When Carol Brobeck was 20, she gave her baby boy away for adoption. Twenty years later, the son, Joel, came looking. They two tell their story of reunion.
Aired on NPR All Things Considered; by producers Shea Shackelford (of Big Shed) & Vige Millington for Speakeasy StoryCast, “Reunion- Mother & Son” (5:34 mp3):
Hearing Voices from NPR®
058 Motherly Love: Moms, Young and Old
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2011-05-04 (Originally: 2009-05-06)
“Motherly Love” (52:00 mp3):
For Mother’s Day:
Muriel & Walter Murch compose “A Mother’s Symphony” from womb sounds.
In 1996 Radio Diaries producer Joe Richman gave “Melissa Rodriguez from New Haven: Teen Mom” a microphone and tape recorder. Melissa was 18 and pregnant. Joe asked her to make an audio journal of her life, for the series Teenage Diaries.
Amy Jo, single mother of two toddlers, is “Surrounded by Lights,” by producer Erin Mishkin of Public Radio Redux and SALT Institute for Documentary Studies.
Myra Dean tells StoryCorps of the day her son was killed by a reckless driver.
Ben Adair takes his mom in search of her mom and “Family Baggage.” Ben heads American Public Media‘s Sustainability and Global Climate Change Reporting Initiative.
Katie Davis admits “I Live with My Mother,” part of her DC Neighborhood Stories.
Toronto musician Charles Spearin with his neighbor “Mrs. Morris,” from The Happiness Project
Seattle producer Jake Warga‘s “Far Side” calendars make metaphor and memories of his mother’s life and death.
And HV wishes all moms, especially ours, a happy Mother’s Day.
Hearing Voices from NPR®
052 Circus Blood: Under the Big Top
Host: John Dankosky of Connecticut Public Radio
Airs week of: 2012-02-01 (Originally: 2009-02-25)
Circus Blood (52:00 mp3):
A world-class troupe of audio daredevils and media magicians:
Host John Dankosky takes us to the circus in “Hershey Park Arena, Hershey Pennsylvania. I was 10 years old, and very, very worried.”
SF Chronicle journalist Jon Carroll interviews his daughter Shana as she hang upside down on her “Trapeze”, ready to fly away; from the Life Stories series by Jay Allison. (Shana started swinging with the Pickle Family Circus, about which her dad co-authored a book. She now flies for Les Sept Doigts de la Main.)
Joe Frank loves the lady “Lion Tamer,” an excerpt from his hour “The Dictator- Part 2” (show details).
Adam Rosen mixes a medley of the many versions of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” (by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, The Tokens, The Nylons, Miriam Makeba, Robert John, and Manu Dibango).
Hearing Voices from NPR®
051 Dog Tales: Barks, Bites, Best Friends
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-04-07 (Originally: 2009-02-18)
“Dog Tales” (52:00 mp3):
A canine compilation — the dogs have their day:
The producer plays frisbee with a sightless German shepherd.
This commentator can’t connect with his family’s canine, off his collection of Stories off the Shallow End.
A musician mixes a multi-bark audio art composition.
In 1984 people told producer about their dogs and their dog’s dreams, produced with Christina Eggloff for their series Animals and Other Stories, with funds from the New York State Council for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Hearing Voices from NPR®
050 Love’s Labors: For Valentine’s Day
Host: Amy Dickinson of Chicago Tribune “Ask Amy”
Airs week of: 2012-02-08 (Originally: 2009-02-11)
Love’s Labors (52:00 mp3):
Affairs of the heart, and the intricacies of intimacy:
Lovelorn letters to an advice columnist, our Host, “Ask Amy.”
A “Valentine” from Kevin Kling (from his Stories from the Shallow End CD).
The Girls Glee Club of New Palestine High School, Indiana singing the theme from “Midnight Cowboy” (off the out-of-print Poly High – School Bands Play The Classics).
Women’s tales of true but tainted love, what Nancy Updike calls “Cringe Love”, from This American Life.
One of the “6 terrific teen-age tunes sung by Barbie and Ken (and you can sing along, too!),” a 45-rpm record from Mattel Toymakers (mp3 at UBU.com’s 365 Days Project– May 31).
