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.
Making a Scene: The Use of Verite to Show, Not Tell, Your Story
A well-crafted scene, heard on the radio, opens a window onto a new world and allows the listener to fly right in. Claire Schoen explores the process of creating scenes -- showing real people living their lives -- for an audio documentary.
- 2007
- 01:34:06
Greenberger and Greenberg: On Story and Music
Beyond being atmospheric and scene setting, music can play an active role in audio pieces. David Greenberger has worked with a wide range of musicians and composers for his radio monologues, which are adapted from conversations he has with the elderly.
- 2007
- 01:29:10
2007 Getting to Yes: Perfecting Your Pitch (Day 2)
In collaboration with the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR), this session addresses how to successfully pitch radio stories and series ideas to stations, networks, and other acquirers of independent work.
- 2007
- 01:27:30
2007 Getting to Yes: Perfecting Your Pitch (Day 1)
In collaboration with the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR), this session addresses how to successfully pitch radio stories and series ideas to stations, networks, and other acquirers of independent work.
- 2007
- 01:32:57
With a Bird's Eye
Flying across the last 50 years of international feature production is like looking out of an aircraft at night. Looking down you see the illuminated cities, the many shining villages, but far more than everything else you see the sparkling spots of individual talent.
- 2007
- 01:25:14
Emancipation of Sound
The established elements of Feature productions have been words, music, actualities, and effects.
- 2007
- 01:15:37
Documenter and Documentee -- Part Two
Documenting somebody else's life is one of the hardest challenges producers face in their work. Over an extended period of time relationships intensify, stories often change drastically, and the line between personal and too personal blurs easily.
- 2007
- 01:26:45
Documenter and Documentee -- Part One
Documenting somebody else's life is one of the hardest challenges producers face in their work. Over an extended period of time relationships intensify, stories often change drastically, and the line between personal and too personal blurs easily.
- 2007
- 01:24:59
In Praise of the Sandbox
What inspires those who inspire us? Seasoned producer Jay Allison shares work that inspired him a long time ago and inspires him today, work that contains a healthy measure of invention and play -- key ingredients of creativity, even in a serious world.
- 2007
- 01:21:59
Presenting the 2007 TCF ShortDocs: Dollar Storeys
For the 2007 ShortDocs Challenge, the Third Coast was inspired by and collaborated with the Dollar Store Show - a regular reading and performance series in Chicago.
- 2007
- 57:27
2008 Perfect Pitch (Day 2)
Perfect your pitching skills and present your ideas to program producers and editors — or just listen in — as AIR (Association for Independents in Radio) pulls back the curtain to let us in on how stories make it to the airwaves.
- 2008
- 01:27:24
2008 Perfect Pitch (Day 1)
Perfect your pitching skills and present your ideas to program producers and editors - or just listen in - as AIR (Association for Independents in Radio) pulls back the curtain to let us in on how stories make it to the airwaves.
- 2008
- 01:35:19
Noah's "The Classics"
From CF and SD memory cards back to 24-track - with stops for MD, DAT, and cassette - Noah Adams rambles through 30 years of radio production, playing the stories that inspired his own work and that of countless others.
- 2008
- 01:29:41
Neo-Futurism: The Joys (and Rewards) of Forced Creativity
Greg Allen, the creator of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind -- the show which has spawned nearly 10,000 short plays -- conducts a workshop on generating new material, exploring new forms, and beating writer's block.
- 2008
- 01:19:44
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
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
Like Blackpool Went Through Rock: The Story of the Radio Ballads
Fifty years ago, folksingers Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger collaborated with BBC Radio producer Charles Parker to create an amazing body of work - the Radio Ballads.
- 2008
- 01:32:33
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
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
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
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
Caging the Chaos: How to Produce Radio Stories That Aren't Exactly Stories
Common sense dictates that a good radio story should start with a firm sense of what the story is. But what if you only have the vaguest sense of the story -- whether it's a scenario, or an idea, or even a joke you'd like to tell?
- 2008
- 01:12:23
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
These Are a Few of the Kitchen Sisters' Favorite Things
Ever wonder what inspires, obsesses and ignites the Kitchen Sisters? Find out during this hour-plus showcase of audio (and other less-evolved art forms) culled from their accidental archive and the stirring work of others.
- 2008
- 01:17:45
Lenin's Ears
Andrey Allakhverdov, from the Foundation for Independent Radio Broadcasting (based in Russia), talks about what the FNR is up to over in Moscow, and introduces the timezone-bending modern-day audio legend Lenin's Ears.
- 2008
- 06:48