HV Episodes
Hearing Voices from NPR weekly hours 2010 | 2009 | 2008
Coming
2010-08-18 096 Crow Fair: Apsaalooke Nation Celebration
A century ago the six Crow Reservation Districts came together for a cultural gathering with other Great Plains. The Crow Fair honor that tradition with a “giant family reunion under the Big Sky.” Every third weekend of August is now the Crow Fair in southeastern Montana, with a parade, a Pow Wow, and a rodeo. In 1977 a team of NPR producers and recordists spent several days collecting sounds and interviewing people at this annual event. This early ambient sound-portrait breathes with the arts and activities of the Crow people: the Apsaalooke Nation.
August
2010-08-11 095 The Adoption Circle: Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Families
First-person accounts from all sides of adoption. Stories about living with questions and searching for answers. We hear from birth families (mothers, siblings and a father), adoptees (both kids and adults), and various adoptive families including open adoption and international adoption (China). Producers for Transom.org by Samantha Broun and Viki Merrick with help from Jay Allison. Listen…
2010-08-04 094 Working with Studs: America’s Greatest Listener
A Transom.org tribute to the great broadcaster and author Studs Terkel (1912-2008): For many years, Transom.org editor, Sydney Lewis, worked side by side with Studs on his radio show and his books. For this remembrance, a blend of documentary and reminiscence, she brings together a crew of Stud’s co-workers. They share great stories and wonderful previously-unheard tape of Studs himself. Listen…
July
2010-07-28 065 Cowboy: Cheyenne Frontier Days
Host Josh Darsa of NPR spends nine days with rodeo riders in a rural Wyoming town: Cheyenne Frontier Days is “The Daddy of ‘em All.” This classic 1980 radio doc from the NPR archives also presents the history of the “Cowboy,” underscored by the wild-west symphonies of Aaron Copland. Listen…
2010-07-21 068 Jean Shepherd 2: A Voice in the Night
Part two of this two-hour tribute to Jean Shepherd, “A Voice in the Night.” Marshall McLuhan called him “the first radio novelist.” From 1956-1977 Shep spun his late night stories over WOR radio, New York City. PBS gave him a TV series, “Jean Shepherd’s America.” In 1983 he co-wrote and narrated the film version of his “A Christmas Story.” He inspired a new generation of spoken narrative artists who tap into the American psyche. Among them was Harry Shearer, who hosts this two part tribute, from KCRW and NPR. Listen…
2010-07-14 067 Jean Shepherd 1: A Voice in the Night
Jean Shepherd used words like a jazz musician uses notes, winding around a theme, playing with variations, sending fresh self-reflective storylines out into the night. Marshall McLuhan called Shepherd “the first radio novelist.” From 1956-1977 Shep spun his late night stories over WOR radio, New York City. PBS gave him a TV series, “Jean Shepherd’s America.” In 1983 he co-wrote and narrated the film version of his “A Christmas Story.” He inspired a new generation of spoken narrative artists who tap into the American psyche. Among them was Harry Shearer, who hosts this two-part tribute. Listen…
2010-07-07 057 Roof of the World: In the Himalayas
Tibet and Nepal: Walking a circuit alongside pilgrims, yaks and yogis, host Scott Carrier treks one of the world’s most venerated — and least visited — holy sites, “Mount Kailash: Cricling the Center of Creation.” And we climb to the Nepalese town of “Siklis,” going up a mountain and back in time, produced by Larry Massett, narrated by Joe Frank. Listen…
June
2010-06-30 043 Go By Train: Riding the Rails
Musician Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening, K Records) hosts train tales: An existential interaction with an automated Amtrak voice. The Kronos Quartet plays Steve Reich’s “Different Trains.” Singer Jules Shear recalls an on-board performance. A Sound Portrait of a Pullman Porter. A track-hopping hobo named Short Stop. Circus performer Little Jack Horton and poet Charles Bukowski stolen engine car. Segregated train-travel from StoryCorps. The world’s largest model railroad. And Calvin’s Great Aunt Grace’s 1891 train trip. Listen…
2010-06-23 093 Lewis & Clark Trail II: The Columbia River
