Coffeeflavouredtea

Moved to coffeeflavouredtea.net

2009-12-20T12:59:00.003Z

Hello! I've moved my blog over to coffeeflavouredtea.net

It's Community Radio time!

2009-10-26T20:03:00.002Z

The closing date for London FM community radio licence applications is tomorrow week, and we're head-long into it! We means London Chinese Radio.

They tell you, don't they, that you'll be working like crazy in the last week. "Ah-ha", thought I, "not us, we'll have have everything in place a few weeks before and just be checking and re-checking to be sure to be sure". As it turns out, we're still working on more parts of the application than we have put to bed. There have been some highs today, wrapping up some parts, and, still best of all, looking through the letters of support – there are dozens! People from here , there and everywhere taking the time to put together an email or a long letter, telling the world we're good and we're needed.

It's an astonishingly good feeling, to read through them – all these years of volunteering really are appreciated! So here's to the next few nights of midnight oil-being burnt, for the good of community, for the good of radio. Good.

Nova – Irish radio innovator

2009-10-19T07:33:00.002Z

[Note: This is from a week ago – I've been looking into moving the blog into a new website, so haven't updated it properly. Here you go for now :-) ]

No, not the 1980s super-pirate, but the avant-garde music and sound art on Lyric FM. For two hours every Sunday night, the host Bernard Clark plays sounds that will stump you – a beep, dissonant strings, electronic music from haunting to house.The novelty of the show reminds us of the artistic breadth that sparkled in 1990s Ireland, when Irish minds returned from far, wide, and the heights of achievement too.

This week, Clark left the studios in Limerick and headed out to Skibbereen, a journey mirroring that of his guest, nature sound recordist Chris Watson. "I don’t regard myself as sound artist", says Watson in the most absorbing, soft Northern English accent you can imagine. "I'm a sound recordist". Our host sounds like he's wearing a black polo neck and possibly even a beret, and the guest is no Bill Oddie. Both are stirred by Watson's mixed recordings of birdcalls, mating displays, the swirling whirling hurling of the wind. But if you want to hear power in a sound, then Watson's recording of a glacier groaning and creaking – from the inside – is unmissable.

And if you want non-speech radio a bit different from the ceilidh music, operettas and chart toppers on the other RTÉ outlets, then Nova is unmissable too.
(Nova, Lyric FM, Sunday 21:00-23:00.)

PPI Winners 2009

2009-10-03T10:45:00.003Z

An enjoyable morning (in London) looking up winning programmes from last night's PPI Radio Awards.
Here's a selection of the winners (full list here).

Also take a peek at the nominations.

A2: Music Programme – Specialist
Bronze – That’s Jazz (Radio Kerry)
Silver – FM 104’s Big Urban Mix (FM 104)
Winner – The Essential Rock Anthems with Ray & JP (Today FM)

A3: Breakfast Programme
Bronze – Dublin’s 98 Morning Crew (Dublin’s 98)
Silver – The Colm & Jim Jim Breakfast Show (RTÉ 2 FM)
Winner – The Red Rooster (Cork’s Red FM)

A4: Music Special
Bronze – The Kilfenora – 100 years – a Celebration (Clare FM)
Silver – Gerry’s Danny Boy (BBC Radio Ulster)
Winner – Tower Songs – a Song Cycle for Ballymun (Athena Media for RTÉ Lyric FM)

GROUP B – NEWS and SPORTS PROGRAMMING AWARDS
B1: News Story
Bronze – Stand UP and fight – a grieving father’s battle for justice (Limerick’s Live 95 fm)
Silver – The Day the Earth Moved (Radio Kerry)
Winner – Publication of the Ryan Report (RTÉ Radio 1)

B2: News Bulletin
Bronze – HIStory – Cork Remembers Michael Jackson (Cork’s Red FM)
Silver – News Bulletin (Clare FM)
Winner – Newstalk 106-108fm News Bulletin (Newstalk 106-108fm)

B3: News Programme
Bronze – Lunchtime with Eamon Keane (Newstalk 106-108fm)
Silver – Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1)
Winner – News at One on RTÉ Radio 1 (RTÉ Radio 1)

B4: Current Affairs Programme
Bronze – Saturday Edition (Newstalk 106-108fm)
Silver – Kerry Today (Radio Kerry)
Winner – Today with Pat Kenny (RTÉ Radio 1)

GROUP C – SPEECH PROGRAMMING AWARDS

C1: Documentary / Feature
Bronze -The Cooneen Ghost ( Shannonside)
Silver – With These Hands – the Documentary on One (RTÉ Radio 1)
Winner – Through Cairo Airport (Colette Kinsella for RTÉ Choice)

C2: Short Feature
Bronze – People’s Parks of Dublin (Don Swift for Country Mix 106.8)
Silver – FM 104’s Real Life (FM 104)
Winner – Henry on a Mission – Moncrieff (Newstalk 106-108fm)

C3: Speech Driven Magazine Programme
Bronze – Tom Dunne (Newstalk 106-108fm)
Silver – The Morning Show (East Coast FM)
Winner – The Ray D’Arcy Show (Today FM)

C4: Drama
Bronze – War of the Worlds (KCLR96FM)
Silver -i102 -104’s Radio Killed the Video Star (i102-104)
Winner – Another Blooming Day (Zoe Comyns for Newstalk 106-108fm)

C5: Specialist Speech Programme

Bronze – The Business (RTÉ Radio)
Silver – iTalk on i102-104 (i102-104)
Winner Talking History (Newstalk 106-108fm)

GROUP D – GENERAL PROGRAMMING AWARDS

D1: Community/Social Action
Bronze – Dublin’s 98 Care for Kids Radiothon (Dublin’s 98)
Silver – Let’s Keep Dublin Working (Dublin’s Q102)
Winner – Tipperary Assaults – Liveline (RTÉ Radio 1)

D4: Entertainment Inserts
Bronze – Dr. Bill – Tom Dunne (Newstalk 106-108fm)
Silver – Dublin 98’s Morning Crew Comedy (Dublin’s 98)
Winner – Gift Grub – The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show (Today FM)

D5: Innovation
Bronze The Emergency (The Colour Purple for Newstalk 106-108fm)
Silver – i102-104’s Radio Killed the Video Star (i102-104)
Winner – FM 104’S Castle of Terror (FM 104)

GROUP E – PERSONALITIES

E1: Music Broadcaster of the Year
Ray Foley (Today FM)
E2: Specialist Music Broadcaster of the Year
Donald Helme (RTÉ Lyric FM)
E3: News Broadcaster of the Year
Seán O’Rourke (RTÉ Radio 1)

E4: News Reporter of the Year
Cian McCormack (RTÉ Radio 1)
E6: Speech Broadcaster of the Year
Ryan Tubridy (RTÉ Radio 1)

GROUP F – STATION OF THE YEAR AWARDS

F1: Local Station Of The Year
WLR FM
F2: Music Station of the Year
FM 104
F3: Full Service Station of the Year
Newstalk 106-108 fm

Catherine

2009-10-02T13:27:00.005Z

Good radio can happen with a few qualities: narrative, intellectual engagement, emotional breadth, sonic engagement…

Powerful radio can be just one person, telling a story that hardly varies in how gut-wrenching or sad it is. No better example, than the story of Catherine, yesterday afternoon. Newstalk, Moncrieff.

They cleared the boards for three segments of an interview by Catherine Sutton with a woman, using the pseudonym of Catherine, who was raped by her step father, and had five pregnancies by the age of 21. The nearest to respite was fleeing to New York and starting to use drugs, and the mention she now has a husband.

Listen here.

There are times when the story is difficult to follow. And after it all, you don't know what you could ever to do help. But you do know what you won't do, what you will look out for.

Simple, powerful radio, with a social purpose. The programmes on other stations at the same time, with whinging phone-ins or classic pop music – feeling sheepish?

Death Diminishes Me

2009-07-19T10:59:00.003Z

Radio New Zealand's contribution to the annual Global Perspectives series is Death Diminishes Me, by Gareth Watkins.

The theme this year is islands – including Alert Bay from CBC's Outfront – and the islands in this superb documentary are the islands of isolation amidst other people. Gay men with HIV or AIDS in New Zealand.

This is how a documentary on HIV should be made – personal, painful, gut-wrenching, and with that engaging. Not fearfully presenting stories that drive people away. To be effective radio, a half-hour must keep people listening before it can move them. Death Diminishes Me does both of these, expertly.

The stories are "familiar" for a few reasons – they resonate with people in other parts of the world, and they speak to us like family or friends.

The production is gorgeous, with sounds emphasising settings, moods, and aspiration.

I lived in New Zealand for 10 months, but I hope and think that shouldn't make this doc speak any the closer to my ear than it inherently does.

Only at the end did I hear that the producer was Gareth Watkins – he engineered one of the three short docs I made there (and it's the best I've ever made, in no small part thanks to his skill), and he is a magician. I didn't realise he had become a full producer, but my it's a good thing.

Following on just a few weeks after the repeats of Thembi's Story to mark her living and her death, HIV and AIDS have been brought into the world's awareness again, in the personal way that only outstanding audio documentaries can.

Here's hoping – no let's make that assuming – Death Diminishes Me will win awards.

Stone Soup

2009-07-16T18:31:00.006Z

So someone tweets about… you know which radio show, and you follow it round to her blog which suggests you lay off the blogging. For the reasons I have been struggling to blog.

Before Twitter bit me, I would post short entries here about a nice show I'd just heard. These days though, those go on Twitter, Facebook, or the lovely AudioDocumentary.org.

So, a compromise: a collection of links and impressions.

Shappi Talk on BBC Radio 4. Two episodes in and this stand-up and interview comedy with an audience about being a foreigner really hits the spot.

Outfront has finished on the CBC.

RTÉ have a new micro-site based round the Documentary on One. It looks fab. Though I admit I haven't faced into a DocOnOne for months now.

The BBC's Save Our Sounds project continues apace, with micro site, an audible world wide web, and two on-air docs. Definitely worth checking out.

RFI staff have suspended their strike, and it's great to hear the podcasts back in French – okay so I understand next to nothing but I have to try to keep it up! The English daily broadcasts didn't seem to be interrupted much.

Interesting podcast called Listen to Africa.

Apparently there was once a famous Irish broadcaster called Liam Nolan. I'll be honest I had never heard of this Today programme presenter.

Finally, by next month, I'll be in a permanent job – my first in six years in radio – at another of the stars of international broadcasting, WRN. I can't wait!

Radio Lab and the BBC

2009-07-02T16:46:00.003Z

Sometimes, it's easy to see how Radio Lab has positively influenced BBC Radio 4. Take for example, the two part series presented by Dr Ben Goldacre, on the placebo effect, and Radio Lab's own.

Sometimes though, it would be really nice to see even a hint of Radio Lab's influence. Take this Analysis on Thought Experiments, which shares some content with Radio Lab's Morality show.

You know, the Analysis may have as much, or even more information. But how much of it sticks? Only the baking topic, which was mentioned three times throughout the programme.

Now, have a peep at the comments on Radio Lab episodes, and you'll see why Radio 4 feels it can't engage more than on part of the brain at once. I can't be arsed looking up any of the examples of people complaining at how the non-speech sounds distracted them and made them angry – there are some there. Now imagine how much more of that crap BBC Radio 4 gets. Too many older listeners, it is my opinion (and attitude), don't want radio to challenge them, they want it to reinforce they choices they've made in life so far. So, they chose to go through education and to save for their offspring to go to university and to look down on those who didn't and so… they like to learn new things. But only on their terms. Engagement, the fearful old people believe, should only happen though the writing. They don't feel free to let themselves go, to let the sound hit them in linguistic spots, musical spots, intellectual and instinctive spots.

And they are the people who own Radio 4. So that is that.

A few years back I had a discussion with creative producer (and Beeb employee) Martin Williams about how Radio 4 seems to lose the run of itself and carry lovely shows from Alan Hall's Falling Tree Productions that go sound and language hand-in-hand, often with sound taking the lead. Martin reckoned (as I remember it) that the Radio 4 commissioners and editors deep down wanted sound-rich pieces, yet didn't quite know it, and Alan Hall created that a space, showed it to them, and they agreed to let him fill it. My view was more that they knew him well, trusted him, and liked the awards that came with it, so left him to fill in day-time half hours.

