My first thought of this is a kind of shaggy-dog story, but this is straight from Mr. Poe. Well-written and compelling. Anderson has a good crisp voice for this kind of thing. And for 11:38, there is nothing but that voice: no efx, no music.
The issue in our timeblock world is the length. Anderson, in some dark-humor corner of his mind, suggests this as a possible fundraiser. He might be right. Knowing the waywardness of the pledge clock, the piece could, without too much damage, be broken into three or four segments.
But do pledge arteests have the courage to say "help me" in a hingey sort of way? It would be great if they tried.
I love Elizabeth Dribben's delivery. This is radio at its most finely tuned dramatic -- never too much, just a breath above too little. Some listeners might feel cheated in the end, but that is part of the story too. A no-brainer for PDs. Any innocuous short spot on WESUN is worth sacrficing for this.
A wonderful occasion for a story -- German POWs return to visit the Maine town where they were imprisoned. Okay as is, but a little scattershot, trying to cover too much ground in one story. There are probably three or four stories actually lurking in this piece.
A lovely piece, available in numerous formats. Each one can be considered in its own right, but each has its own particular strengths. Regardless of the medium (audio or A/V) the producer's narration is a wonder.
Maybe stations can make a deal: use the audio version to knock out tiresome stretches in WESAT or WESUN and mention that listeners can catch the A/V at http:www.wxyz.org
It's hard to stop someone when he/she has hit the mother lode. There isn't a moment in this story I would go, "Hey, what's happening? -- and yet there are dozens of moments in this recording when I, as listener, could (should?) have said, no.
An incredible rant, dead on. Thank god there are other avenues in really odd places!
Brilliant. Thank God some stations haven't filled absolutely each and every minute this Sunday. If they are wise, they will find three minutes EVERY HOUR to play this. This should be a perrenial (a word I still can't spell after a month of gardening) from year to year. PRX needs to develop a calendar that will recognize the shift of holidays from year to year. Wait a minute! I just wiped away the last tear.
I love much of this story. Jewel's voice is great. I think there are other voices to discover in English (sp?) -- I wonder what your mother would say? Where are all the wagging tongues? There is more to this story. Did the Viagra have a doctor's prescription? What does he have to say for himself?
There is much love in this story and for that alone it deserves our attention. A few tucks and trims, and there is not a program I would not recommend this story to.
Business school and medical school curricula tell us, ethics have arrived. The real ethical question is this: do all dilemma fit in the same 120 second box? The Pro/Con structure is an exhausting one for the listener, particularly when the clock is so fixed (he said this, then she said that -- even the he/she dichotomy is grindingly wearing).
My point here is this: people really do need ethical education. But the rigorous adherence to the 2 min code fails to capture the contribution of choice to the ethical problem. Why the pro/con structure? Ethics often involve gray. Lose all the assertions; give some play to doubt.
This is a really fascinating effort: three authorities, no narrator, all talking about a singular painter about whom we know almost nothing. Engaging, smart, enthusiastic commentators. The best bits are the intense descriptions of various paintings -- for example, the description of the pearl in "The Girl with the Pearl Earring." The program covers the gamut of Vermeer's art as well as the mystique surrounding Vermeer. Instead of playing that third repeat of the first hour of WESUN, this, bundled with a set of shorter PRX pieces to fill out the other half hour would be surprisingly engaging radio.
All of the Radio Netherlands pieces coming out of Zimbabwe courtesy of producer Eric Beauchemin are solid, down-to-earth reporting. There is so much godawfulness going on in Zimbabwe right now, but thanks to the governmental expulsion of all foreign reporters, Beauchemin's pieces are doubly startling. PDs could do far worse than drop a repeated hour and drop in a pair of these compelling stories.
All of the Radio Netherlands pieces coming out of Zimbabwe courtesy of producer Eric Beauchemin are solid, down-to-earth reporting. There is so much godawfulness going on in Zimbabwe right now, but thanks to the governmental expulsion of all foreign reporters, Beauchemin's pieces are doubly startling. PDs could do far worse than drop a repeated hour and drop in a pair of these compelling stories.