Biking & Mic-ing the Lewis & Clark Trail; part two, down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean: Barrett Golding and Josef Verbanac, a radio producer and an English professor, a Jew and a Sioux, bicycle from mountains to the sea, looking for hidden histories. Listen…
2010-06-16 092 Lewis & Clark Trail I: The Missouri River
Biking & Mic-ing the Lewis & Clark Trail; part one, up the Missouri River into the Rocky Mountains: Barrett Golding and Josef Verbanac, a radio producer and an English professor, a Jew and a Sioux, bicycle from Missouri to Montana, enduring floods, war, worms, mud, and myriad Lewis & Clark festivals. Listen…
2010-06-09 049 Palestinian Dreaming: Arabs and Jews
Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land: “Waking Up” from a nightmare in a city split by three religions, as dreamt by an Jewish soldier, an Arab bomber, and a Mississippi minister; from Joe Frank’s hour Time’s Arrow. And “The Lemon Tree,” on the property of the same family home, in the same family homeland, shared by an Israeli and an Palestinian family; from Sandy Tolan of Homelands Productions. Listen…
2010-06-02 019 Life on the Mississippi: River Towns
A Tour of the River Towns: Hannibal, Missouri, birthplace of Mark Twain; a day on a tugboat; St. Louis showboats; and changing the course of mighty rivers. A downstream trip through the history and mystery of the Big Muddy, with Larry Massett and Scott Carrier. Listen…
May
2010-05-26 006 Radio Dial: Signals from the Sky
Radio stories about radio, then stories about radio stories: Jake Warga paints sound-portraits of “Urbana FM” in Uruguay and “Radio Gondor” in Ethiopia. The ShortWaveMusic blog records “Duelling Transmitters.” Larry Masett interviews the “Language Removal Services.” Recordist Steve McGreevey captures the solar sounds of space weather, the northern lights, and “Natural Radio.” The Android Sisters lament the loss of great “Ray-Dee-Ohh.” And Scott Carrier reports to work for “The Friendly Man.” Listen…
2010-05-19 091 Bad Trip: Your Next Vacation
Obscure tours and offbeat retreats thru Americana: Filmmaker Tony Buba takes the Long Haul Productions team around his hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania, a once thriving steel town, now one-tenth the town it was in population. Scott Carrier transports visiting Tibetan monks around the U.S. West. The town of Boonville, California has it’s own language: Boontling, a story by Ginna Allison. And writer Mark Allen tours Universal Studios and pretty much loses his mind. Listen…
2010-05-12 090 On Horseback: Equine Athletes
A couple equestrian classics from the NPR archives: Olympian Bruce Davidson shares his techniques for training equine athletes, with NPR’s David Molpus. Josh Darsa and a team of sound-recordists are at Belmont Stakes for the third leg of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. And a poem by singer Annie Gallop about the poem that unleashed her love of horses. Listen…
2010-05-05 060 Getting Out: The Education of Jesse Jean
Go to school, keep your grades up, go to college. That’s what we tell kids — over and over. What if just leaving your apartment, and walking up the block is risky? What if it feels safer to stay home, keep a low profile. When you do go out, head somewhere safe, like the teen center. That was the world of African American teenager, Jesse Jean. He lived a half block from host Katie Davis in their DC neighborhood. Jesse was lucky enough to get a scholarship to a private boarding school. Katie kept in touch with him. We hear three stories covering seven years. Listen…
April
2010-04-28 048 Juarez, Mexico: City on the Border
Four years of reports on life in the Mexican border-town of Ciudad Juarez, with poverty and corruption, with daily drug-cartel murders and military violence. Told by photographer & Juarez resident Julian Cardona, along with author Charles Bowden, and host Scott Carrier. Listen…
2010-04-21 089 Musicians’ Minds: Interviewing Music Makers
Musicians minds sometimes work differently. So interviews with musicians sometimes take unexpected turns: Host Lynne Neary’s interview with David Byrne ends up with her answering his questions. Mickey Hart takes us on an audio tour of his extensive worldwide percussion collection. Negativland turns their NPR interview into audio art. Musicians In Their Own Words surveys the sonic spectrum of musicians warming up for a performance. Listen…
