors to tourists. To help demystify Islam, visitors learn the basics of the religion with a guide.

Aired on PRI The World; by producer Jake Warga, “Jumeirah Mosque” (3:04 mp3):

Play audio:

Woman in veil inside mosque
© Jake Warga

Koran on chair inside mosque.
© Jake Warga

Iraq: Mahmoon Palace

By BG 2010.04.15 tags: , , , . Comment»
HV/Story/ Work by: Jake Warga

Soldiers pose in front of Mahmoon Palace, Tikrit, IraqRecently, as part of the US draw-down in Iraq, the US base in Tikrit, “JCC” or Joint Coordination Center, was handed back to the Iraqis. Sergeant First Class George Havel, a soldier with 232 Regiment spent four months in Tikrit, helping to coordinate emergency services. Sargeant Havel gave journalist Jake Warga a tour of Mahmoon Palace, originally built to celebrate Saddam Hussein’s birthdays. US forces had been occupying the palace up until the recent hand-over, living in its marbled halls under golden chandeliers.

Aired on PRI The World; by producer Jake Warga, “Mahmoon Palace” (3:24 mp3):

Play audio:


© Jake Warga

HV088- Scene of the Crime

Dragnet's Jack Webb with LA Police badgeHearing Voices from NPR®
088 Scene of the Crime: Victims, Cops, and Criminals
Host: Jake Warga of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-03-31

“Scene of the Crime” (52:00 mp3):

Play audio:

There will be blood:

“Weegee interview” (3:04 excerpt) Mary Margaret McBride

An archival interview with 1950s NYC crime scene photographer, Arthur Fellig (1899-1968), aka, Weegee. SoundPortraits has more of this July 1945 interview by nationally-syndicated talk show host Mary Margaret McBride (WEAF-New York City). (Music: “Angel of Solitude” by Alias.)

“The Bad Little Babe” (3:34 excerpt) Casey, Crime Photographer

Casey (no first name ever revealed) was crime photographer for the fictional Morning Express newspaper. He and reporter Ann Williams snapped shots, tracked criminals, and solved crimes. This excerpt from episode 330 (of a total 431) of the popular half-hour mystery-adventure series aired 1950-03-02.

“The Panama Hat” (2:17 excerpt) The Adventures of Philip Marlowe

A short clip from the third episode (1948-10-10) of this NBC show, starring Van Heflin with a script by Milton Geiger based on the stories of Raymond Chandler.

“Grime Scene” (11:43) Nancy Updike

The This American Life producer spends a couple days riding around L.A. with the professional “Crime Scene Cleaners, specializing in homocides, suicides, and accidental deaths.”

“The Face of White Collar Crime” (7:04) Adam Allington

Mark Morze was a CFO involved in one of the biggest corporate frauds of the 1980s. The company he worked for, ZZZZ Best, was a southern California carpet cleaning business founded by a teenage entrepreneur named Barry Minkow. The two men bilked investors for $100M, by creating a paper trail of fake revenue and phony work orders. Morze served 50 months in Federal Prison for fraud. Now he travels the country educating people about the consequences of white-collar crime. (PRX)

“The Big Death” (1:06 excerpt) Dragnet

Episode 68 (1950-09-28) of this NBC radio police drama series, conceived and produced by Jack Webb, who starred as Sergeant Joe Friday. The series ran September 1949 through February 1957 on radio, and spawned a successful TV series and movies.

“Mugging” (19:06) Jake Warga

Our host takes the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished” to a new level, ending up assaulted, bleeding, and hospitalized.

Jake's eyeglasses with blood on them
Jake’s eyeglasses post-crime.

Iraq: Mjr Lockridge- Bohemian

The first of our Soldier’s Soundtrack series: Embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division, US Army, Baghdad, the producer plugged into the soldier’s iPods, asking them what they were listening to, why they liked the song, and what their lives were like. To Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Major James Lockridge tells us, “The United States Army can go anywhere at anytime or anyplace. I learned that during the first war. I wouldn’t want to be anybody that had to face the United States.”

Aired on PRI The World; by producer Jake Warga, “Iraq: Major Lockridge- Bohemian Rhapsody” (2:47 mp3):

Play audio:

Major James Lockridge after learning of an IED explosion that killed 5
Photo © Jake Warga: “Major James Lockridge, after learning of an IED explosion that killed 5, wounded 17, in Tuz, Iraq. We had been up all night looking for bombs. We missed it. I felt it.”

Iraq: Leaving

Something beautiful, haunting and appropriate about Jack Warga’s photo exhibit “Leaving Iraq:”

Jake was embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division, US Army. He snapped several dozen back-of-head portraits before he left. More Iraq images and audio in Jake’s Iraq Xmas 2009 HV posts.

From the End of the World-Patagonia Day 2

By JW 2010.02.21 tags: , , , . Comment»
Work by: Jake Warga

Patagonian Expedition Race

Day 2
The best traveling is time traveling.  We (journalists and planners) awoke this morning in the early 1900’s.  A potbelly stove strove to warm the dusty, drafty, and mostly forgotten ranch house built from 1903-1905.  The house itself woke to find squatters in sleeping pods in every room and hallway.  This ranch house is now used only once a year for a month of skiing.  Skiing?  I looked at Frederico Siha, the 67 year old man who owns the property and has lived here for over 50yrs.  He didn’t strike me as a skier.  Apparently the word for skiing and sheering (of sheep) is very close, my translator corrected with a smile.  Senior Siha has three children, all living in the city, none with any interest in continuing the farm tradition, “You have to keep going till you can’t,” he tells me.  Further, he’s sure they’ll just sell the land when the time comes.  But before then, he wants to travel to Europe, a place he’s never been.  When  pressed for specifics he smiles and says, “Anywhere in Europe.”
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