And, um, now I've run out of steam. Let me give it some more thought.

Radio Academy Podcast

2009-06-27T07:20:00.003Z

For a few weeks now I've been listening to the Radio Academy Podcast. It's a humdinger.

It's a proper podcast for radio peeps. The gusts are from across the, um, spectrum: commercial and Beeb, technical, production, management, regulation. The discussion is well informed and informative. Very groovy.

Wreck Diving in Ireland

2009-05-23T15:08:00.003Z

I caught most of this programme this morning on RTE Radio 1 (audio here). It was a most pleasant surprise! It starts safely enough, but soon turns into a proper radio feature. Not ostentatious, yet very tasty.

Simple music, filed recordings, maybe some FX, used to excellent effect with interviews informative, passionate, and poetic.

"Why are the best shows on Irish radio on early Saturday and Sunday mornings?" I asked myself – a repeat question that still stands.

I was pleased at the end to hear Wreck Diving in Ireland was paid for by the BCI's Sound and Vision scheme, something which had passed me by until recently.

The slot is called Private Passions, and is available as a podcast.

Review: The Emergency

2009-05-06T07:07:00.005Z

I guess it's about time I reviewed The Emergency, broadcast on Newstalk on Saturdays at 11:30 in Ireland.

It's a half-hour satirical sketch show, that has had TV adverts and reviews in the mainstream press. The title refers to the Irish government's official term for World War II; and for the current economic mess.

The direct combining of the two themes probably leads to the weakest sketches. The sense I've gotten is that people are tuning in for satire towards today's politicians, and while they are plenty intelligent to understand what's going on, they'd rather just laugh at Sweary Mary, the unlovable minister for finance, and Brian Cowan going forward.

It also raises the possible accusation of that thing you should never do – comparing someone to the Nazis.

But the strong characterisations of today's politicians give every episode belly laughs. Good!

The most popular part of the show, at least with people old enough to remember the original, is the regular Dev stings – a WWII air raid siren sounds and Dev (I'm told it's an excellent reproduction) sentences the nation to certain behaviour "during the emergency".

This is often greeted with delight by older listeners who don't appreciate the cultural references, to films like Apocalypse Now. When I say "appreciate", I mean "laugh at". The most impressive cultural references are the songs. So far they have had a perfect hit-rate, which is little short of a miracle when it comes to comedy songs. Some of these parodies could just as well be sung by the original performer, they sound great – as does the whole show. Yes, there's excellent audio engineering on it to boot!

As well as their own website linked above, check out the promotional media and the podcast feed on Newstalk.ie

Awesome sounds of radio (astronomy)

2009-04-24T09:33:00.010Z

If you're anything like me, you'll be fascinated, and maybe a little bit fearful, of radio astronomy. At first the big dishes make it seem so inaccessible, yet somehow understandable – that big collector bounces so much of those faint, well-travelled signals, to make the audible. After that though, you're left mystified. What's the next bit of the chain? How and what do you listen to?

The more you read up, indeed the more you just listen to the radio, you learn it can be on familiar territory. Jupiter can be heard around 20 MHz – that's shortwave, any old radio can tune there!

And then there's meteor showers. A smear of a distant TV channel, or a snatch of FM radio from the other side of the continent, is at times because (as I understand it) the signals are twisted by the fuzz of ionisation surrounding a meteor as it dashes through the earth's atmosphere at some point in between and above you and that radio station.

But radio astronomers, professional and amateur, can do something more structured.

Have a look at what this guy, Thomas Ashcroft does. This recording is of one of the most well known meteor showers, Geminids, at VHF, and it is compelling. Trust me, this is awesome.

There are two channels of audio, about 20MHz apart, recorded in the narrowest of modes, CW (that's how you get Morse code), and yet they interact.

Poke around that website, there's lots of good stuff – binaural representations of electromagnetic radiation. He also has receivers recording 300KHz apart around 21MHz for Jupiter, and VLF and ELF – that's 0 - 20 KHz.

Review: Roberts Robi DAB/FM adaptor for iPod

2009-04-23T10:31:00.005Z

I've been trying out an iPod remote control that includes a DAB digital radio and RDS FM radio. It's the Roberts Robi.

I like the Robi. It gives fast, solid DAB and FM reception. On DAB, you can only see the station name, no other text services. It tunes between stations very quickly – using the up and down buttons to scroll through, it changes instantaneously. Note though that I have only used it in Dublin, where there is only one DAB multiplex. The Robi may take a bit longer to tune to different transmitters.

On FM, the RDS is quick and the reception is solid.

For both DAB and FM, the Roberts Robi annihilates the Pure PocketDAB 2000 I've had so much grief from – and what that had an SD socket for playing mp3s, this has your whole iPod!

The size of the Robi is just right, the controls are easy to use, and the cable is a useful length.

Mobile phone pic on the bus:

The negatives:

the switches are easy to accidentally knock, if you put it in our pocket without hold on: this is an issue if you are in a rainy climate and like to retune or adjust the volume a lot – like me!
DAB mode drains the iPod battery at a rate of knots. You'll get one afternoon around town, going between iPod, FM and DAB, on a full charge.
The white cable – maybe this could be black? Most iPods and headphones sold are black or encased in black these days, so the cable seems to draw unnecessary attention.

Other than that, I'm very happy with the Robi. Far happier than my brother was when I gave it to him for Christmas, but hey he returned the favour with a hideous clothes store voucher so all is balanced – we do give the presents we'd like for ourselves, don't we?

Sierra Leone – political radio, UN radio, keeping it under control

2009-04-22T16:22:00.002Z

This from the current Listening Post on Al Jazeera English

Outfront has been canned.

2009-04-01T18:56:00.004Z

The CBC has decided to axe Outfront.

Canada's public state broadcaster has to make huge budget cuts, and Outfront is one of the victims.

In the age of User Generated Content, the CBC thinks it's a reasonable idea to stop a programme that gives professional radio equipment and training to people outside the profession. Outfront gives proper training and production help. The result is strong story-telling that combined a clear documentary, social and historical achievement with engaging, creative radio.

And it's won a ton of awards. I've only written a couple of reviews, because it is so consistently good, I didn't want to seem like I was just constantly praising one pet show. I won't make that mistake again…

Outfront's daily slot is both a strength and weakness: being there for listeners without their having to figure out the day, or check their watches, or schedule their day around a sot on the dial… doing any less almost seems like putting a mill-stone around a programme's neck, especially one without a regular host to – pun intended– anchor it.

But being there day in day out also necessitates repeats, weakening the apparent value.

From this standpoint, it should be obvious that reducing Outfront to one day a week would free up 15 minutes for more affordable music or phone-in sequences; cut the number of admin/assistance hours needed for automation, compliance, etc; and probably leave a few people out of a job.

A huge saving? Not really. You'd save more money by dropping the whole show.

But the other costs of axing Outfront outweigh the financial savings.

I know cuts really can be tough for management as well as the production teams. But on this on, seriously, please, think again.

看中國電影了

2009-03-25T22:24:00.006Z

今天晚上在布魯塞爾Flagey看了《二十四城記》。好久沒有看中國電影了，大概3年左右，今晚看感覺很精彩。《二十四城記》講故事的方式很有意思，是半紀錄片，半演的戲，而且兩個格式混用，有的很難分別。我認為這是對中國電視格式的反應，再加上典型角色又被模仿，又被張開，至少可以說是給中國電視新聞和實施專題報道習慣做個評價。

映完後，陪著兩個同事和她三個相識一起去隔壁的Belga喝一杯。其中一個在電影院工作，我們三四個人談的很痛快。在回家的路上，心情好得我都想跳，甚至高高興興地跑十來米，腦子好像突然重哲血似地。就這兩天，創意感在我的心又開始露面，這過城由《二十四城記》這部電影催進了很多。在快要離開比利時的時祭，一邊戀愛在非洲的女孩，一邊喜歡周圍有魅力的東西，有魅力的文化，有魅力的人。:-)

India.Arie Part 3 – on NPR

2009-03-15T05:24:00.002Z

So there is a neat follow to my previous two posts on this – India.Arie has done a live session on NPR's Weekend Edition, on International Women's day. And that interview and songs brought a lot together.

First off, the language from host and guest was entirely public radio. And it was effective – enhanced yes by the voices of both people (I'm not a fan of "radio voices", but in a soul singer I guess it's a more than acceptable attribute) – listen to Ghetto. The lyrics could be from a radio report, a really good US public radio report.

So there is the influence and the shared language, as much as the shared aspirations. Good job all round.

Doing my bit

2009-03-11T19:14:00.004Z

The v funny BBC Radio 4 Today video – voilá:

Well deserving too coz it's funny!

More on Pearls and speech radio.

2009-03-01T15:16:00.004Z

I've had some comments on that post from Françoise, the friend and huge India.Arie fan who introduced me to the song in the first place. She's allowed me use her comments here, and so I can make some more points about radio. Yay!

First off, the song is a cover, of one originally sung by Sade. Françoise points out "I also think this song is completely one that could have been written by her, and totally fits in the "politics" side of this album (along with songs like "Better way" and the great "Ghetto")"

Françoise says something I tried to say in the first post, only she says it, you know, clearly: "I also think the new shoes are more than a constrasting parallel for the pearls, knowing that the pearls she's looking for are meant for the same Western chicks whose shoes hurt (and that includes me, I know)"

Yep, I could have expanded on the meaning of contrasting parallel, but there's no need to now coz it's written just up there.

She points out how the song brings to mind this poster by Amnesty International.

"I really love what you say about how you can find a different meaning to the song each time you listen to it while a radio show is most of the time very poor (just delivering factual information) - that's why I loved… On est où là on RFI. I totally agree that radio is one of the most frustrating medium on earth for that!"

I generally agree, that the news bias of radio is more a weakness than a strength – while the general acceptance of it as a news medium keep a certain amount of funding coming into radio, it also plays a part in under-seling it. No radio programme will get the production or promotion budget of a Hollywood movie (nor the awards), but if you have a choice you can be as well entertained, enlightened or transformed in an hour at home – for free – than €10 worth of a trip to the cinema. Because, radio is for news and traffic, right?

Referencing: Towards the end, there are some vocals not in English. This is where I think of the typical Africa story on public radio – narrator-heavy stuff, that, frankly, switches me off. Does India.Aries' African ancestry change that? As a listener, hearing it once, not sure either way.

"These lines are really... Perplexing. First because I'm not sure I get why those "vocals not in English" make you think of the typical Africa story on the radio - rather than the lyrics of the song. By the way it's by Ivorian singer Dobet Gnahore, which I think is important because India makes a song on Africa that sounds African - the whole song's chords sound African actually. Please don't link this to India's African ancestry. Too much of a shortcut."

Exactly – does the performer (be it singer or host) being African-American mean their dealing with Africa in their work is more fair or accurate than someone else's? It's worth noting here that India.Arie has visited Africa, which is more than I have. But to go into more detail about my original post: So many radio pieces about Africa are narrator-driven, with the (usually white) reporter telling you pretty much everything, over a general sound bed of the events concerned. Interviewees are put to air far less than in other stories. The producer's line is probably a simple, mechanical radio one: the accent is too hard to understand on the radio.

Isn't that just patronising?

Well, once in a while one gets thorough, and suddenly, the feature's shows that have the values, the interest and the money to cover Africa, start getting kudos from features shows. Here's a recent and very good example: The Mender of Broken Hearts.

Back to the staid old model. Is it any different from how, towards the end, something obviously African briefly appears?

One reason why I am less qualified to have an opinion here is simply how it is a piece of music, and, I am ever happy to admit, I am not 100% on the vocabulary of music. Still, I wouldn't do it.

It's taken me days to finally sit down and write this, and so, I feel like I've left something out. Typical!

Update: Some very similar topics are being raised in photojournalism, at the duckrabbit blog. Simple, good points.

India.Arie teaching Public Radio

2009-02-23T12:22:00.004Z

Have a listen to the song in the YouTube clip below. Its called Pearls, and it's from the new album by the American singer India.Arie. Listen to the lyrics. And tell me if you have ever heard an American pubic radio show tackle those sort of issues, in those ways.

It would be difficult, but not impossible, for a typical or famous public radio host, I think, to open a link or report like that, There is a woman in Somalia, scraping for pearls by the roadside. There is a force stronger than nature, keeps her will alive.

Certainly some of what follows is not unknown to our medium and its formats.

