Transom

Fake City, Real Dreams

sam — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:40:34 +0000

Zak Rosen is a radio producer. Neil Greenberg is a map-maker. They're both from Detroit, but their hearts are in a different city, a city they think is possible--at least in the imagination and maybe in reality.

The radio piece they made together treats this place as if it were real. It is a creative exercise that hints at a plausible future. Fake City, Real Dreams is unlike any "arts feature" you've heard before.

How Are You Who You Are?

sam — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:32:23 +0000

The Nadeaus were, to most eyes, an ideal family--enlightened, brilliant, prosperous. But then things turned upsidedown. In a remarkable series of events, Doug and Lynn Nadeau were forced to re-define their identities, to confirm the foundation of their love. Eric Winick knew and admired the Nadeau's growing up in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and this portrait of their relationship is his first piece for radio, made with skills he acquired at Transom.

Running From Myself

sam — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:07:06 +0000

There's something about Louis' voice; it's both wise and callow. It feels like he has the answers while he's searching for them. Louis used to rob people on the street, but he stopped. Now, he's trying to reconcile the person he was with the person he is and wants to be. Louis worked with Anthony Mascorro at 826NYC to tell this powerful, complicated story. (By the way, it was nice for us to learn that Anthony acquired his editing chops at Transom.) We all hope you'll visit Transom to listen, and talk to Louis and Anthony about their piece.

Creature Comforts

sam — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:46:13 +0000

In case you haven't seen them already, we thought we'd post these animation gems. They are the work of our current Guests - the team behind Creature Comforts. All the voices come from interviews with real people. Watch. Enjoy. And then come join the conversation at Transom.org.

Creature Comforts

sam — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:18:34 +0000

Creature Comforts part 2 (interview with Transom)

sam — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:25:36 +0000

Transom is proud to welcome the creative team behind our favorite animated series, Creature Comforts. If you haven't seen it, get thee quickly to their Transom pages and catch up. This series comes from Aardman Animation in England (home of Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, etc.), and is inhabited by claymation animals whose identities are derived from audio interviews with real people. There's a kinship between radio and animation, because we all imagine the source of voices we hear, and if our imaginations are free-ranging and whimsical, the voices might look like this.

Kit Boss, Richard "Golly" Goleszowski, and Dan Sinclair talk to Transom's Samantha Broun. The conversation is transcribed, illustrated with audio/video, and is downloadable in MP3. There's also a "Making Of" video, and all sorts of background and technique, including interviewing. And you can ask questions. This is good stuff. You'll like it.

Creature Comforts (interview with Transom)

sam — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:44:29 +0000

An Evening of 75 Laughs with Jonathan Katz

sam — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:19:33 +0000

Transom wants talented people to try public radio. When we first featured Jonathan Katz's audio work, he was making funny little pieces in his attic studio. Then, we helped him produce a fake call-in show , with his friends--David Cross, Sarah Silverman, Al Franken, David Mamet, et. al.--playing the callers. Now, we've produced a radio hour from Jonathan's stand-up performance at Jimmy Tingle's Off-Broadway Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It features Tom Snyder, Bill Braudis, Tom Leopold, H. Jon Benjamin and others. It also features lots of jokes about Multiple Sclerosis, a disease which Jonathan has had for many years. Don't worry, it's funny... funny enough that you didn't have to be there. Judge for yourself.

Voice of Youth: The Night I Met Cornel West

sam — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:58:42 +0000

In this piece Laquoia Simmons, a self described at risk teenager," meets and briefly interviews renowned academic and public intellectual Cornel West. In this insightful piece, Laquoia reflects on her trip to Sonoma State University, and discusses what it was like to be an 'at-risk' young woman meeting a writer who writes so much about the so-called 'at-risk' population. In this personal and intellectual piece, she talks about family, betrayal, humiliation, and inspiration.

Voice of Youth: This New Game

sam — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 23:40:00 +0000

This piece addresses the recent phenomenon of "cutting" from the inside perspective of a teenager, Amanda Wells, who believes that no one is really getting at the heart of the problem or explaining what it feels like to cut your own body. In this sound collage, she focuses on the fundamental urge to self-mutilate and what it would take for someone to stop, while hinting at some secrets from her own life.

Voice of Youth: Our Name is Rogelio Bautista

sam — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 23:55:30 +0000

A piece chronicling the life and death of 16 year old, Rogelio Bautista.

Twenty One

sam — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 18:18:38 +0000

"What would you do if somebody told you to make a movie about your life?"

The Tomato & the Big Apple

sam — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 00:43:21 +0000

This high-concept trip follows a tomato from Florida to New York... and, well, sort of back again.

“KROCK Lives!”

sam — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 23:53:10 +0000

Adventures in bad-ass commercial rock radio studios too early in the morning. Jen Trynin shares a day in the life of a would be up & coming pop star.

