Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound

Documentary Arts and Culture

by John Biewen

Over the last few decades, the radio documentary has developed into a strikingly vibrant form of creative expression. Millions of listeners hear arresting, intimate storytelling from an ever-widening array of producers on programs including This American Life , StoryCorps , and Radio Lab ; online through such sites as Transom, the Public Radio Exchange, Hearing Voices, and Soundprint; and through a growing collection of podcasts.

Reality Radio celebrates today's best audio documentary work by bringing together some of the most influential and innovative practitioners from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In these nineteen essays, documentary artists tell--and demonstrate, through stories and transcripts--how they make radio the way they do, and why.

Whether the contributors to the volume call themselves journalists, storytellers, even audio artists--and although their essays are just as diverse in content and approach--all use sound to tell true stories, artfully.


Jad Abumrad
Jay Allison
damali ayo
John Biewen
Emily Botein
Chris Brookes
Scott Carrier
Katie Davis
Sherre DeLys
Lena Eckert-Erdheim
Ira Glass
Alan Hall
Natalie Kestecher
The Kitchen Sisters
Maria Martin
Karen Michel
Rick Moody
Joe Richman
Dmae Roberts
Stephen Smith
Sandy Tolan

Genres: Journalism, Nonfiction, Writing, Essays, How To

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2010

Reviews

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

The backstory of good documentary radio. If you ever wanted to know what goes on behind the scenes in the production of a radio story, or what a producer does, this is the place. Many of the 20 or so audio producers represented here do stories for NPR or similar outlets, mostly in the US. Some are more well known for their podcasts. I recognized less than half by name, but most by the stories they’ve produced that I’ve heard through the years – I have been an avid listener of SALTcast and How Sound podcasts that covers some of the same territory as this book. What I appreciated most about this book is the description of the work. These chapters, written by the individual producers, often tell how they put their distinctive stories together, from the search for ideas to the difficulties of gathering audio, and on to the physical editing of the stories. You get some of that “Dirty Jobs” feeling that you understand what these people do after reading this book, and that each of these audio stories represents a lot of work.

Another theme that I noticed throughout these writings were that the producers often looked to the young for ideas. One producer mentions that the young don’t have the filters that come with age and experience, and their voices often can lead to surprising takes on the topics being recorded. I’ve always thought that audio stories by or about younger people felt different, and this could explain why I’ve felt that way. All in all, a very interesting book for those interested in how memorable audio stories are put together.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A recent series of essays for radio producers emphasizing the value of radio as a medium. Recommended for passionate radio listeners or those interested in adding their own voices to public radio.

Quotes worth remembering:
- Sherre DeLys: "...Most listeners are keen to enter imaginatively into the exchange of energy and information a documentary offers. And if we conceive our work in ways that make room for them, they will do just that. But how does one actually go about this embrace of the listener in shaping a work? I believe that when we enter into an improvised, open-ended dialogue with our subject we've already done so by creating a template for listeners to respond similarly" (91).
- Alan Hall: "I use the word choreographed optimistically. Increasingly, I'm inclined to believe that dance--that easy, confident, expressive heightening of familiar actions--is the state that all human endeavor, not just art, aspires to. We all yearn to perform in the zone, for relationships to click, for that effortless taking off from the banalities of the day-to-day" (103-4)
- Karen Michel: "So much of what makes a story something another person will want to hear is about the reporter paying attention to the other, not the self."
- Jay Allison: "We are blind listening to the radio. Our imaginations are in play. We create the characters, envision the settings. Images are indelible because we participate in their creation" (188).

[A Novel Adventurer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the selected essays within this volume. While I am not a radio documentary maker, nor the most avid listener of this genre, I believe far more is gained from reading this book. Editors John Biewen and Alexa Dilworth did an amazing job of composing a collected work that not only lets us peer into the "how" of radio documentary, but also the ever important "why." In each essay, we are given the chance to live the author's passion and see the world through their eyes and ears. While other difference-makers might alternative artistic mediums of activism, our authors show us how "good radio, like good theater, is a collection of scenes that interweave various sounds through monologues and dialogues and soundscapes..and underneather it all is the poetry that gets us closer to that elusive heartbeat we call truth (127)." I would also like to point out that there is something to be said of the written voice of many of the "listeners" within this work; it truly was quite enjoyable to read.

