February 2008
Listen to an
AIR Update
by Sue Schardt, Executive Director, AIR
December 2007
Listen to AIR’s
"Setting the Makers' Table"
Hosted by Sue Schardt, Executive Director, AIR
Public Radio Program Directors Association
2007 Public Radio Programming Conference
Minneapolis, Minnesota
September 27, 2007
September 2007
Listen to The Iran Agenda
A radio documentary written and produced by Reese Erlich for Making Contact/National Radio Project.
 "I recorded most of my book interviews with the idea of later producing a radio documentary. You can hear the results with the 29-minute documentary "The Iran Agenda." It will be aired on Making Contact (National Radio Project), broadcast on public radio stations starting on September 26. We hear the cacophonous sounds of the Tehran Bazaar, and meet ordinary Iranians and government leaders."
August 2007
Listen to Creative Sound Assemblage (exerpt from upcoming AIRpod podcast)
Produced by AIR and featuring Carola Cintron
In May of this year, AIR partnered with Harvestworks Digital Media Center in New York to present a week-long intensive in Creative Sound Assemblage for Radio Producers. The workshop was led by sound artists Michael Schumacher and Hans Tammen. Each of the eight participants came to the workshop with an idea they wanted to realize over the course of the week. The eight short pieces were later assembled into a single podcast, now available for your listening enjoyment. A text supplement to this issue of AIRpod provides readers with a variety of resource materials for those interested in expanding their knowledge of sound art theory, technique and software, as well as a little information on the producers who participated.
July 2007
Listen to The Farm
Produced by Wesley Horner and Susannah Lee.
This five-minute preview profiles members of the Boyden family, whose ancestors began farming in western Massachusetts in the late 1700s.
Credits: Written and hosted by MacLeish. Helen Barrington and Jill Kaufman at host station WFCR provided critical feedback, as did Deborah Blakeley, who helped develop the marketing and distribution plan.
May 2007
Listen to Introduction to the Interlochen Arts Academy Band Concert
Produced by George Zarr and The Short Attention Span Audio Theatre
 George Zarr: "I was asked to be a roving commentator during the Interlochen Arts Academy Band concert, providing interesting tidbits and facts about the pieces and composers in the program. I commissioned my class to provide an opening CD message as an alternative to the school’s standard ‘please turn off your cell phone’ recording. This is what was played before the concert."
April 2007
Listen to The Swirls of Deception
Produced by John Ryan
 The most fun was producing last October's KUOW-Seattle documentary series on the currents of the Puget Sound, As the Sound Churns. I got paid to ride ferries, oil tankers and kayaks. Capsizing the kayak in a whirlpool and destroying my minidisc wasn't part of the plan, but it sure made some great sound.
Listen to Hawaii Resistance
Produced by Dmae Roberts
MediaRites Productions
 "Crossing East was my decade-long dream to provide public radio with its first series on Asian American history. The 8 hour long series involved more than 50 producers, scholars and artists and aired on 210 stations. Millions of listeners now know a neglected part of American history and more Asian Americans are connected to public radio." – Dmae Roberts
Listen to And I Walked ... Stories from the Border
 Excerpted from Crossing Borders
Produced by Barrett Golding, HearingVoices.com
The nighttime desert seems to have a voice of its own in Crossing Borders. It's a vivid audio chronicle of illegal immigrants from Mexico, the dangers their journeys entail and why they still take the risk.
March 2007
Miss Analog High (9:58)
Produced by BJ Leiderman (music by Don McLean)
Originally performed at the 2005 Project Bar-B-Q in San Antonio, Miss Analog High has mutated into my anthem for quality in music and sound. The current version was to be performed at the 2007 Thresholds Arts Festival in Des Moines, but the Great Midwest Blizzard of ’07 took care of that. Thus, it debuts here on AIRblast! So "raise your glass to simpler days gone by..." and enjoy.
February 2007
Audio and Video from New Adventures in Sound Art
Sound Travels: "Sonic Boardwalk"
by Robert Mulder and Kristi Allik.
A soundscape clip of people interacting with the Sonic Boardwalk sound sculpture. Commissioned in 2006 by New Adventures In Sound Art for the Toronto Island boardwalk.
Deep Wireless: "Stampede"
from Le petit homme dans l'oreille
by Christian Calon and Chantal Dumas.
