Featured Work
Our vast — and ever-growing — collection contains thousands of carefully curated audio stories from all over the world.
Postcards From a Fanatic Reactionary Pedestrian
What is a fanatic reactionary pedestrian? How does one get to be this way?
- 2002
- 17:53
- Abner Serd
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Thirty years ago no one believed that the psychological problems suffered by Vietnam soldiers were caused by their service in the war.
- 2004
- 12:47
- Alix Spiegel
The Forbidden Voyage
As a young boy, Earle Reynolds had a dream to build and sail a boat around the world.
- 2003
- 43:04
- Stephen Erickson
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.
- 2002
- 20:05
- Daniel Zwerdling
Soldiers React to Prison Abuse
When Youth Radio reporters in Oakland, CA, spoke with their friends returning home from Iraq, they realized that the public wasn't hearing the perspectives of these young soldiers.
- 2004
- 04:19
- Belia Mayeno Choy
The Long-Expected Party
This Radio New Zealand documentary explores the construction of the world of The Lord of the Rings through the eyes of the New Zealanders whose "good old kiwi ingenuity" on the film set brought Middle Earth to life.
- 2003
- 40:56
- Camilla Maling
A Drinking Song
Could The Star Spangled Banner be recast as a drinking song? Holger Mohaupt suggests that in this family, it could.
- 2004
- 01:40
- Holger Mohaupt
Dreaming of Fat Men
One evening in 1994, four women came together for a feast. They had never met one another before. As far as anybody knew, they only had one thing in common: they were all obese.
- 2003
- 41:22
- Lorelei Harris
Waiting . . . for Love
This is a playful exploration of Nicholas Longstaff's first forays into the world of relationships, documenting the semantics of falling in and out of love.
- 2004
- 02:57
- Nicholas Longstaff
The Herrin Massacre
America's history is rich with the stories of antagonistic coal strikes, but the Herrin Massacre of 1922 is a particularly distressing event that resulted in the deaths of nearly two dozen strike-breakers.
- 2003
- 32:01
- Gary Covino
Embroidery Felon
Ray Matterson spent the first year of his seven and a half-year jail term feeling angry at the world. Then he found a kind of redemption -- in a pair of socks.
- 2003
- 04:08
- Jonathan Mitchell
Prey
As producer Rachel Bryant researched seabirds in the remote arctic wilderness of Southampton Island, Nunavut, she began thinking about issues of survival and vulnerability.
- 2003
- 13:08
- Rachel Bryant
Face to Face: Stories From the Aftermath of Infamy
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Americans of Japanese ancestry were subjected to racial hatred, distrust, and incarceration.
- 2003
- 28:30
- Rob Mikuriya
The End
Endings in radio used to serve a purpose: they used to signal to a live audience that the time to applaud was near. But this has changed now, prompting Sara Fishko to take a look at the outdated "ending" and to piece together some favorite final moments for a Big Finish.
- 1999
- 05:47
- Sara Fishko
The House I Live In
The historical saga of the song The House I Live In is a study in changing times, changing values, and fickle politics.
- 2003
- 06:58
- Sara Fishko
Seratonin Syndrome
Ken Nordine wonders if the warning pamphlets included with many powerful prescriptions may cause some of us to suffer mild paranoia.
- 2004
- 03:36
- Ken Nordine
Sound Design From Hell
Film sound designer Steve Boeddeker demonstrates how sound can be used to enhance the emotional impact of a scene.
- 2002
- 05:47
- Jonathan Mitchell
If It Be Your Will: A Radio Documentary Featuring Leonard Cohen
Canadian musician Leonard Cohen insists he hardly remembers anything from his past and that he lives mostly in the present.
- 2006
- 44:12
- Kari Hesthamar
Childhood Trains
What is it about train travel that inspires music and memory? And why do people tend to confess their innermost thoughts once they get on board?
- 2006
- 21:15
- Sandy Thacker
- Steve Wadhams
A Voice of Warning
A heroin overdose left Jade Bell blind, mute and unable to care for himself. Now Bell tours high schools in British Columbia, where his computerized "voice" speaks a loud warning to thousands of students.
- 2002
- 14:31
- Anne Penman
- Trisha Wilson
The View From Here
A patient, blinded in an accident, wakes to another day of darkness. Resolved to sidestep the persistent murk of her obscured vision, she turns instead to the world of her imagination and memory, where the everyday patterns of human routine take on a new significance.
- 2008
- 14:20
- Melanie Wilson
Ice Cream Man
Jonathan Goldstein's got a knack for exploring life's great (and simple) mysteries via the telephone.
- 2008
- 08:44
- Jonathan Goldstein
My T-Shirt Says It All
The T-shirt is a staple of the American wardrobe, worn by pretty much everyone at one time or another. It's a common denominator in a culture marked by differences. But while it's cheap and easy to make, the humble T-shirt shouldn't be underestimated.
- 2008
- 29:00
- Jacob Fenston
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.
- 2002
- 05:10
- David Welch
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.
- 2002
- 08:26
- Joni Murphy