But then:

And it hurts like brand new shoes.

Any public radio host would have to apologise in advance for perhaps offending his listeners – I don't think a female host would feel able to us that analogy at all, fearing or feeling too superficial, girly, urbane.

Yes, it brings it home to something everyone can associate with, but doesn't that mean it belittles her suffering? After all, she's off in Africa, her suffering must be far beyond just a new pair of shoes.

Really?

She's dying to survive.

For pearls. Now combined with the musical elements, I don't think it's immediately apparent how the message moves. The radio producer, knowing the need for it to be simple to be understood in one listening, will cut the story down. The message moves on from the staid image – a woman in Africa suffering – to a calm celebration of the survival.

The brand new shoes are contrasting parallels for the pearls, of course. And the imagery is superb.

As speech radio producers there's a lot we can learn from this song.

Towards the end, there are some vocals not in English. This is where I think of the typical Africa story on public radio – narrator-heavy stuff, that, frankly, switches me off. Does India.Aries' African ancestry change that? As a listener, hearing it once, not sure either way.

Now my conventional musical vocabulary is limited – I'm comfortably limited to this radio-centric arc – so I know I may have missed some obvious progressions and interpretations. I've listened to the song a dozen or more times – but there are so few 4 minute radio pieces I've heard that often. On the other hand, my interpretation has changed a lot, while with the radio item, at least most of the meaning has to get you first time. Rarely will I listen to an item more than three times, and yes you catch different things each time. On occasion the impact is much less on the second listen, and that would mean a superb traditional radio item. That is not always the case, often as a shortfall in our skill, of course, but increasingly by design. It takes a lot of self-belief to think people will re-listen to a whole hour-long show on their iPod just to get your repeatable report, but I think the people who are conscious of it, are doing work worthy of it.

I am leaving quite a few loose ends here: please comment!

Finally, if you're at all familiar with my blog or my listening, you'll know what show I have been itching to mention here, but out of self-discipline, I'll hold it in ;-)

How We Got Here (PRI) and Alison Des Forges

2009-02-21T17:23:00.008Z

Four episodes in, I'm really enjoying How We Got Here, a podcast from PRI's The World. I've never heard The World – what stands out the most about it to me is how a studio manager in Bush House got excited telling how good the ISDN line to WGBH in Boston used to sound, and with so little delay.

So all I know of the content of The World comes from this podcast, which I noticed when its producer Jeb Sharp mentioned it in her Twitter. And I follow her on Twitter because there, she follows my place of work, International Crisis Group. In this episode of the podcasts, those two worlds have slid into sync.

How We Got Here, episode 4, is about the Cambodian genocide trials, and moves on to talk about Alison Des Forges, who did astonishing work for Human Rights Watch in Rwanda. I admit I had never heard of her before last week, but she was clearly well known and admired by my colleagues.

In this podcast, an anthropologist called Susan Cook spoke of how Alison Des Forges, and of how media isn't enough to stop genocide, yet genocide must be documented. This matters to me, and it's why I've ended up, albeit briefly, in Crisis Group's Communications Unit.

The topics for the How We Got Here podcast have all hit the spot for me, and I have been promoting them around the office. If you are interested in these fields, or, to put it simply, if the title appeals to you, then subscribe to How We Got Here.

Finally, a note that I am not staff at Crisis Group, and what I write here is my own opinion, not Crisis Group's.

A poem about Ireland today

2009-02-17T07:55:00.004Z

A slight change in direction this time, with poetry from a radio producer of yore. Kevin O'Connor is my uncle, and one of his docs came to mind as I was doing a fantasy job interview for Radio Lab in the parks south of Brussels at the weekend.

In the mid-90s he made a documentry about his late brother, which included his sister describing the childhood home something like this: Grand-da lived at the top of the house. I suppose you could say Grand-da was the the matriarch of the family.

I remember my mother asking him why he left that in, it was embarrassing (a show was the term used, I expect), and (as I remember it), he fudged the answer.

The RL context was as a way of illustrating humanity in a radio item. Especially in contrast to Hugh Manatee.

Moving on to the poem in question. Typos are the artist's own. And I admit I can only see reference to The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Let me know what more what I'm missing.

ODE TO A *ANKER

Well Seanie, you’re the Boyo
Built the Bank - and broke the Bank
Skipped away to nurse your wounds
which were all our dreams...

“ Each man kills the thing he loves”
As you’ve oft heard said
‘The coward does it with a kiss
The brave man with sword...’

And some with hefty borrowings
Of many, many millions...
as Pensioners in public weep
for their lost shares of comforts

Well, Seanie, you’re the boyo
brought a country to its knees
Fitzpatrick of the silver locks
Put the rest of us in hock

So here’s to you, me boyo, Seanie
Did what no else could do
Built the bank and broke the bank
and flushed our savings down the loo....

Kevin 0’Connor

AudioDocumentary.org

2009-02-10T09:57:00.002Z

Hat-tip to the Hearing Voices blog, on AudioDocumentary.org. I've never seen it before, but it looks good – like a more demanding version of Public Radio Redux. Basically, a collection or short reviews and pointers to good audio.

It is all US stuff, as far as I can see, but it goes beyond just NPR and PRI, to include traditional media outlets that are not traditional audio outlets, plus some more.

Nice links bar on the right too gives me a couple of new sites to check out.

So far, thumbs up!

Dinky explanation of frequency effects.

2009-02-10T05:48:00.003Z

Here's a nice (and seasonal) explanation, in pictures alone, of beat frequencies.

Now maybe the same guy can answer my age-old question: Can you ever hear someone else's tinnitus? I admit the answer is most likely no…

A few months of freebasing

2009-02-06T07:44:00.003Z

Let me outline my listening since about November:

In the build-up to the new series of Radio Lab last Autumn, I set up a recorder (Wiretap Pro) to save for me the Real Audio streams of older shows, when the "lab" meant a weekly experiment in radio from all over (in contrast to how it's nowgenerally taken as "this is a radio show about science". Anyhoo). I listened on my pocket recorder (Olympus LS-10 -- it can double as a mp3 player after all), on the commute to work, and listened to each episode of the new series twice.

And then it was all gone. Cold turkey.

Next I somehow or other discovered the unofficial podcast of Jonathan Goldstein's WireTap on CBC. I had about two years worth of episodes to listen to. So I did. They fitted very neatly into my commute -- that meant two episodes a day. I love it. And I think it started to show in my podcasts too... ;-)

And then... it was all gone too. I'm down to one a week.

Twitter wanderings recently brought me to Ear Ideas, and a podcast in praise of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales (the stuff of my childhood), by none other than Stephen Fry. And so I have discovered Stephen Fry's Podgrams. And so I am freebasing again! There is thankfully a backlog, so this morning I listened to something about a year old. And it nearly had me punching the air for joy. Not much to say about the format -- it's just about noticeable. What matters, here as much as in Radio Lab and Wire Tap, is what is communicated. Which really is a pointless statement as that is what everyone does in radio anyway! Maybe though this is a pointer to the difference between an art and a craft. For sure, mixing the two can tie you up -- as it has done for me. As a trainer, I may well have unnerved people as much as other editors did me.

Am I out of the knots yet? Over the fear of people that stops you micing a situation right? Not quite. But if you fear people, you'll only occasionally make great radio. Does the thread follow out to all of art too?

Radio Today Obama splash page

2009-01-18T19:46:00.004Z

How cool is this? The splash page on the front page of community station Radio Today in Johannesburg, South Africa.

From Blogger Pictures

I don't bloody believe it.

2009-01-10T16:40:00.004Z

I mean, it always made sense: Kinder Eggs were from Switzerland, right? German name, but it's chocolate, and white and reddish-orange, so it's Swiss, naturally. But no, no, no.

The Shocking Truth.

Transom's got its groove back

2009-01-04T20:20:00.007Z

So the holiday season may leave slackers like me with less radio to write about, but not so the Radio Wisemen.

On my journey back to the responsible world, from the padded (tinselled, stuffinged) world of Home, I used-up my year's worth of CBC WireTap unofficial podcasts. I have had to feed the habit with Jonathan Goldstein's Transom manifesto, which I never knew about before. It was linked from a fan blog that frankly makes this place seem anti-Radio Lab by comparison.

So you've read it, and found the TAL piece with ease but not the Outfront one. And you move on to the Talk.

See that first name at the top of Talk? And see who's the current Manifesto guest? And see who's comment appears top of the list there now? And the second? And now back to Jonathan Goldstein's Talk, and see the second name?

On it goes. The great and the good and the rest of us reading and smiling warm-and-fuzzily.

Marantz replacing pooey PMD660

2009-01-01T10:44:00.003Z

with an SD recorder, in a similar form factor but with the styling of the PMD620.

Officially.

Will keep an ear out for unofficially…

Here's hoping they put actual pre-amps into this one… ;-)

Yellow Fluff

2008-12-21T20:46:00.003Z

What a cracker of an episode. Jad-Robert back and forth, Oliver Sacks, linguistic sound effects, music, this show appealed to the devotee (um, like me).

The first time I listened was on a train – I don't think I've ever done that before, gone fresh to a episode of Radio Lab in a noisy world of sounds and headphones and inhibition. But my how it grabbed me. I used the pause button when faced with ticket collectors and opening doors (when you see a train at the weekend in Belgium, you don't let it leave without you). I reacted, giggling, smiling and shuddering like I had a bot worm in my scalp, in spite of what the late night Amsterdam and Antwerp crowd might have thought.

It felt like a final episode – until the end leapt up out of nowhere. It is the end of this series, but, it would seem, not the end of Radio Lab.

Somehow this this episode slipped my mind, which is silly cos it's unforgettable! I started the review weeks ago, but forgot to post it. And now it's all over. Sigh.

Thank you and congratulations to the Radio Lab on an excellent season.

RTÉ Choice

2008-12-11T20:07:00.001Z

I've been poking round RTÉ Choice, and I like it.

RTÉ Choice is a speech-based station on Ireland's limited DAB digital radio network.

The programming is a mix of RTÉ Radio one material (some is archive, some I can't be sure of), with some top NPR programmes including Morning Edition, Car Talk, and (wait for it now…) Radio Lab. It also includes the usual BBC rebroadcaster fare – World Today and the features strands – and some unexpected, but very welcome programmes: Hancock (which seems to be Hancock's Half Hour), and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

So they've done a decent deal with the BBC. Listeners in Ireland are more aware of the domestic programmes than the World Service ones. This mix of BBC stuff will be popular.

Moving across the pond, I admit I'm not sure I've ever listened to a whole edition of Car Talk, so I can't really comment.

Much of the other programming comes from WRN. I expect they've done some sort of deal to get a discount on the carriage of RTÉ's own programmes on WRN.

There are also some Deutsche Welle programmes in there – I don't know if that's as part of WRN or paid separately.

Finally, there are some parts of the schedule marked "RTÉ Choice". Some are just one minute, some longer. They bought one of my two pieces on PRX – the two minute one.

Have a look at the a day's schedule.

It's available on DAB – which in Ireland, is in limbo, pressed right up against the pearly gates, but still, in limbo. It covers 44% of the population, leaving out cultural cities like Galway and Kilkenny. It's also available online. Probably not going onto Sky Digital I imagine, what with BBC Worldwide rights.

It's a tough time for most broadcasting (though I suspect we're better off than many businesses – more on that in an upcoming post), and I don't know if RTÉ Choice can quite pay for itself. It looks like it might, just about, break even.

The easiest way to get money from rebroadcasting is, unsurprisingly, often objectionable. Five years ago, when I worked at China Radio International, it was suggested that CRI would pay up to €10,000 a month for a good relay in Ireland. But not only were the programmes mostly poo, they were mostly propaganda too, and so might break the license of a European rebroadcaster. I guess the Luxemburgerers and Albanians don't mind.

RTÉ Choice has an online player, and maybe they could add some geo-coded advertising, for listeners using it e.g. as a time-shifted US public radio station.

I welcome RTÉ Choice. It has become one of my choices.

Diagnosis – Radio Lab

2008-12-11T05:49:00.005Z

For some reason I didn't get to hear all of this episode in one sitting. I ended up downloading it and listening in chunks, to a slightly distorted and over-length version.

