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.

Leaps and Dunes

Summer sleepover camp means more than mosquito bites, sunburn, twig art, and bonfire gatherings. Camp offers many kids their first taste of independence -- which can be equal-parts blissful and terrifying.

Like Blackpool Went Through Rock

In the late 1950s, folk musicians Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger and BBC radio producer Charles Parker joined forces on a radio endeavor unlike anything the BBC (or the world, for that matter) had heard before.

Nuevo South

Siler City, North Carolina, used to be a typical small southern town: lots of families had roots going back a century or two and its citizens were proud of the town's close-knit culture and neighborly feel.

Wellington, Texas

When you enter Wellington, Texas, one of the first things you see is a large billboard that says: Welcome to Wellington: Great Past, Bright Future.

Nina Black

Imagine being so hyperactive and distractible that you can barely keep track of where you are, who you're talking to, and what you're talking about.

Presenting the 2008 TCF ShortDocs: Radio Ephemera

For the 2008 TCF ShortDocs Challenge, the TCF joined forces with the Prelinger Library, a one-of-a-kind collection of books, periodicals, and more, running the gamut from the concrete and tangible to the abstract and etherized.

  • 2008
  • 01:22:48

Approaching Approaches

Alessandro Bosetti talks of the tremors felt while approaching somebody else's life with a microphone in-hand, when fears of exploitation combine with implacable curiosity and the possibility that neither you nor your interviewee will understand each other's intentions.

  • 2008
  • 01:25:40

Mastering the Grill: Why Some Interviews Go Up in Smoke

Some respond to praise, others to badgering, some the frontal assault, others when you sneak up from behind. Brooke Gladstone offers a few interrogation tips (and some audio examples) on how to get your guests to crack and make them like it.

  • 2008
  • 01:20:33

College: A Hotbed of Emerging Producers -- Part One

All around the country college students are asking for and receiving new courses that teach audio production. They're intent on finishing college with multi-media skills, and, lucky for us, they want to help shape the future of documentary audio.

  • 2008
  • 01:20:55

College: A Hotbed of Emerging Producers -- Part Two

All around the country college students are asking for and receiving new courses that teach audio production. They're intent on finishing college with multi-media skills, and, lucky for us, they want to help shape the future of documentary audio.

  • 2008
  • 01:22:35

The Inner Sound of the Outer World

Microphones cannot capture situations as they are percieved. A car crash on tape lacks everything that the experience of an accident amounts to: the surprise, the holding of breath, the shock, the sadness.

  • 2008
  • 01:22:06

Just Listen to Yourself

A bad editor is a curse. Having a good editor is a blessing but can often be a luxury. Deborah George explains how to work effectively with the editor you've been dealt and how to be your own editor if you don't have one.

  • 2008
  • 01:16:31

Listening Critically

Art forms such as film, literature and even TV, generate rich bodies of critcal writing that push the boundaries of what creators do and why, and gives audiences new ways to appreciate the work.

  • 2008
  • 01:29:40

The Dribble-Down Effect

Blending satire, drama, and interviews, this Australian documentary portrays a not-so-distant future where robots care for children and parents agree to live apart from their families during the work week.

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.

2014 Getting to Yes: The Art of the Pitch (Day 2)

A bonafide Third Coast tradition! The second installment of this session once again pulls back the curtain on one of the most difficult and important skills every producer needs to master: pitching a story.

  • 2014
  • 01:12:17

Leave No Trace

There's a slip of paper hanging in Dave Isay's office at StoryCorps with a quote scrawled across it: "A good craftsman leaves no traces."

  • 2014
  • 01:20:10

2014 Getting to Yes: The Art of the Pitch (Day 1)

A bonafide Third Coast tradition! This session pulls back the curtain on one of the most difficult and important skills every producer needs to master: pitching a story.

  • 2014
  • 01:13:32

Public-powered Journalism

Learn how sharing the mic and megaphone can expand your beat, your stories, and your craft.

  • 2014
  • 01:11:09

The Amazing Radio Vertikalisator

Inspired by a Lego time machine her son built, Iceland-based independent producer Rikke Houd created a tool to help producers take advantage of the vast space radio offers.

  • 2014
  • 01:10:25