Girl Detectives

sam — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 02:06:44 +0000

Sue Mell is an artist and writer and she's also been a stand-up comedian. This is her first radio piece. It's not funny. It's about the aftermath of a friend's murder, and the desire for resolution.

Carrie’s Letters From Jail

sam — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 01:43:09 +0000

Producer Mark Moran created this audio portrait of Carrie, a repeat criminal offender and prison inmate - all through her own reflections and letters written to loved ones while behind bars.

Seafood Joint, Garbage & Stress Test

sam — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 00:53:00 +0000

When we first received Hans' work, the editors didn't know what to make of it. Once they figured it out, they decided he was brilliant and "dangerously ambiguous." Listen to this excerpt called "Stress Test."

Of a Piece

sam — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 01:07:50 +0000

How do you maintain family traditions, or build new ones, after a divorce? Would an 8,000-piece jigsaw puzzle help? Michelle Orange thinks so. In fact, she'd even go 12,500.

Jimmy and Jewel: A Love (?) Story

sam — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 01:40:51 +0000

At his grandfather's funeral, a woman he'd never met gave Jason Rayles a rose. In his first piece for radio, he tries to find out who this woman was... and a little more about his grandfather.

Buffalo Turkey Tail

sam — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 05:36:54 +0000

Andy Raskin left his CEO job at his dotcom, and began taking his chances on telling some radio stories. This was his first. It's about his friendship with an old man named Hollister, a street person who introduces Andy to the conceptual delicacy, Turkey Tail, as well as other lessons.

If You Were Thomas’ White Girlfriend

sam — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 02:30:56 +0000

This story is about Thomas William, a young Sudanese immigrant in Maine, and what it might be like if you were his white girlfriend. The producer Terry Farish, in a lovely use of the subjunctive, describes some possibilities for bridging culture, language and worlds. For July 4th, an immigrant perspective on growing up and discovering one's self in the strange new world that surrounds you.

The West Desert

sam — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 07:59:03 +0000

A revived piece by independent producer Scott Carrier about an area outside of Salt Lake City, Utah that, over time, has become a main dumping ground for toxic materials and other poisons. His stance on the issue, as you might expect from Scott, is not what you would expect.

Radio ~ Sound ~ Art

sam — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 06:34:29 +0000

Sound art, audio art, radio art... it's probably old stuff to the crowd reading this discussion board, but to most Americans, it's pure arcana. Joan Schuman made this short feature piece in 2001 celebrating and bemoaning the state of Sound Art. Does public radio have a role to play in bringing this work forward? Is our hearing ultimately unchallenged by what the radio gives us?

Knitting With Doghair

sam — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 03:05:23 +0000

This piece, from the wonderfully eccentric Australian producer Natalie Kestecher, made its American debut on Transom in July, 2002. It plays at the boundary of documentary and imagination. Your task: decide which is which, and if it matters.

The Imaginary Village

sam — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 04:33:04 +0000

This piece is a two-fer. Producer Sandy Tolan came to us with an idea, and we asked only that he try something he hadn't tried before: find a new way of telling, not to think of it as fitting in with existing styles. He teamed up with new producer Melissa Robbins (Salt Institute graduate) and the two of them built this piece about home and loss with a style somewhere between journalism and impressionism, with delicate treatment of that international radio impediment, translated interviews.

Deviation

sam — Tue, 24 May 2005 01:00:36 +0000

A piece recorded in the woods at the time of full moon, produced with a folding and unraveling technique, full of forward motion.

Darth Vader Impersonator Impersonator

sam — Tue, 17 May 2005 05:38:22 +0000

To commemorate the final(?) chapter of George Lucas' epic sci-fi adventure, Transom is proud to present "Darth Vader Impersonator Impersonator," a show from our 2002 archives that explores the true nature of the dark side, its power over 32 year old men living with mom -- and why being known as "The Master-Vader" may not command the fearful respect you seek.

Family Sentence

sam — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 05:38:02 +0000

"My dad spent 23 years in prison. He started off as a Cuban Revolutionary and later ended up a convicted felon in the United States. We only talked once in the last 16 years. Then, out of the blue I got an email from him. He wrote, 'I'm home. Your biological father, Hector.' "

Perfect Hearing

sam — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 04:18:07 +0000

Nubar Alexanian is a Documentary Photographer, but this story could not be told well in pictures. It's about impaired hearing. And acceptance, and love, and endurance, and other messages hidden beneath the surface.

Sweet Phil from Sugar Hill

sam — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 22:30:39 +0000

A refugee from the Dot-Com bust makes her debut in long form radio. Full of clever production, it is the story of a large, difficult and remarkable personality, Phyllis Fletcher's father, and it's told with great care and no blame.