Ear to the Ground: Recent Episodes
Andrew Ryan, RTI
In 2004, RTI host Andrew Ryan began recording the sounds of Taiwan and creating "sound postcards" which he sent to listeners around the world via the air waves.
Now, the sounds of Taiwan take center stage in a new series of 5-minute programs that dig deeper into the stories and people of this island. Join Andrew on this audio journey into the heart of Taiwan and its people.
Click on the icon (↑) above to listen to the latest episode, or select previous episodes from the list below (↓).
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Enjoy the intriguing sights and sounds of Taiwan with Andrew Ryan on Ear to the Ground.
Let award-winning host Andrew Ryan delight you with the sounds of Taiwan on Ear to the Ground.
After three weeks occupying the nation's legislature, Taiwanese students finally vacated the premises on April 10, 2014. Today we revisit an episode that aired the day after the protests concluded seven years ago.
It seems like everyone has his or her own “small world” story – I’ve run into friends at random airports in foreign countries numerous times, so of course it’s no longer a surprise when I run into someone I know in the middle of Taipei. Globalization and the internet are shrinking our world. We even have a theme song for this phenomenon, which has arguably become the most performed and translated song in the world.
I believe that there is a certain age when your inner child begins to die. For some people, it happens early, but for others, like me, it’s a life-long battle to prolong the life of that little guy inside.
It’s funny how in big cities you will always find birds. You’d think they’d prefer to live in the countryside or by the beach, or in a nice forest. It’s not like they have to live in the city because that’s where the jobs are, or because they prefer the night life. But one kind of bird you’ll find in the big city that you won’t find anywhere else, is the fake bird.
The outlying island of Kinmen is known for "Wind Lion Gods", which protect the people from seasonal winds. Traditionally, people will place candy in the mouths of the Wind Lion God statues as a way of appeasing them.
Imagine having to travel all the way from Siberia to the outlying Taiwanese island of Kinmen every winter! It may sound like quite a distance, but for one species of migratory birds -- Great Cormorants -- it's an anual journey.
That's the question asked by a west African girl her Taiwanese friend in a new radio play produced by RTI.
Sometimes when you walk around at night in Taiwan, you’ll hear this strange percussive noise coming from people’s houses. It sounds like a lot of small, hard things colliding with one another. Now you’d be forgiven for thinking that everyone has rock collections, and that they take aggressively good care of them: moving them around, and even washing them. But those are definitely not rocks.
After a week of celebrating, the Chinese New Year festivities begin to fade a bit, people are stuffed to the gills from all the rich holiday foods, and the novelty begins to wear off. But there’s one sound that you can hear all the way through the holidays, and that’s the sound of firecrackers.
In America, freedom can be found in the automobile. In most places you have to have a car just to get around. And certainly, even if there is public transportation, you still need a car to go on the quintessentially American road trip.
It's been said that every stretch of shore in Taiwan sounds completely different. But I’m dubious. I mean… come on. Isn’t it all just waves on sand? How different can it really be?
Tourism commercials for Taiwan usually focus on the beauty of this sub-tropical island: the lush mountains, white beaches, aboriginal dancing, Hakka cuisine, or maybe a bustling temple. Recently at RTI, we tried to recreate those images with sounds. I’m Andrew and in today’s Ear to the Ground, a look at how we recreate a small island with a whole world of sounds.
In America, freedom can be found in the automobile. In most places you have to have a car just to get around. And certainly, even if there is public transportation, you still need a car to go on the quintessentially American road trip.
If you moved to another country, what would you bring with you as a reminder of home? For one Malaysian student, the answer was a pair of drumsticks. I’m Andrew Ryan and in today’s Ear to the Ground, I bring you to Taichung, in central Taiwan, to meet a young drummer who has carried with him the sounds of home.
I was never really fond of gym class when I was a kid. I hated performing under pressure, and eventually came to dread it. So the thought of having to do it all over again, with my eyes closed, sounds like a nightmare. Fortunately I have some experts to guide me through it.
Every class has at least one or two students who are so smart that it seems as though the rest of the class is holding them back. They say things like: “This is so easy that I could take the test with my eyes closed.” Well, what if they had to do just that: take a test with their eyes closed? I’m Andrew Ryan and in today’s Ear to the Ground, my students at the Taipei School for the Blind show me how it’s done.
How do you navigate the world without either using your vision or relying on another person? Some blind people have guide dogs, but for most, the iconic white cane is the best option. It not only enables you to feel and hear your way forward, it can also notify other people of your presence. And for many people, it offers an invaluable sense of security.