A fabulous radio work available on the CD Radio Roadmovies and also published on the first Deep Wireless compilation CD. An interactive new media version was commissioned by New Adventures In Sound Art for SOUNDplay 2003.
SOUNDplay: A video excerpt from "Sieves"
by Jean Piche.
A videomusic work realized in HD and commissioned by New Adventures In Sound Art for SOUNDplay 2003.
January 2007
AIR Member Spotlight Audio
The Last Days of Kitty Shenay (18 minutes)
Produced by John Biewen
Follows one
hospice patient through her last two months of life. It was carved out of
the American  RadioWorks documentary The Hospice Experiment and aired on
NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday in July 2004. Tennessee Watson, assistant
producer.|
No Santa (18:36)
Produced by Jennifer Deer and John Biewen
John Biewen dropped by
with some great recordings of bedtime with his kids. Jennifer, with her
usual deft ear, produced the piece for her audio documentary podcast Big
Shed.
The Youth Noise
Produced by Tennessee Watson
Network's productions on PRX The Youth
Noise Network is an after-school program for middle and high school
students in Durham, North Carolina. It is a forum in which youth speak
their minds through audio documentary pieces that they produce and
broadcast on Duke University's station.
November 2006
Featuring AIR recipients of The New York Festivals' 24th Annual International Radio Programming & Promotion Awards.
The New York Festivals recognizes "The World's Best Work" in radio programming and promotion.
"Ghana Child Slavery"
Produced by Prue Clarke
Recipient of the Gold World Medal for Best Investigative Report,
UNDPI - Gold, World Vision Report
Listen (MP3 3.6 meg)
 The plight of Ghana's child slaves really encapsulates one of the biggest challenges of telling African stories to a western audience.
I, like most westerners, went to the village of Yeji in Ghana, expecting to find villains. How could parents sell their children into
slavery unless they were heartless monsters? But, as I've learned living and traveling around Africa, you just can't
apply those judgements in extreme poverty. When day-to-day existence is so desperate, solutions we call monstrous can make sense. Parents who sell their children love them as much as
parents in the west. But unlike parents in rich countries, these
parents' hopes for their children are simply that they survive.
"A Glimpse Behind the Burka"
Produced by Will Everett
Recipient of the Bronze World Medal in Best News Analysis/Commentary,
World Vision Report
Listen (MP3 2 meg)
 I was in Kabul, Afghanistan recording traditional
musicians. My translator and I ducked into a small restaurant for lunch, where
in a while a burka-clad woman began going around to the tables raking food into
a plastic bag. It was a tender scene, and luckily the woman was willing to talk
to me and share a bit of her story. I would have liked to know more, but in an
instant she was gone. I sold this short vignette to WorldVision Radio upon my
return.
"The U.S. Battle with the ICC"
Produced by Steve Mencher
Recipient of the Bronze World Medal for Best National/International
Affairs category, UNDPI - Finalist, Justice Talking, Michele Ernsting, producer. Erin Mooney, co-producer.
Listen (MP3 20 meg)
 Just before I left Justice Talking in 2005, we traveled to Amsterdam to
record a show about the International Criminal Court, in collaboration
with Radio Netherlands. RN's Michele Ernsting wrote and produced the
excellent features. Erin Mooney co-produced. We also got to enjoy the
city, during the bacchanalian Queen's Day!
"Let Me Entertain You: The Songs of Jule Styne"
Produced by Jeffrey Lunden
Recipient of the Bronze Medal in
the Culture and the Arts category, National Public Radio
Listen (MP3 52 meg)
Let Me Entertain You: The Songs of Jule Styne is an hour-long documentary
celebrating the life and work of one of Broadway and Hollywood's finest composers.
 Hosted by Susan Stamberg and produced and written by Jeff Lunden, the program aired
on December 31, 2005, Styne's centennial. Styne wrote the scores for Gypsy, Funny
Girl and Bells are Ringing, among others, and wrote such song hits as 'Let it Snow,
Let it Snow, Let it Snow' and 'Time after Time.' The documentary features
interviews with composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, actress Carol Channing, singer
Michael Feinstein and many others, as well as archival material of Jule Styne
talking about and singing his songs.
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October 2006
August 2006
July 2006