Podcast appearances and mentions of rob rosenthal

What skills make an exceptional CRO?In this episode of Reveal, host Dana Feldman sits down with Rob Rosenthal, Chief Revenue Officer at Udemy, to uncover the core skills and responsibilities expected of a great CRO. With a proven track record at companies like Adobe, SAP, and Bloomreach, Rob brings a wealth of knowledge to the table.Throughout the conversation, Rob shares his insights on staying customer-focused, building strong cross-functional alignment, and learning consistently throughout your career. Mastering these skills is essential for anyone striving to become a top-tier CRO.

Introducing Grandmother is a Question (Asha & Isis) from Mother is a Question.Follow the show: Mother is a Question To wrap up Season 2 we have a love story about a grandmother and her granddaughter -  how they came to know themselves through each other, and how they've saved each other's lives, again and again. It's a story about home. How we find our place.  Our longing for Motherland.  It's about destiny– the kind we create and the kind that creates us. And as we prepare to end our season, it's also a story about taking flight, and saying goodbye.--------------------Listeners, we want to thank you for joining us for the first two seasons of Mother is a Question. However you found us, it's an honor to have your attention and your ears. And as we enter this next phase - this unknown territory - and recombobulate, we'd love to hear from you. Write us your thoughts, feelings and stories at motherisaquestion@gmail.com and be sure to subscribe to our show if you haven't to get any updates in the coming months. Follow us on instagram @motherisaquestionMother is a Question is created by Natasha Haverty and Julia Metzger-Traber. Our editor is Rob Rosenthal.Original Music by Raky Sastri and Julia Read; other music by APMManager of The Big Questions Project: Courtney FleurantinCoordinating Producer: Emmanuel DesarmePost-Production Audio Engineer : Sandra Lopez-MonsalveExecutive Producer: Genevieve SponslerInterview Recording (DC): Stefanie De Leon Tzic Interview Recording (Arusha, Tanzania): Munira KaonekaArt by Richard GrayMother is a Question is a part of the Big Questions Project at PRX and supported by the John Templeton Foundation. DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to team@podroll.fm.

To wrap up Season 2 we have a love story about a grandmother and her granddaughter -  how they came to know themselves through each other, and how they've saved each other's lives, again and again. It's a story about home. How we find our place.  Our longing for Motherland.  It's about destiny– the kind we create and the kind that creates us. And as we prepare to end our season, it's also a story about taking flight, and saying goodbye.--------------------Listeners, we want to thank you for joining us for the first two seasons of Mother is a Question. However you found us, it's an honor to have your attention and your ears. And as we enter this next phase - this unknown territory - and recombobulate, we'd love to hear from you. Write us your thoughts, feelings and stories at motherisaquestion@gmail.com and be sure to subscribe to our show if you haven't to get any updates in the coming months. Follow us on instagram @motherisaquestionMother is a Question is created by Natasha Haverty and Julia Metzger-Traber. Our editor is Rob Rosenthal.Original Music by Raky Sastri and Julia Read; other music by APMManager of The Big Questions Project: Courtney FleurantinCoordinating Producer: Emmanuel DesarmePost-Production Audio Engineer : Sandra Lopez-MonsalveExecutive Producer: Genevieve SponslerInterview Recording (DC): Stefanie De Leon Tzic Interview Recording (Arusha, Tanzania): Munira KaonekaArt by Richard GrayMother is a Question is a part of the Big Questions Project at PRX and supported by the John Templeton Foundation.

Comedian and mother, Negin Farsad, got a strange assignment - one that sent her on an unexpected trip– a trippy trip– a hero's quest– into the depths of her unconscious mind... where it turned out, all the monsters of motherhood were there waiting for her.Four years out from giving birth, Negin hadn't thought she was avoiding a whole lot.  In fact as a comedian, she considered it her job to reveal the hardest things about her life on stage every night–to turn them into jokes. She had even turned her harrowing birth into laughs.  But little did she know how much was still lurking in the dark unknown.  How much there was to discover.  How much there was to heal.She told us all about it. This conversation is really special, because Tash and Julia got to talk to Negin together!Check out Negin's comedy.  Neginfarsad.com; @neginfarsad  She's hilarious!And the article that she wrote for Afar magazine about this trip.Mother is a Question is created by Natasha Haverty and Julia Metzger-Traber. Our editor is Rob Rosenthal.Original Music by Raky Sastri and Julia Read; other music by APMManager of The Big Questions Project: Courtney FleurantinCoordinating Producer: Emmanuel DesarmePost-Production Audio Engineer : Sandra Lopez-MonsalveExecutive Producer: Genevieve SponslerArt by Richard GrayFollow us on instagram @motherisaquestion

Elizabeth Rush has spent her career writing about climate change--her book Rising was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2019. Before Liz made her decision of whether to become a mother, she felt like she needed to go to the end of the world–Antarctica–and stand face to face with a melting glacier. In 2019, Liz jumped on a research vessel bound for Thwaites Glacier, with a deep longing to become a mother. She knew that the experience might change that feeling–that maybe, even, the glacier would have a message for her: tell her the best thing she could do for the world was actually sacrifice that longing to have a child.Mother is a Question is created by Natasha Haverty and Julia Metzger-Traber. Our editor is Rob Rosenthal.Original Music by Raky Sastri and Julia Read; other music by APMManager of The Big Questions Project: Courtney FleurantinCoordinating Producer: Emmanuel DesarmePost-Production: Sandra Lopez-MonsalveExecutive Producer: Genevieve SponslerArt by Richard GrayThe Quickening by Elizabeth Rush