All of the Radio Netherlands pieces coming out of Zimbabwe courtesy of producer Eric Beauchemin are solid, down-to-earth reporting. There is so much godawfulness going on in Zimbabwe right now, but thanks to the governmental expulsion of all foreign reporters, Beauchemin's pieces are doubly startling. PDs could do far worse than drop a repeated hour and drop in a pair of these compelling stories.
All of the Radio Netherlands pieces coming out of Zimbabwe courtesy of producer Eric Beauchemin are solid, down-to-earth reporting. There is so much godawfulness going on in Zimbabwe right now, but thanks to the governmental expulsion of all foreign reporters, Beauchemin's pieces are doubly startling. PDs could do far worse than drop a repeated hour and drop in a pair of these compelling stories.
For 3:17, you won't hear a word of English, and even as I write this, I am torn by a sense that I should be aware of what Dapo is singing about, where the Naxi come from, and so on. But the sheer oomph of his singing is great.
Presenters might talk in and around the piece without doing too much harm if they were to get more info about Dapo, the Naxi, and the content of the song.
Yo-Yo Ma is possibly the most congenial human being on the planet and it shows on this episode of In Their Own Words. I would urge classical stations in particular to find the three and a half minutes in their otherwise relentless walls of music to drop this in.
A perfectly good piece of reporting for stations in NYC. To make it of interest to PDs beyond the tristate area, it might be matched with other stories about traffic, highway, and transportation mayhem.
Hard to know where to begin, but if we are ever going to escape the echo chamber of our culture, it might very well be with something like this. The baby camels kill me -- do they wag their tails (do they have tails?). Jay sets the table wonderfully here -- as per usual. College stations trading with college stations, for example. And we don't always have to go 3/4s of the way around the globe to do this (or 1/4 if you go the other way).
Stations are logical traders, but what about producer pen pals? And how do we find stations and/or producer partners elsewhere?
A really interesting subject, a good story. Could be shorter. One troubling element is the shifting back and forth of voice from first person to more traditional reporter. Maybe there are really two stories here: What does it feel like, as a vegetarian, to shoot a gun? And then there are lying lies telling us guns make life safer and the streets more crime-free.
A nice piece to drop in wherever. The title is a bit misleading because, as this story goes, the area code is more about geography than it is about real estate. Maybe some daring PD will air this in South Nebraska?
There is nothing not to like here. The interviews are fun and insightful, great characters everywhere. Intriguing settings -- I'm particularly fond of the slightly out-of-tune piano and the behind-the-scenes at the Met stuff. My only complaint is that the program itself is Wagnerian as defined at the end: knowing the task is impossible, the Valiant Producers still pursued this particular grail (oops! wrong opera!). In sum, Bravo!
This is a smart, engaging and delightful piece that is at once incredibly parochial and yet wonderfully worldly-wise as well. A refreshing story that PDs would do well to find time for -- say, after 9 mins of hammering the listener with pledge, these 13 mins will win your audience back.
A good subject, thoughtfully presented. Several problems as the piece now stands: curious shifts in the script -- dense, multi-claused paragraphs in some places; nice, succinct phrasing in others. Outside elements -- the music and the interview -- are very slow in coming. Needs editing, down to perhaps 7 mins tops. Would be willing to listen again.
Somewhere on PRX we need to allow for docs with windows for the news. I mention this here because 60 secs. into this story, where we are just getting to meet our host, we are then thrown not exactly into a tangent but somewhat off direction by essentially a news magazine-like story on Alzheimer's.
The host, new to my ears, is pleasant enough to hear. The writing is good. What is lacking here for me is the sheer hard edge of fact. We tend to use words like "epidemic" unquestioningly; "lots of money" cited early on is obtuse (how much, for example, is the government devoting to Alzheimer's research?).