We take so many things for granted. For sighted people, the ability to see is such a huge part of our daily experience that we almost NEVER think about it unless we need new glasses, or someone turns out the lights. Recently I’ve been teaching radio classes at the Taipei School for the Blind, and it’s been an eye-opening experience.
Lost in translation: that's where I've been for the last several weeks. I've been translating the subtitles for a major motion picture here in Taiwan. I can't tell you the name of the movie, or even what it's about, but I can give you some insight into my experience as the English voice of a Chinese language film.
In a little underground room in the middle of Taipei, a tall man with a big voice is aiming his weapon at a young woman in an evening gown. She looks a little nervous under the spotlight, but seconds before he shoots her, he cracks a joke and a smile breaks across her face.
In America, freedom can be found in the automobile. In most places you have to have a car just to get around. And certainly, even if there is public transportation, you still need a car to go on the quintessentially American road trip.
Every day, dozens of Taiwanese variety shows air in countries around the world – in every place where there are speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Local entertainers dress up in wacky outfits, act out charades, talk about embarrassing moments, sing karaoke, and compete in silly games that are enough to keep any bored couch potato interested. The best part of these programs, is the sound effects, which are played live during the taping of the show.
For sighted people, the ability to see is such a huge part of our daily experience that we almost NEVER think about it unless we need new glasses, or someone turns out the lights. Recently I’ve been teaching radio classes at the Taipei School for the Blind, and it's been an eye-opening experience.
When was the last time you played with a top? If you’re anything like me, it’s probably been more than a couple years. In fact, I can’t even remember the last time I held one in my hands. After all, it’s a kids’ toy. Or at least, that’s what I thought until last weekend, I came face-to-face with a massive top that I couldn’t even pick up off the ground.
If you took a bottle of Taiwan beer and tapped I with something hard, like a chopstick, what musical note would it make?
Not since I was 16 years old have I been this nervous to get behind the wheel of a car! That’s right, I’m talking about taking a driving test. Recently I got the opportunity to host a TV show that requires me to drive a car, so I finally did what I should have done about 17 years ago: I went and got my Taiwanese driver’s license.
You used to be able to hear the national anthem everywhere in Taiwan, but now it’s mostly heard on days like today: National Day.
When you think of birthdays, do you think of cakes and candles and the Happy Birthday Song? During a trip to a Paiwan tribe village in the southernmost county of Pingtung, I stumbled on something much more grand.
Thank God for elevators! It took me more than 40 minutes to climb to the top of Taipei 101 back in 2004 when it was still the tallest building in the world. Fortunately it has an elevator which cuts the time down to just 38 seconds.
Recently I heard about a middle school in central Taiwan that has over 8,000 students. It has figured out how to get 126 school buses, full of students out of the parking lot in just 10 minutes. When you think about it, it’s a SERIOUSLY well-orchestrated ballet that they have there. That got me thinking about how important it is for a densely-packed country like Taiwan to be able to move people around quickly and efficiently.
Let’s make this clear from the very start: although I’m an omnivore, when it comes to hunting and killing my own meat, I’m a vegetarian through-and-through. But when my godfather passed away recently, I joined the men of the Puyuma Tribe on a ritual hunt to mark his passing.
If you ask most people in Taiwan to describe a foreigner, they’ll probably think first of the Caucasians – largely North Americans and Europeans – most of whom are either English teachers or students of Chinese. But the truth is, those foreigners make up less than five percent of Taiwan’s foreign population.
I'll never forget the day my friend’s father passed away. Chen Baba, as I’ve always called him, was sort of like my Taiwanese dad, with my own dad living far away in America. I took the first plane back down to Taitung in southeastern Taiwan to spend time with his family. And while I was down there, I heard a song that moved me beyond words.
When I arrived at Radio Taiwan International today, workers had taped down white plastic matting on the floor to prevent people from slipping, and you could see the old stained floors underneath. It was quite a sight, but as a sound person, the thing that really grabbed me, is that our hallways echoed.
When summer arrives in Taiwan, it brings with it a penetrating heat, a thick humidity that you can almost cut with a knife, and of course the mosquitoes. And there are certain sounds you hear in the distance, and know for sure that summer is on the way.
On the windswept shores of Taiwan’s front-lying island of Kinmen, there are two huge walls of speakers which face the southern shore of China, several kilometers across the water. The concrete structures are each about three stories tall and have 48 holes, each containing a speaker. At one time, these were some of the largest and loudest speakers in the world… which could be heard up to 25 kilometers away.