What if humans could evolve into our most nurturing and creative selves?  What if society were organized around care instead of extraction and destruction?  What if we followed the leadership of those who mother?  Well, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, self-proclaimed Black Feminist Love Evangelist, thinks we have to.  It's urgent.  And she calls this possibility Motherful.  This episode, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, a poet and one of Julia's philosopher heroes, will be our guide to A Motherful World. She is a big inspiration for Julia.  Check out Alexis' beautiful work here:Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines  Alexis Pauline Gumbs (Editor), China Martens (Editor), Mai'a Williams (Editor), Loretta J. Ross (Preface)Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline GumbsSpill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity by Alexis Pauline GumbsM Archive: After the End of the World by Alexis Pauline GumbsDub: Finding Ceremony by Alexis Pauline GumbsAnd pre-order her forthcoming book: Survival is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde (out August 20!)And more great poems, videos and workshops on her instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexispauline/Mother is a Question is created by Julia Metzger-Traber and Natasha Haverty. Our editor is Rob Rosenthal.Original Music by Raky Sastri and Julia ReadExecutive Producer: Genevieve SponslerManager of The Big Questions Project: Courtney FleurantinCoordinating Producer: Emmanuel DesarmePost-Production: Sandra Lopez-MonsalveArt by Richard Gray

Many of us, as we mother, hold tightly to our plans. Until something happens that we could never plan for.  This episode Julia introduces us to her friend, Katherine.  Katherine is a farmer.  Katherine says that she always thought of herself as in control, someone who could plan for any situation.  She used to think the world was knowable.  But when her son died after birth, that old her died too.  "The world" she says, "is out of control, and any type of control that I experience is a figment of my imagination."  But the river keeps flowing, the birds keep singing, and the garlic still needs to be harvested. How can it all exist at the same time?  Here's her story.Mother is a Question is created by Julia Metzger-Traber and Natasha Haverty. Our editor is Rob Rosenthal.Original Music by Raky Sastri and Julia ReadExecutive Producer: Genevieve SponslerManager of The Big Questions Project: Courtney FleurantinCoordinating Producer: Emmanuel DesarmePost-Production: Sandra Lopez-MonsalveArt by Richard Gray

We pick up with the story of Anne, a day after she told her kids that she was so unhappy, so lost that to figure things out, she had to get on a plane and put five thousand miles between herself and her life. Mother is a Question is created by Natasha Haverty and Julia Metzger-Traber. Our editor is Rob Rosenthal. Original Music by Raky Sastri and Julia Read Manager of The Big Questions Project: Courtney Fleurantin Coordinating Producer: Emmanuel Desarme Post-Production: Sandra Lopez-Monsalve Executive Producer: Genevieve Sponsler

We open our season with a story that came to us through a listener. “Can you imagine leaving your child?” Anne asks, “No, of course not. Because none of us do. Nor did I, until four days before I did it.” Here's Part 1 of her story. Mother is a Question is created by Natasha Haverty and Julia Metzger-Traber. Our editor is Rob Rosenthal. Executive Producer: Genevieve Sponsler Manager of The Big Questions Project: Courtney Fleurantin Coordinating Producer: Emmanuel Desarme Post-Production: Sandra Lopez-Monsalve Original Music by Raky Sastri and Julia Read

It's a brave thing to share the outtakes from a tracking session. All the blemishes are right there. But Martine Powers and Rennie Svirnovsky from the audio team at The Washington Post have graciously done just that. They invited  Sound School's Rob Rosenthal into their studio to witness Martine at work voicing an episode of The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop, with assistance from Rennie. Hearing how they work as tracking partners is a real gift for anyone who wants to perform better in the mic booth.Today on Sound Judgment, we're excited to share this instructive, hilarious episode of Sound School.  If you've spent much time behind a mic yourself, you know that tracking an episode – that is, narrating it – takes time, coaching, practice, a good ear, humility, a good sense of humor— and a great producer.*Update! Martine Powers won the 2024 Ambie Award for Best Host  at the fourth annual Awards for Excellence in AudioYou will be a better narrator and a better in-studio producer after listening to this episode. Sound School is produced by Rob Rosenthal for PRX and Transom.Join Us for New Sound Judgment Workshops!Improve your storytelling, interviewing, writing, producing, hosting and guesting skills! Sign up for new Sound Judgment workshops today at www.podcastallies.com/workshops. April 5, 2024: Mastering the Art of the Interview. Interviews are the foundation of all good storytelling, but we don't get much instruction on the art and science of them. In this workshop, you'll get ten proven, transformative strategies that you can apply to your own work right away. April 11,2024: Success in Guesting: Be a Great Guest, Get a Great GuestLearn  how to curate great guests and what it takes to be a phenomenal guest yourself. Learn how NPR producers curate and book guests – and how you can set yourself up for success no matter whether you're making a show — or seeking to be a guest yourself.  ***Sound School (formerly HowSound) is a bi-weekly podcast on audio storytelling produced by Rob Rosenthal for PRX and Transom. Listen to more episodes and follow the show at https://transom.org/topics/soundschool/The episode featured on Sound Judgment: https://transom.org/2024/tracking-partners/About Rob RosenthalRob Rosenthal is a freelance story editor, podcast producer/reporter, and a teacher. Longform, documentary podcasts are his sweet spot. He offers workshops for podcast companies and public radio stations. He hosts the Sound School Podcast, a joint project of PRX and Transom, on audio storytelling. Rob has been interviewing reporters, producers, editors and artists about the craft of audio storytelling since he began making his show in 2008 under the name How Sound. Rob says he still learns something every time he interviews someone. Improve your storytelling Check out our popular workshops on interviewing, story editing, story structure, longform narrative, audience engagement, scriptwriting and more. Hire Elaine to speak at your conference or company. Subjects include: Communicating for Leaders; Communicating about Change; Mastering the Art of the Interview; Storytelling Skills; How to Build Relationships through Storytelling, and more. Discover our strategic communication services and coaching for thought leaders using storytelling tools to make the world a better place. Serving writers, podcasters, public speakers, and others in journalism & public media, climate change, health care, policy, and higher education. Visit us at www.podcastallies.com. Subscribe to Sound Judgment, the Newsletter, our twice-monthly newsletter about creative choices in audio storytelling. Connect:Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram✉️ Email Elaine at allies@podcastallies.com

The Radio Workshop in Capetown invited US-based audio producers Rob Rosenthal and Sam Broun to lead a workshop called "Level Up Your Audio Storytelling." Over the course of 10 days, 9 audio producers from around the globe produced short personal profiles about youth in Cape Town. From "artivists", to community gardeners, to jump rope champions, these stories bring listeners up close to amplify youth voices. We were acquainted with the following; - How to create and build your own podcast show. - How to use professional recording equipment. - Writing a script for the show. - Collecting and logging tape. - Editing and Mixing that tape. - And building our competence and confidence in podcasting. The insights from this training will forever change how we produce audio for our listeners, special thanks go out to our hosts for taking an interest in developing our skills and transforming the way people tell stories. During our regular gatherings, I will share some of these insights within Uganda's #Podcast Community and workshops to come. #community #training #writing #change #storytelling --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/onugandapodcast/message

