December 2002 – West Coast Listening Room with

Barbara Bernstein and Dmae Roberts

This Listening Room, in Portland, Oregon, was the first to take place outside of Chicago.

Guest bios:

Barbara Bernstein is an award-winning veteran independent radio producer. She has been producing documentary series that have aired around the world for the past twenty years, in various venues such as the BBC and on programs such as Outright Radio and Pacifica Radio.

Dmae Roberts has written and produced more than 300 features and documentaries for National Public Radio and Public Radio International. In 1990 she received the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for Mei Mei, A Daughter's Song, and has also received awards and grants from organizations including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts. Roberts is the executive producer of Stories1st.org, an online magazine published by MediaRites, a Portland-based non-profit which she heads.

Excerpts from the following documentaries were heard at this Listening Room. Click on available links to hear selections.

Rivers That Were
by Barbara Bernstein, 2002

River That Were explores the long-term consequences of over a century of redesigning nature to suit commercial and industrial needs. The program juxtaposes the voices of Native Americans, barge operators, environmentalists, policy makers and others who live and work in the watersheds of the Columbia and Colorado rivers. (9:00 [excerpt])

Underwater Waterfalls
by Barbara Bernstein, 2000

Here’s a segment from the first installment of Radio Tales for the Road, describing a stolen adventure on top of the Bonneville Dam, imagining the waterscape that has been drowned by the dam's impounded water. (5:00 [excerpt])

Why I Like Men
by Dmae Roberts, NPR, 1984

Mixed live and on multiple reels and turntables, an combining on-the-street interviews with radio theatre, this audio cartoon is based on a cartoon by Lynda Barry. Made in 1984, this was the first piece Roberts sold to NPR. (3:30)

Kara and the Swing
by Dmae Roberts. 2002

This first person narrative piece is about a grandmother, Gayle Montanez, who takes her severely disabled 8-year-old granddaughter on excursions into the world, and some of the simple pleasures in the world that are revealed during these trips. (4:00)

Mei Mei, A Daughter's Song
by Dmae Roberts, 1989-90

Here’s an excerpt from the Peabody Award-winning personal journey of Dmae and her mom's Taiwan memories.

Messages
by Dmae Roberts, 2002

This living memorial of a mother's love is presented through phone messages saved on voicemail that cannot be erased, lest she be lost forever. (5:00)

Miracle On The Streets
by Dmae Roberts, 2002

Miracle Draven is a 21-year-old lesbian homeless girl. She's also an ex-addict and an ex-hooker who is trying to get her life together, off the streets. (3-4 minute excerpt from a work-in-progress)

Ice Music
by Gregory Whitehead, All Things Considered, 1997

What if sounds could be frozen into ice cubes, then released upon their melting? Everyday movements and actions might become rich musical performances....(2:27)

If
by Sherre DeLys and John Jacobs, ABC’s Listening Room, 1997

Learn about life in the New Children's Hospital in Westmead, Australia, from the perspective of a young patient staying there. (6:24)

October 2002 – The Third Coast Festival Presents: The Night Kitchen
with the Kitchen Sisters, Alan Berliner, Joe Richman, Jamie York, Stephen Vitiello and Jay Allison and the Lover of Lost Fans

This special Listening Room convened during the Third Coast Festival Conference, and was attended by radio producers from all over the country, as well as radio fans living in Chicago.

Host bios:
The Kitchen Sisters -- Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva -- have been producing award-winning radio programs since 1979. Their most recent work has been the Lost & Found Sound radio series, an exploration of American life through recorded sound, which is heard on NPR's All Things Considered. Their work has been featured on NPR, California Public Radio, Pacifica and Soundprint.

The Kitchen Sisters spearheaded Lost & Found Sound's Sonic Memorial Project -- a national cross-media collaboration resulting in a collection of radio stories and artifacts that were heard throughout the year on All Things Considered, and a website and archive commemorating the life and history of the World Trade Center and its neighborhood.

Excerpts from the following documentaries were heard at this Listening Room; click on available links to hear selections.

