1,000 Postcards
Produced by Rene Gutel
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Notes From Rene
As I write this my dad still hasn't heard the story. I have wanted to play it for him in person... but I haven't seen him since Christmas when I did the interviews. My father would like me to make it very clear that he no longer writes postcards, reads the paper or balances his checkbook at red lights. He's a very safe driver - in October he'll hit his 26-year marker.
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I did all the interviews and taping of my father while riding his bus one afternoon. I sat in the front passenger seat, directly behind him, and crooked my arm out to get the best possible sound of him calling the stops. During his breaks at the ends of the line, we sat in his bus and he read the postcards for me and we talked. He was a very easy and willing interview.
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Bonus Audio
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Clip #1
- :37
MP3: Streaming
(64 kbps) | Download
(300 kb)
Another example of how my dad copes with his job. And no, he did not actually shave his head.
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Clip #2
- :44
MP3: Streaming
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(350 kb)
If I had included this postcard, I would have called the piece "the grim bus driver." That probably would have made a better title.
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Clip #3
- 1:03
MP3: Streaming
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(500 kb)
My dad wrote me every day but I only wrote him back about twice a month. If ever I fell behind, he'd get annoyed and start pestering me to write and answer his many questions about college life. Being a typical college student, I purposefully avoided some of his questions... such as whether I'd gone to church recently.
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Tech Notes
I recorded this onto my sharp minidisc player. I wish
I could tell you what kind of mike I used but really
it was just an okay one my last job supplied me with.
I can tell you it was not a shotgun, and not an RE-50.
All the mixing and editing was done in Cool Edit.
This piece was originally produced for B-Side
Radio out of Berkeley, California. B-Side is a burgeoning
independent radio show that plays on KALX 90.7 FM and
on the internet. Mad props to Tamara Keith who went
through not a few edits with me.
About Rene Gutel
I became serious about radio while working on a masters degree in Arabic literature. I began to admit to myself that I wasn't very good at Arabic and did not want to put in the effort to improve. Radio on the other hand was an open playground of noise and rhythm that did not require contorted conjugations.
I dropped out of school and got a job working for KSKA Public Radio in Anchorage where I covered poetry slams, the anti-war movement, local politics and most notably, the Joshua Wade murder trial. I worked there a year and a half. Currently I am dabbling in commercial TV news, though I daydream about getting an MFA in sound art and creating Glenn Gould inspired documentaries.
Related Links
B-Side Radio: www.bside-radio.org
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