Producer/Host: Natalie Springuel Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. This month: The town of Eastport, Maine, has weathered many changes in the last decades, transitioning from empty sardine factories to a vibrant multi-use working waterfront positioned to respond and adapt to an uncertain future. This month we feature two stories from Maine's easternmost town: “Eastport: Reinventing a Waterfront,” a recent episode on the From the Sea Up podcast, and “The Drama of Eastport Tides,” an older (2017) but timeless episode from the Salts and Water podcast. Our first is called “Eastport: Reinventing a Waterfront.” In the far eastern corner of Downeast Maine there's a 3.7 square mile island. Connected to the mainland by a causeway and road that passes through the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Reservation, Sipayik, this island is home to the town of Eastport, population 1,300. Once the most prominent sardine canning village along the coast, Eastport's last sardine factory closed in 1983. With that, a century-long industry was gone. In this episode we learn how Eastport has transitioned from a waterfront of empty factories to a vibrant multi-use working waterfront positioned to respond and adapt to a very uncertain future. This story is brought to you by our radio storytelling friend Galen Koch, whose podcast series, From the Sea Up, has been featured on Coastal Conversations before. Galen brings the past and present together to help us make sense of Maine's complicated future. This is the first in a working waterfront series we will keep sharing over the next few months. People and organizations Featured in this story include: Tides Institute, Hugh French, Moose Island Marine, Dean Pike, Eastport Port Authority, and Chris Gardner. This story is part of the podcast series From the Sea Up A note from producer Galen Koch: Thank you for listening to From the Sea up. This episode was written and produced by me, Galen Koch and assistant producer Olivia Jolley for the Island Institute. Nicole Wolf takes the beautiful photographs that accompany this episode. From the Sea Up's Senior Editors are Isaac Kestenbaum and Josie Holtzman. Additional audio editing on this episode by Liz Joyce and Claudia Newall. Special thanks to Camden Hunt, Hugh French, Dean Pike, Chris Bartlett, and Chris Gardner for their help and participation. And thanks to the Salt Institute and Pamela Wood, Hugh French, and Lynn Kippax Jr, who together researched and wrote the 1983 journal publication, “Eastport: For Pride.” Most of the music in this episode is by Cue Shop. From the Sea Up is made possible by the Fund for Maine Islands through a partnership between Island Institute, College of the Atlantic, Maine Sea Grant, and the First Coast. Past episodes and more information are available here Our second story Is called “The Drama of Eastport Tides” The defining feature of the easternmost point of America is the dramatic tides of the Atlantic Ocean at the coast of Eastport, Maine. Learn why incredible natural feature exists and visit one of the largest confluences of whirlpools in the world. Hear from the Salts—people with deep connections to the sea, whose lives are shaped by this natural wonder. This story was pulled out of the Coastal Conversations archives, from 2017, when well-known New England audio storyteller Rob Rosenthal partnered up with an initiative called Experience Maritime Maine to produce the Salts and Water podcast. Eastport is one of six towns covered in this series. People and organizations featured in this story include: Butch Harris of Eastport Windjammers, harbor pilot Bob Peacock, photographer Lisa Tyson Ennis, some Eastport visitors, and of course, the tide. This story is part of the podcast series SALTS & WATER: Stories from the Maine Coast Experience Maritime Maine presents Salts & Water, a 6-part podcast series by award-winning producer Rob Rosenthal. These audio stories paint remarkable character portraits along the coast of Maine, through Eastport, Stonington, Searsport, Rockland, Bath, and Portland. Meet the “women lobstermen” of Stonington, island-hop aboard a Windjammer in Penobscot Bay, and discover the salty fishmonger whose work on Portland's piers is integral to Maine's culture of seafood. Get to know meticulous boat builders, and learn how the dramatic tides shape life in Downeast Maine. Enjoy this podcast series. Salts and Water is a project of Experience Maritime Maine, funded in part by the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, Hamilton Marine, Maine's MidCoast & Islands, and sponsored by Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors. To hear the other stories in the series, visit Salts and Water Podcast Series About the host: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation's since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland's Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio. The post Coastal Conversations 10/28/22: Eastport- Maine's Easternmost Town first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Producer/Host: Natalie Springuel Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. This month: The town of Eastport, Maine, has weathered many changes in the last decades, transitioning from empty sardine factories to a vibrant multi-use working waterfront positioned to respond and adapt to an uncertain future. This month we feature two stories from Maine's easternmost town: “Eastport: Reinventing a Waterfront,” a recent episode on the From the Sea Up podcast, and “The Drama of Eastport Tides,” an older (2017) but timeless episode from the Salts and Water podcast. Our first is called “Eastport: Reinventing a Waterfront.” In the far eastern corner of Downeast Maine there's a 3.7 square mile island. Connected to the mainland by a causeway and road that passes through the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Reservation, Sipayik, this island is home to the town of Eastport, population 1,300. Once the most prominent sardine canning village along the coast, Eastport's last sardine factory closed in 1983. With that, a century-long industry was gone. In this episode we learn how Eastport has transitioned from a waterfront of empty factories to a vibrant multi-use working waterfront positioned to respond and adapt to a very uncertain future. This story is brought to you by our radio storytelling friend Galen Koch, whose podcast series, From the Sea Up, has been featured on Coastal Conversations before. Galen brings the past and present together to help us make sense of Maine's complicated future. This is the first in a working waterfront series we will keep sharing over the next few months. People and organizations Featured in this story include: Tides Institute, Hugh French, Moose Island Marine, Dean Pike, Eastport Port Authority, and Chris Gardner. This story is part of the podcast series From the Sea Up A note from producer Galen Koch: Thank you for listening to From the Sea up. This episode was written and produced by me, Galen Koch and assistant producer Olivia Jolley for the Island Institute. Nicole Wolf takes the beautiful photographs that accompany this episode. From the Sea Up's Senior Editors are Isaac Kestenbaum and Josie Holtzman. Additional audio editing on this episode by Liz Joyce and Claudia Newall. Special thanks to Camden Hunt, Hugh French, Dean Pike, Chris Bartlett, and Chris Gardner for their help and participation. And thanks to the Salt Institute and Pamela Wood, Hugh French, and Lynn Kippax Jr, who together researched and wrote the 1983 journal publication, “Eastport: For Pride.” Most of the music in this episode is by Cue Shop. From the Sea Up is made possible by the Fund for Maine Islands through a partnership between Island Institute, College of the Atlantic, Maine Sea Grant, and the First Coast. Past episodes and more information are available here Our second story Is called “The Drama of Eastport Tides” The defining feature of the easternmost point of America is the dramatic tides of the Atlantic Ocean at the coast of Eastport, Maine. Learn why incredible natural feature exists and visit one of the largest confluences of whirlpools in the world. Hear from the Salts—people with deep connections to the sea, whose lives are shaped by this natural wonder. This story was pulled out of the Coastal Conversations archives, from 2017, when well-known New England audio storyteller Rob Rosenthal partnered up with an initiative called Experience Maritime Maine to produce the Salts and Water podcast. Eastport is one of six towns covered in this series. People and organizations featured in this story include: Butch Harris of Eastport Windjammers, harbor pilot Bob Peacock, photographer Lisa Tyson Ennis, some Eastport visitors, and of course, the tide. This story is part of the podcast series SALTS & WATER: Stories from the Maine Coast Experience Maritime Maine presents Salts & Water, a 6-part podcast series by award-winning producer Rob Rosenthal. These audio stories paint remarkable character portraits along the coast of Maine, through Eastport, Stonington, Searsport, Rockland, Bath, and Portland. Meet the “women lobstermen” of Stonington, island-hop aboard a Windjammer in Penobscot Bay, and discover the salty fishmonger whose work on Portland's piers is integral to Maine's culture of seafood. Get to know meticulous boat builders, and learn how the dramatic tides shape life in Downeast Maine. Enjoy this podcast series. Salts and Water is a project of Experience Maritime Maine, funded in part by the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, Hamilton Marine, Maine's MidCoast & Islands, and sponsored by Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors. To hear the other stories in the series, visit Salts and Water Podcast Series About the host: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation's since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland's Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio. The post Coastal Conversations 10/28/22: Eastport- Maine's Easternmost Town first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Producer, Ruby Schwartz, pitched us a story. We said yes. But then Ruby had a new problem: how do you turn a 320-page memoir into a radio story? This feature pulls back the curtain on how this week's Snap episode, “The Wedding Guest” was made. Thank you, Rob Rosenthal and Ruby Schwartz, for sharing this process! This piece came to us from our friends at the Sound School Podcast. Listen to the original version here. Looking for ways to learn about storytelling and how to podcast? Subscribe to the Sound School Podcast (formerly known as HowSound). It's still from PRX. It's still from Transom. Just a new name. Find it all places you subscribe to podcasts! Interested in reading the memoir featured in this episode? Check out The Lost Boy: Tales of a Child Soldier by Ayik Chut Deng. Artwork by Teo Ducot Season 13 - Episode 42