For every able-bodied Taiwanese man, joining the military is a rite of passage. Back when there was a serious threat of war with China, military service lasted up to three years or more. These days, with warming relations between the two sides, required military service has been reduced to less than a year. Kids these days take peace for granted. But a trip to the outlying Taiwanese island of Kinmen, just off the southern shore of China, is enough to remind you of how fortunate we are. In today’s Ear to the Ground, I bring you to a firing demonstration for an 8-inch howitzer.
Think about your front door for a second. If you live in a modern house or apartment, it’s probably pretty easy to close the door quietly… maybe you have to take a little extra care to do it slowly and gently so as not to wake up the neighbors, or your mom or other family members. Recently I encountered a door that just wouldn’t cooperate. No matter how slowly or gently I closed it, it still made this unearthly moaning sound that was loud enough to wake an entire village. I’m Andrew Ryan and in today’s Ear to the Ground, I’m going to introduce you to a big, wooden door made from Chinese Cypress.
In October, 1949, as the Chinese Civil War drew to a close, the nationalist soldiers retreated to a tiny island known as Kinmen (or Quemoy) less than two kilometers from the southeastern coast of China, and more than 300 kilometers from Taiwan. The People’s Liberation Army was never able to capture the island over for the communists. Today, the secrets of how the nationalists kept control of the island can be found buried throughout the island, in the form of landmines, dead soldiers and underground tunnels. I’m Andrew Ryan, and in today’s Ear to the Ground we’re going on a subterranean walk.
If you took a bottle of Taiwan beer and tapped I with something hard, like a chopstick… what musical note would it make? I’m guessing you’ve never thought about that before, but now that I’ve posed the question, you’re probably curious to know the answer. In today's Ear to the Ground, we return to the Noise Kitchen to find out the answer from a very clever work of sound art.
If you could turn back time, how far would you go? In today's Ear to the Ground, Andrew Ryan discovers a piece of sound art that makes it possible to wind your clock back to an early point in your day.
When you think of a noisy kitchen, you probably think of someone loudly stir-frying vegetables, or whacking things into an oven. But at the Noise Kitchen in Taipei there’s no clamorous cooking to be found. In today’s Ear to the Ground, we take a trip to this unique café which is serving up creative sounds without the use of a pot or a pan.
What do you do if you want to say something, but just can’t put it into words? What if you couldn’t even write it down because you came from a culture with no written language? Taiwan’s aborigines have long used music to communicate, and in today’s Ear to the Ground, I bring you a secret language made by a bamboo instrument.
How many 24-hour news channels does a country need? One? Two? Five? How about 13? Seems a bit much, doesn’t it? Well that’s what we have in Taiwan, and those channels have become a fixture in the nation’s soundscape. I’m Andrew Ryan and in today’s Ear to the Ground, I bring you: channel surfing.
Sammy Lin is wrapping thread around his fingers in a little alleyway shop in suburban Taipei. It looks like he’s getting ready to play cat’s cradle. But when he leans in close and begins maneuvering the string across a customer’s face, it’s clear that this is no game. It’s a traditional form of cosmetology. In today’s Ear to the Ground: a closer look at what’s known as wanmian or “threading.”
Sometimes when you walk around at night in Taiwan, you’ll hear this strange percussive noise coming from people’s houses. It sounds like a lot of small, hard things colliding with one another. Now you’d be forgiven for thinking that everyone has rock collections, and that they take aggressively good care of them – moving them around, and even washing them. But those are definitely not rocks. Although… you could use them to make a lot of money.
Democratic elections are often a source of trauma, from cutting debates, to fights with family, and of course, not everyone wins. In today’s Ear to the Ground, hear how Taiwan marks the end of the election season.
I’ve never been a fan of heavy metal. it’s a lot of noise, you can’t really hear what they are singing about, and it's a lot to take in for a sound collector that's a bit of a gentle soul. But in today’s Ear to the Ground, I Andrew Ryan, am going to bring you a heavy metal mashup I can get behind.
When it comes to housework, there are few things I detest more than ironing. Usually I listen to podcasts to make the time go by. But maybe I’ve been doing it all wrong? In today’s Ear to the Ground, we embrace the boring, with unexpected results.
In late October, an express train derailed as it rounded a bend in northeastern Taiwan, killing 18 and injuring more than 200.
Sometimes an image, an idea, a sound, can conjure up the stories of ancient history. In today's Ear to the ground, Andrew Ryan finds a surprising connection in old bed sheets.
I was listening to a radio show the other day, and the host was talking about sitting down and enjoying a cup of tea. And I remember just thinking to myself… does anybody actually do that?