Saltcast: Recent Episodes
Rob Rosenthal, SaltCast
We've morphed!
Saltcast is now HowSound at howsound.org.
Same content, same host, same backstory to great radio storytelling.... only the name has changed. Just as good, perhaps even better. But you need to subscribe to know for sure!
Student producer Rachel James has a great reading voice. What's her secret? Find out on this edition of the Saltcast.
Wanna take a cross-country trip -- in sound? Producer John Biewen traces John Steinbeck's 1960 cross-country journey in "Travels With Mike: In Search of America Fifty Years After Steinbeck."
What did student-producer Matt Kielty do when he didn't have sound for a story? He "designed" it.
New York Times editor Amy O'Leary takes a knife to a story she produced at Salt in 2003.
You can't swing a dead cat without hitting Greg Warner on the radio these days. Listen to a piece he produced at Salt in 2003.
Producer Matt Ozug talks about contacting reluctant interviewees for his piece on the bombing of the USS Cole.
Salt radio student Georgia Moodie found that playing with sound was the best way to write her script.
When Shea Shackelford and Virginia Millington met at the "DC Listening Lounge," they had no idea their chance encounter would lead them to produce a Third Coast-winning radio documentary.
Producer Jamie York publicly flogs himself over the first radio story he ever produced.
How can StoryCorps take their features to the next level? This Saltcast offers one example.
r Here’s what I’d like you to do after you hear this podcast. Nothing. Just sit there (or stand if you must) and do nothing but listen. In fact, listen until it becomes a bit uncomfortable, like you’ve listened long enough. Then, listen some more. Listen deliberately. Tell me what you hear. Really. Try it. […]
Irish producer Ronan Kelly plays DJ featuring clips from his favorite radio stories. And, we feature his award winning doc "Roger Dowds: Millionaire Winner."
Producer Sean Cole makes a strong case for not cutting out all the reporter's questions from a story.
“Why now?” Producers often dread this question. “It’s simply a good story” they might say. “It doesn’t need to answer ‘why now?’ This is a classic tale of (fill in the blank). It’s universal!” But editors ask this question all the time. They’re looking for relevancy, for why a listener should care beyond those important […]
Glenn Johnson’s business card reads “Dowser, Consultant to the Universe.” Photo by Katherine Hays (2004). A recent interview with This American Life host Ira Glass on Slate.com got me thinking about about an old Salt Radio piece called “Dowser, Consultant to the Universe.” It’s the story of Glenn Johnson, a dowser who makes a mistake. […]
Diane Richard and her husband Todd Melby sure know how to pick a project with a long, uphill road to the finish line. Diane and Todd recently finished a one-hour radio documentary on sex offender policy in the United States. It’s called “No Brother of Mine.” The lengths they went to complete the project are […]
"Left for Dead" is probably the most gruesome story every reported by a Salt Radio student. It's not for the faint of heart.
This week on the Saltcast, a dissection of an audio postcard I produced about kayaking around some icebergs in Newfoundland.