Transom is featuring our “Prostate Diaries” hour. Come join the discusssion: Transom pages- Talk | Show .
Their latest newsletter…
TRANSOM.org
a showcase & workshop for new public radio
http://www.transom.org
February 5, 2008
* NEW SHOW – A Slight Discomfort: The Prostate Diaries *
If this piece were about blood or bones or lungs, it would have aired on NPR. But because it is about the prostate, and includes a talking penis, it presented problems for broadcast. There’s no equal time for body parts.
Barrett Golding of HearingVoices asked us if we at Transom would be interested. Yes. Cancer is cancer and it makes sense to talk about it openly and personally, wherever in the body it occurs. The piece also presents complex challenges of interest to radio producers. It is based on a stage presentation written by the patient himself, Jeff Metcalf, and performed by Paul Kiernan. It was recorded and produced for radio by the estimable Scott Carrier and Larry Massett. They are present on Transom to talk about this work, its style and content.
https://transom.org/?p=1038 More…
Hearing Voices from NPR®
049 Palestinian Dreaming: Arabs and Jews
Host: Sandy Tolan of Homelands Productions
Airs week of: 2010-06-09 (Originally: 2009-02-04)
“Palestinian Dreaming” (52:00 mp3):
Israel, Palestine, and the Holy Land:
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. [Music: Air “Alone in Kyoto” Talkie Walkie (2004)].
Growing a tree and understanding 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. [Music: Dorothy Wang.]
Hearing Voices from NPR®
046 All Happy Families: Love and Loss
Host: Larry Massett of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-02-10 (Originally: 2009-01-14)
“All Happy Families” (52:00 mp3):
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 has a secret. This story, told by family friend, come to us from Transom, which has a longer version, with photos and family history. [Music: Bach Six Cello Suites performed on viola performed by Patricia McCarty (Ashmont Music), Stravinsky “”Apollo” Three Greek Ballets performed by London Symphony Orchestra (Naxos).]
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; recorded by Mark Baldwin, produced by ).
Follow Steve’s writing and walking at Trail Therapy. [Music: Stravinsky “Agon” Three Greek Ballets performed by London Symphony Orchestra (Naxos), Bach Six Cello Suites performed on viola performed by Patricia McCarty (Ashmont Music), Dolly Parton “Silver Dagger” The Grass Is Blue.]
We follow an evolution of relationships revealed in conversations between Greg Sharrow, his mother Marjorie, and Greg’s husband Bob Hooker, as Marjorie’s dementia progresses. Produced with the Vermont Folklife Center. Transom has the original longer version, with photos. [Music: Karinne Keithley.]
Sweet video my wife found, “Christian the Lion”:
From a movie by the Born Free Foundation (YouTube channel).
Hearing Voices from NPR®
044 Memory Book: Looking Back at Life
Host: Ceil Muller of KQED-FM
Airs week of: 2010-04-14 (Originally: 2008-12-31)
“Memory Book” (52:00 mp3):
Recollections, remembrances, and mnemonics for recalling time:
Lester Nafzger recites his litany of lynchpins, memories that lock his life together, excerpted from Joe Frank’s hour Performer.
Host Ceil Muller takes us on a tour of her own memory palace, made with bits of unused tape recordings gathered over the years.
We roam the beach with retired folk in Venice, Florida, finding seashells, shark’s teeth and distant memories; narrated by Joe Frank, piano by Larry Massett.
From the album Been in the Storm So Long: A Collection of Spirituals, Folk Tales and Children’s Games from Johns Island, SC (Smithsonian Folkways).
Drawing at top: Phrenology Symbolized, © 1895– by Prof. Wm. Windsor: The Symbolical Phrenological Head, Showing the Location of the organs of the Brain; from his book How to Become Rich (1898).
A Vermont family changes as their mother’s dementia progresses. What happens to love when there is no memory? An evolution of relationships reveal themselves in these conversation between Gregory Sharrow, his mother Marjorie, and Greg’s husband Bob Hooker.