It's hard not to be sympathetic to any Alzheimer's story, but when the purpose is to call to arms, it is more important still to equip us with knowledge, not pleasant sensibility.
A piece that needs an environment where it would be balanced with its political dark side -- Ann Coulter in a leather mini-skirt immediately leaps to mind.
I understand the division of voices among the reviewers: Voice mail is the missing chapter from Dante's Inferno. Still, a little trim from the discussion of refugee status wouldn't hurt. We get the point pretty quickly.
Still, this is a story that could be rolled out every 3 or 4 months under current circumstances and listeners will be laughing/crying. Ask for permission to cut and trim -- the grass angle goes on too long.
Readers of Andrea Barrett's novel The Forms of Water will know the story of rural Massachusetts towns in the '30s sacrificed for vast reservoirs to keep greater Boston swimming. Ancient loss remembered is often the loss most keenly described and there are wonderful interviews here. But seeing as how this is clearly a piece in progress with different versions in the offing, I will apologize if I see this as an opportunity to nip certain production problems in the bud. First and foremost, the music selections convey neither place nor time. The music here has nothing to do with the 1930s; it has nothing to do with Massachusetts. This is a story from the era of the WPA, not This American Life.
Which leads me to another point: the voices documented are great already. They are all perfectly capable of saying what they feel and, more important, feeling what they say. There's no need to paraphrase when they can speak for themselves.
Finally, the story is too sparing with water itself. Zap Mama once used filling glasses of water as a rhythm track for an entire song. Toilet flushes, gurgling pipes, spitting radiators: water is noisy. I would lose the narration by the bathroom sink near the top. Get the running water, sure, but keep the narrator in the studio.
This is a good story as is, but why shouldn't it be great?
A nice short story in a kind of Selected Shorts/Reading Aloud vein. A good short story, complete with life lessons. Given its particulars of theme and content, it demands a venturesome PD to give it a home.
A lot of fun. Not sure where this goes -- that's why there are PDs -- but given the fact that there are 24 hours in a day and there are 7 days in a week, there should be a space on numerous stations for something like this.
A clear, discernable voice. A refreshing and surprising piece that will provoke listener calls. Some may not be so willing to wallow quite in the dark side.
Radio should be doing a bell story every day as a matter of course. And this is a warm fuzzy to the whole matter of the carillon.
I found myself wanting answers: who thought this was the thing for Georgia? How many bells are there in this bunch? Who casted them? Where are they from?
Comments by Jackson Braider
Comment for "The Book"
Jackson Braider
Posted on June 08, 2004 at 05:58 AM | Permalink
Review of The Book
The issue in our timeblock world is the length. Anderson, in some dark-humor corner of his mind, suggests this as a possible fundraiser. He might be right. Knowing the waywardness of the pledge clock, the piece could, without too much damage, be broken into three or four segments.
But do pledge arteests have the courage to say "help me" in a hingey sort of way? It would be great if they tried.
Comment for "Reserved for Father"
Jackson Braider
Posted on June 03, 2004 at 07:13 PM | Permalink
Review of Reserved for Father
I love Elizabeth Dribben's delivery. This is radio at its most finely tuned dramatic -- never too much, just a breath above too little. Some listeners might feel cheated in the end, but that is part of the story too. A no-brainer for PDs. Any innocuous short spot on WESUN is worth sacrficing for this.
Comment for "Behind Barbed Wire"
Jackson Braider
Posted on June 01, 2004 at 06:21 AM | Permalink
Review of Behind Barbed Wire
A wonderful occasion for a story -- German POWs return to visit the Maine town where they were imprisoned. Okay as is, but a little scattershot, trying to cover too much ground in one story. There are probably three or four stories actually lurking in this piece.
Comment for "The Fair"
Jackson Braider
Posted on May 16, 2004 at 06:45 PM | Permalink
Review of The Fair
A lovely piece, available in numerous formats. Each one can be considered in its own right, but each has its own particular strengths. Regardless of the medium (audio or A/V) the producer's narration is a wonder.
