Jad Abumrad Interview After Radiolab : Symmetry Live at UCLA Royce Hall

Jad Abumrad Interview from Andy Sternberg on Vimeo.

It’s not often that you get to see your favorite radio show or podcast produced and performed before a live audience. Granted, there are more opportunities to “watch the radio” than you’d imagine and I’ve seen my fair share of Buzz Out Loud and TWiT podcasts live in person. But I digress.

I posted some of my favorite Radiolab episodes right here a few months ago. Soon after that it was announced that the show was going on the road. A typical hour of Radiolab is likely to contain some of the most incredible, cerebral and aurally tantalizing radio you’ll hear. And it was just as fulfilling and entertaining as I could have expected live. Hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich were brill as usual — the 5-part show was built around the theme: Symmetry (I’ll post it after it airs). And a big bonus was live cello machinations by the incredibly talented ZoĆ« Keating.

Thanks WNYC for taking the show on the road and especially for giving me a few minutes to “geek out” with Jad about everything from writing to production to sequencing the Novation Launchpad MIDI controller for Ableton Live.

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R.I.P. Studs Terkel

studs terkelOne of the greatest radio voices of all time, pioneering storyteller Louis “Studs” Terkel died today. He was 96. What he gave to journalism and radio storytelling has everything to do with my addiction to podcasts, public radio and journalism of the people for the people and to the people.

It goes without saying that Terkel’s unique traveling interview style, best illustrated on 1963’s “This Train” is the model for great audio and visual storytelling of today. While riding the train from Chicago to the civil rights march in Washington D.C., Terkel gathered the voices of anger, joy and ultimately optimism from people of all ages making that historic trip. Just listen to part one of “This Train” below and, suddenly, you won’t think This American Life is the most revolutionary program to hit radio.

Studs was a Chicago guy but his stories had a purely American bent, touching on difficult matters of importance and celebrating life coast to coast. I’m sorry that he will not be around to see Barack Obama become president, although he discussed as much with a Huffington Post scribe in the days before his passing. I’m also sad that the Cubs couldn’t pull it out this year for Terkel and other Cubs fans who’ve waited the better part of 100 years to see a championship.

Studs Terkel was an activist until his dying days, playing a prominent role challenging AT&T’s corroboration in releasing records to the National Security Agency in 2006.

I hope to locate the full audio of this amazing piece to post later. For now, here’s the first 50 minutes of “This Train.”

Video and more below:

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Best Use of Metallica’s ‘One’ in a Public Radio Story


Photo by Daniella Zalcman under CC license.

“Chronically Homeless See New Woes in New Orleans”, by Joseph Shapiro.

I heard it this morning around 3:15 a.m. when I flipped over my Zune and tuned to NPR after being awoken by violent sounds from a movie playing too loud in the next room. These are the stories that actually play three times here on the West Coast, where morning edition begins at 2 a.m. and in some cases, runs — or rather loops — until 9. When I lived in Chicago I thought it was cool to hear the BBC after getting home on a late night, but now, in LA, we’ve got tomorrow’s news at 2 a.m.

(The unfortunate consequences for an NPR junkie like myself are that Renee Montagne’s voice begins to randomly say “good morning” while your sleep and, at times I find I secretly wish a lengthy spell of laryngitis on the likes of Steve Julian. Sorry Steve, you’re not as annoying as Larry Mantle, just speak a bit faster if you could.)

OK, I digress. The point of this post is to highlight this great clip from another excellent Morning Edition piece from New Orleans. NPR had the best coverage during the Katrina disaster and they continue to document the aftermath better than anyone — check their Katrina & Recovery page.

In this particular story, in spite of the vivid and blighted landscape I was aurally transported to at 3:15 a.m., it totally made my day to hear 38-year-old Benjamin Parnell, a blind New Orleanian, laughing and — longing for his guitar — belting out the ever-powerful machine-gun lyrical climax of Metallica’s “One” a capella:”Landmine has taken my sight/Taken my speech/Taken my hearing/Taken my arms/Taken my legs/Taken my soul/Left me with life in hell…

The kicker, NPR followed through in providing the gritty, heavy metal context. Kudos to reporter Joseph Shapiro and his producer(s). Listen to the excerpt below. You can read / listen to the entire piece here.