The first half took a second listening. It worked very well on the second listen, and superbly on the third. The first time round it somehow didn't move quite right – the stories somehow didn't have enough followability – be it the right mix of liner content, presenter interaction, sense of direction in the listener, whatever. The flat presentation style of the pathology story has been switching me off of late. Ah, did I call it the pathology story? Coz that's not what it started as, it was pancreatic cancer, right? And the medical professional became the proxy for the ordinary, non-medical listener. On the first listen, it didn't seem to carry off the elegant twirl. Somehow. It maybe reflected the human-mess-ness that sparkles when Jad and Robert are on opposing sides of what a revelation means.

That was rich in the second half, combined with the some other rocks of the show (familiar voices, wonder, highly effective FX, and brain scanners). In contrast to the top, it takes a very common condition – depression – without squeezing the raw spots – sensitive spots, yes; raw spots, no. And inside it there was a sub-story that itself twirled – Sudden Infant Death to radiation to poverty to… diagnosis. It worked.

Emanuel's story: Some would say this was a bit too NPR. Fair to both sides, yet steeped in the mainstream attitude towards disability. In the US, that understanding is far better than, for example, in China – if you want see me fume, do a story that says "只有一个词：勇敢". My mother was a remedial teacher, and I've worked with an autistic colleague who was, if not undiagnosed, at least never stated his condition. Add to that hypochondriac bonding with a BBC studio manager, and I feel autism is a part of my life. Emanuel's story gave me facts about the condition and its status in the US, not an insight into the condition.

But this story did give me an insight – into Emanuel's life and his family. That was awesome.

A final note, on the start. A fun tale of domestic damage, dispute, and deception. Kinda pushes a lot of buttons, for a lot of people. Not a winner to stop people switching off at the top… but maybe that's just me.

Winner

2008-12-10T06:04:00.003Z

I've just noticed that My Father Takes a Vacation was recognised at the Prix Italia. Here's my review of the RTÉ version from yonks back.

From the Prix Italia website:

RADIO DOCUMENTARY – SPECIAL PRIZE FOR EXTRAORDINARY
ORIGINALITY

SWEDEN – SUEDE SR
MY FATHER TAKES A VACATION
DIRECTOR: MARTIN JOHNSON PRODUCER: MAGNUS ARVIDSON
SCRIPT: MARTIN JOHNSON

This programme moves across landscapes drawn from postcards sent by a
father who has abandoned his children. When the author was a teenager, his
mother died of cancer and his father, unable or unwilling to shoulder the
responsibility for three young children, left home to cycle through Ireland.
Martin Johnson casts a cool eye on this story of unforgivable desertion as he
retraces his father’s steps through Ireland. The jury was impressed by the
restraint and the sophisticated dramaturgy of this piece which never collapses
into sentimentality. They also commend the technical production of this very
difficult quest into the past.

2008-12-06T18:36:00.001Z

Tipping my hat to PRX's Remix Radio blog, this is a funderella and/or geekerama source of sounds.

Quote:

These are some typical sounds we hear in our data recovery lab. If your hard drive makes noises like these and you are still able to access your files - backup immediately. If you no longer can see the drive please fill out our simple evaluation form to get a fast quote on our data recovery services.
To listen to the sound simply click on the play button(one at a time). It may take some time to load. Click on the drive manufacturer next to the sound button to learn more about common problems these drives experience.
If you want to use these sounds in your music (yes, we have received lots of requests already) - no problem, but please contact us first.

New Today FM website

2008-12-04T21:05:00.004Z

Oooh the 21st century has arrived at Today FM! The old website was a stinker, but this new one is gorgeous.

Reasonable audio access on the front page – it's mostly a pop music station so a lot of listen on demand (a la BBC WS) is a bit pointless. There's no social networking like Virgin/Absolute Radio – but this is whooole lot prettier than that. It has some videos too (which I have yet to look at as it's time to fall asleep to Mixtuur).

Anyway, for the station they are, the first impression is of a humdinger of a site.

Radio Lab - Race

2008-11-28T21:23:00.003Z

A classic.

Almost nostalgic, with the children of DNA letters, the whispered commentary of one host as another has an unexpected interaction with the missus, the runner, the structure with science and then more humanist or emotional or traditional feature at the end.

Some super music – in particular, the journey to the DNA lab with Nell Greenfieldboyce. Its story-telling application was also strong on the early stage of the Vitol drug history. It was loud (if you wish to say that kept a distance from a controversial guest, okay) – it was intriguing. It worked (for me at any rate. Wish I could be that good at music… well I will be, it'll just take time…) And having that archive audio, broadcast quality, and using it in the flow.

Tasty pauses.

The hints towards the mood of Obama America was there – it would be a crime if it wasn't – going from the opening cut to the interstitial chanting.

I've already posted it to my Facebook as: "Just released today, this is an instant classic Radio Lab. Someone stop me being so zealous. Actually, don't."

It's here... the YouTube for audio

2008-11-26T07:58:00.002Z

Hasn't it been a little bit, just a little bit, of a bummer, how YouTube is there with all its video joy, and nothing like it has happened for audio? There was something attached to Archive.org that kinda got close (I think. Can harldy remember it).

Now though, I think we have a winner.
www.Huffduffer.com. The name helps -- it's a reference to radio direction findng, and sounds funny, so geeks and non-geeks are all in! It uses links to audio, so the bandwidth costs aren't prohibitive.

And you can just dive into the tags! Okay one suggestion there is to be able to chose to view tags alphabetically. Maaaybe even geographically.

Anyway, my Huffduff RSS feed is in the right hand side-bar. Send me yours if you like :)

CBC Radio This is Only a Test

2008-11-25T21:17:00.001Z

Facebook event

One night only, a chance to see comic Nile Seguin in action as he hosts a new
show for CBC Radio called This Is Only A Test.This Friday we're taping the pilot
for a show that looks at the psychology of why we do what we do.Come on down,
get your laughter and applause recorded for radio, and find out the reasons
behind such human quirks as why we'll often take the "free" choice, rather than
the one that makes the most sense and how to improve your brain with a simple
off-the-shelf beverage. Honest.The show is all about better living through
psychology -for this show you can learn how to save money by understanding how
your brain works.For tickets to this event, just email testtickets@cbc.ca

That's been sent round to members of Definitley Not the Opera's Facebook group. Looks good!

Mixtuur

2008-11-25T08:16:00.007Z

22:30, leaving a fun work dinner, on a Monday. Yes a Monday, and the Monday after a snowy, testosterone weekend has left you acnefied and aching. Out into the cold, and walking home through Brussels.

Newly repaired headphones are in the outer part of my backpack, so I can get that in my gloves. The Olympus that doubles as podcast player is buried in the main part – so why not go for the pocket radio. It's good to walk the streets in the cold flicking between the north African stations, the noise and reflections as an FM radio moves in the city, the Walter Benjamin thoughts as the Wildean prison appears to the left.

And back round it goes to the bottom of the band, and 89.5, and… sound art. Now that catches me off guard! It was good, the real deal, and the presenter speaks suddenly and in Dutch. It's good. I recognise a piece – is it Gregory Whitehead? The only familiar name in the next stream (of Dutch) was John Cage. What a show, could it really be five nights a week? Cos it's so good I bet it's just one night a week. Up into the dark terrazzo apartment, switching to the big headphones, the bigger radio.

Top of the hour… "jazz"…? Ah they've segued into the next show. Happily to sleep, and today, in the office, the facts.

It's called Mixtuur, and yes, it is five nights a week. Huzzah!

Radio Lab – Sperm

2008-11-22T19:58:00.006Z

Gosh.

Some episodes of Radio Lab leave me feeling uplifted, wondrous, and in love with life. Some leave me feeling thoughtful, solemn, and in love with life.

This was one of the solemn ones, and unusually not from Robert's thoughts.

It was a gorgeous show, even if I'd already heard another version of the story of the woman looking for her sperm-donor father, and even though it's the first time I can think of hearing bum edits on Radio Lab – frankly, considering how many of those I've put out there myself I am in no position to criticise on that front!

There were lots of pauses in this episode. Perhaps that will soothe the automated grouching of some listeners who object to "that confounded music playing under people – so disrespectful". But that's for my father – for me, the pauses are a reminder that it is called Radio Lab after all. Old school in its creativity and weighting, and it soothes me to know they are able to do that still – god what am I saying, of course they know the can do that, fans (like me) never stop telling them they can.

There were the proper scientific moments of wonder, and the entertainment and engagement that makes us love it. As the ducks were mentioned, I wondered if I was finally going to hear proof that I wasn't hallucinating that time I saw a duck in the Kensington Park Round Pond – well I've seen many ducks there, but for some reason, this one was showing off its willie – and it was corkscrew shaped.

I have an idea this might have been mentioned on an episode of Qi – which when you think about it, is like the TV version of Radio Lab, but with only one, much less impressive, American.

Ok I'm rambling. Just to note I've written this straight after listening – I haven't listened back to the Sperm episode yet at all.

Update: For the first time in ages I've woken up in the early hours fretting about something other than work. I was fretting about… this review of Radio Lab! Having listened just once, it struck me I may have heard an incomplete mix of the show, missing a sub-mix or something – that would explain the editing near the top.

Man I need a life already…

Filming East director interview

2008-11-19T19:33:00.003Z

Ruhua has done an interview with the director of the Filming East festival in London, for London Chinese Radio. The show it was due to go out on was cancelled, so I'm putting it in my podcast here to spread the love.

Getting a bit one-tracked

2008-11-18T19:26:00.002Z

I've looked back over my recent posts, and there is way too much stuff about Radio Lab there! That's not to say Radio Lab doesn't deserve a fansite, it does, but I really must diversify. So I'll try not to mention it for… a few days, how about that? Let's say until after the next episode, on Friday.

It might be a bit difficult because last week the cable on my Panasonic noise-cancelling headphones broke. At the weekend I tried to get a replacement – the best I could do was a clunky, overpriced minijack-minijack cable at MediaMarkt. It was too clunky, so I had to pare the rubber case back – in so doing, breaking one connection. I don't have a soldering iron here (and with three in Ireland, I don't intend to buy a new one!), so that was that. I guess I'll have to get off work early enough to reach one of the pro-audio stores in town if I want to regain my commute! Not ready to take the plunge and go for in-ear headphones – I'm just not convinced the ears were designed to work that way, so I'd rather look weird with the big fat cans.

So what else do we have to look forward to this week? Well, the new PRX is to launch on Friday, and I hope to have a piece ready for it in the next ten days. It'll probably be a mono-lingual item, made from material I used in this BBC Cantonese piece.

Choice

2008-11-16T06:11:00.005Z

Ahhhhh. Finally, the new series of Radio Lab has started.
And there's no anti-climax – Choice was a bute!

Lightness of touch – the chemistry and banter between Jad and Robert; the squeals – Oliver Sacks being so Oliver Sacksy; wonder – a hot coffee?; delicious imagery – the smashing window but almost everywhere else too; and surprise – Jad priming Robert.

And neuroscientists and Jonah Lehrer.

Ahhhh. Lovely. I wonder are there neuroscientists who study how people listen to Radio Lab? Oooh, and I've figrued out the typography. Radio Lab is two words – the logo is just one word, but in different colours. Wrong by rules, right by convention.

I made a point of listening to it streaming from WNYC FM. Phone switched off, dimmed lights, big comfy headphones.

And it's fab.

Oh and remember when Jad called us all bitches? That was funny. He also did an online chat thing afterwards.

Funny how they call them Ethernet cables

2008-11-12T05:50:00.005Z

It's kinda weird, but the internet is depriving me of radio. These days, about 80% of the radio I hear is delivered by the internet. Mostly podcasts. A bit of streaming, mostly at work.

And listening to the online versions, I've been missing out on some interesting things. Mostly, as it happens, Canadian.

I've never heard a full episode of DNTO, and just this morning I discovered that WireTap is not just Jonathan Goldstein on the phone.

And how did I discover this? Thanks to the joy of an unofficial WireTap podcast. It turns out it has music (in some episodes) – and the podcast rights for that might just be the reason CBC only gives snippets.

