Public Radio Redux

Trapped in an Elevator

Erin Mishkin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:16:20 -0700

I recently came across this article and accompanying video in The New Yorker (the magazine that most induced guilt in me, piling up faster than I had time to read it). Trapped in an Elevator explores the "lives of elevators," but perhaps the most captivating (and is what I've linked to) is the story Nicholas White, who spent forty-one hours trapped in an elevator in New York City’s McGraw-Hill building. He was working late that night and had left his office for a cigarette break, telling his co-worker he'd be back soon. The video here is a "condensed look" at what White experienced. Using just a haunting melody to accompany the security-camera images, what results is a powerful documentary of an experience that we have all probably feared at one point or another.

Why Hello, John Moe

Jen Nathan — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:55:48 -0700

When you turn on Weekend America this weekend, things will sound a bit different. Sure, you could chalk it up to summer, when NPR hosts play musical chairs with their hosting duties. But a delightfully solo John Moe is what we'll hear from now on on American Public Media's Weekend America.

For about a year, hosting duties have been split between Bill Radke in Los Angeles and Desiree Cooper in St. Paul. It was an odd combination. The geographical distance made co-host banter a challenge. While both are top-notch hosts, sometimes it sounded like they'd never met. The show's real highlights included sound-rich pieces from indie producers as well as John Moe's weekly "weather" report, a tongue-in-cheek rundown of quirky events across the country. If you liked that segment, stay tuned for all John Moe, all the time, since he'll be taking over as the show's solo host this weekend.

Sadly, it looks like Bill Radke will be leaving the show. Too bad, I liked his style. Desiree Cooper will stay on as Senior Correspondent from her home in Detroit - good news for the environment, since she's been commuting to St. Paul for almost a year.

Well, goodbye Bill Radke. You will be missed. But I look forward to hearing more of John Moe's wit and creativity each weekend.

Making a List, Checking it Twice

Erin Mishkin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:47:48 -0700

Before diving into this "story of the day" from July (clearly I have some catching up to do...), I just wanted to apologize for disappearing for a while. I knew that July and August would be nutty, what with camping/documentary trips (www.openroads.org) and wedding activities galore, but I had no idea just how busy these past several weeks would be.

So I'm back now (shout out to Jen Nathan for keeping the blog a-goin') and ready to get these ears back in action.

This short piece features performance artist Hillary Carlip, who collects discarded shopping lists and uses them as a basis for creating fictional stories and characters. And, as she explains, it's not just the items on the list that factor into her character assessment/development, but also the handwriting and the paper these lists are written on.

So next time you jot down your grocery list and leave it in your cart, be mindful that there might be a performance artist out there who is imagining who you are and then performing that character for all to see.

(Please note - Latest grocery list of mine [written on a yellow post-it in red ink] includes: 1 onion, toothpaste, toilet paper, Amy's burritos, chick patties, pirate booty.)

If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say...

Jen Nathan — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:54:14 -0700

Only Robert Krulwich - the most creative science reporter in radio - could be tasked with this problem: Find 3 Nice Things to Say about Mosquitoes. At the moment, I have nothing nice to say about these buzzing, biting, vicious little creatures. Currently, I'm trying not to scratch the giant bug bite on my face - yes my face - not to mention the myriad of bites that dot my legs, arms, and ankles. Oh, summer in the South. But once again, Krulwich comes to the rescue.

With his signature wit and creativity, he finds not one, but three generous things to say about summer's favorite hellion. I suppose a true environmentalist would feel good about propagating an ancient species with one's very own blood, but that doesn't stop me from dreaming of a giant bug zapper.

Hot Dog, Getcha Hot Dogs

Jen Nathan — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:31:39 -0700

Every city and most small towns have at least one - a place where you can pick up a hot dog, slather on some mustard, and have a little chat with the owner. Most of these street vendors have carts with wheels, so they can pack it up and can find a new corner when business gets slow. But not Mark's Hot Dogs. Mark has locked his wheels at the same corner of Portland, Maine's bustling Old Port for the past 25 years.