2010-04-14 044 Memory Book: Looking Back at Life
Recollections, remembrances, and mnemonics for marking time: Lester Nafzger recalls his life as a litany of “Lynchpins” (as told to Joe Frank, excerpted from his Hour Performer). Host Ceil Muller takes us on a tour of her own memory palace, made bits of unsued of tape recordings she’s gathered over the years, in “Persistence of Memorex.” “Death in Venice” roams the beach with retired folk in Venice, Florida, finding seashells, shark’s teeth and distant memories (written and produced by Larry Massett, narrated by Joe Frank). Listen…
2010-04-07 051 Dog Tales: Barks, Bites, Best Friends
Man’s beast friend: Tony Schwartz documents the entire first year in “A Dog’s Life.” Lawrence Ferlinghetti performs his poem “Dog.” Scott Carrier encounters a frisbee-catching “Blind Dog.” “Dogs in the Yard” is musician Steven Vitiello’s multi-bark composition. Jay Allison collects some possible “Dog Dreams.” A man and his dog, “John and Nippy,” share a rancher’s life, and musical duets. Laura Silverman (Sarah’s sister) calls about her canine into Jonathan Katz’s talk show, “Seeing is Believing.” And, as a doggie treat, we hear an on-air “Cat Bath” from producer Dmae Roberts. Listen…
March
2010-03-31 088 Scene of the Crime: Victims, Cops, and Criminals
There will be blood: An archival interview with 1950s NYC crime scene photographer, Weegee; then excerpts from old time radio’s “Casey, Crime Photographer” and “Dragnet.” Nancy Updike of This American Life spends the day with professional “Crime Scene Cleaners.” A sound-portrait of a convicted “White Collar Criminal,” by Adam Allington. And host Jake Warga does a good deed, for which he ends up assaulted, bleeding, and hospitalized. Listen…
2010-03-24 087 Thumb and Thumber: The Joy of Hitchhiking
Is hitchhiking the great American adventure sport or just a risky last resort for folks who can’t come up with bus fare? Producer Jonathan Mitchell offers a “Beginner’s Guide to Hitchhiking”. Scott Carrier relates a hitchhiking adventure involving “New Shoes” and a letter to the Dalai Lama. And host Larry Massett drives a battered Olds 88 from New Mexico to Florida, picking up every hitchhiker on “The Road” he sees — no matter how dangerous-looking. Listen…
2010-03-17 037 Prison: Life Behind Bars
John Mills is “Doing Time” and Sergeant Furman Camel is “Serving 9 to 5;” two Prison Dairies from an inmate and a guard at Polk Youth Institution, North Carolina. (John Mills is out now and co-hosts our hour with Prison Dairies producer Joe Richman.) Voices and sounds of youth in “Lockdown!” at Utah’s Washington County Crisis Center, a techno tone poem by composer Phillip Kent Bimstein. Payton Smith calls her mom in prison to discuss “Not All Bad Things,” produced by Chana Joffe-Walt and Transom. And “Tossing Away the Keys” at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola Prison, is stories of lifers from Sound Portraits. Listen…
2010-03-10 086 WHER-Memphis: All Girl Radio
The first all-girl radio station in the nation, WHER-Memphis, went on-air in 1955. It was the brainchild of sound legend Sam Phillips, who created the groundbreaking format with money he raised from selling Elvis Presley’s Sun Studios contract. Women almost exclusively ran the station. They read the news, interviewed local celebrities, and spun popular records. They sold and produced commercials, directed and engineered programming, and sat at the station’s control boards. “WHER: 1000 Beautiful Watts” was produced by the Kitchen Sisters for their Lost and Found Sound series. Listen…
2010-03-03 023 This is Insanity: Disturbed Mental States
Disturbed Mental States: “This is Insane,” says William S Burroughs to the music of Disposable Heroes of Hiphopcracy. An anonymous reporter describes his “Electroshock.” The Avalanches mashup a “Frontier Psychiatrist.” Host Scott Carrier takes “The Test” for schizophrenia. Joe Frank is pathologically challenged by time. And Sound Portraits helps Howard Dully recount “My Lobotomy,” documenting the experimental procedure of “ice pick” surgery. Listen…
February
2010-02-24 085 Protest: From the National Mall to Town Halls
