Third Coast Audio Library

Our vast and ever-growing collection contains thousands of carefully curated audio stories, episodes from Third Coast podcasts, educational sessions on craft from the best makers on the planet, and more.

We’ve also featured some incredible audio work beyond this audio library, in other ways and using other formats: don’t miss the 2021 Web Showcase, featuring a more in-depth look at the winners, judges and even a list of 40 finalists from the 2021 Third Coast/RHDF Competition.

Hard-Hearted Hannah

Eighteen-year-old Hannah Hoose describes growing up as a part of her family's folk band, with all its healthy snacks, archetypal psychodramas, and oddly compelling songs.

Steve the Baker

"Without bread we are all orphans," says the sign that greets customers as they walk into Steve's Bread Shop in Portland, Maine. Meet Steve, who bakes bread in the most traditional way possible: by hand.

Mei Mei, A Daughter's Song

Dmae Roberts tell two interwoven stories in this personal documentary: the frustration she feels not living up to her mother's ideal of a perfect Taiwanese daughter and the compassion she has for a mother who as a child suffered abuse, starvation, and the horrors of World War Two.

Hollister

Hollister is an investigation into what really happened on July 4, 1947, when 2,000 bikers roared into a small California town and left a media explosion in their wake.

Ruth Ellis

Ruth Ellis lived to be over 100 years old. She realized in her teens that she was gay but she didn't talk much about it then.

Music

Music and sound bring layers of meaning to your work. Incorporating them most effectively starts with looking for the movement and metaphor in your materials. Using examples from her own features, Sherre DeLys presents different approaches to integrated sound design.

  • 2002
  • 01:12:12

Electronic Samples Cut-Up

A few years ago, Mark Vernon bought a pile of old reel-to-reel audio tapes at a boot sale (think yard sale, but in the trunks of cars) near his hometown of Derby, England.

New Orleans' Hurricane Risk

In September, 2002, three years before Katrina devastated America's gulf coast, veteran NPR reporter Daniel Zwerdling investigated what would happen to New Orleans if it fell in the path of a Category 5 hurricane.

Once Upon a Time . . . The End

So, you've got your assignment. You've done your research, you've collected your tape, and now it's time (oh god) to write. In this panel discussion, moderated by Robert Krulwich, we examine the Everest and K-2 of story telling: How to Begin and (assuming you can get past that one) How to End.

  • 2002
  • 01:23:00

Pushing the Boundaries of Daily Radio

Diamonds are made under pressure! For this session, Priya Ramu and Steve Wadhams from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation present their advice on how to make daily radio that shines and delights.

  • 2002
  • 01:26:42

Featuring . . . the Feature

The radio "feature" is a long-standing tradition of European broadcasting, a format with a style all its own. Kaye Mortley, an independent producer based in France, describes the feature this way: "These pieces are mind movies -- road movies sculpted out of reality.

  • 2002
  • 01:26:59

Trespassing

Jay Allison leads a discussion about the ways in which documentarians must be skilled in the art of trespassing...

  • 2002
  • 01:24:10

Rocks, Riptides, and Buoys: Radio in the Play of the Airwaves

Longtime proponent of radio as a fluid and flexible medium, Gregory Whitehead plays a variety of work from around the world and gives a philosophical and pragmatic talk on the role of imaginative radio in an increasingly congested media landscape.

  • 2002
  • 01:19:09

These Are a Few of Ira Glass's Favorite Things

Ira Glass plays and talks about radio and print journalism that has inspired him, including some surprising 1970s-era NPR documentaries which may be long forgotten by most.

  • 2002
  • 01:24:13

Interview

With a little savvy and practice, magic can happen between two people and a microphone. Taki Telonidis and Hal Cannon outline the basic elements of conducting an interview, both in technical and human terms, by playing great examples and bringing in the wisdom of master interviewers on public radio.

  • 2002
  • 01:24:40