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 to Say
State park ranger Ed Werler lives alone in a quiet, isolated area of Maine. At the age of 90, Ed reflects on his second marriage, revealing a relationship characterized by love, loyalty, and uncertainty.
- 2004
- 05:57
- Bente Birkland
My Life So Far
The village of Alert Bay, on Canada's Pacific coast, is a study in paradox for the teens growing up there. They have a rich aboriginal culture, but live in grinding poverty.
- 2009
- 26:56
- Lindsay Michael
- Neil Sandell
- Teresa Goff
Jay's Kids
Blues musician Screamin' Jay Hawkins had 57 children, some of whom were happier than others to learn of their father's prolific paternity.
- 2001
- 22:56
- Alix Spiegel
The Ashes of Oakridge
A wildfire swept through Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar, California in November 2008, destroying more homes, and displacing more families, than any California blaze in decades.
- 2009
- 42:17
- Frank Stoltze
- Queena Sook Kim
The Lemon Tree
Bashir was six during the height of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when his family was forced to flee his stone home in old Palestine and live as refugees in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
- 1998
- 41:23
- Sandy Tolan
Healing the Wound of Wounded Knee
Leonard Little Finger is the great-great grandson of Chief Big Foot, whose band of Lakota Sioux Indians were killed at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1890.
- 2000
- 16:41
- Hal Cannon
- Taki Telonidis
The Century in Sound: An American's Perspective
Voice of America's The Century in Sound is a radio documentary that chronicles the entire 20th century without narration.
- 2001
- 38:26
- Adam Phillips
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.
- 2007
- 05:58
- Matt Sahr
Circling the Center of Creation
Scott Carrier joins the ranks of thousands of religious pilgrims who have been circling the base of Mount Kailash in Tibet for centuries.
- 2007
- 18:05
- Scott Carrier
90 Degrees North
From the exact top of the world, Elizabeth Arnold reflects on being so far away from the rest of it.
- 2007
- 11:34
- Elizabeth Arnold
This Ain't No Walk in the Park
City dweller Natalie Edwards confronts her distaste for all things green. Reluctantly.
- 2007
- 06:30
- Natalie Edwards
The 2003 TCF Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient: Joe Frank
The early days of the Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition included a Lifetime Achievement Award.
- 2003
- 16:23
- Joe Frank
The 2008 TCF Audio Luminary Award Recipient: Chris Brookes
The Third Coast Festival Audio Luminary Award is presented annually to an individual who is greatly admired for his or her significant and ongoing contributions to the field of radio. Hats off to the 2008 Audio Luminary, Chris Brookes.
- 2008
- 04:11
- Chris Brookes
Tornado Prom
Susan Burton reports on Prom Night 2001 in Hoisington, Kansas, a town of about 3,000. While the seniors danced, a tornado hit the town, destroying about a third of it.
- 2001
- 25:06
- Susan Burton
Learning to Live: James's Story
James, an ex-felon, narrates the story of his transition from prison-life to self-sufficiency.
- 2001
- 29:03
- Dan Collison
Rip, Rift, and Panic
Rip, Rift, and Panic weaves together stories, archival tape, and sound to create a portrait of the emotional and logistical aspects of living along an earthquake fault line.
- 2001
- 29:33
- Susan Stone
Von Trapped
Von Trapped is a story about a woman obsessed with The Sound of Music, as well as other things Austrian.
- 2001
- 31:43
- Natalie Kestecher
The 2004 TCF Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient: Susan Stamberg
The Third Coast Festival Lifetime Achievement Award (now known as the Audio Luminary Award) is presented annually to an individual who is greatly admired for his or her significant and ongoing contributions to the field of radio. Hats off to the 2004 recipient, Susan Stamberg.
- 2004
- 11:54
- Susan Stamberg
Heroin
In Heroin, teenager Janesse Nieves confronts her father about his heroin addiction, and eloquently shares her own feelings of confusion, anger, embarrassment and disgust.
- 2001
- 08:27
- Czerina Patel
- Janesse Nieves
- Marianne McCune
The Vietnam Tapes of Lance Corporal Michael A. Baronowski
The Vietnam Tapes of Lance Corporal Michael A. Baronowki presents the recovered tapes of a young marine who kept an audio diary of his war experience in Vietnam until his death.
- 2001
- 22:38
- Christina Egloff
- Jay Allison
Corrections, Inc.
The corrections industry has become a $50-billion-a-year business and one of the strongest influences on criminal justice policy in America.
- 2002
- 49:55
- John Biewen
Affairs of the Mind
Affairs of the Mind is a personal and confrontational story exploring the nature of jealousy and the parameters of infidelity.
- 2002
- 48:08
- Kyla Brettle
Annapurna: Memories in Sound
Annapurna: Memories in Sound is an impressionistic sound portrait of the Ximms' trek through the Annapurna Circuit, a popular three-week hiking trip through the Himalayas to Nepal.
- 2002
- 38:00
- Aaron Ximm
- Bronwyn Ximm
Grey Ghost
Grey Ghost is the story of one man and a bird -- or possibly just of one man. It is also the story of an obsession.
- 2002
- 30:12
- Allan Coukell
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.
- 2002
- 34:31
- Joe Richman
- Laura Rothenberg