Meatball sub anyone? Photo by Catherine Lovell. r Ovens and sinks and a fridges, oh my. No matter which way producer Audrey Dilling turned in the cafeteria kitchen at Biddeford High School, she was awash in sound, sound, and more sound. What’s a producer to do? Audrey has some answers on this Saltcast about hot […]
r Click for a closeup of the cover. r Finally! A book about the craft and art of radio documentary. It’s about time!! John Biewen and his co-editor Alexa Dilworth have assembled Reality Radio, a collection of masterful essays by radio’s best producers. Reading this, I feel as though I’ve had a personal, one-on-one conversation […]
p Carole Starr had a car accident a few years ago and her brain suffered an injury, one that’s had a profound effect on her life. Carole was diagnosed with hyperacusis, a severe sensitivity to sound. This would be traumatic for anyone, but for Carole it’s had great significance. She had to give up what […]
Graduation at Salt is not to be missed. At the end of a ridiculously rigorous 15-week semester, students, staff, faculty, family, and friends gather for a grand farewell. Really, it’s like no other graduation I’ve ever seen. Staff and faculty offer heartfelt missives. Students receive certificates. But, the highlight is the student presentations. Each track […]
Make way for Tom Witkowski, the dean of delivery at Pizza Time, Portland, Maine. Photo by Rebeca Beeman r Mark Kramer is probably the intellectual heavy-weight of narrative journalism. Mark wrote Telling True Stories and he was the founder of the Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. Mark says if a story doesn’t have an obvious […]
Hillary Hebert takes a break after talking about motherhood and bi-polar disorder. Photo by Keith Lane. r Radio producers have a many tools to craft a story. Narration. Writing. Quotes from interviews. Ambient sound. Active tape. Music. What about art? We don’t teach “sound art” at Salt, but we do wonder from time-to-time how a […]
Watch a video tape as a prompt during an interview. r One simple way to help an interviewee open up during a conversation is with photos. Thumbing through a photo album or a box of old pictures can jog a person’s memory, help take them back in time. In fact, anything that might activate another […]
Have tape deck, will diary. Josh Cutler, the subject of Joe Richman’s “Josh: Growing Up With Tourrette’s.” p Just over a year ago, I dissected “Dead Animal Man” by Ira Glass for the Saltcast. I think that episode got more responses than any other Saltcast. Since then, I’ve been meaning to dissect a piece in […]
Sound healer Sandra Chausse. Photo by Rebeca Beeman. p This is probably stating the obvious, but Salt teaches students to tell stories. In the radio track, we use Jon Franklin’s definition of story. Franklin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and he teaches at the University of Maryland. His definition of story goes something like this: […]
Robert King Wilkerson spent twenty-nine years in solitary confinement. Photo by Terry Foss. r When is the sound of a slamming door not a slamming door? When it’s designed. Radio documentary producer Claire Schoen learned “sound design” when she worked in film. She brings those unique and valuable skills to her radio productions. As a […]
Rabbi Amita Jarmon lights a menorah. Photo by Hannah Fox. p Rachel Quimby is funny. And, she doesn’t turn off her wit when she produces a radio story. Even the title of her piece we’re featuring today is witty – “A Jew Grows in Rockland.” But, humor ain’t easy. And, on the radio, I think […]
Dining at the swingers party. Photo by Jessica Sheldon. r I just shake my head sometimes. At least once a semester, usually more, Salt students find themselves in the most out-of-the-ordinary places. It boggles my mind. A couple of semesters ago, a student wound up on a deer hunt gone awry. Another semester, a student […]
Breakfast with Margery Richard and her “flat son” Jarod. Photo by Kristin Wright courtesy the Salt Archive. p When Meghan Vigeant started crying in class, I knew something was up. The tears welled-up in Meghan’s eyes as she played us interview tape from her conversation with Margery Richard. Problem was, what Margery was saying wasn’t […]
I once had a student consider producing a documentary feature on ice harvesters — people who cut ice blocks on lakes and ponds to use for refrigeration and to keep old traditions alive. Not a bad idea, but the problem with the story was timing. It was fall. No ice. This may seem a bit […]
“When this modern monster talks through the loudspeaker installed in its chest, its lips move in time with its speech.” p I talk every single day and I sound natural when I do. So, why, when I read narration, does “natural Rob” disappear? Makes no sense, right? I should be able to just open my […]