Hello friends, this is a guest episode from Sound School Podcast, a bi-weekly podcast on the backstory to great audio storytelling. The wp.earth.fm curator-in-chief, field recordist Melissa Pons brings us into the forest of Sweden, the jungle of Brazil, and to the wolves in Portugal. Re-published with the kind permission of Rob Rosenthal, PRX and Transom. Please let us know in the comments if you have any feedback. Enjoy!

Hello friends, this is a guest episode from Sound School Podcast, a bi-weekly podcast on the backstory to great audio storytelling. The earth.fm curator-in-chief, field recordist Melissa Pons brings us into the forest of Sweden, the jungle of Brazil, and to the wolves in Portugal. Re-published with the kind permission of Rob Rosenthal, PRX and […]

Hi, Y'all! I love how things come full circle sometimes. For example, in March, my buddy Zeke texted me a link to a Radiolab episode called The Right Stuff. The Right Stuff (ASL Translation) | Radiolab Podcast When I looked up what the episode was about, I was so excited.  Essentially it asks the question: “Who gets to be an astronaut?” And follows a crew of disabled people (called Ambassadors) on a mission to prove that they have what it takes to go to space.  So, in this episode of Radiolab, reporter Andrew Leland joins crew members from Mission AstroAccess to Long Beach, California, where they get on an airplane to take a flight that simulates zero-gravity. It is the kind of flight that NASA uses to train astronauts. And here is a twist, Andrew, Radiolab's reporter, is legally blind himself. Which I thought was brilliant because who better to report this story than someone with a disability? It's a great episode, and I encourage you to listen to it. Here is the full circle part. Sometimes when I don't know what to write about, I'll scroll through my podcast feed. You don't want to know how many podcasts I subscribe to. Way too many to listen to. But this past week, I was feeling a little lost. On the top of my feed was a podcast called How Sound. It's a joint project of Public Radio International (PRX) and Transom - on radio storytelling. Yeah, yeah. Super nerdy. But I love it and always learn something. For this episode of How Sound, host Rob Rosenthal interviewed a reporter from Radiolab. Yep! The same reporter from The Right Stuff episode.  Andrew explained the challenge of recording in zero gravity and how they had to get creative. Not only did Andrew use some fantastic recording techniques, like taping a microphone to his head, but he also talked about the difficulty of figuring out his identity on the flight. Was he a reporter or a member of the flight crew? This concept of identity is something that I think about a lot, especially when it comes to how to represent disability in my writing and our work promoting inclusive schools. Here is one of my favorite quotes from the episode. Andrew is talking about his observations in the lead-up to the flight about how nondisabled people related to disabled people. “You know, it's in that moment...in the very beginning, when the former astronaut says to me, like, oh, so you're obviously one of the Ambassadors and there was a lot more of it, that didn't make it into the story of just like tons of these interactions between the nondisabled people who are there to help and the disabled people. And it's something around how to negotiate unnecessary help and low expectations from people who look at a disabled person and think like, oh, that person is definitely going to need help. And is definitely not here, just like in the normal capacity that everybody else is here.” So how does this relate to inclusive education? I think there is some truth to be uncovered here in Andrew's reflections about this flight. Disabled people aren't “supposed” to be training to fly to space. And I'm sure some nondisabled people, have no idea what disabled people can or can't do. So, when the astronaut looks at Andrew, with all the outward signs of being Blind, they automatically assume he is one of the Ambassadors.  Isn't this exactly what we do in schools? When we see a student with autism or Down syndrome or a learner with multiple disabilities? Someone will inevitably say, “What are they doing here?” “What are they going to get out of it?” And so, the ableist attitudes continue for the Ambassadors, “what are they going to get out of training to go to space?” As much as we can, as educators, we need to fight against low expectations. And listening to Andrew's reflections just confirms it for me. When I heard the episode of How Sound I texted my buddy, Zeke. Isn't it great when things come full circle?  Make sure to check out Radiolab and How Sound in your favorite podcast player. As always, if you ever have questions or comments email at tvillegas@mcie.org or go to mcie.org to learn more about how we can partner with you and your school or district. Thanks for your time, everyone. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with another edition of The Weeklyish.  Have a great week! ICYMI Why I Created My Podcast, Exceeding Expectations Liz Weintraub & Kenneth Kelty | Using Content Creation for Disability Advocacy Inclusive Language is Not Enough 10 Ways to Flex Your Social Media Advocacy Skills Around the Web The unexpected star of NASA's Webb images — the alt text descriptions OPINION: If you really want more equitable schools, you must first ask some questions “All Are Welcome Here” Our Journey Toward Inclusion at Rockwell Elementary New Guidance Helps Schools Support Students with Disabilities and Avoid Discriminatory Use of Discipline What I'm Reading From the Institute on Community Integration on Facebook. Impact is the Institute on Community Integration's flagship publication. Published three times per year, the magazine contains strategies, research, and success stories in specific focus areas related to persons with intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities. Impact provides useful information to various professionals, including educators, community service providers, policymakers, and advocates, as well as people with disabilities and their families. The online version and your first print copy is free. Subscribe now. What I'm Watching Only Murders in the Building Season 2 | Trailer | Hulu What's in my Pod Feed When Will Met Grace (Revisionist History)  Teaching Truth to Power (Intersectionality Matters!)  