Chances are, you've walked by a cart like Mark's a million times, but Salt alumns Kelly Creedon and Annie Larmo give us reason to stop. Listen in as they spend the day with Mark, using photographs and sound to capture the community he's created -- a group of folks who meet at the same corner, day after day, because they crave some casual banter and a cold soda. In this world of cell phones and Facebook friends, it's reassuring to see that something as simple as hot dogs can bring people together.

* To view this thoughtful, well produced multimedia piece, visit: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/multimedia/
Be sure to click on 25 Years of Mark's Hot Dogs towards the middle of the page.

Yuck!

Jen Nathan — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:46:49 -0700

Flesh eating fish. Scary, right? Not if you want smooth, supple feet. Yes, feet. The Turkish trend of having flesh eating fish nibble at the dead skin on your feet - carnivorous pedicures? - is becoming popular in the United States.

No, the fish don't look as vicious as the one pictured above. They're really just an inch long and actually kind of pretty. But as you'll hear in Daniele Anastasion's report, they sound pretty mean. That slurping, sucking sound sent me running for my pumice stone. The best moment is when the salon owner joyfully says, "Thanks for helping me feed my fish!" Ewwww.

Let's Go to the Mall

Jen Nathan — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:01:38 -0700

On sweltering summer days when it was way too hot to play in the backyard, my mom would drive us to Crossgates Mall. It was only two towns away, but it felt like a million miles. Everything gleamed with possibility. The food court was vast and the movie theater was bone-chillingly cold.

The mall has lost much of its appeal over the years, but I still yearn for its over zealous air conditioning on days like this. If you'd rather flee the country than spend a minute in a mall, check out City X. Produced by the incredibly talented Jonathan Mitchell, this exploration of his Midwestern mall will have you day dreaming of coke and curly fries in no time.

Songs of Summer, 2008

Jen Nathan — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 07:46:39 -0700

Yep, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down's new album We Brave Bee Stings And All is my favorite of the summer. It's perfect picnic-packing, lemonade-drinking music. Rhythmically complex, yet simple and melodic enough to catch the ear of everyone at you summer BBQ. If you haven't heard how lead singer Thao Nguyen taught herself how to play guitar while working in her mother's laundromat (reported by stellar Salt alumn Jesse Dukes ), it's definitely worth a listen.

Thao and the Get Down Stay Down sound a little tired on this live broadcast (it's the second night of their cross-country tour, so they could probably use a nap), but Thao has some interesting things to say about women in rock and the size of the wieners in Columbus, Ohio (I'll give you a hint - they're quite large).

What's your favorite summer album of '08?

The Art of Getting People to Shake Their Booty

Erin Mishkin — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:20:37 -0700

Ever wonder what kind of thought goes into getting kids, grandmas, and everyone in between to get out on the dance floor and shake shake shake? Shake their booty? This funny episode of What Would Rob Do? looks at the art of Bar Mitzvah dj-ing, which is entertaining in and of itself. But what's even more engaging is the banter between David Kestenbaum, science correspondent for NPR, and Rob. It reminds me a bit of those Saturday Night Live skits from long ago where the cast members would be refraining from laughing out loud at themselves for fear of crossing the point of no return. And bonus: in this episode, you get snippets of everything from "Celebration" to "Hava Nagila." Get ready to get those toes a-tappin.

Slug Slug Slugging!

Erin Mishkin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:47:22 -0700

When I lived in DC years and years ago, every weekday evening around 5:30 I'd notice a line of people gathering by the side of the road near the McPherson Square metro stop. These people seemed to appear out of nowhere. There was no sign to indicate what the line was for and no one really interacted with each other. This fascinated me. And one day I learned from a co-worker who did the slug thing that this was called "slugging" - basically ride sharing with complete strangers.

