The 2009 Third Coast Broadcast (Hour 1)


A Lucky Wind
Jad Abumrad Soren Wheeler with Co-host Robert Krulwich - Producers, WNYC's RadioLab
Third Coast Best Documentary Award - Honorable Mention

A Lucky Wind is a story of fate. Or is it chance? Is there any difference? Or do we just really, really want there to be?

Hear A Lucky Wind in its entirety (19:26) and find out more about producers Jad Abumrad and Soren Wheeler.

Miner
Gregory Warner - Independent Producer, Homelands Productions
Third Coast Best News Feature Award

Reporter Gregory Warner traveled deep into the Democratic Republic of Congo to visit Bisiye, where most of the world’s Coltan is mined. You may never have heard of Coltan, but it’s a mineral used in almost every electronic device you own. The Coltan industry generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but the big profits never trickle down to the miners, who work in very primitive conditions. Gregory was allowed just three days to get his story. On the second day, he went down into a mine and found Fidele Musafiri, a man who spends most of his time underground, literally trying to hammer out an existence.

Hear Gregory's epic story of how he even found Fidele in the first place (7:52).

Death Comes Home
April Dembosky - Independent Producer
Third Coast Best New Artist Award

Death Comes Home is the story of three families figuring out how to handle the death of a loved one:  where and how to honor the body, what kind of service to perform and what grieving should look like... All without the help of a funeral home or undertaker. They’re part of a growing movement of people who are reclaiming death rites and creating their own ways to honor their dead. April Dembosky followed the three families’ stories – closely, respectfully – and produced this intimate portrait of grief and recovery.

Hear Death Comes Home in its entirety (51:10), find out more about April Dembosky, and see a picture of Joan and Mike, who were featured in April's story.

Forbidden Love: Genetic Sexual Attraction
Aziza Sindhu and Aaron Brindle - Producers, CBC's The Current
Third Coast Radio Impact Award

In Ontario, Canada decades-worth of official adoption records were recently unsealed, creating the potential for hundreds of thousands of people to meet their biological family members for the first time. While this is welcome news for those who are searching, there is a disconcerting, albeit rare, consequence of some adoptive reunions. It’s called Genetic Sexual Attraction or GSA. When GSA happens, a sexual relationship can develop between adult biological relatives. Because of the taboo associated with these relationships, people experiencing GSA suffer shame, fear and secrecy. The phenomenon isn’t new and it’s not entirely unknown in the adoption community, it just isn’t talked about much.

Hear all of Forbidden Love: Genetic Sexual Attraction (33:57)

Gone
Linda Lutton - Reporter and Producer, Chicago Public Radio
Third Coast Best Documentary Award - Honorable Mention

In the Chicago Public Schools, about fifty percent of freshman entering high school never make it to graduation. A lot of kids just stop coming to class. But why? Where do they go? And how do they spend their days? Linda Lutton tracked down absent students to find out.

Hear more stories from the 50/50 series on Chicago Public Radio, which explores what it takes to reverse the tide of students dropping out of the Chicago Public Schools.

Erik Bauersfeld - 2009 Audio Luminary Award Recipient

The 2009 Audio Luminary Award goes to a man whose work was an inspiration to many and whose mentorship spawned some of the most respected sound editors and designers in the business. He is Eric Bauersfield, who at 87 is thought of as the father of American radio drama. Erik’s career began in the early 1960s in California as head of Drama and Literature at KPFA in Berkeley where he stayed for thirty years. One of his nominators put it perfectly when he said “Erik is a true and generous friend for bards, storytellers, poets and romantics who love the sound of wisdom disguised as entertainment.” And it’s true: Erik is not only a writer, producer, and director, he is also a consummate and delightful performer.

Object Piece by Erik Bauersfeld, based on a short story by Drury Pifer (27:35) A man is commissioned by a museum to dig a hole in the Mojave desert after his wife leaves him for a friend.

Listen to a collage of Erik's radio work produced by Jim McKee, a longtime friend and collaborator of Erik's (6:56).