I like the format of both the regular and January live music episode – arguably very car-friendly. Perhaps oddly, it reminds me of things like The Tonight Show on NBC – and probably has as much content what with the gaping lack of enormous advertising breaks every few minutes. Bizarre :-P

It's coming…

2008-11-10T21:11:00.002Z

The excitement…

From the official Radiolab blog:

Post-Show Chat with Jad Abrumad
By Radiolab

November 10, 2008

Listen to “Choice,” the first episode in Radio Lab’s fifth season, this Friday (Nov 14) at 3pm on 93.9 FM WNYC. Afterwards, go to themorningnews.org to join co-host Jad Abumrad and your fellow Radio Lab listeners for a live online chat from 4-5pm.

The link to the Choice episode reveals that the other episode pages are up too…

Bush House – RTÉ's new digital radio stations

2008-11-10T18:54:00.002Z

Indulgent title, I know :-)

In particular, it's this: Nick Randell's ScratchNSniff radio show on RTE Pulse! It's funky! It''s wacky! It's Gaytastic! And it's every Wed nite at 9 on Pulse!

Hello Everyone

2008-11-09T09:54:00.001Z

I've been pondering this phrase, after hearing it used on the CBS Evening News. The CBS newscast is carried by Sky News in the UK and Ireland in the small hours – and if you're in Dublin Airport for an early flight, you can't really get away from Sky news.

Anyway, at the start of the programme, the newsreader opened with "Good Evening Everyone" (it might have been everybody rather than everyone). This officially breaks one of the most basic rules of broadcasting, in that it doesn't address the you as the only listener, rather it makes you out to be one of many.

But might it not be daft to suggest that you are the only viewer of a national US evening newscast? To some extent, it feels that bit more personal, to be acknowledged as an audience of "everyone". At lest that gives you credit as more than the one-size-fits-all of just "good evening".

The CBS Evening News seems to break a couple of conventions, such as the mix of male/female voices. The anchor and the first four reporters were all female, with only one male reporter in the half hour. Though to be honest that rule never held much truck with me – it's the content that counts. Aside: I wasn't watching the bulletin, the TV was out of my vision but clearly audible.

And there is someone who often says "Hello everyone", who is archetypal BBC: it's how Jonathan Agnew starts a stint as the commentator on Test Match Special. I can hear two uses for it. One is to acknowledge the presence of the listener, though some may dislike the sense of being taken out of the chat at the ground and shoved back at the end of the radio in their kitchen, potting shed or car. And the other is to establish himself as the commentator, after that last while from Henry Blofeld or whoever. "Hello everyone" is like a catchphrase, a meaningless term that allows the listener tune in to your voice, and your next sentence – you first original content of the stint, if you like – has more weight, because it has been punctuated and the mind is ready for the encoded meaning of the words, rather than the blob that "hello everyone" is hiding: "New voice – Aggers – oh this should be fun – and he's just starting, so he'll remind me of how it's going".

And of course Test Match Special has almost nothing but male voices!

Not unlike The Goon Show, where Bluebottle used to say "Hello Everybody!" to the studio audience.

So, some rules need to be looked at, while it's also good to be able to use them before chucking them out.

Adventures in Science on BBC Radio 7

2008-11-05T21:01:00.001Z

I seem to remember hearing this before – and the beginning of the memory ep makes me criiiiiinge – but the techniques and sound design are interesting. Still on that ep, but liking it so far.

Chatting to real people about radio

2008-11-05T10:36:00.006Z

Was at an election night party last night, and had the good fortune to meet a former New York resident who, like me, streams WNYC to Brussels at any chance!

She did say she prefers WBEZ cos of This American Life, but that said, she knew Radio Lab, from listening to WNYC on the radio.

That was rather a thrill for me! But thankfully, it didn't turn out to be the highlight of the night -- good on ya, people of America!

Coining a phrase.

2008-11-04T10:01:00.003Z

This interminible wait has left me unable to think of anything intellectual to post.
I know good times are just around the corner, but why can't it just happen now?

The tension is getting to me.

Come on!

Just release the new series of Radio Lab already!

To while away the lonely nights, I've been making up phrases to describe our beloved.

Is it a Krulamradio show, in the Krulumradish tradition?

Okay that's all.

Psst…!

2008-10-27T08:18:00.001Z

Teehee… just for fun, I typed in this url: www.new.prx.org… well how about that!

Radio Multikulti to shut :(

2008-10-27T07:43:00.002Z

I admit I haven't listen to Radio Multikulti much recently, but it was always on the radar – and its travel programming and weighting towards German language made it a good model for multi-cultural radio stations in Europe.

Or so I thought.

It's closing down.

Bugger. Haven't read all of this article yet but must, and must find out a bit more.

Acting in Features

2008-10-27T07:25:00.004Z

Just realised something while listening to RTÉ's recent Secrets and Lies. The narrator is being acted – she's not the producer, not a presenter, but an actor.

That brought to mind the Archive Hour on the Radio Ballads – which I only got to hear recently, on ABC's Radio Eye. It told of a time when the words of the common man were transcribed and delivered on radio (the BBC, at least), by actors. They performed regional roles as necessary, in a more understandable form.

Which reminded me of… Radio Lab! Few programmes out there use so many actors (if you lump singers in there too). And few programmes write around tape so much, having the presenters tell you what the interviewee said (but probably in a more log-winded, scientist way). Both of these are part of what makes Radio Lab the show that is defining a generation of radio.

True enough, some people do fear that they are losing the truth of what is being said, while some snobbish, less patient people hate the idea of sound effects and stories being acted. Radio Lab have responded well to that, by putting an entire uncut interview online, as well as allowing interviewees say what they thought of how the final show went out.

Some people complain about Radio Lab's moving away from "journalistic values" – as if it isn't a feature programme to begin with, and as if radio is good only for music, gabbing, and news – but see? The use of actors on Radio Lab is informed by the decades of strong journalistic tradition, from the second world war and from the start of NPR.

Hmmm. Now just maybe I'm pining for the new series of Radio Lab ;)

Saltcast is great.

2008-10-23T06:57:00.002Z

Fairly simple point today: Saltcast is great.

An insight into what is clearly a very high standard documentary training course, an insight into making faaaab radio items, and said faaaab radio items. Fab!

Two people kinda want Robert Krulwich to be Science Advisor to the next US president

2008-10-22T10:19:00.003Z

We all know that few people can explain science like Robert Krulwich can.

So I've started a Facebook group calling on the next US president to make Robert Krulwich his Sciece Advisor.

And after three days, one person has joined.

How crap is that! My take on it is: We want to keep him for ourselves, and not take him off the radio, so no one is joining in.

That's it!

Where are we headed?

2008-10-19T06:22:00.003Z

An ambitious title, Where are we headed?, and as you suspected, this won't be a comprehensive answer. The setting is clear enough: incentive-less digital broadcasting, iPods, mobile phones, and the internet on the tech side, and probable decreased consumer and funder spending.

Plus, it would seem, me writing veeeeery long sentences when I could be asleep. But how and ever.

The big feature shows seem to be dying off. RTÉ canned Curious Ear this spring, despite the international recognition it got. I think the producer, Ronan Kelly, is now doing stuff for their digital station RTÉ Choice, which is fab news. I'm not up to speed with the funding for their digital services – it was always a bit hazy to be to be honest – so I don't know how secure that is. I want it to be secure, that much I know.

And now there's the big news from Australia: the ABC is ditching its best shows, Street Stories and Radio Eye.

I don't know any of the background, but that really is bad news. The paid outlets for creative features are going, going…

Do we have to look to the USA? It would seem so – and PRX have been doing a sterling job of late, bringing us the joy of the Saltcast and Youthcast, as well as a new PRX due soon.

I would love (as ever) to have been at the Third Coast Festival in Chicago last week, but do I have the money? Like hell I do. But I wonder what was the murmur there about the economy.

Oh and this week I had my first experience of a public radio fund drive – listening online to WNYC, it's was rather cool, though timezones and lack of internet access at home meant I only heard Takeaway/ME - Brian Lehrer. Of course I would have loved to have heard Radio Lab funders, maybe like the ones on PRX or whatever.

All that ramble (man, I need a sub), is a prelude to the Where are we headed? bit. Shows like Radio Eye, the hour-long sound and emotion rich feature, are made for listening to while sitting down, doing not much other than enjoying the programme.

So, you kinda need a home to get the most out of it (I listen on the hoof, but know the city is distracting and detracting). And these days, it seems, fewer and fewer people have homes, especially in the US.

Doesn't that suggest a benefit for more iPod friendly programmes? I think so.
And what is iPod friendly? Hmmm. Not sure just yet. My first reaction is "back to basics": speech based, no background music or sounds, low dynamic range, short, well written, to the point.

Of course you can have background sounds, to play "for the fifth listen", but if it's so simple, will people want to listen again anyway? Lot's of opportunities there I think, that's for sure!

Will ponder and post more later, but right now, I've got to find some wi-fi to steal so I can post this!

Hearing Voices and nature sound. Yay!

2008-10-16T12:06:00.002Z

H/T from the blog of the super Hearing Voices, here's a point to an article on wildlife sound recording and phonography, with a really cool photo!

DNTO, outside radio

2008-10-08T11:57:00.000Z

Sometimes, I lose interest in DNTO because Sook-Yin Lee is so un-radio, it seems irrelevant to me, it falls apart.

But she is so un-radio, that she she breaks it out and brings it to new people. She makes me feel like a snob or a jealous child, not wanting radio to be enjoyed by other people who "don't get it".

But that is so important! Especially in these days when the technology is shooting off in all sorts of directions. Radio used to be how music people found their new music, but now that's much less the case. So we're losing the music people (though as an aside, if an economic downturn means people are going to gigs less, the full coverage a radio operation can muster of live shows can drag us up a bit – but that's an aside). Sook-Yin Lee is a music person, a wider-world person who happens to be using radio. I've been listening to the podcast for about a year now, before being convinced. But joining up with the new theme music, and (cos this is where the technology and life are making eye-contact) the video on the website, I'm a convert.

Well, I'm still myself of course. Just seeing new ways of making the would audible.

Here's the first video:

2008-10-05T07:52:00.000Z

The Journey to Away, the Best of Outfront podcast, CBC radio, week of October 1st 2008.

This is an exemplary use of music and sound – no, the Asian gong is not a patronising or flat tool. Hear how it punctuates the speech, and how it ramps up the significance of words – what could be "just words".

I suspect in parts of Canada, this story may seem old, common, ordinary. There is something out of the ordinary and uncommon at the end, but how to bring in those listeners who may discount the story as "just another one of those"? With evocative sounds, sound that remind listeners why they have heard a story like this before, how the difference between Vietnamese food here and there is something they know, a part of their social definitions.

The gong, like the school children and waves, sounds like field audio. The sounds of war are also so real, that they do a lot of explaining.

On the second listen, I'm more struck with the return journey to away. The sign of a great piece, I think, if it can absorb you yet still leave more to discover on the second listen. That might break one of the traditional rules of radio, but that's always been a news-based rule, and this is, after all, the age of podcasting.

Outfront is one of those amazing shows that made me want to go to Canada and work in the CBC. That's not to say there isn't still a chance of course…

Diary of Leanne Wolf wins at Third Coast

2008-09-30T04:53:00.004Z

An outstanding RTÉ Radio One documentary has won an award at the Third Coast Festival.

The Diary of Leanne Wolfe is superb. It's gut-wrenching, and it's tough to listen to only because it's so sad.

It has been honoured by Third Coast. I am very pleased at this. Making a radio piece is a way of honouring a story, and radio makers recognising a particular piece is honouring it further. I suspect a tremendous radio documentary means something small to Leanne Wolfe's family. That piece winning a Richard H. Driehaus Foundation award half way across the world can, hopefully, also mean something to her parents and sister.

I was bullied in school, but this documentary helped wipe that experience from my past. It's wonderful.

This week:

2008-09-26T05:18:00.002Z

On Sunday, the batteries that came with my Olympus LS-10 finally gave up the ghost. I bought it in late June, and recorded about three hours of audio, but had also used it as my regular mp3 player almost all the time since then too. Awesome battery life.

Changing tack, an interesting post (they all are, but this one is more of a sharer, I guess) on James Cridland's blog about personality radio.

Flickr, CNN, and Christopher Lydon

2008-09-19T05:20:00.014Z

I've started an internship – no comments about denying my age, please – outside radio. Chatted with the media analyst there the other day, and somehow we got talking about France24. And he told me of a time he was interviewed there during a bulletin and got all tongue tied: he couldn't concentrate because the presenter was so pretty.