EduTip 15: Set aside time to set norms. (Cult of Pedagogy)  Eugenics w. Eric Michael Garcia (You're Wrong About)  What I'm Listening To AWOLNATION - Passion (Official Video) What's in my Timeline From Early Choices From the Wayback Machine Pause and Consider: Ableism and Autism Just Because The Godmother Of Drumming Plays “Down With The Sickness” …The Weeklyish is written, edited, and sound designed by Tim Villegas and is a production of MCIE. Our intro stinger is by Miles Kredich. And our outro is by REDProductions. For information about inclusive education visit mcie.org and check out our flagship podcast, Think Inclusive, on your favorite podcast app. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit weeklyish.substack.com

In this episode, Benji and Ryan discuss:  Podcast News:1 The Danger of Limited Listener Feedback (Sounds Profitable) 2 When in Doubt, Leave Out the Sound Effects (by Rob Rosenthal on transom.org) 3 Steady launches Spotify integration for members-only podcasts Question: How important is audio recording quality, really?What's the easiest ways to improve audio quality? Article Link Ryan mentioned Mics Mentioned:  Samson Q9u (USB mic)Focusrite Scarlett Solo Audio InterfaceShure SM58 (XLR)Behringer XM8500 (XLR) Software mentioned:ReaperGaragebandAudacityAdobe AuditionHindenburg

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, US Army Sergeant Major Denver Dill discusses how music and the arts can be used as tools of influence. Our wide ranging conversation covers the role of music in military operations to the theme park experience to movies to sports. Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #19 Ash Holzmann on PsyOps #35 Jessica Dawson on Social Media Weaponization #34 Emma Chiu on Global Trends and Market Intelligence #14 BDJ on Threatcasting The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet by Jeff Kosseff Jeff Kosseff's website West Point SS493 Music & Influence Reading List The Social Psychology of Music, Edited by David J. Hargreaves & Adrian C. North Music and Conflict Transformation Harmonies and Dissonances in GEO Politics, Edited by Olivier Urbain Jazz Diplomacy, Promoting America In The Cold War Era, Lisa E. Davenport Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas Hofstadter Propaganda and Persuasion New and Classic Essays, Garth S. Jowett & Victoria O'Donnell Chronicles of a black musician, Charles Jones Game Theory and Strategy, Philip D. Straffin 33 Revolutions per minute: A History of Protest songs from Billie Holiday to Green Day, Dorian Lynskey Playing for Change: Music and Musicians in the service of social movements, Rob Rosenthal and Richard Flacks Talkin' 'bout a revolution: Music and social change in America, Dick Weissman Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails | How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War, Tom Wheeler Tracking the Audience – The Ratings Industry from Analog to Digital, Karen Buzzard Radicalism & Music, Jonathan Pieslak Slave Songs of the United States, unknown author – Forgotten Books American Ballads and Folk Songs, John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax The American Songbag Carl Sandburg Link to full show notes and resources https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-91 Guest Bio: Sergeant Major Denver Dill is a member of the West Point Band and an instructor of American Politics at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York. He has developed the course SS493 Music & Influence which he teaches in the Department of Social Sciences.  He also serves as a co-founder and researcher in the West Point Music Research Center and as the Army Music Analytics Team Leader.  He has taught and assisted in several departments including the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Department of Systems Engineering, Department of English and Philosophy as well as with the Army Cyber Institute. As a trumpet player Sergeant Major Dill has been a prize winner in several national and international competitions. Additionally, Sergeant Major Dill has appeared as both a soloist and a principal trumpet player with the New York Philharmonic and has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Brass. Prior to coming to the United States Military Academy Sergeant Major Dill was a doctoral teaching assistant at the Eastman School of Music. He holds degrees from Juilliard and Eastern Kentucky University and holds certifications in: Lean Six Sigma, Security+, and Influence in Special Operations. About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

On this episode of The DEB Show, host Debra Eckerling talks about healthy habits with a fun, playful twist with guests Rob Rosenthal and Eli Walker. Rob Rosenthal (aka Short Order Dad) is a food humorist, author, and chef; Author Eli Walker is the CEO and founder of Drunk Yoga.   Rob and Eli share their backstories, as well as their thoughts on living healthy, eating well, and finding balance. There's even a nice oatmeal tangent, as well as a comparison of working out to eating a cookie versus baking a cake. 