Bill Buffard races across the court in a game of quadriplegic rugby. Photo by Judy Beedle. f I really, really like non-narrated radio stories — pieces that don’t have a reporter telling the story. Without a narrator, it’s like the characters are talking directly to the listener. Unfortunately, you don’t hear many non-narrated stories on […]
How do they do it? The Rolling Diamonds. Photo by Stephanie Ewens. p The first rule of radio production? Wear headphones. The second rule? Be in control of your record levels. Yeah. Okay. That’s all well and good. But, what if, in order to get the best sound, you have to hand your gear over […]
In 1996, two nuns were murdered in a convent in Maine by a mentally ill man who stopped taking his medication. The murders were brutal and senseless. Twelve years later, Salt Radio student Jessica Alpert wanted to talk — in-depth — with the surviving nuns about the incident, faith, and forgiveness. But how do you […]
Dmae Roberts and her mom during their trip to Taiwan in 1989. p O, how public radio has changed in the last twenty years. With the exception of WNYC’s Radio Lab and specials from Hearing Voices, there is very little on public radio that tickles the ears. It wasn’t always that way. Up until about […]
Duane Lewis (foreground) and his twin brother Dwight operate Barter’s Island Bridge, Boothbay, Maine. Photo by Rebecca Stewart. p Every once in a while, I wonder if we give Salt students too much time to produce their pieces. They get weeks to find, report, and produce a story. In contrast, I think there’s something to […]
Ingredients for a doozy of a radio story: 1. Take a seasoned and somewhat crusty moose hunter. 2. Add a wide-eyed first-time huntress. 3. Toss in a student radio reporter. 4. Stir vigorously with increasing heat on bumpy logging roads in the Maine woods for days and days. 5. Sprinkle with an occasional moose sighting. […]
Allison Swaim gets sound. Pun intended. She understands it and she knows how to record it to tell a story. In the fall of 2008, Allison produced a piece about a guerrilla gardener — a guy named Cody who illegally plants trees on an island off the coast of Maine. Allison had a knack for […]
The girls not sleeping at the sleepover. Photo by Maureen Wellner I don’t know about you, but I have no recollection of sleepovers. It’s a lost period of time in my pre-teen life. Poof. Erased. Producers Hillary Frank and Jonathan Menjivar knock the rust off those memories with Sleepover! It was produced in 2006 for […]
Kevin and James Hatch in 2005. Photo by Kyle Glover, courtesy the Salt Archive. r Radio producer Joe Richman says when producing a radio story you “cast” for characters. It’s like “trying” people out. You look for people who know the subject matter and who are “radiophonic” — they sound good on the radio. Here’s […]
Silence is radio’s worst enemy. Or so the thinking goes. In fact, some commercials stations have alarms that sound when the station goes silent for more than a few seconds. So, imagine my surprise when Joni Murphy said she wanted to produce a radio story about silence at Quaker meeting. At first I thought she […]
The Angel Warrior and his chariot. Photo by Maisie Crow, courtesy the Salt Archive. r “The Angel Warrior on His Way to the Top” has one of my favorite opening moments in a Salt piece. I especially like “…. thank you and Amen. Vroooooom…..” Makes me smile every time. Take a listen. You’ll see what […]
Studs Terkel waxing about “vox humana” in Storycorps’ mobile recording booth. r At the start of the semester at Salt, we start big, really big. After listening to a few radio pieces and introducing ourselves, we talk about sound. The power of sound. The conversation ranges from the practical to the spiritual. It’s poetic.. Here […]
Banging out a tune on the Portland Public Library piano. Photo by Cecelia Duchano courtesy the Salt Archive. r For her interview on this Saltcast, Elizabeth Chur holed up in her closet. That’s pretty common actually. Independent producers without access to a studio frequently record themselves in a closet because it’s the quietest and most […]
Folk singer Kendall Morse woos his partner, Jacqui. Photo by Jen Leahy, courtesy the Salt Archive. p “… To most journalists honored with the job of remembering the stories of the tribe, (the) momentous events of everyday life are virtually invisible. To most American journalists, such events are akin to the dark and unknown matter […]
Marty Hagland, a transgendered woman, says it was a long time before her neighbors accepted her. “It took them a good three years to finally realize that I don’t bite. At least not very hard. And, if you stick a pin in me I bleed. I’m relatively human.” (Photo by Selena Simmons-Duffin) “r Hot off […]
Salt’s Radio Church during the Fall 2008 opening, “Meet Me Anywhere.” r Here’s a beautiful thing: a Radio Church full of listeners. No twitters. No Facebook. No emails. No blogs. No cell phones. Just sound. The human voice. The natural and built environment. Mainers living their lives. The sound of story. Sound. Story. Church. The […]