Music by Karinne Keithley. Check Transom for more on this story. Aired on NPR Day to Day; by producer Erica Heilman, “After The Forgetting” (8:57 mp3):
Marj Sharrow
Marjorie Sahrrow and Bob Hooker
The secrets teenagers will never reveal to their parents. Aired on NPR Day to Day; by producer April Winbun & Curie Youth Radio, “We Wish We Could Tell Our Parents” (2:21 mp3):
Curie Youth Radio group photo
HV and Transom just finished collaborating on getting an edited version of Eric Winick’s “How Are You Who You Are?” on NPR ATC. Our next co-project was just posted: “Transom Show: After The Forgetting” by Erica Heilman (who has a resume item you don’t see often: “an independent radio producer and private investigator”).
Th story documents a Vermont family’s changes as their mother’s dementia progresses. What happens to love when there is no memory? An evolution of relationships reveal themselves in these conversations between Gregory Sharrow, his mother Marjorie, and Greg’s husband Bob Hooker. (Produced for The Vermont Folklife Center with music by Karinne Keithley.)
Hearing Voices from NPR®
041 Christmas Mashup: Holy Days & Silent Nights
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-12-22 (Originally: 2008-12-10)
“Christmas Mashup” (52:00 mp3):
Holiday cheer and holiday weird, a mix of lotsa holiday stories, found-sound, and sprinkling of sampled songs:
A home-recording of a “Christmas Gathering 1947” (4:08 excerpt), on an unlabeled 7″ Wilcox Gay Recordio Disc, was found by Bob Purse. The complete recording is posted at the 365 Days Project, “Christmas Gathering 1947” (6:32 mp3):
John Beltran remixes Bing Crosby “The First Noel” (5:02), on the compilation Holiday Chill – The Christmas Remixes
“Dad and Sam” (4:43) is Jay Allison‘s story of father and brotherhood, from his series Life Stories. More…
“Chorus Of Refuge” is new sound installation by (HV producers) Ann Heppermann, Kara Oehler, and composer Jason Cady. It’s free at Union Docs in Brooklyn (322 Union Ave), December 13th 7-9p.m; part of their Documentary Bodega series.
“Chorus of Refuge is a sound installation that transmits the stories of six refugees,living in different cities across the U.S. to six radios. The voices of the refugees are superimposed and coordinated in both rhythm and tonality to unite their narratives of struggle, survival and triumph.”
The Nadeaus had a secret: the husband liked to wear women’s clothes. Then Doug Nadeau got sick, and after surgery became less inhibited and more public in his crossdressing. His wife learned to understand his habits.
Aired on NPR All Things Considered; by producer Eric Winick and Transom Open Studio Project, “Crossdressing Family Man” (12:51 mp3):
The latest StoryCorps: John Brown (L) tells his brother Paul (R) about his on-air appearance as a gay guy educating evangelical radio.
“John (w/ Paul) Brown” (2:35 mp3):
StoryCorps declares November 28 2008 the first annual National Day of Listening, and offer a Do-It-Yourself Guide to help you:
This holiday season, ask the people around you about their lives — it could be your grandmother, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood. By listening to their stories, you will be telling them that they matter and they won’t ever be forgotten. It may be the most meaningful time you spend this year.
Hearing Voices from NPR®
031 The Stamberg Files: Essays, Audio-tours, and Interviews
Host: Susan Stamberg of NPR
Airs week of: 2009-12-30 (Originally: 2008-10-01)
“The Stamberg Files” (52:00 mp3):
Susan pulls some pieces she’s most proud of from the NPR audio archives:
She knits her way though history, takes us on a personal tour of DC, and tries to interest her colleagues in resurrecting her infamous relish recipe.
She talks with economist Milton Friedman, actor Judi Dench, writer Nora Ephron, and pianist Leon Fleisher.
In pursuit of patriotism, Ms. Stamberg de-France-ifies popular culture, then ends in a Parisian park, chatting with a world-class conversationalist. Above photo © 2006 NPR by Antony Nagelmann.
This afternoon on Day to Day, by producer Christopher Booker, for HV and Chicago Tribune multimedia.:
John Engel met Lisa on FarmersOnly.com.
Photo © Christopher Booker