Maybe stations can make a deal: use the audio version to knock out tiresome stretches in WESAT or WESUN and mention that listeners can catch the A/V at http:www.wxyz.org
Comment for "The Last Christian Standing"
Jackson Braider
Posted on May 08, 2004 at 01:43 PM | Permalink
Review of The Last Christian Standing
It's hard to stop someone when he/she has hit the mother lode. There isn't a moment in this story I would go, "Hey, what's happening? -- and yet there are dozens of moments in this recording when I, as listener, could (should?) have said, no.
An incredible rant, dead on. Thank god there are other avenues in really odd places!
Comment for "Mother's Day Diary"
Jackson Braider
Posted on May 07, 2004 at 07:15 PM | Permalink
Review of Mother's Day Diary
Brilliant. Thank God some stations haven't filled absolutely each and every minute this Sunday. If they are wise, they will find three minutes EVERY HOUR to play this. This should be a perrenial (a word I still can't spell after a month of gardening) from year to year. PRX needs to develop a calendar that will recognize the shift of holidays from year to year. Wait a minute! I just wiped away the last tear.
Comment for "Jimmy & Jewel: A Love (?) Story [short version]"
Jackson Braider
Posted on May 05, 2004 at 03:33 AM | Permalink
Review of Jimmy & Jewel: A Love (?) Story
I love much of this story. Jewel's voice is great. I think there are other voices to discover in English (sp?) -- I wonder what your mother would say? Where are all the wagging tongues? There is more to this story. Did the Viagra have a doctor's prescription? What does he have to say for himself?
There is much love in this story and for that alone it deserves our attention. A few tucks and trims, and there is not a program I would not recommend this story to.
Comment for "Ethics and Opinion (es59)" (deleted)
Jackson Braider
Posted on May 14, 2004 at 12:27 PM
Review of Ethics and Opinion (es59) (deleted)
My point here is this: people really do need ethical education. But the rigorous adherence to the 2 min code fails to capture the contribution of choice to the ethical problem. Why the pro/con structure? Ethics often involve gray. Lose all the assertions; give some play to doubt.
Comment for "RN Documentary: Six Ways to Vermeer"
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 27, 2004 at 04:42 AM | Permalink
Review of RN Documentary: Six Ways to Vermeer
This is a really fascinating effort: three authorities, no narrator, all talking about a singular painter about whom we know almost nothing. Engaging, smart, enthusiastic commentators. The best bits are the intense descriptions of various paintings -- for example, the description of the pearl in "The Girl with the Pearl Earring." The program covers the gamut of Vermeer's art as well as the mystique surrounding Vermeer. Instead of playing that third repeat of the first hour of WESUN, this, bundled with a set of shorter PRX pieces to fill out the other half hour would be surprisingly engaging radio.
Comment for "RN Documentary: Searching for Fuel and Other Tales from Zimbabwe"
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 26, 2004 at 08:56 AM | Permalink
Review of Searching for Fuel and Other Tales from Zimbabwe
All of the Radio Netherlands pieces coming out of Zimbabwe courtesy of producer Eric Beauchemin are solid, down-to-earth reporting. There is so much godawfulness going on in Zimbabwe right now, but thanks to the governmental expulsion of all foreign reporters, Beauchemin's pieces are doubly startling. PDs could do far worse than drop a repeated hour and drop in a pair of these compelling stories.
Comment for "South Africa and the Zimbabwe crisis"
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 26, 2004 at 08:56 AM | Permalink
Review of South Africa and the Zimbabwe crisis
All of the Radio Netherlands pieces coming out of Zimbabwe courtesy of producer Eric Beauchemin are solid, down-to-earth reporting. There is so much godawfulness going on in Zimbabwe right now, but thanks to the governmental expulsion of all foreign reporters, Beauchemin's pieces are doubly startling. PDs could do far worse than drop a repeated hour and drop in a pair of these compelling stories.