Ok we probably got talking about that because Mishal Husain was presenting on BBC World News just then on the TV set above his head.

Still, I didn't know it at the time, but my new colleague had just given me an opening to a blog post I've been considering for a few weeks now.

A lot of people – mostly male, I'm thinking – watch more TV news because the person on screen looks good. Ok maybe I do it too, and maybe even with radio presenters, but thank heavens there's no website that holds onto things like blog posts you once wrote then deleted in a blush.

Since I paid up for a Flickr Pro account, I've been able to see which is my most visited photo. The search-engine grabbing tit shots perhaps? How about a shag from above? My collection of antenna masts in New Zealand? Amazingly not.

It's this one:

A photo of me in studio, or is it a photo of CNN International anchor Kristie Lu Stout somewhere outside the usual set? Flickr also kindly tells me the referring site, and it is a forum thread on CNNfan.org simply called… Kristie Lu Stout:

Wendy Mok took the picture, I think with Rik O'Shea's camera (yeah I'm still a name-dropper!). The photo data is wrong though, it was taken in late-summer 2004.

So right. Does it make people follow the news more? It does with some, yes. How does it change the authority of a newsreader – either by increasing or decreasing it?

CNN rarely employes unattractive presenters (okay they have that odd western aesthetic with Asian women. Fine), and if your favourite correspondent gets sent to a different bureau or beat, she'll bring your interest with her. Anyway. I'm not going to get intellectual about this because I'm not sufficiently equipped.

To me, for now, yes I reckon it's rather immature.

Back Home

What about radio? Painting your own pictures… how much better is that!

There's a discussion thread about that over at The Sound of Young America (no, I don't understand the branding. Maybe young Americans are very ironic. Many of those I've met are super-well informed and pleasent. I'm stumped by the cheesiness thing though). Anyway, as well as the wholly deserved adoration of Jad Abumrad (can't wait for the new season of Radio Lab, eeee!), and the delightful description of him as "adorkable", there is something I had only the vaguest sense of. That Christopher Lydon. All I know of his work is the Open Source podcast , with The Watson Institute at Brown University, An American conversation with… etc. Okay I thought, he's an academic who's doing a podcast as part of the course. Good on him.

Ah ignorance.

How surprised was I to find on that forum that there's a song about falling in love with Christopher Lydon! And in that song, the heart-broken Dresden Doll sings she won't contribute to NPR… naturally I have educated myself, slightly, about Christopher Lydon's career, though I have a way to go yet on that.

So how about this: Christopher Lydon interviewed the Dresden Dolls!

Musicans write and sing songs, radio producers get ideas of who to interview, and presenters make the sounds that reach us – the touch at a distance.

And in case you don't know it, here is surely one of the greatest break-up songs in the history of fantasy and broadcasting: stream.publicbroadcasting.net/ros/open_source_051005_lydon.mp3

Orientalism, China, radio.

2008-09-19T05:20:00.013Z

I've just been listening to Studio 360's piece on the poetry of Mao Zedong. Raised some thoughts.

It started in the menu, where they played a clip of a Mao poem being read in English – by what sounded like a Chinese student. I guess I was pre-disposed to question the piece after it flagged itself as representing Mao with a young, weak voice.

The piece itself followed an item on how tyrants (their term), including Mao, ease themselves into the psyche through graphic and architectural art.

The first interviewee was an American expert on Mao – Willis Barnstone. I'd never heard of him so I was immediately interested in what he had to say. I was happy with that, and happy to hear a new voice on modern Chinese history, even if it's one of which I have no contextual knowledge – a glance at his bio is well-impressive.

The next guest, though made me feel less comfortable, when she said Yan'an as if it rhymed with Yemen. I reverted to the old habit of doubting the authority of someone who pronounces the names wrong (a habit that was only slightly softened by how most Chinese Olympians were given names with "jeee" in them for much of August on British TV). It led me to question why both their specialists were Westerners. But with a bit of thought: if I were working on a US radio piece about modern Chines poetry, who would be my first port of call? Prof Heather Inwood at Ohio State University. Though at least I could be sure she'd get the pronunciation right.

The arguments for using a westerner could include how clearly the person will speak English. You have to balance that with the practicality of taking who you can get. That said, for a timeless arts piece, you have little excuse for not getting the best person who will speak to you. And then, perhaps the most significant point: the piece was re-versioned from a podcast. As a podcaster myself, I think that's freaking awesome! But, should that be enough to excuse some weaknesses?

It's maybe a bit harsh of me to say weaknesses. As an independent, producing for little or no money, arranging quality interviews is very tough – sometimes even a TBU is out of the question, and Skype is your only way of getting an interview. While I feel radio has to move away from phone audio where possible to strengthen itself in the age of diverse digital media, I also accept that there are practical difficulties for the individual.

Back to the point of using Western experts. If you're an expert, you're an expert. So it shouldn't matter where you grew up. Where you grew up may mean your starting point is closer to that of the listener – so that would be an example of an American academic being better for Studio 360 than a PRC academic, for example.

Helping a listener see the PRC understanding may be very valuable, and may be very difficult – a level of difficulty that Radio Lab could take on, better than most, although it can be far less comfortable to talk about another race or culture than about science.

But you know, I could have been being sexist or agest too as the speaker was young and female. I'm not sure I'm equipped to examine that.

Now back to the young weak voice – indeed, Mao wrote poetry in his youth, and it is possibly a good challenge to our presuppositions to have him portrayed by an early-20s Chinese student in the US. That's likely a fair comparison to who Mao was in his day.

So this has become more of an analysis, than a criticism: and I would hate to think the producers would be in any way put off by some guy writing stuff on his blog.

And a final note, I don't actually know who read the poetry, how old he is or any of that. Though I know they could have gotten someone pretty good at London Chinese Radio ;-)

UPDATE, Sunday 5 October: With a bit more distance, I've been struck by the obvious point that this story comes from a poetry background, while I was hearing it from a Sinology background. If you work on a poetry podcast, and poetry is you field, of course you will find most of your experts from that field. And that's media – it gets heard by people in all sort of different fields. And to be fair, I was listening to an arts programme, not a history or, um, China Studies programme.

In Brief: Merchandising

2008-09-03T19:54:00.006Z

Radio 4's Today programme had presenter-head eggcups; NPR allows loyal listeners even more unashamedly celebrate their passion:

It's a tote – which I guess is a more American term for a shopper, or shopping bag, or canvas bag, or cloth bag, or… oh just look at the picture. It's one of those, punning on the name of their Legal Affairs correspondant Nina Totenberg.

Simple pleasures :)

If I had a million dollars (or two thousand pounds)

2008-08-22T11:47:00.000Z

Wildeye Bulletin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First of all, news of an exciting new trip for 2009. As with all things with Chris Watson we expect places to go fast - so do let us know asap if you'd like to book a place...

Wildlife Sound Recording in Northern India with Chris Watson

A unique opportunity to record the rich sounds of the jungles of Northern India accompanied by experienced wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson.

Our base will be Camp Forktail Creek - a forest home surrounded by a dense Sal forest and moist jungles and the only ‘jungle’ camp of its kind within Corbett Tiger Reserve, offering exclusivity in game viewing, great walks and explorations on foot. Corbett National Park was the first National Park founded in Asia and being an excellent habitat for the Bengal Tiger, “Project Tiger” was launched here in 1973. Corbett is also rich in avifauna with counts of over 600 bird species.

From Camp you could get great sound recordings of Great Hornbill, Slaty Woodpecker, Oriental Scops Owl, Spot bellied Eagle Owl, Brown Hawk Owl, Large Tailed Nightjar, Indian Cuckoo, Common Hawk Cuckoo, Cheetal, Barking deer and monkey alarm calls and if lucky a leopard sawing.

As can be seen at http://www.wildeye.co.uk/india.html, we have a fantastic itinerary planned with walks, game drives into various parts of the park, night expeditons, and, with luck, elephant-back safaris. Although the focus will be on recording wildlife and natural atmospheres there will also be opportunities to record the wonderful sounds of the people and villages of the area. As April is wedding time in the area we may get lucky with a wedding in the village or a prayer ceremony in a local temple.

Dates: Sun 29th March - Wed 8th April 2009

Costs: £1,990 per person. Includes international flights, all local travel in India, accommodation and full board (apart from expenses of personal nature like phone calls, postage, laundry, tips, alcoholic beverages)

Booking: To check availability contact: info@wildeye.co.uk
If places are available you will be asked to pay a deposit of £500 per person to secure your booking.
Places are strictly limited so early booking is recommended.

Wildlife sound recording with Chris Watson

2008-08-19T06:45:00.004Z

I have had the pleasure of attending two workshops run by Chris Watson – one of the most respected natural-sound recordists around, and the choice of the BBC. He was also an avant garde musician of the 70s and 80s. And, he's lovely!

The first workshop was organised by the Museum of Garden History in Lambeth (well done Chris Potts), and the second was by the Wildlife section of the British Library Sound Archive (well done Cheryl Tipp).

So a lot of like-minded people met and talked and listened and learned and felt warm and fuzzy.

We all learned a lot of techniques and skills from Chris. The biggest benefit for me was the encouragement that you are free and perfectly entitled to go out, get gear, drive and walk out to a hide and record, edit, compose, and perform. You can do it all. There's no need to fear you aren't as microphone-minded as some, no need to fear the editing, no need to think you don't deserve a podcast or a public exhibition.

I've increased my podcast output a lot since the workshops, and that can only be good!

London Calling

2008-08-02T16:50:00.002Z

Watcha!

Back again, this time from good old London town. As ever I'll make my excuses and promise a longer post soon – in this case on a fab natural sound recording workshop with the one and only Chris Watson.

In the meantime, some bits and bobs:

Virgin Radio is still IDing as Virgin Radio.
There are new carpets in the centre block of Bush House
London Chinese Radio has a studio on Camberwell Road, and will be web-streaming live from next week
Maplin doesn't (seem to) sell skinny mic cable.

How did I miss this?

2008-07-09T09:25:00.001Z

In April 2007, a momentous milestone was met, as The Onion reported at the time:

This American Life Completes Documentation Of Liberal, Upper-Middle-Class Existence

Another top Documentary on One

2008-07-04T20:04:00.003Z

The most recent edition of RTÉ's Documentary on One is a cracker.

Who fears to speak of '98? is about events in Gaelic Games in 1998 – I know little about the sport and have no memories of those events, but can still enjoy this doc. It presents the drama of sport through radio features techniques – and also brings a sense of wider tension, in the air around the stadium. The editing is great – nice techniques that create the atmosphere and feelings needed, without disgruntling some of the more traditionally mined listeners who are probably still significant for this slot.

For listeners outside Ireland there may be some accent and vocabulary difficulties, but I think it's still worth listening to!

Physical gallery show for Martin Williams

2008-07-04T19:28:00.002Z

A gallery in London is to exhibit ten pieces by Martin Williams. Details below! I know a couple of the pieces, Billy, Pack it Up Will You? is (to my ears) classic Martin. And The Tourist has just been featured again on the Third Coast Festival's weekly radio show and podcast.

I have a notion I've heard some of the others, but I'd like to hear them again as my own awareness has changed. But I won't get a chance as I won't be in London!

The details:

MARTIN WILLIAMS

YORKSHIRE RELISH
-10 pieces for radio

3-6 July 2008: Thur 3/7: 6-9pm and Fri 4/7 - Sun 6/7: 12-6pm
Lorem Ipsum Gallery, 2b Vyner Street, London, E2 9HE

The Lorem Ipsum Gallery is pleased to present Yorkshire Relish - ten pieces for radio by Martin Williams.

“I put the dowt behind my ear and walked through to the kitchen. The switch! Electricity! The Slot! Jesus no shilling. No breakfast. Overcome with despair I sat down, close to tears.My mind was completely blank for some time. Then. Raw eggs! Very healthy. Yes and there was some Yorkshire Relish to mix in.”
-from Wednesday by James Kelman

Billy, Pack it Up Will You? (30mins)
A found photograph... midnight taxi journeys... false memories.
Featuring the voices of Polly Frame, Leah from Alderney St. cemetery, a handful of taxi drivers and folk from the street.

The Person I’m Talking About (15mins)
Combining an account of the inexorable progression of coastal erosion with inter-connected stories extrapolated from fleeting observations.
And songs.
Originally made for the Resonance FM series All Day Everyday. Featuring the voices of Malcolm Kirby, John the newsagent and customers.

