RADIO
I regularly report and produce stories for a variety of public radio shows including This American Life, Studio 360, Marketplace, and Weekend America. Descriptions of some of those stories with links to streaming MP3's or Real Audio files are below.
Sleepover!{LISTEN}
A few years ago, me and my girlfriend Hillary Frank decided we wanted to do a story together -- a story about sleepovers. The idea was pretty simple. We'd find two groups of roughly ten year-old kids who were having sleepover parties on the same night and see what happened. Hillary would talk it up with the girls and I'd hang out with the boys. Three years later engaged and living in a different city, we'd decided to give the idea a try. Aired December 16, 2006 on Weekend America.
Want Some Sushi? {LISTEN}
David Yoo was working a temp job he really liked, the hours were decent, the work was easy. And then his boss asked him to help him with a project he shouldn't have gotten involved in. This story was my entry to the 2006 Third Coast International Audio Festival's Shortdoc project: 99 Ways to Tell a Radio Story.
The Olfactory Factory {LISTEN}
Like any other city, sometimes Chicago really smells. The river can be pretty potent. I used to live right around the corner from a Polish deli that really stunk up the alley and made it hard to walk to my bus stop every morning. But Chicago also often smells like chocolate. This story I reported for Marketplace details how all that cocoa in the air caused the EPA to cite the Blommer Chocolate Company for violations and what it means for the future of Chicago's chocolate flavored air. Originally aired 1.4.06 on Marketplace.
Operation Gratitude {LISTEN}
In November 2005, I spent a month in Los Angeles working as a Visiting Producer with the show Weekend America. During my second week, they asked me to find people putting together care packages for troops overseas. So I stopped by the National Guard Armory in Van Nuys, CA and talked to the folks at Operation Gratitude as they sorted through donations intended for packages they were sending out Thanksgiving weekend. Originally aired on the 11.19.05 episode of Weekend America.
Music Box Man {LISTEN}
The first time I interviewed theater organist Mark Noller, I wasn't sure it was going to work. It was impossible to find a quite place at the movie theater he plays at and although the tape was interesting to me, I wasn't sure if I had enough to put together a story a national audience would be interested in. When the interview was over, Mark walked me out to his car and showed me a little photo album full of blurry pictures. When he told me I was looking at a replica of the Music Box Theatre he built in his 600 square foot garage an hour south of Chicago, I knew I had to go. Aired 8.20.05 on Weekend America.
Photo Risks {LISTEN}
In addition to giving you the ability to take really great photographs on the cheap, digital photography also means it's easier than ever to copy photographs. The continuing clash of technology and copyright law is now causing problems for some consumers at their local Fotomats. Aired 7.29.05 on Marketplace.
Fixed Gear Bikes{LISTEN}
If you've spent any time in a city in the last five years, you've probably seen a fixed gear bike. Popularized by bike messengers, the fixed gear bike strips down the modern bicycle to its origins, removing all the extra gears as well as the freewheel, the mechanism that allows a bicycle to coast. In this piece, Chicago graphic designer and fixed gear enthusiast Naz Hamid explains how a bicycle works...and why he loves to ride its most basic model. "Design for the Real World" segment on the 7.1.05 edition of Studio 360.
Ad-Skipping {LISTEN}
Some day soon, we'll all have a TiVo. We won't watch commercials and it will be glorious. But what are the advertisers supposed to do? Aired on the Marketplace Morning Report 5.20.05.
Don't Drive Like My Brother{LISTEN}
Charles Johnson had a family and was out of work and he needed a job. He looked around and decided he’d try truck driving. There was one problem though. He couldn’t read. Originally aired on This American Life 4.15.05.
Andrew Bird's Antisocial Adventure {LISTEN}
The Chicago violinist and songwriter Andrew Bird is a musician who has taken the solo act to the extreme. Live, Bird uses his violin along with looping and octave pedals to create a dense sonic framework for his songs complete with layers of pizzicato violin and sweeping cello sounds to which he then adds guitar and vocals. Three years ago, he moved out to a family farm in Western Illinois and converted an old barn into a studio and living space. Isolated from people, his band, even the radio…he found his music developing into something he never expected. Originally aired on Studio 360 4.15.05.
The Debt Disease {LISTEN}
Part of Chicago Public Radio's Chicago Matters series "Money Talks," this report looks at two individuals on opposite ends of the income scale coping with personal debt. Originally aired 4.11.05.
Garfield Park Conservatory {LISTEN}
Sometime in March, winter starts to fade a bit and Chicago turns ugly. The snow is gone and all you're left with are these drab reminders that it's still not going to be warm for months. There is a way to escape though. Originally aired 3.26.05 on Weekend America.
Dream of Democracy {LISTEN}
In 2004 with the election just months away, I went to college campuses across Chicago, a peace march, a rap battle, and a Young Republicans meet-up and talked to young people. Asked them about politics and politicians, democracy, and the American Dream. Produced with Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices for Chicago Public Radio's Chicago Matters series, "Our Next Generation." Many segments of the documentary later aired on NPR's Day to Day.
Files in Cakes, Ha! {LISTEN}
A California inmate who goes by the pseudonym Angelo published a book in 2003 called Prisoners' Inventions in collaboration with Temporary Services. Segments detailing some of those inventions including a toilet paper cup are read by actor Felix Solis. The book, which you should own, can be purchased at whitewalls.org. Produced with Starlee Kine for This American Life. Aired 8.15.03.
Letter from Chicago {LISTEN}
Just after I moved to Chicago, I started getting worried phone calls from my mom in California. She wondered how I was going to handle myself in a city where I didn't know anyone. Who was going to look after me? So I took a walk with my microphone and tried to show her. Originally aired on the sadly defunct The Savvy Traveler and later on Re:Sound, the show lovingly curated by the folks at the Third Coast International Audio Festival.
Neal Pollack Takes on America {LISTEN}
Several years ago, I convinced some very nice people that it would be a good idea to let me follow the author Neal Pollack on tour for a few days and make a radio story about the whole thing. Neal had never been on a book tour, I had never made a radio story. Originally aired March 2001 on the Web site transom.org.