Comment for "RN Documentary: On the Rampage - Zimbabwe's youth militia"
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 26, 2004 at 08:55 AM | Permalink
Review of On the Rampage: Zimbabwe's youth militia
All of the Radio Netherlands pieces coming out of Zimbabwe courtesy of producer Eric Beauchemin are solid, down-to-earth reporting. There is so much godawfulness going on in Zimbabwe right now, but thanks to the governmental expulsion of all foreign reporters, Beauchemin's pieces are doubly startling. PDs could do far worse than drop a repeated hour and drop in a pair of these compelling stories.
Comment for "RN Documentary: Under Siege - God's men in Zimbabwe"
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 26, 2004 at 08:54 AM | Permalink
Review of Under Siege: God's men in Zimbabwe
All of the Radio Netherlands pieces coming out of Zimbabwe courtesy of producer Eric Beauchemin are solid, down-to-earth reporting. There is so much godawfulness going on in Zimbabwe right now, but thanks to the governmental expulsion of all foreign reporters, Beauchemin's pieces are doubly startling. PDs could do far worse than drop a repeated hour and drop in a pair of these compelling stories.
Comment for "Dapo Sings on Waikiki"
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 26, 2004 at 04:18 AM | Permalink
Review of Dapo Sings on Waikiki
For 3:17, you won't hear a word of English, and even as I write this, I am torn by a sense that I should be aware of what Dapo is singing about, where the Naxi come from, and so on. But the sheer oomph of his singing is great.
Presenters might talk in and around the piece without doing too much harm if they were to get more info about Dapo, the Naxi, and the content of the song.
Comment for "Yo-Yo Ma: In his own words"
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 21, 2004 at 04:47 AM | Permalink
Review of Yo-Yo Ma: In his own words
Yo-Yo Ma is possibly the most congenial human being on the planet and it shows on this episode of In Their Own Words. I would urge classical stations in particular to find the three and a half minutes in their otherwise relentless walls of music to drop this in.
Comment for "Naked Barbies and Deflated Basketballs: A look inside the world of collectors"
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 15, 2004 at 05:03 AM | Permalink
Review of Naked Barbies and Deflated Basketballs: A look inside the world of collectors
A nice enough story as is, but it could profit from losing a couple of minutes. Then it could fit nicely in one of the news mags. Nice mix of voices.
Comment for "Sheridan Expressway"
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 12, 2004 at 06:00 AM | Permalink
Review of Sheridan Expressway
A perfectly good piece of reporting for stations in NYC. To make it of interest to PDs beyond the tristate area, it might be matched with other stories about traffic, highway, and transportation mayhem.
Comment for "Massachusetts/Mongolia Sister Stations - Introduction"
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 12, 2004 at 05:44 AM | Permalink
Review of Massachusetts/Mongolia Sister Stations - Introductory Piece
Stations are logical traders, but what about producer pen pals? And how do we find stations and/or producer partners elsewhere?
Comment for "Packin' Heat" (deleted)
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 09, 2004 at 11:56 AM
Review of Packin' Heat (deleted)
A really interesting subject, a good story. Could be shorter. One troubling element is the shifting back and forth of voice from first person to more traditional reporter. Maybe there are really two stories here: What does it feel like, as a vegetarian, to shoot a gun? And then there are lying lies telling us guns make life safer and the streets more crime-free.
Comment for "Area-Code Chic**"
Jackson Braider
Posted on April 09, 2004 at 04:51 AM | Permalink
Review of Area-Code Chic**
A nice piece to drop in wherever. The title is a bit misleading because, as this story goes, the area code is more about geography than it is about real estate. Maybe some daring PD will air this in South Nebraska?