This piece dives into the concept of slugging and if you've never heard of it before, it's worth listening to. From a production standpoint, it's not the most enthralling piece I've heard - I kept wanting the producer to slug with the best of 'em. What is that experience really like? I wanted to hear the silence of the line, the communication about location drop-off, the car ride. If one of the unstated rules of slugging is that you don't swap names or personal information, what the heck do you talk about during the commute? How do you greet each other?

Za Vas!

Jen Nathan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:18:54 -0700

When I was 10, my 3rd grade class had a "buddy class" in Russia. We sent them pictures and letters on cool air mail stationary and they sent us stories about their puppies and siblings in strange, slanted English.

It turns out that Third Coast has their own Russian "buddy" festival, Vmeste Radio (”Radio Together”) Festival. Third Coast's Managing Director Julie Shapiro blogged about her recent visit to the land of vodka and fur hats on the Chicago Public Radio Blog (a great blog, if you haven't already checked it out).

Indie radio producers in Russia are documenting their lives, cities, and neighbors on a PRX-like podcast site called Podstansiya. It's all in Russian, so you better dig out your Russian-to-English dictionary. And if you prefer your foreign exchange to be in-person, some top notch Russian producers will be making their way to Chicago for an upcoming Third Coast Festival soon. All of this makes me wish I remembered more than just "hello" in this rough, melodic language.

Bryant Park Project Gets the Axe

Erin Mishkin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:46:42 -0700

If you scanned the headlines of the New York Times yesterday, you probably learned that NPR is canceling the Bryant Park Project. Now, I have never been a huge huge fan of the show (does anyone remember their failed Sigur Ros interview?), but I also recognize that it takes time for a program and hosts to find their groove. When the last episode airs later this month, they will have only been around for ten months - less than a year. I would've liked to have seen how The Bryant Park Project developed - if only their budget wasn't a whopping $2 million, perhaps we would have found out.

Newspaper on the Radio, part two

Erin Mishkin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:53:35 -0700

Over the past couple of weeks, Salt alums have been discussing a multimedia piece that was published in the Howard County Times, Hungry, by Salt photography alum Maisie Crow. I won't give any of the story away, but know that it's, at once, sad, inspiring, and captivating. And it's the first time she produced a multimedia piece. Wow, huh?

For more about the specifics of the discussion and the effect of silence in Maisie's piece, check out Salt alum Sam Greenspan's blog.

Thanks, Amy O'Leary, for sharing "Hungry" with us!

The Latest Transom Showcase: How Are You Who You Are?

Erin Mishkin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:06:58 -0700

I heart Transom. I really, really do. I love how helpful they are, how encouraging and informational. Transom.org, for those of us who are just starting out, is like a nice cup of hot tea on a bone-chilling day. Comforting. Reassuring.

Most of all, Transom is accessible.

Nothing shows that better than the most recent Transom Showcase, How Are You Who You Are? by Eric Winick and Jay Allison. Eric got started working on this piece through encouragement and advice by Transom and Jay - three years ago. After coming up with a draft version, Jay invited Eric to come to Woods Hole and spend a few days reworking and editing the piece together. The result is a powerful story of identity, family, and loss. The beginning question, "What if someone you loved changed so completely that you barely recognized them? Would you still love them?" grabs your attention and stays with you throughout. I was listening to this as I was doing other things and mid-way through, during a tear-ful conversation with Lynn, the wife, I stopped and stared at my computer. I felt like she was talking directly to me, the feeling was so intimate. This is what radio is all about. Thanks, Transom, for making stories like these possible.

Club Awesome! is, like, Totally Awesome

Jen Nathan — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:22:00 -0700

If you haven't checked out alt.NPR lately, you're missing out on such gems as Club Awesome! Yes, it has a rather silly name, but host Taylor Chapulin Orci makes this podcast about "any song that's meant anything to anyone, ever." feel poignant and thoughtful, without taking itself to seriously.

In its premier episode, Taylor dissects the terrible songs she loves to hate (or hates to love). Sadly, like everyone else who grew up in the '80s, I know the words to each one of these songs. Yeah, I kinda hate them too, but I love the memories of middle school bus rides and long lost crushes that they inspire.

