This American Life producers record in the field on Marantz PDM 661 digital recorders, with Audio-Technica shotgun microphones (AT835b, AT8035 and AT897). Joe’s archives are all online at his website. It’s free and has lots of advice that’ll be useful to any beginning.ĭitto The DIY Radio Rookies Toolkit, which includes their own comic book, instructional videos and tip sheets, all free.Īnd, what the hell, why not, here are Jad Abumrad and me talking about radio great Joe Frank – I was his production assistant – who didn’t do journalism but was like a 1970’s era movie auteur making radio narratives that dropped you in the middle of the action and pulled you forward irresistibly. The Radio Diaries Teen Reporter Handbook is not just for teens. The book Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound was created by the Center for Documentary Studies, includes essays by lots of producers, including me. Their question "Besides your phone and computer, what gadget can’t you live without and why?” was perplexing because it seemed that everyone they ever interview would have the same answer as me. I did a Q&A " How I Work" for Lifehacker. I haven’t taken the course but I bet it’s great. Rob Rosenthal, who hosts the podcast, may possibly be the best radio narrative instructor in the country (though come to think of it, Gimlet creator Alex Blumberg gives him a run for his money.) Check out Alex’s how-to series on making radio. The HowSound podcast on how to make radio documentaries is especially good for beginners. Oh hell, here’s the link to all the Longform podcasts. Most of these aren’t about radio narrative but Max Linsky’s a great interviewer and these are some of the best journalists out there, explaining their moves. I love these podcasts with Zoe Chace, explaining how she does her political reporting for our show: Zoe on the Longform podcast, Zoe on Columbia Journalism School’s On Assignment podcast.īrian Reed explains S-Town on the Longform podcast. In their case, they scheme those out fully before they sit down with their interviewees. And - a personal favorite of mine - the incredible team from the podcast The Daily explains their approach to doing daily news as radio narrative. I’m a super-fan of this show and it was fascinating hearing that they think of their stories the way we think of ours: as narratives, organized around set of plot points.Or listen to him talk about some of his favorite things. Jad Abumrad of Radiolab has lots of smart things to say about making decent work. Read his manifesto on Transom.Transom's Rob Rosenthal on bringing extra batteries and other essential basics.Radio Diaries' Joe Richman on first-person radio stories.Our fact-checker Christopher Swetala on the fact-checking process for our show.Dave Kestenbaum on explaining the world in four minutes.Nancy Updike on easy approaches to making your writing sharper.There is tons of audio on the Third Coast Pocket Conference podcast, covering all sorts of things, including many seminars on how to pitch a story to a show and get them to say yes. Transom has a how-to by our producer Jonathan Menjivar on how to score stories with music like we do on our show. Also greats like Errol Morris, Studs Terkel, Robert Krulwich, Brooke Gladstone and Dave Isay.Transom Next I’d recommend a website called where you can find essays by some of the most experienced people doing radio narratives, including a few This American Life regulars: Years later she expanded it into her full guidebook. Especially handy for teachers: You can also get it as a pdf. If you’re not quite ready for a 240-page book, this 32-page comic book was the first version of the book. We put it out as a little comic book with Jessica back in the 90s. Some of the sections - like the long section on how to tell whether the story you’re thinking about making is worth making at all - blow my mind, they’re so well done. I’ve probably bought 150 copies for people over the years and can’t recommend it highly enough. Jessica visited our show, Radiolab, Snap Judgment, The Moth, and others. It's the definitive how-to guide for anyone who wants to make narrative journalism – i.e, true stories with scenes and plot and characters like we do on our show. Out on the Wireįirst and foremost, I’d send you to Jessica Abel’s book Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio. If you’ve heard our show and you want to make stories like the ones we do, there’s good news: There are lots of places where you can learn.
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