We hear crowds and confrontations at the “Town Halls 2009″ collective cross-country chaos. “Protest 1968-2008″ is four decades of marches and musics, montaged by Ann Heppermann and Kara Oehler. Scott Carrier introduces a junta-threatening Burmese rock band, Iron Cross. Tea Partiers and single-payer proponents shout outside a Presidential health care whistle stop; there’s debate, division and a “Day of Democracy”. NPR’s Jeff Kamen takes to the DC streets amid a police crackdown on an anti-war rally — from ATC’s first broadcast day (May 1971). Listen…
2010-02-17 084 Place Your Bets: What Happens in Vegas
We play keno, cards, and craps in Sin City: Scott Carrier stays up all night in America’s gambling Mecca: “Vegas”, baby. “Casino Suite” is three pieces for strings, winds, and Vegas dice table worker, composed by Phillip Kent Bimstein. Jazz bassist Kelly Roberti lost his bass to the “Keno Machines”. NPR host Alex Chadwick pits his wits against the casino regular playing “Poker at the Ox”. Joe Frank’s “Old Gambler” gets on the wrong side of Sin City’s collection crew. And playwright John Ridley’s “Lock It Up” is set inside the Hollywood Park Casino, which is neither in Hollywood nor a park. Listen…
2010-02-10 046 All Happy Families: Love and Loss
Tolstoy wrote, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” But sometimes it’s hard to tell who is and isn’t happy: After decades together, the Nadeaus find their husband/father is a “Crossdressing Family Man” (told by family friend Eric Winick). “After the Forgetting” (produced by Erica Heilman) is an evolution of relationships revealed in conversations between Greg Sharrow, his mother Marjorie, and Greg’s husband Bob Hooker, as Marjorie’s dementia progresses. Steve Fugate roams the roads of America, walking thousands of miles with a sign stuck over his middle-aged head that reads “Love Life” — because of what happened to his son (produced by Larry Massett). Listen…
2010-02-03 047 Snow and Ice: Winter Weather Advisory
Gliding, sliding, and speed: NPR’s Alex Chadwick invites America to share their stories of Flexible Flyers and downhill runs in this cross-USA audio “Sledding Party” (produced by Katie Davis). Seven skiers go into the back-country, only six return in this “Avalanche” survivors’ story (told to producer Scott Carrier). And host Barrett Golding documents a training day in the life of three women “Olympic Speed-Skaters.” Listen…
January 2010
2010-01-27 083 Shortcuts- 21st Century III: The First Decade
The final part of our three hour-long retrospective of the 21st Century’s first decade. A sonic survey of Christ’s passion, planetary climate change, presidential contenders, Ponzi schemes, collapsing economies, and all the stories and celebs of 2006-2009. (Produced by Peter Bochan of All Mixed Up, WBAI-NYC and WPKN-Bridgeport CT.) Listen…
2010-01-20 082 Shortcuts- 21st Century II: The First Decade
The second of our three hour-long retrospective of the Aughties. The Iraq war, the missing WMDs, the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Katrina flood, and sounds, speeches and songs from 2003 thru 2005. (Produced by Peter Bochan of All Mixed Up, WBAI-NYC and WPKN-Bridgeport CT.) Listen…
2010-01-13 081 Shortcuts- 21st Century I: The First Decade
The first of a three hour-long retrospective of the first decade, of the century, of the millennium. Beginning with the 2000 election and recounts, from Bush, Gore, Bill and Hill; thru 911, Homeland Security, and Afghanistan. A survey of selected speech, song, and soundbites from 2000 thru 2002. (Produced by Peter Bochan of All Mixed Up, WBAI-NYC and WPKN-Bridgeport CT.) Listen…
2010-01-06 080 Elvis Aaron Presley: Birthday Party
Elvis Presley (Jan 8 1935 – Aug 16 1977), a 75th Birthday Party: Long Haul Productions rides the bus to Graceland, talking to the EP pilgrims. Producer Adam Allington rides along with a policeman and Elvis impersonator. The Residents storytell the allegorical “Baby King.” Knonos Quartet performs “Elvis Everywhere”. Gillian Welch expounds her biographical song “Elvis Presley Blues”. Go Home Productions mashes up a “Strung-Out King” on-stage meltdown. And from Joyride Media & Sony’s Elvis 75 project, we hear Elvis’ friends and bandmates recall his righteous faith in both religion and rockin’. Listen…