[Scott Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for what it was. Obviously, radio leans into far-left storytelling, shuffling the humblebrag, pedantry, the corrosive minutiae militia, high-chair tyranny, Deep-State courtiers, propagandists, arrogant nerds, the sanctimonious Halo Effect of lifetime state employees/grifters, Field Inebriation Effect, Expertise Bias, starving artists, Competence Spillover, Overconfidence Bias, Confirmation Bias, political lemmings, False Consensus Effect, Moral Licensing, Neo-Calvinists, Lilliputian radicals, the reductionist Just-World Fallacy/Unjust World Fallacy dichotomy, professional puffery, sandcastle coronations, and twee narcissism, so expect some of that. The average radio producer is not exactly one of the pioneers behind the Archive of Folk Culture found at the The American Folklife Center in The Library of Congress.

[Carlos Alonso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una colección de ensayos sobre el género narrativo y documental en radio y podcasts escritos por el quién es quién de la industria, con figuras como Ira Glass, Scott Carrier o las Kitchen Sisters. Todos, o casi todos, han desarrollado al menos parte de su carrera en la NPR americana. Y muchos han acabado participando en el programa estrella de este género: This American Life, co-creado por Ira Glass.

Cada ensayo describe la experiencia y la perspectiva desde la que afrontan su trabajo cada uno de los participantes. Uno de esos libros que hay que leer con un lápiz al lado para subrayar pasaje tras pasaje, y aprender.

[Elizabeth StClair · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I loved most about this book was that it allowed me to multitask. While I was learning how to create wonderful radio documentaries, at the same time I was reading stories that I would have otherwise never come into contact with. If it weren't for this book, I would never have known about the men who starved for their government during WWII so that the USA could be better prepared in handling the famished peoples of Europe. Had it not been for these stories, I would never have known what Tourette syndrome was. And there are many more. I was originally assigned this book in my fall semester English class. We only had to read a few of the stories, but I decided that I wanted to read the entire thing, and I'm glad I did. The varying perspectives and care to detail made me fall in love with radio all over again. Summer project? Who knows.

[Zack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of essays for people interested in making radio or audio documentaries or, I suppose, podcasts, these days. For those who have already practiced or studied journalism, not all of the 'tips' will be terribly revelatory, though one of the strengths is the inclusion of script excerpts followed by explanations and commentary on what was going on in each. All of the essays are short and accessible, and most are well-written -- funny, moving, intelligent, relatable, even inspiring without being cheesy or overwrought; one of the pleasures, for public radio fans, is getting something more directly personal from producers, reporters, artists, and hosts whose work, typically about other people, has become very familiar over the years.

[amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading as an archivist / librarian, two things: 1) Maria Martin refers to "periodistas empiricos (journalists with no formal training)," literally journalists of or by experience; where are the archivistas empiricos? 2) Really appreciate Emily Botein's analogies of the mise en place and producer as "the hands," plus this: "Good habits enable better collaborations--and, hopefully, better radio at the end if the day."

I see these as guiding principles for improving access to the processes of archives, preservation, meaning-making; using our expertise and power for listening, inviting participation, and getting out of the way.

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting essays on radio and audio documentary by some influential names in those worlds, including Chris Brookes, Scott Carrier, the Kitchen Sisters, Jad Abumrad (Radiolab), Ira Glass, Joe Richman, Jay Allison, and many people I had never heard of before. Whether it's (or is called) sound art, a radio diary, radio verite, creative nonfiction, personal narratives, collage, feature, news, conceptual pieces, or actual radio drama and fiction, this book exposes the reader to the breadth and depth of non-commercial, independent audio world (outside of commercial radio).

[Carlos Pareja · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderful essays by some of the most creative people working in audio storytelling these days. there's so much intimate poetry in the mixing of sounds and many of these folks do a great job of translating that experience into words. definitely for the radiolab, this american life and lost & found sound fans!

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this anthology because I recognized certain names (Scott Carrier, Jad Abumrad, Ira Glass) but was most excited by essays by people I hadn't heard of before, like damali ayo and Natalie Kestecher.

[Keri · Rating 5 out of 5]

They had me at Scott Carrier who writes a beautiful essay on how you capture the truth, which he does so magically well. But I guess I should admit that Jad Abumrad and Ira Glass are pretty okay as well.

[Adrianus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every person has their own experience and opinion when it comes to working on radio and I love reading their opinion on how beautiful radio on telling a narrative without visual. Reminds my childhood of listening local radio station almost every day.

[Pearl (Plamena Krumova) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Четенето на тази книга е изживяване! Демонстрира красотата на радиото, а именно онези малки моменти, в обикновените, всекидневни диалози, които носят поезия и смисъл. Магията на звука - от устата-през ушите - до сърцето...

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent anthology! I used this book in teaching radio essays and it was very good background.

[Adam Maisto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave me some of my greatest ideas in terms of how to shape my vision of being an independent producer. Extremely insightful and accessible.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heavy hitters, these ones. Real heavy hitters.