Yellow Fluff

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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…

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

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

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

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

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!