This week on KALW's showcase for the best stories from public radio podcasts and independent radio producers...
“Dear John,” produced by Andrea Rangecroft for BBC Radio 4’s Short Cuts, March 2017.
Short Cuts, the radio program and podcast from BBC Radio 4 and Falling Tree Productions, is a mixtape they describe as: “A selection of brief encounters, true stories and found sound.”
In their 2017 episode titled “Hope Dies Last,” they introduce us to Pam Baker and John Redmond who started writing to each other as penpals when they were teenagers in the 1960s.
You can find more episodes of Short Cuts at bbc.co.uk and you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher. Check out more audio documentaries made by Falling Tree Productions at fallingtree.co.uk.
“Only Connect,” by written Sadie Stein, The Paris Review Podcast, December 2017.
Last year, The Paris Review launched their own podcast. Each episode is a 30+ minute mix of short, fictional stories read by A-list actors, archival interviews with authors like Maya Angelou and James Baldwin, and new works from fiction writers and poets.
In their fourth episode, Writer Sadie Stein shares a true story about missed connections. You can listen to the full episode on iTunes and Stitcher, as well as at theparisreview.org/podcast. You can also read more of Sadie Stein’s writings at theparisreview.org.
“Janis Joplin on Rejection,” from the podcast Blank on Blank, 2013.
2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Live at Winterland '68 album recording and release, featuring Big Brother and the Holding Company. The podcast Blank on Blank released an episode featuring the last interview Janis gave before she died in 1970.
Blank on Blank brings intimate conversations of notable Americans to a much wider audience. Most of the tape they feature comes directly from the personal archives of journalists, never-before-heard by anyone else. Blank on Blank is produced by Quoted Studios, and you can listen to more at blankonblank.org.
“Time - Sands,” by Joe Frank, 2004.
Earlier this month, the radio community lost a legend, Joe Frank. His hour-long, late-night radio shows were dark and edgy and intimate, providing a lot of inspiration for many radio makers then and today. Joe Frank passed away on January 15th in Southern California.
In 2004, he produced a series called “Online,” which included an episode titled “Time’s Arrow.” In it, Joe included this meditation on the grains of sand in the hourglass of life and the reminder that we can’t stop time.
Do yourself a favor and listen to more Joe Frank, at joefrank.com and hearing-voices.org.
This week's episode featured music from: Black Moth Super Rainbow, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, The Shacks, Booker T. & The MG’s, Dr. Dog, and The Church.
If you have a suggestion for a podcast or an audio project we should feature, please drop us a line at thespot@kalw.org.
Tune in next week for another episode of The Spot, only on KALW San Francisco.