Comment for "The Ring and I: The Passion, The Myth, The Mania"
Jackson Braider
Posted on March 17, 2004 at 04:59 AM | Permalink
Review of The Ring and I: The Passion, The Myth, The Mania
There is nothing not to like here. The interviews are fun and insightful, great characters everywhere. Intriguing settings -- I'm particularly fond of the slightly out-of-tune piano and the behind-the-scenes at the Met stuff. My only complaint is that the program itself is Wagnerian as defined at the end: knowing the task is impossible, the Valiant Producers still pursued this particular grail (oops! wrong opera!). In sum, Bravo!
Comment for "The Most German Day Ever"
Jackson Braider
Posted on March 12, 2004 at 11:54 AM | Permalink
Review of The Most German Day Ever
This is a smart, engaging and delightful piece that is at once incredibly parochial and yet wonderfully worldly-wise as well. A refreshing story that PDs would do well to find time for -- say, after 9 mins of hammering the listener with pledge, these 13 mins will win your audience back.
Comment for "Arcade Girl"
Jackson Braider
Posted on March 11, 2004 at 08:30 AM | Permalink
Review of Arcade Girl
A good subject, thoughtfully presented. Several problems as the piece now stands: curious shifts in the script -- dense, multi-claused paragraphs in some places; nice, succinct phrasing in others. Outside elements -- the music and the interview -- are very slow in coming. Needs editing, down to perhaps 7 mins tops. Would be willing to listen again.
Comment for "Alzheimer's: Losing a Mind"
Jackson Braider
Posted on February 01, 2004 at 10:19 AM | Permalink
Review of Alzheimer's: Losing a Mind
The host, new to my ears, is pleasant enough to hear. The writing is good. What is lacking here for me is the sheer hard edge of fact. We tend to use words like "epidemic" unquestioningly; "lots of money" cited early on is obtuse (how much, for example, is the government devoting to Alzheimer's research?).
It's hard not to be sympathetic to any Alzheimer's story, but when the purpose is to call to arms, it is more important still to equip us with knowledge, not pleasant sensibility.
Comment for "CNN's Robert Novak defines fraudulent? Now that is the pot calling the kettle black."
Jackson Braider
Posted on January 28, 2004 at 06:48 PM | Permalink
Review of CNN's Robert Novak defines fraudulent? Now that is the pot calling the kettle black.
Comment for "call to canada"
Jackson Braider
Posted on January 15, 2004 at 06:22 PM | Permalink
Get your dimes out for "call to canada"
Still, this is a story that could be rolled out every 3 or 4 months under current circumstances and listeners will be laughing/crying. Ask for permission to cut and trim -- the grass angle goes on too long.
All in all, a lovely concept, nicely done.
Comment for "X-Town"
Jackson Braider
Posted on January 14, 2004 at 05:09 PM | Permalink
Review of X-Town
Which leads me to another point: the voices documented are great already. They are all perfectly capable of saying what they feel and, more important, feeling what they say. There's no need to paraphrase when they can speak for themselves.
Finally, the story is too sparing with water itself. Zap Mama once used filling glasses of water as a rhythm track for an entire song. Toilet flushes, gurgling pipes, spitting radiators: water is noisy. I would lose the narration by the bathroom sink near the top. Get the running water, sure, but keep the narrator in the studio.
This is a good story as is, but why shouldn't it be great?
Comment for "Mud"
Jackson Braider
Posted on January 06, 2004 at 06:19 PM | Permalink
Review of Mud
A nice short story in a kind of Selected Shorts/Reading Aloud vein. A good short story, complete with life lessons. Given its particulars of theme and content, it demands a venturesome PD to give it a home.
Comment for "Garbage"
Jackson Braider
Posted on January 05, 2004 at 07:49 PM | Permalink
Review of Garbage
A clear, discernable voice. A refreshing and surprising piece that will provoke listener calls. Some may not be so willing to wallow quite in the dark side.
Comment for "Carols on the Carillon"
Jackson Braider
Posted on January 01, 2004 at 08:19 PM | Permalink
Review of Carols on the Carillon
I found myself wanting answers: who thought this was the thing for Georgia? How many bells are there in this bunch? Who casted them? Where are they from?