He Always Did, He Always Will (30mins)
Melancholy dada: nonsense made musical.

Property is Theft (13mins)
A tea-towel from the washing line was found on the bedroom floor. All the drawers downstairs were open and their contents scattered.
Taking stock in the aftermath of a burglary.
With bowed guitar and home-insurance claim forms.

Two Thousand and Six (60mins)
Constructed out of a series of recordings made each day for a year.
Three hundred-and-sixty-five days as banal bricolage.

News From Cuba (30mins)
A sound portrait of Cuba.

I Can Remember It Very Well (30mins)
Radiophonic collage: ablutions, Baudrillard and bagpipes.

The Tourist (30mins)
The oblique saga of a fictional traveller.
The Tourist is lost. He can't sleep, or tune out the music emanating all around. Secretly he looks forward to the journey home.
Including quotes from James Clifford's Routes, John Berger's Here is Where We Meet and William Basinski's The Garden of Brokenness. Featuring the voices of Ana Bonaldo, Haimo Li and Maike Zimmermann.

Sometimes I think You Too Sweet to Die (30mins)
Musicalised hokum.

At Home the Woman Read the Words Aloud (13mins)
Home-spun stories.
Including a quote from Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Originally made for the Resonance FM series No Place like Home.

For further information please phone Birthe Jorgensen: 44 079841 53375, e-mail: birthejorgensen@loremipsumgallery.com

AJE Witness Special on Polynesians and Taiwan

2008-06-29T10:45:00.002Z

Wooooow…

What a terrific show. "Made in Taiwan" is a Witness Special by Al Jazeera English, where a Samoan and Cook Islander analyse their genes, and follow the path they make.

I had known for years that Pacific Islanders, it's generally held, originate from Taiwan. That was a bit of information in my head.

And I had known how girls on the streets of Auckland would remind me of a Taiwanese woman.

But this show brought it together. I spent ten months in New Zealand, until mid-May, then two weeks with American-Taiwanese. The faces, accents and attitude reminded me of my diggs in Auckland and working Radio New Zealand International.

And it somehow worked deeper. This programme moved (me at least) in both the head and the heart. Ace programme.

I can't find it on their website or YouTube channel – I'll post an update if I do!

Edirol R-09 RIP again

2008-06-29T06:36:00.002Z

A week ago, my Edirol R-09 got a soaking, and in spite of being left next to a toasty Aga for a day, no longer works.

:(

Thinking of an Olympus LS-10 as a replacement, but I should earn some radio-money first!

New series of All Day Everyday

2008-06-16T19:42:00.002Z

I missed most of the first series, even though I thought I'd set Audio Hijack Pro to record…

Anyway, Martin Williams is producing more All Day Everyday for Resonance FM.

A L L   D A Y   E V E R Y D A Y
Every Wednesday at 5:45pm on Resonance FM – 104.4fm in London – worldwide via the internet: www.resonancefm.com.

Reflections on the mundane and the miraculous.

As if in response to Walter Benjamin's belief that the everyday is saturated with the marvellous, All Day Everyday presents an array of artists addressing the quotidian – the beauty and banality ever-present in the everyday.

Documentaries, musical compositions, radio drama, essays, poetry, soundscapes, performance, interviews…

Series produced by Martin Williams
http://www.notfarfromhere.co.uk/

Details of the next few programmes in the series…

Wed June 18th:
Tartu Sound by Murmer
In February, 2008, Maksims Shentelevs and Patrick McGinley led a workshop in the southeastern Estonian city of Tartu entitled Sound as Space/Sound as Language with a group of 15 Estonian and Finnish university students. The work focused on a development of deep listening skills, and on the use of sound as a communication tool, or as a way to describe or create real or imaginary spaces. Only acoustic objects, brought in by the participants, and elements of the space itself (floorboards, walls, windows, chairs) were used during the two-day workshop. This piece, intertwined with reactions by a few of the participants, was composed by Patrick McGinley using recordings made of the workshop exercises.
Murmer, aka Patrick McGinley, is a sound artist and composer.
http://www.murmerings.com

Wed June 25th:
Boots Brown: All Day Everyday by David Grubbs
The Swedish improvising group Boots Brown takes its name from a pseudonym once used by the clarinetist and saxophone player Jimmy Giuffre. Guiffre came up with the name for a recording session in order to sidestep the demands of a recording contract. The current Boots Brown is premised on the perhaps impossible melding of free improvisation and the kind of US West Coast jazz for which Jimmy Giuffre was a key figure.  This short programme, Boots Brown: All Day Everyday, takes as its subject a set up and soundcheck prior to Boots Brown's concert on 25th April 2008 at the Bunker in Bielefeld, Germany. It is inspired by the series of documentaries that Luc Ferrari and Gérard Patris made for French television in the mid-1960s under the title Les Grandes Répétitions. These five documentaries about musicians in rehearsal beautifully capture the sounds of the comparatively empty time that leads up to a performance. I've also admired Leonard Cohen's idea on Live Songs of recording the final song on a live album in his hotel room after the show. The live recording was made prior to the concert.  Boots Brown consists of Mats Gustafsson on saxophones and electronics; Magnus Broo, trumpet and, at least during this soundcheck, opera singing; David Stackenäs on guitar; and Johan Berthling on double bass.  On the day of this performance, Jimmy Giuffre died at his home in Massachusetts at the age of 86.
David Grubbs is a New York-based musician and writer.
http://www.dragcity.com/bands/grubbs.html

Wed July 2nd:
All Day Everyday by Esther Leslie
This mini-radio lecture in high-flown scientific language backed by quotidian sound effects is an exploration of the everyday as lodged in the microworlds of domesticity and the macroworld of the cosmos, directed by SM Eisenstein and montaged of Marx's Capital and Joyce's Ulysses.
Esther Leslie is Professor of Political Aesthetics, Birkbeck College, London
http://www.militantesthetix.co.uk/

Wed July 9th:
Doors: Through and Into: Brooklyn: Winter ‘07-8 by Rick Moody & Laura Vitale
Inspired by Sun Ra’s Door Squeak piece from 1967, Doors: Through and Into is a sound collage constructed from the multifarious doorways of Brooklyn.

Bathroom doors, garage doors, elevator doors, subway doors, doors on municipal buses, car doors, apartment doors, doors to various appliances…

In addition to the doors themselves, Rick Moody and Laura Vitale present the passage between spaces, from public to private and back again, always through the lovely, musical thresholds that are a regular part of everyone’s daily fare.
Rick Moody is a novelist and short story writer.
Laura Vitale is a NY-based sound artist and radio producer.

Wed July 16th:
Everyday Indeterminacy by Catherine Dyson & Martin Williams
In pastiche of John Cage & David Tudor’s Indeterminacy, Catherine Dyson reads a series of everyday yarns at a rate of one per minute, accompanied by a series of minute-long accompaniments by Martin Williams, each component recorded with no knowledge of the other.
Catherine Dyson is a writer and theatre artist.

Lest WE forget

2008-06-16T09:45:00.000Z

On Richard Sambrook's blog today:

In Memorium

Blogger issues sorted

2008-05-10T23:22:00.000Z

So now I have no excuses for not keeping you up-to-date here ;-)

Blog difficulties

2008-05-09T03:48:00.000Z

I'm still having difficulties with anything under https://google.com, so my blog posts will continue to be irregular – sorry!

Beginnings (sort of)

2008-05-09T03:34:00.004Z

A recent post to the Radio Lab blog reveals the first ever piece made by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich.

It rather wonderfully reminded me of a piece I made myself.

This is the item I made for London Huayu Chinese Radio, with another volunteer, Jia Nuo. It was her first ever radio piece.

The first voice you hear is CD host Chen Li, then the corny (pre-presenter-training) me, then Jia Nuo.

Have a listen.

I'll provide a text translation if someone asks for it.

I was working in the BBC World Service at the time, so it wasn't a challenge to get the sound effects, and in the wondrous Bush House Grams Library: "I'd like some 16th century Spanish court music please".
"Sure there you go"

I think I may have recorded the coins myself though.

I admit there is a corniness to it – intentionally, really. Because this is informative radio for immigrants – and we reckon that's not a space for Ira Glass' Big Ideas.

Ok so Ira Glass and This American Life producer Julie Schnider both said the proto-Radio Lab was awful. Whaddya think?

Poem by TS Elliot, To Walter De La Mare

2008-04-30T09:19:00.003Z

In my head-in-the-clouds mood of late, I spent time before and after some shifts in the library in Radio New Zealand. Among the books is a collection of TS Elliot poetry, and one in particular struck me. It's called To Walter de la Mare.
Not meaning to infringe copyright, I'll just quote some of the parts which I think talk perfectly to those of us in radio:

When the familiar scene is suddenly strange
Or the well known is what we have yet to learn,
And two worlds meet, and intersect, and change;

…

By whom, and by what means, was this designed?
The whispered incantation which allows
Free passage to the phantoms of the mind?

By you; by those deceptive cadences
Wherewith the common measure is refined;
By conscious art practised with natural ease;

By the delicate, invisible web you wove –
The inexplicable mystery of sound.

Leaving RNZ

2008-04-30T09:19:00.001Z

I've left Radio New Zealand: it's been fun!

T'would be silly to start naming the names of who I'll miss, who's been good to me – they are a lovely bunch. I've fulfilled most of my goals in Radio NZ, which is most satisfying. I've made features with Jack Perkins, I've seen Sadie in action – unfortunately not had the chance to learn how to use it – and I've worked in Radio New Zealand International! Getting back on shortwave was fab I have to say.

I must also admit that for about the last week in RNZ, I was getting into a more features frame of mind. Shame every shift I did was news then! So I managed to use phrases like "kneck and kneck", and, I suspect, put through a few more, well, "entertaining" stories than usual. It's not much of a revelation to say I'm more of a features man than news.

In the two weeks since I left, I've been travelling around New Zealand's South Island. It's been a surprise to find how there is no FM coverage of Radio New Zealand in many of the tourist settlements, and only poor mediumwave – sometimes none at all.

However, contrary to the situation in some other countries, the commercial stations do provide coverage, where the state broadcaster doesn't.

Assumedly, they see the commercial benefits of local advertising and programming mixed in with the networked output.

Wouldn't it be fair to expect that enough people to constitute a "market" also deserve to be served by a service paid for out of taxes? I expect the RNZ response would be that the money is limited – it certainly is, and they do an exemplary job with that they have – and that providing the best possible content is a priority. It is available on DTH satellite over basically the whole country after all.

Can't access blogger at home!

2008-04-30T09:18:00.000Z

Added to RNZI.com, it's just not working at home! So I have to use a proxy…

London Huayu on the Olympic flame in London

2008-04-09T04:35:00.002Z

If you want to hear what it was like on the ground in London when the Olympic flame visited, then London Huayu Chinese Radio's page is excellent.

The blue text in the middle is a selection of audio links.

Some of it is lovely, some of it is sad.

There are no pictures of Konnie Huq but it's still worth a listen!

Antarctic hydrophone

2008-04-05T20:48:00.000Z

Forget my paltry attempts with a hydrophone – this is awesome!

PALAOA - Transmitting live from the Ocean below the Antarctic Ice

Overview PALAOA area
You can listen to the underwater sound of the Antarctic Ocean with a delay of a few seconds here.

Please note, this transmission is not meant for entertainment primilary, but for scientific research. It is highly compressed (24kBit Ogg-Vorbis), so sound quality is not perfect. Additionally, sounds may be very faint. The amplifier settings are a compromise between picking up distant animal voices and not overcharging the system by nearby calving icebergs. So please beware of sudden extreamely loud events.

Providing an acoustic live stream of the Antarctic underwater soundscape is a formidable challange. After all, more than 15000 km lie between Antarctica and our institute in Germany. Underwater sound is recorded by means of two hydrophones by PALAOA, an autonomous, wind and solar powered observatory located on the Ekström ice shelf (Boebel et al., 2006). The data stream is transmitted via wireless LAN from PALAOA to the German Neumayer Base. From there, a permanent satellite link transmits the data to the AWI in Germany. A constant hiss pervading the signal is the natural, isotropic background noise made audible here through the use of ultra sensitive hydrophones. Additional broad band noise caused by wind, waves and currents adds to it on occasion. Due to the limited bandwith of the satellite link, jamming of the WLAN link due to storms, or energy shortage, the connection might temporarily be down or scrammed. In this case, please dial in later!