United States Air Force photo of Northern Lights at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska by Senior Airman Joshua Strang. P What’s it take to produce a radio piece that doesn’t have conflict, tension, or some universal we all can relate to? Well, some of the storytelling components that help make up for those missing elements […]
Sally Rollins and two of her thirty cats. Photo by Katie Stohlman, courtesy Salt’s archive. If Annie Larmon had asked me if it was okay to record with a mic in her pocket, I would have said “No.” Annie went to Salt in the spring of 2008. And, for a story on a woman who […]
Jackie takes and gives orders at Dysart’s Truck Stop, Bangor, Maine. Photo by Molly Myers, courtesy the Salt Archive. At first, Sara Paul thought she’d do a story on bear hunting. But, hanging out in a tree for hours in the freezing cold with some dude she’d never met wasn’t her idea of a good […]
Photo of Marisa and Andrew by Erica Burkhart, courtesy the Salt Archive. Kudos to Erin Davis. Erin won the Best New Producer award at this year’s Third Coast International Audio Festival. The piece, “Except Me” was produced at Salt and that’s what we’re featuring on today’s Saltcast. Erin is the third student to win this […]
Photo of Ira Glass by Tom Murphy Probably my favorite piece to play in radio class at Salt to prompt discussion is “Dead Animal Man” by Ira Glass. It sets the bar high for feature production. On this Saltcast, we listen to “Dead Animal Man” the whole way through then play it again and dissect […]
You can find stories just about anywhere. One good place is the newspaper. In particular, look at the end of a story. Because newspaper stories are typically written with the basic information in the first few paragraphs, the ends of newspaper stories tend to have the less reported material. That’s where you can find some […]
Radio is an excellent way to meet people. But, all too often, on public radio we tend to only meet newsworthy people. Little time is made for an “average” person with a unique story. That’s unfortunate because that’s most of us. There are exceptions on public radio — Storycorps, Radio Rookies, Radio Diaries, This I […]
It’s so elegant. Genius really. Hand a mic to someone and let them record. In general, the tape they collect will be intimate, honest, and revealing. They will take you places few journalists can go. And, its an opportunity for people to speak directly for themselves — that’s empowering. And that, in short, is the […]
Photo of Michael Luce by Annie Reichert, courtesy of the Salt Archive. P Megan Martin had her mic out and pointed at Micheal Luce. They were down in his cellar — Meghan was recording, Micheal was building his dead mother’s casket. This was maybe the fourth or fifth time Megan recorded Micheal pounding nails, sawing, […]
Students have a tough time of it at Salt. Not everyone, of course. But, often, a student will hit a wall, sometimes two. Maybe because of Salt’s “Outward Bound” or experiential approach to teaching documentary, students seem to hit more walls than at other types of educational settings. That’s a good thing. In fact, it […]
Producing non-narrated radio stories is a real challenge. There’s no narrator to synthesize, describe, and guide. Your tape has to carry the ball — interview tape, active tape, ambiance. It’s not easy. “I’ve Seen That” is one of the better non-narrated pieces to come out of Salt. Produced by Owen Agnew in the fall of […]
Listening just may be the most important skill for radio producers. Nah, scratch that. Listening IS the most important skill. From interviewing and field recording to mixing and editing and writing, you heavily rely on your ears (and your brain, of course.) So, if your ears get rusty, you’ve got a problem. Ya gotta keep […]
Sea cucumber processor in Milbridge, Maine. Photo by Holly Wilmeth, courtesy the Salt Archive. P Moral – The path to a story is not always straight. Sometimes it’s circular. Zach Barr studied radio at Salt in the spring of 2003. He was a story telling machine. He couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a […]
Joe Marchelletta works a spinning frame in Etna, Maine. Photo by Lars Howlett, courtesy of the Salt Archive. P Radio producers face ethical questions every day. Indeed, when cutting tape, we face ethical questions each time we highlight and delete — every few seconds. When we remove words, flip sentences, delete a pause, etc., we […]
Photo of Bill Picard in his van by Emilie Kapp, courtesy the Salt Archive. P Welcome to the first Saltcast! Glad you could stop by and take a listen. Saltcast is a production of PRX and The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies — Salt for short — in Portland, Maine. We want to start the […]