My first thought upon listening to this podcast was, "Why isn't this girl working for NPR?" Her delivery is witty and real, without a whiff of Ira Glass-wannabe syndrome. I could listen to her read the phone book, but instead, I'll devour all 7 episodes and wait patiently for more.

P.S. It turns out that Taylor Chapulin Orci does work for NPR.

Where in the World is Jen Nathan?

Jen Nathan — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:00:28 -0700

Yes, I've been kinda quiet lately, but don't worry, I haven't joined a mutant race of verbal washing machines. I've been busy finishing up the first in a series of radio pieces about biotech. When did you become a science reporter, you ask? The day WFAE said they needed one.

In many ways, not having a slew of science degrees has really helped my science reporting. For instance, I'll never use the phrase DeNovo Sequencing without a pithy real-life analogy to keep science-phobes from turning off the radio. And I'm also oddly delighted to learn that enzymes are what make our laundry detergent work (hence the washing machine solo I'm recording here).

Not knowing all that much about science definitely requires lots of research and quite a bit of pondering - I've stayed up late many nights wondering how the heck a vaccine can get inside a soybean - but knowing more about how the world works is always fun, even if it does involve reaching deep into my brain for those bio notes I've long since forgotten.

* Amusing side note: our new high-efficiency washing machine doesn't make that "whooosh" sound I was hoping for. Instead, it makes a seriously pathetic trickle with a bit of a hum. I had to loop that sucker five times to make it sound like a washing machine. Damn you technology.

Maybe Check the Alamo Basement?

Erin Mishkin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:40:33 -0700

There are quite a few good moments in this episode of This American Life, which centers around the theme of "Social Engineering." Among them: an adult thinks back to his childhood days when he learned a very valuable lesson involving a very new and oh so shiny bike; Salt grad Lu Olkowski documents the stories of two men who became known on the NYC poetry circuit as the "homeless poets"; and a former gang member talks about what it's like to have the job of "interrupter."

Feeling Stressed? Charge Up a Seal and Go

Erin Mishkin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:56:41 -0700

I always love checking out the "most e-mailed stories" from NPR. As a producer, I want to know what grabs a listener's attention, enough to sit in her car until the piece is over or - in this day and age - click on that "email" link to share the piece with a friend.

So on June 27th, one of the most emailed stories was, um, about a robotic seal. This sensor-driven seal (yes, it coos and moves and does seal-like things when you interact with it) has been in Japan for years, but is now making its way into the U.S. of A., being used in nursing homes and hospitals as a source of comfort and entertainment for its residents.

Lately, I've been thinking about getting a dog. But maybe this electronic seal will do the trick?

Robotic Seal Makes Old Folks Smile

Jen Nathan — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:38:19 -0700

Being old can be lonely. Just ask the random old people who tell me all about their lives (and health problems) every time I take public transportation or go to the grocery store. But what if they could whisper their problems to their very own robotic seal?

An American offshoot of the original Japanese company will soon begin selling these highly creepy, yet reportedly comforting robotic seals to nursing homes across the country. And as NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce recently discovered, old folks love this odd little seal. Nell's piece is full of sweet, vaguely dementia-ridden moments between nursing home residents and their favorite fur covered robot. I can't decide what's sadder: that these people's lives are so empty or that they can be thrilled by a robot masquerading as a seal. Luckily, the folks at Eden Alternative feel as sad and squirmy about the whole thing as I do.

When the Tables Turn...

Erin Mishkin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:13:00 -0700

As Love & Radio warns, "This Podcast is VERY SEXY," so if you're not in the mood for an oh so graphic description of a male strip club experience, you're better off sitting this episode out.

But what you'll miss is a hilarious description of what happens when one bachelorette's expectations of what a strip club outing should be don't quite match reality. At all. We're talking, not even close. Equal parts funny, disturbing, and vindicating.