Featured Music:

Jon Hopkins, "The Wider Sun," Insides (Domino, 2009)
Jon Hopkins, "Vessel," Insides (Domino, 2009)
Dabrye, "D-Town Tabernacle Choir," One Three (Ghostly Int'l, 2002)
Nobukazu Takemura, "Curious Child," Child and Magic (Warner Music Japan, 1997)
Flim, "Given You Nothing," Given You Nothing (2008)
Flim, "Paspell Unten," Given You Nothing (2008)
Jon Hopkins, "The Low Places," Insides (Domino, 2009)
Chihei Hatakeyama, "Towards a Tranquil Marsh," Minima Moralia (Kranky)
Chihei Hatakeyama, "Bonfire on the Field," Minima Moralia (Kranky)
F.S. Blumm, "Schneeglocke," Mondkuchen
Jon Hopkins, "A Drifting Up," Insides (Domino, 2009)
Epic 45, "Song for Seasons," Reckless Engineers

The 2009 Third Coast Broadcast (Hour 2)


Three Records from Sundown
Charles Maynes - Independent Producer, Podstansiya
Third Coast Director's Choice Award

When Nick Drake died from an overdose of anti-depressants in 1976, Drake was 26 and had just three failed albums to his name. But fast-forward thirty years and it’s a very different story. He’s sold more albums posthumously than he ever did in his lifetime and is generally thought of as one of the most influential artists of his time. In Three Records from Sundown by Charles Maynes, Nick Drake’s producer, Joe Boyd, reflects on his fascination and frustration with the enigmatic musician.

Hear Three Records from Sundown (27:02) in its entirety and learn more about producer Charles Maynes and the Podstansiya project.

Battle Flagging Father
Hamish Sewell - Independent Producer, ABC's Radio Eye
with Tony MacGregor and sound designer Judy Rapley
Third Coast Best Documentary Award - Bronze Award

Hamish Sewell grew up in New Zealand, the son of a Kiwi mother and an American father. When Hamish was young, his father left the family and returned to the U.S. where he fiercely re-discovered his Southern roots, and fell completely out of touch with his children. Thirty years later, Hamish and his sister Penny traveled to Alabama to re-connect with the father they hadn’t seen in decades. There they discovered that even when they were all physically together, they were still worlds apart – their senses of history, politics, and justice were almost diametrically opposed. That didn’t stop them from trying to reach across the great divide that separated them.

Hear all of Battle Flagging Father (46:55), read an essay by Hamish Sewell about making the story, and see a picture of the Sewell family.

Listen to an interview with Hamish Sewell about how his father reacted to his documentary, how working on the story changed their relationship, and how the story might be perceived by an American audience vs. an Australian one (6:28).

Tom Girls
Mary Beth Kirchner and Rebecca Weiker - Producers, This American Life
Third Coast Best Documentary Award - Silver Award

Mary Beth Kirchner and Rebecca Weiker tell this story of friendship, acceptance and identity. The two producers documented the relationship between two young girls as they met, got to know each other and became buddies. Nothing unusual there. But as the story unfolds we learn what makes their relationship both so ordinary and so unique.  

Hear all of Tom Girls (17:30) and learn more about producers Mary Beth Kirchner and Rebecca Weiker.

My Way or the FBI Way
Michael May - Producer, This American Life
Third Coast Best Documentary Award - Gold Award

My Way or the FBI Way is a complicated story about a complicated man. A larger-than-life character who undergoes a philosophical and political transformation so extreme, he alienates almost everyone he knows, risks total social isolation, and puts his own life in danger. Slowly, over time, Brandon Darby went from being one of the most well-known radical activist in the South to an FBI informant reporting on the activities of his former allies. How did it happen?

Hear My Way or the FBI Way in its entirety (37:08) and learn more about independent producer Michael May.

Listen to an interview with Michael May, in which he talks about the challenges of reporting the story and fills us in on what Brandon Darby is up to now (4:42)

Featured Music:

Andrew Coleman, "Pi Two," Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt (Thrill Jockey)
Melodium, "Saturday Morning," Music for Invisible People, (Autres Directions)
Flim, "My Czesko Guitar," Given You Nothing (2008)
Sack and Blumm, "Bedroom 7," Kind Kind