WHER, 1000 Beautiful Watts
Produced by the Kitchen Sisters with Valerie Velardi

They went on the air in October, 1955, in Memphis, Tennessee, and they stayed there for 17 more years. WHER—One Thousand Beautiful Watts , the first all-girl radio station in the world.

Walking High Steel
Produced by Jamie York and the Kitchen Sisters

For over a hundred years, Mohawk ironworkers have traveled to New York City to help shape the city's skyline, including the Empire State Building, the George Washington Bridge and the World Trade Center. As part of the Sonic Memorial Project, producer Jamie York visited the two Mohawk reserves to gather sound and stories about the legacy of Mohawk ironworkers.

Jamie York has worked in radio production since graduating from a course at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in the Fall of 2000, and is currently the New York Series Coordinator for the Sonic Memorial Project.

Radio Row
Produced by Joe Richman and Ben Shapiro

When City Radio opened on Cortlandt Street in 1921, radio was a novelty. Over the next few decades, hundreds of stores popped up, including Metro Radio, Leotone Radio, Blan the Radio Man and Cantor the Cabinet King. The six-square-block area in Lower Manhattan became a bazaar of radio tubes, knobs, hi-fi equipment, and antenna kits. Then in 1966 the stores were condemned and bulldozed, to make way for the new World Trade Center.

Joe Richman is an independent producer and reporter for public radio. He is the creator of the Teenage Diaries series and the founder of Radio Diaries Inc. Ben Shapiro is a producer for public radio and television whose work has aired on most NPR programs. He is also an editor for the PRI program The Next Big Thing from WNYC and for the Teenage Diaries series.

A conversation with Alan Berliner

Alan Berliner combines experimental cinema, artistic purpose and popular appeal into compelling film essays such as The Sweetest Sound and Nobody's Business. He also produces audio and video installation works for galleries and museums around the world.


The Building Stewardesses: World Trade Center Construction Guides (1968-71)
Produced by the Kitchen Sisters with Laura Folger

As construction commenced on the largest building project since the pyramids, questions and controversies swirled around Lower Manhattan. How tall? Why two? What's a world trade center, and who needs it anyway? Guy Tozzoli, the Port Authority visionary behind the building of the Twin Towers, had an inspiration: "Construction Guides." Friendly co-eds in mini-skirted uniforms were posted at corner kiosks on the site to inform an inquiring public and put a pretty face on a controversial issue.

A conversation with Stephen Vitiello

Stephen Vitiello is a New York City sound artist and musician. He was an artist-in-residence at the World Trade Center in 1999.


Lover of Lost Fans
Produced by Jay Allison with vintage fan aficionado Michael C. Coup

In 1999 Jay Allison went to Andover, Kansas, to meet Michael Coup, founder of the Antique Fan Collectors Association, for NPR's Lost and Found Sound series. Allison was treated to the much overlooked history of fans in America and to the distinct sounds—hums and whistles—they make.

Jay Allison is a veteran independent broadcast journalist whose work airs on All Things Considered, This American Life and ABC's Nightline. He is curator of Lost and Found Sound's Quest for Sound, producer of the Life Stories series and creator of Transom.org. Michael C. Coup is the conductor of tonight's Fan Orchestra as well as Founder, President and Chairman of the Board of Vornado Air Circulation Systems, Inc.

September 2002 – Listening Room with Gwen Macsai

Guest bio:
Gwen Macsai is an award-winning writer and producer whose radio essays were heard on All Things Considered and Weekend Edition Saturday throughout the 1990s. Macsai is also the creator of the television sitcom, What About Joan and author of Lipshtick , a book of humorous first-person essays. Macsai began her career at Chicago Public Radio in 1984 before moving to Radio Smithsonian in 1987 and then to NPR in 1990. She currently resides in Evanston, Illinois, with her family.

Excerpts from the following documentaries were heard at this Listening Room. Click available links to hear selections.