The Takeaway – new US morning Current Affairs show

2008-03-31T21:38:00.003Z

A new breakfast news show goes on air three weeks from now.

As the news release says:

New morning drive news program to be produced in editorial collaboration with The BBC World Service, The New York Times, and WGBH Boston

There's a full FAQ that's worth a read. Here's one snippit:

The Takeaway will be broadcast live, rather than featuring pre-recorded interviews and long pre-produced features.
It will deliver all the journalistic depth and excellence that WNYC listeners expect, while offering a dynamic and conversational tone.
It will feature two hosts talking together live in the studio, interviewing guests and responding to listeners on-air and online. Listeners will hear the day’s news and cultural stories — as they are happening — with live reports from the field, along with commentary and analysis from a range of contributors around the table and around the world.

They're promising lots of listener interaction too.

I'm looking forward to this, and I'd love to see behind the scenes too!

Tibet etc

2008-03-30T18:31:00.002Z

I try not to go on about nationalism here – because if your memories of teenage life in Ireland involve going to peace rallies with strangers in town, and the shock – hundreds of kilometres away – of the Omagh bombing, then you'll probably not think nationalism is the best thing ever.

Anyway, good aggregative blog post on nationalism and media, in China, from Cam at Zhongnanhai.

Complaints to Radio Lab

2008-03-25T04:29:00.003Z

A recent interviewee of Radio Lab's has contacted them to complain about… um…

Actually I think he just wrote in to grumble. Maybe he was having a tough day or something. Part of it was grumpy-old-man stuff "they put music under someone speaking that's dreadful". Another part was something I have more sympathy for. It's the misalignment that sometimes happens between academics and broadcasters. Ok so let's discount the trivial aims and staff that (not to put a tooth in it) are too common in TV. Let's stick with radio.

Plenty of academics hate having their work edited, they hate having their stamp removed. And a colleague being media-friendly can be a handy outlet for academic snobbery.

But we love them all the same!

And my do I love Radio Lab.

Have a look at the comments.

One in particular put it well, I thought:

I’m a Czech women, musicologist, musician, and for 20 years, a former radio executive producer-author at the French public radio station (France Culture) in Paris. I came in US recently, for my husband’s work. I listen to KPBS and NPR very often, every day; I love radio, I need it. Here in US, I try also to learn English by listening to it. In a very general way, I appreciate considerably the quality of NPR/PRI/KPBS shows. I pitched incidentally upon this particular program, my attention was immediately caught, I stayed with it until the end and - I was literally enrapt: I didn’t know until this moment that it was possible to do & to present such a good, fine, sophisticated radio work in this country. I wanted to know more about the Radio Lab I had never heard before.
Then I discovered this unbelievable letter from Mr. Fox. First I thought I had made a mistake… This is the reason I dare to write you, to express my thanks to the authors of this excellent radio piece (almost a sort of Hörspiel), and to give my contribution to the discussion.
The main (only real) issue here is, in my opinion, the question of a common preliminary agreement. If the purpose and the way of intended use (editing, fragmenting, contextualising) of the interview was exposed and explained to Mr. Fox before his interview, there is no reason to complain. So my question is, was it explained to him beforehand ?
In any case, his reaction is completely inadequate, ugly, obnoxious.
Thank you for your attention.
Daniela Langer

Yes, I think this is almost a sot of Hörspiel, but it's more than that, as it's a different genre. Radio Lab has broken the moulds. It'll be remembered. I'm well-chuffed to be of its generation!

Oops!

2008-03-19T21:03:00.002Z

Just now I accidentally deleted my iTunes library, so when I re-loaded the files, the played tatus of my Podcasts was reset – this just a week after I backed-up and deleted the first five months worth. So the figure would be higher, but…

Radio Taiwan International Cyber Museum

2008-03-19T20:16:00.004Z

This is really cool! Lot's of interesting technical stuff (in Times so not very easy on the eye unfortunately), cool design, and a really funky play studio – some parts are more entertaining and intriguing if you can speak or read Chinese – they seem to have a bit of a Chairman Mao thing going on there – well I suppose it is a museum.

Anyway, it's really cool!

The Radio Taiwan International Cyber Museum.

I feel like such a fraud.

2008-03-19T05:57:00.003Z

When I lived in Auckland, I would watch the Pheonix News & Info bulletin relayed in the evenings on WTV's terrestrial Chinese channel. It felt nice and homely – not that I'd ever watched it before*, and sure, the political stuff was… not very inspiring. But I quite liked the presenter. And ok she was cute but I did convince myself that was just a small part of it.

I thought though that I was also assessing her as a news reader, based on her sense of authority, how engaging she was, her presence, and the stodgier qualities like voice and diction.

But it would seem I was deceiving myself.

Oh, the presenter's name? Jiang Xinrong. Didn't mean anything to me. But maybe it should have, given that in 2003, she (aged 19) became the first ever Miss China.

And here's a nauseating TV show including her, in her diamond tiara, saying how winning a beauty contest changed her life.

Ok so I just based it on cuteness. Poo.

* Never say never. I think it was on one of their bulletins on Pheonix CNE, when in Ireland, that I learned about the Hemepl Hempsted fire in December 2005 – together with a Chinese speaker from London, that took us off guard I'll say.

The Diary of Leanne Wolfe

2008-03-07T17:45:00.003Z

Gut-wrenching documentary from December.

It's wonderful. I hope it wins awards.

It's on the RTÉ website here.

It's the diary of a girl who was bullied.

My own time being bullied seems very meagre now.

Mark Mardell and complaints

2008-03-03T10:07:00.002Z

Revisited. He's doing, again, what I consider to me model responses to complaints to the BBC. Lord knows they get a ton of them – when I was there on a quiet late shift I'd go through the listener logs on the intranet for a giggle. It's interesting to see how people can love and loath the same things, and enlightening. But it can get tiresome sometimes too, the things people complain about. I mean, I try to listen to six hours of radio a day, but I still
know I can't say "you didn't cover this"!

Anyway, well done as ever Mr Mardell.

Fab podcast

2008-03-02T17:23:00.002Z

Facebook is funny. I waste my non-working life on it. So sometimes, just to spite Facebook, I waste my non-working like on the Public Radio Exchange, which is far less of a waste.

So doing I've just stumbled on a fab podcast. The I Hate Poetry Hour Half Hour, and related funny stuff.

I've only heard a little bit, and with my unlistened podcasts up around 150, I really shouldn't add more. But this is great – it's a nice change to return to the "early days" of podcasts, when I can hear podcasts that aren't regular radio or corporate programmes.

Okay I'm possibly being a bit harsh on Nature Stories, Nature, and Open Source. I like them all (that's why I subscribe to them, duh), but they are more or less branded, I guess, in contrast to the "it's just me" early days.

This was supposed to be saying "hey listen to this podcast" but instead it's become a piece about how to me, podcasting and YouTube etc is more a way of accessing content from established providers, rather than a way of seeing the great creativity of all those "users" on the web.

And this only two days after I told myself to stop using the internet when half asleep, as it just causes trouble… sigh.

Back to Spent Cattle and the I Hate Poetry Hour Half Hour (I like saying that).

He puts music in it, which switches me out. Not being musical, I never got Flight of the Conchords or the Mighty Boosh when they went all musical. Went over my head. Missed out on being ahead of the curve there it seems. Who knows, maybe the World Service's Next Big Thing really has become the next big thing, and I haven't noticed. I can see it's a good idea though.

If you like brain-pushing stuff and tongue in cheek, check out The I Hate Poetry Hour Half Hour.

The wreck of the SS Penguin

2008-02-12T05:14:00.003Z

I've had a busy couple of weeks – finishing a feature, and starting in Radio New Zealand International. RNZI is so fab – I'll perhaps write about it later. For now thought, I want to talk about the feature.

It'll be broadcast today, on Afternoons with Jim Moira (though it may be presented by Noelle again today).

In the middle of January, Diedre Wogan brought me on a tour of the graves of people who died in the SS Penguin, in 1909.

Anyway. It's the best piece I've done yet – and Jack Perkins even made me beam by describing it as "very good"!

It was edited by Gareth Watkins, of Access Radio as well as RNZ. A ridiculously nice man. And being a studio operator working on a feature in a big ol' Sadie suit, he is, needless to say, a magician. Gosh I love Sadie! I think Jack Perkins even has a poem of adoration to Sadie on his office wall.

As we were editing it, Diedre Wogan phoned me to ask when it would go out – what a coincidence! As she said herself, we were on the same wavelength.

It was the start of 12 days work for me, including a few news shifts in Radio New Zealand International – that was fab! Great to be back on shortwave. Shortwave + features = Connor in the groove. Incidentally since I replaced our wired router with a Wi-Fi one, I can't access the RNZI website. Very odd.

Anyway. HUGE thanks to Diedre, the Karori Historical Society, Gareth, and Phil who was watching as we edited (he's the fourth Phil I've met in RNZ. Like Steves in the World Service I reckon).

###
OK OK! So I'm over a week late! I'm not good at self-promotion. I apologise! Here it is, with my mistake in the cue – it should be the worst civilian shipwreck. I think I did write ninety-nine there though, not ninety.

More unfounded BBC-Bashing

2008-02-02T01:37:00.000Z

I admit to being particularly interested in the work Mark Mardell does. He has a difficult role which he seems to relish, and that's a wee bit inspirational. I'm a fan.

And in this post he posts what I think is an uncommonly cogent response to criticism, by a BBC staffer.

I'm all with Mark Mardell on this one.

When an idiot acts like an idiot, and attacks you in the process, then reply. So well done Mark.

Some of his colleagues perhaps need to note though, that if they aren't able to reply as fairly to criticism as Mark Mardell does in this, then maybe the criticism is valid. Shock horror!

Radio Lab Blog

2008-02-02T01:07:00.000Z

The best show on the radio has a blog, yay!

The things people complain about!

2008-01-24T09:35:00.000Z

I'm not up to finding a polite way of framing this, from a group I am apart of:

BBC reporters going undercover as birders!

Today the BBC made no bones about using reporters disguised as
birders to get into Zimbabwe, illegally gaining access to areas off
limits to reporters. This behavior clearly raises the suspicion of
some government leaders against valid birders and other nature
enthusiasts. The BBC has endangered us all with their illegal behavior.

I have sent them the following letter:

"I was shocked and angered that you would have one of your reporters
masquerade as a birder to enter the country of Zimbabwe. Then, worst
of all, you published this openly on the radio. This clearly puts
all valid birders, nature photographers and recorders, and other
valid tourists at a new risk of suspicion and harm. As a nature
recordist and birder myself, I already fall under unwarranted
suspicion when I use my binoculars and recording equipment in out-of-
the-way places. Now you have validated the suspicions that should
have remained unfounded.

"You clearly owe a major apology to all the nature enthusiasts and
scientists you have now endangered. You also should make a public
statement that such behavior will never again be tolerated by your
reporters.

As you, as a nature recordists group, have now been affected, I
wanted to let you know.

Thanks,

Wow! Cool!

2008-01-23T00:35:00.000Z

Very cool.

CBC Radio's Spark is making an episode on a wiki – not about a wiki, but by means of a wiki.

Exciting!

The Onion does Radio too!

2008-01-01T20:52:00.001Z

Woo-hoo!

Dan & Nick are back!

2007-12-13T06:44:00.001Z

Yay! Still repeats of course, but some funny French stuff in this first episode :-)

CBC Wiretap

2007-12-11T18:52:00.001Z

I can't believe I never knew about this before now… it's a hoot!
Wiretap, on the CBC.

FOOC, Gao Yaojie

2007-12-08T02:18:00.000Z

I'm listening to FOOC, for the first time in ages. Allan Little -- ah that voice, that writing.

And Dan Griffiths, talking about Gao Yaojie. I've never spoken to Gao Yaojie, indeed I can't understand much of what she says. But I've studio-produced when BBC Chinese interviewed her, and gone all through the Reuters and APTN feeds to find audio of her in the US.

From just that, I feel like I know her. She deserves all the recognition she gets, and well done to Dan Griffiths for writing and reading so well.

And right now they're in Bhutan, with some names that make me giggle -- go easy on me, I've had a lot of sunshine and some chocolate today.