Celebrity Playlist: "This Radio Story Changed My Life"

We asked these radio producers: "Which story from our archives changed your life?"

Scroll down to listen!
If / Sherre Delys
Chosen by Jad Abumrad, Radiolab : "It wasn't just that If uses music in an interesting way, it is music."

Re:sound #96: The Sandbox Show / Third Coast
Chosen by Scott Carrier, Home of the Brave : "Since I heard Jay Allison's story Subtext: Communicating with Horses , I've tried a hundred times to do what he does in the last 30 seconds of that piece. And I've never pulled it off so smoothly."

Growing Up in the System / Shirley “Star” Diaz and Melissa Allison, Radio Rookies
Chosen by The Kitchen Sisters : "The way she tells her story is so very intimate, and direct. And shocking. Almost like trespassing, but not."

The Living Room / Briana Breen & Brendan Baker, Love + Radio
Chosen by Avery Trufelman, 99% Invisible : "It’s rare to find a radio piece that works like a song: one that you can find new meaning in as you listen to over and over again."

Lifetime Achievement Award: Joe Frank
Chosen by Kevin Allison, Risk! : "Joe's work in the 80's was 'punk rock' in terms of radio storytelling."

Tin Man / Matt Sahr
Chosen by Ann Heppermann, The Sarah Awards : " The Tin Man made me think that radio drama didn't have to be a regurgitation of 20th century styles. It could be experimental, thought-provoking, and whimsical."

My So-Called Lungs / Radio Diaries
Chosen by Mira Burt-Wintonick, the CBC : "It was one of the things that made me realize how powerful and intimate and heartbreaking audio storytelling can be."

Past Recipients

2002 If

A young patient reinvents his experience of being in the hospital through metaphor and allusion. Responding to "what if" questions, Andrew exemplifies the transformative qualities of fantasy, empathy, and humor.

2008 Re:sound #96: The Sandbox Show

This hour: we're diving into the archives and rewinding our way to the 1970s and 80s, sampling some of the fascinating, strange, and hilarious work that was produced when public radio was a medium without a real template.

2008 Growing Up in the System

At age 21, Shirley Diaz is on the brink of aging out of the foster care system. Her life isn't easy now, and soon she'll be on her own, facing a new set of daunting issues.

2015 The Living Room

Diane's new neighbors never shut their curtains, and that was the beginning of an intimate, but very one-sided relationship.

2007 Tin Man

Part Wizard of Oz, part Dante's Inferno, part absurdist radio theater, and part anti-corporate musical, this 20-episode podcast follows the Tin Man (but not necessarily the one you're thinking of) on a bizarre and venturesome journey through landscapes familiar and unknown.

2002 My So-Called Lungs

Laura Rothenberg is 21 years old, but likes to say that she's already had her mid-life crisis. Laura has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs and other organs.