Casey Kasem Speaks From the Heart

We've all heard Mr. Kasem do the classic American Top Forty weekly countdown. At least those of us over thirty have. But no matter how many times you have heard him, we guarantee that you have NEVER heard him sound quite like this! (1:33)

Jerome the Pig
by Bob Garfield, All Things Considered, late 1980s

People get very passionate about their pets but few inspire the kind of love heaped upon Jerome the pig. Like the great Fern and Wilbur, Jerome and his owner face trial after tribulation when the city officials insist that Jerome relocate to a more rural sty. (7:58)

Vanity Hair
by Gwen Macsai, NPR's Morning Edition , 1994

What is it that women do when they go to the bathroom in pairs (other than to talk about their dates)? Complain about chin hair. That pesky, wiry growth that makes every woman unfortunate enough to have it feel like Magilla the Gorilla. Gwen Macsai explores the hairy subject, exposing this long-hidden problem to the harsh light of day. (6:24)

Modern Love
by Neva Grant, NPR’s Morning Edition, 2002

Producer Neva Grant does a little modern matchmaking with the unlikeliest of couples. (3:35)

The Museum of Bad Art
by Cash Peters, Savvy Traveler, 2002

Sure, anyone can produce a great radio piece about great art and sure, lots of people can put together a good radio piece about bad art. But only Cash Peters can make a great piece about seriously bad art.... (5:00)


Video clip from What About Joan

Watch what happens as Joan tries to knit her boyfriend a sweater, despite her belief that doing so will prompt the demise of their relationship. This story originated as a radio essay. 4:00

May 2002 – Listening Room with Julie Snyder and Alex Blumberg

Guest bios:

Julie Snyder and Alex Blumberg are the most senior members of the This American Life production crew. Julie Snyder was a reporter for WGN radio in Chicago and also was news director at KZSC, Santa Cruz's public radio station, before signing on to TAL. Alex Blumberg is a former TAL administrator who, prior to rejoining the show in the summer of '99, worked as a freelance radio reporter, contributing to TAL, The Savvy Traveler, and Chicago Public Radio.

Excerpts from the following documentaries were heard at this Listening Room. To hear any of the This American Life pieces, visit the show’s website and search for the story by title.

Stay In Touch
This American Life , 2001

After September 11th, U.S. diplomats started working the phones -- to assemble a coalition of nations to combat this new threat. Forming a coaltion of countries like India and Pakistan, Iran and the U.S. must have been diplomatically tricky, and we got to wondering about how they made those initial phone calls. Second City writer and performer Tami Sagher imagines what it might have been like. (6:00)

Picture Me Rolling
by Shirley Jahad and Celia Vaisman, Chicago Matters, 1997

Here’s the radio diary of a young man trying to decide between legal and illegal employment. His cousins are "crimey," all the rich people he knows deal drugs, but he wants to stay straight. In this excerpt, Kahari documents his first day on the job, and receiving his first paycheck. (5:00 excerpt)

ADM (excerpt)
by This American Life , 2000

Few know about one of the most fascinating news stories from the 90's, but it’s one of the biggest price-fixing conspiracies ever uncovered in FBI history, at the food company ADM -- Archer Daniels Midland. The FBI recorded over 250 hours of secret video and audio tapes, with the help of a mysterious, and quite possibly unbalanced, executive -- simultaneously one of the best and worst cooperating witnesses in FBI history. (5:00 excerpt)

The Last of Jonestown
NPR, 1980

Two years after the Jonestown massacre, NPR broadcast tapes of Jim Jones' sermons discovered at the scene. This was young, revolutionary NPR, with Noah Adams narrating in character, as if he too had been a member of the cult . (7:00 excerpt)

The Souter Nomination
by Ira Glass, All Things Considered

A short segment, produced by Ira Glass when he was at NPR, featuring Robert Siegel as you've never heard him before. (3:00)

Telephone
This American Life , 1998

Following in the This American Life tradition of including a last story that isn’t necessarily in keeping with the show’s theme, this last excerpt comes from a crazy story about a snotty rich kid who learns the error of his ways...in a most surprising manner. (11:00 excerpt)