The podcast The Turning from Rococo Punch and iHeartRadio tells the story of religious sisters who joined Mother Teresa's order of nuns, but who eventually decided they had to leave. It asks, what is the line between devotion and brainwashing? Can you truly give yourself to God? If you make a lifelong vow, what does it mean to break it? Produced by Erika Lantz, Elin Lantz Lesser, and Emily Forman. Editing by Rob Rosenthal. Digital production by Andrea Asuaje. Fact checking by Andrea López-Cruzado. Theme music by Matt Reed. Executive producers Jessica Alpert, John Perotti, and Katrina Norvell. Find Mary Johnson's memoir An Unquenchable Thirst here. Listen to The Turning wherever you get podcasts. Find more information and pictures on Instagram @RococoPunch. Season 12 - Episode 30

Rob Rosenthal has stepped away from teaching the Transom Story Workshop on Cape Cod. To mark the occasion, Rob's put together a fireworks show of great stories from Transom students over the years. Wear headphones!

Chasing! Simply keep chasing until you hear, feel, and see what you're intended to be. Listen in to be inspired by Samantha Hodder as she shares how she turned her passion into something organic and to learn when, how and what to say to better narrate your podcast.  WHAT TO LISTEN FOR How to start and create your own style of show The importance of knowing your downtime  Techniques for narrating or storytelling a podcast Benefits of Table reading Audio production process on narrative podcasting  Tips to become a better podcaster RESOURCES/LINKS MENTIONED Transom with Rob Rosenthal  Audio Recording and Editing Software| Adobe Audition Hidenburg|Raidio, Podcast and Audiobook Editing Software Pro Tools Music Software - Avid  REAPER | Audio Production Without Limits  Audacity | Free, Open Source, Cross-Platform Audio Software Third Coast International Audio Festival ABOUT SAMANTHA HODDER Samantha is an audio producer and writer. She has been making media across multiple formats for the last twenty years. She publishes regularly on Medium, and is working away on her storytelling podcast This is Our Time - about her expedition to Antarctica - getting ready to launch Season 2 - hopefully this Spring! Following years of feeling stuck with writing and producing, and battling the challenges that the pandemic has brought to many creators, she decided to codify what she has learned over many years from these experiences and created a 10 Day Email course, called Escape Your Story. It's a mix-n-match of lessons from screenwriting, podcasting, journaling, and mindful meditation, brought right to your inbox, for 10 days. Over the last two decades, her writing has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines and her interactive work has premiered at festivals internationally. CONNECT WITH SAMANTHA Podcast: This Is Our Time CONNECT WITH US Thinking about creating and growing your own podcast but not sure where to start? Visit GrowYourShow.com and Schedule a call with Adam A. Adams!

Laura Ross is the Associate Head of School at Harvard-Westlake. In this episode, Laura speaks about helping to lead the school through a pandemic, and what it feels like now to watch students and teachers re-enter physical spaces and experience newfound gratitude for the Harvard-Westlake community. Laura also speaks about her upbringing in Santa Barbara, CA, where she attended Crane Country Day, Santa Barbara Middle School, and Santa Barbara High School, all of which greatly influencing how Laura considers schools as families, start-ups, and multifaceted ecosystems where students should be given both the trust and space to find their identities and passions. Laura also describes her long and varied career in schools, from working in college admission at Stanford, Scripps, and Columbia, to her independent school work at Convent of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco, St. Stephens Episcopal in Austin, and Greenhill in Dallas, before arriving at Harvard-Westlake in 2017 to run the upper school. Laura cites Rob Rosenthal of Wesleyan University and Jim Montoya of Stanford University as profound educational influences.

Remember traveling? While you’re stuck inside in the pandemic, you can still travel far and wide thanks to the Far from Home podcast by public radio veteran Scott Gurian. Scott takes you along for the ride on one of the world’s epic road trips from London to Mongolia and back across the deserts of Iran and mountains of central Asia. The Peabody award winner talks about how a not-so-adventurous guy from New Jersey came to document that trip and others. Countries featured: Iran, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Mexico, USA Publications featured: NPR, WNYC, Planet Money, Pacifica radio Scott discusses beginning his career by making it up as he goes along in advocacy and community radio (6:44), his “driveway moment” that turns him on to NPR and getting into mainstream public radio in Oklahoma (13:17), being thrust into covering Hurricane Sandy (25:47), how a trip to Cuba set him on a path toward Mongol Rally and travel podcasting (30:00), the nitty gritty of the economics of podcasting, the ins and outs of public radio universe and the tension between podcasts and radio (41:10), jpw frozen equipment in Alaska and sketchy bootleggers lead some stories to fall through (47:00), his years reporting about the Hurricane Sandy response and the Peabody winning story (51:08), and finally the lightning round (55:25).   Here are links to some of the things we talked about: Scott’s podcast Far from Home - http://bit.ly/3qpH2Ec HowSound podcast by Rob Rosenthal - http://apple.co/3pmQdnk WNYC’s Peabody winning coverage of Hurricane Sandy response - http://bit.ly/3ai2VQb Scott’s story on Antigua and Barbuda for Planet Money - http://n.pr/3d5rlOy Vox podcast Today, Explained - http://bit.ly/3dapcRD An Arm and a Leg podcast - http://bit.ly/37beYwH In the Dark podcast Season 2 - http://apple.co/2GYGUdc Chef Yotam Ottolenghi wiki - http://bit.ly/2OsLX92 Milk Street cooking website - http://bit.ly/3qlDu5D Bill Buford’s book Among the Thugs - https://amzn.to/3jN3J2D Throughline podcast - http://n.pr/3s44jfl WNYC’s On the Media radio show - http://bit.ly/2NkxhZ8   Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats From: freemusicarchive.org CC BY NC

Gretta Cohn is the founder and CEO of Transmitter Media. Gretta's experience runs the gamut of all things audio, from public radio and ringtones, to producing chart-topping podcasts. We discuss her time touring with the band Bright Eyes, being hired as the first production executive at Midroll Media and Earwolf, and starting her own podcast company with only $7,000 of savings. Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow The Come Up on Twitter: @TCUpodEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.com--EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up, a podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders. Gretta Cohn:I thought I would take the more productive path, the one where I didn't leave podcasting and I made this decision in December of 2016 to myself and then spent the next couple of months just tucking away money. And when I say I saved money before starting the business, I saved $7,000. Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Gretta Cohn, the founder and CEO of Transmitter Media. Now, Gretta's experience runs the gamut of all things audio. From being a touring cellist with the band, Cursive, to teaching radio workshops at NYU, to working in audiobooks, ringtones, and most recently podcasts. And Gretta's done some groundbreaking work along the way like turning Freakonomics Radio into an omni channel media brand, launching the number one podcast show, Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People and helping build Howl, which eventually became part of Stitcher. But Gretta's career transformed in 2017 when she decided to do podcasting on her own terms. So with only $7000 of savings, Gretta founded Transmitter Media and quickly began producing premium podcasts for clients like, TED, Spotify, and Walmart. Today, Gretta is focused on scaling her Brooklyn based team and creating more, as she describes, beautiful things. Chris Erwin:Gretta's love for her craft and team is so genuine and her story is a great example of how sheer will and passion are the ultimate enablers. All right, let's get into it. Chris Erwin:Tell me a little bit about where you grew up. I believe that you grew up in New York City. Is that right? Gretta Cohn:Well, I grew up in the suburbs, so I grew up on Long Island. My mom is from Queens and my dad is from Brooklyn and there is a sort of mythology of their meeting. My mom's dad was a butcher in Queens and my dad would always tell us that they didn't have toothpaste growing up and he'd go over to my mom's house and just eat. Yeah, they moved out to Long Island after they got married. Chris Erwin:Nice. And what part of Long Island? Gretta Cohn:Initially I grew up on the eastern end in the town called Mount Sinai and then when I was 13 in a very traumatic move at that age we moved to Huntington, which was more like smack in the middle of the island. Chris Erwin:My cousins are from Huntington. That's where they grew up, but then I think they moved to Lloyd's Neck shortly after. Why was that move so traumatic at 13? Gretta Cohn:I think it's that really formative age where you are sort of coming into yourself as a human, as a teenager and I remember writing my name on the wall in the closet because I wanted to leave my mark on that particular house that we grew up in. But then we moved and I made new friends and it was fine. Chris Erwin:Everything is scary at that age. It's like, "Oh, I have my friends and if I move to a new high school or middle school, I'll never have the same friends again." Gretta Cohn:My best friend at the time, Alessandra, never to be talked to or seen again. Chris Erwin:What was the household like growing up? Was there interesting audio from your parents? I mean, I think you mentioned, remind me, your father was a butcher and your mother was... Gretta Cohn:No, no. Those are my grandparents. Chris Erwin:Those are your grandparents. Got it. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. No. My parents were both teachers in the education system. My dad was a teacher his whole career life. He taught shop and psychology classes and computer classes. And my mom ended up being a superintendent of the school district on Long Island. She got her start as a Phys Ed teacher and then became an English teacher and worked her way up to superintendent. The sort of interest in audio they instilled in me and my two brothers extremely early. We all started learning to play string instruments at the age of three through the Suzuki method. Chris Erwin:The Suzuki method? Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Which is like an ear training style of learning music. So you essentially at three years old, you cannot possibly understand how to physically play an instrument and I remember a lot of time spent in those early group lessons just hugging the cello and singing this song, I love my cello very much, I play it every day and crawling up and down the bow with spider fingers, that's what they called it because your fingers kind of looked like spiders crawling up and down the bow and we all started playing string instruments at that age. I played cello and then the brother who came after me played violin, and the brother who came after him also played cello. Chris Erwin:Wow. And did you parents play instruments as well, string instruments? Gretta Cohn:No. My dad loves to say he can play the radio. Chris Erwin:I respect that. Gretta Cohn:I think they are educators, they are really invested in the full education of a person and so I think that they thought it was a good teaching discipline and it certainly required a kind of discipline. I can recall really fighting against practicing because I had to practice probably every day and I would rebel and not want to do it, but it was not really an option and I'm glad that ultimately I was pressed to continue to play because playing music has played such a huge part of my life. Chris Erwin:Clearly. It led you, which we'll get to, into founding a podcast production company and network and so much more. So very big impact. But, I get it. I began playing the alto saxophone in fourth grade and my twin brother was playing the clarinet and it was lessons with Mr. Slonum every week, an hour of practice every day and it was, when you're putting it on top of sports and homework and academics, it's a lot and it's intense and there's moments where you really don't want to do it and it's not fun and then there's moments where you're very thankful for it. And I think a lot of the more thankful moments came later in my life, but if you can get some of those early on, it's meaningful. When you first started playing, did you really enjoy it or was it just like, uh this is what I'm just supposed to do? Gretta Cohn:I remember enjoying it. I remember in particular being able to do little recitals every so often and I know there are photographs of myself in recital that I've seen even recently and there is such a joy in that and I think that showing off something that you've done and your family claps for you, it's a good job. Ultimately, what it feels like to play in a group, in an ensemble, it's pretty magical. I played in orchestras starting in grade school all the way up through college and there is something really amazing about the collective and your part and you can't mess up because it's glaringly obvious if you're the one out of the section of 12 cellists whose got their bow going the wrong direction or the wrong note playing. But it's also really beautiful to play in a group like that. Chris Erwin:Yeah. It's a special team sport, right? You rely on other people and people rely on you. When it comes together, it's an absolutely beautiful event, for you and the audience. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. I also played soccer growing up, speaking of team sports. Chris Erwin:Okay. What position? Gretta Cohn:I was defense. They would enlist me to run around and shadow the most powerful player on the other team. I don't know why, but I remember that. Chris Erwin:I was very similar. I started out as a recreation all-star like a forward and then got moved to right fullback, which is defense. That was my soccer career. All right. So interesting. So yeah, speaking of studying music, I think that when you went to university, you almost went to study music at a conservatory but you ended up going to Brown instead. What were you thinking, because were you going down a path where it's like, "I want to be in audio, I want to create music." What was your head space there as you started to go through advanced education, beginnings of your career? Gretta Cohn:I remember collecting fliers for conservatories. I was interested in conservatory, I think though that as I began to really think about what that would mean, I don't know that I was thinking really broadly, like oh... No one at 17 or whatever really has a full picture of what those choices ultimately mean but I'm glad that I didn't go to music school. I was always the worst player in the best section. So I remember I was in the New York Youth Symphony and I was definitely not the best player in that section, but it was really hard to get in. One summer I went and studied at the Tanglewood Institute in Boston, which is, again, extremely competitive and hard to get into but I was definitely not the best player there. Gretta Cohn:And I think that thinking about what it would mean to devote oneself entirely to that, I had other interests. I wasn't so completely focused on being a performer that it didn't ultimately feel like it would make a lot of sense because I wanted to study history, I wanted... And obviously, you go to conservatory, you have a well-rounded education ultimately, I would imagine, but it's not where I think I ultimately wanted to go. That was not the direction I ultimately wanted to go. Chris Erwin:Yeah. It's a really big commitment going from good to great, but I mean, you are great. You are getting into these elite orchestras but to be the first chair, that's a level of dedication practice that's really tough. It's funny, I actually read a David Foster Wallace article about the sport of tennis and he played and he was very good and I think he could have even gone pro, but he's like, "I'm good, I put in enough hours and I have fun with it, but for me to go to the next level..." He's like, "It's not fun to me and I don't want to do that." It's not for him. So you make a decision and you go to Brown. What's your study focus at Brown? Gretta Cohn:I ultimately was in the American Studies Department, but I had a special sort of crossover with the music department so I took a lot of music classes, I took a lot of American Studies classes which is basically like cultural history, social history, history through the lens of various social movements or pop culture, which I think is really fascinating and I wound everything together so that my senior thesis was about cover songs and the history of sort of copying and the idea of creating various versions of any original work and the sort of cultural history and critical theory lens of it, but also just I selected three songs and I traced their history over time from a performance perspective but also from like, how does this song fit into the narrative of music history? Chris Erwin:Do you remember the three songs? Gretta Cohn:I think I did Twist and Shout. Chris Erwin:Okay. Gretta Cohn:I Shall Be Released and I can't remember the third one. But I had a lot of fun writing it and I really liked the bridging between the music department and the American Studies department. And strangely, there are so many journalists who came up through American Studies. There are several producers on my staff who were American Studies students in college. I think it just gives you this permission to think about story telling in the world from just this very unique cultural vantage points. Chris Erwin:Did you have a certain expectation where you had an idea of what that story was going to be over time or were you surprised and as you saw how the narrative played out with the original song and recording and production and then the covers, anything that stands out of like, "Oh, I did not expect this, but I found this very fascinating."? Gretta Cohn:I don't really remember at this point. Chris Erwin:Sorry for putting you on the spot, it's such a long time ago. Gretta Cohn:The thing was like more than 100 pages and it's probably a door stopper now at my parents house. I remember that I put a big picture of a mushroom on the last page. John Cage wrote a lot about mushrooms and so I wove some of his work into the thesis but this idea that the mushroom takes the dirt and crap and stuff that's on the forest floor and turns it into this organic material, the mushroom. So yeah, I don't remember the specifics. Chris Erwin:Yeah, no. All good. My thesis was on the Banana Wars and that is... It's not even worthy of being a door stopper. That's just straight to the trash. But I did, for a music class, I think I did break down a song by the Sex Pistols. Gretta Cohn:Cool. Chris Erwin:I can't remember specifically which one, but I think I dove deep into the lyrics and I think I was pretty disappointed. I expected to find more meaning and have more fun with it, and I think it was maybe my young mind, I couldn't go deeper than I thought I could. Anyway... So fast forward to 2001 and as I was going through your bio, this really stood out and it hits close to home. You become a cellist for some alternative rock bands including Cursive, The Faint, and Bright Eyes. And I just remember The Faint, I think a song from 2008, The Geeks Were Right. I remember listening to that shortly after college. So tell me, what was that transition going from university to then moving, I think you moved to Omaha out of New York to play in these rock bands? Gretta Cohn:So when I was in college, I continued to play in the school orchestra, but I also met some friends who became collaborators and we would just improvise in the lounge like, bass drums, guitar and cello. And that was really freeing for me. Growing up on Long Island, I had such easy access to New York City and for whatever reason, I was really given a lot of freedom to... I would take the Long Island Railroad into Manhattan and go to concerts all through high school, like rock concerts. Chris Erwin:What was some of your earliest concert memories? Gretta Cohn:Purposely getting to an Afghan Whigs show and planting myself in the front row because I wanted to be as close as possible to the stage. So I used to go to concerts all the time and I was really, really interested in... I wasn't only a person who thought about classical music at all and so I met this group of people and formed this little group together and so I was playing music in college, eventually joining a band mostly with locals in Providence and we became the opening act for a lot of bands that were coming through. Chris Erwin:And what type of music were you playing, Gretta? Gretta Cohn:It was arty rock. Chris Erwin:Arty rock. Okay. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Some of it was instrumental, but then some of it was like pop. I think one of the bands that I was in was called The Beauty Industry and it was probably a little bit reminiscent of Built to Spill and The Magnetic Fields and a little bit like Poppy. So in that band we would serve as the opening act for a lot of artists that were coming through and through that I was able to meet the folks from Saddle Creek from Omaha, Nebraska. And I didn't know that I made an impression on them, but I did and after I graduated I moved to New York. I didn't really know exactly where I was headed. I got a job working in the development office at Carnegie Hall and I didn't love it. We had to wear suits. And one day the folks from Omaha called my parents home phone and left a message and asked if I would come out and play on a record with them and I did. Chris Erwin:When you got that message, were you ecstatic, were you super excited or were you just confused, like, "Hey, is this real? What's going on here?" Gretta Cohn:Yeah. I think I was like, "Huh, well, that's interesting." Like, "I didn't expect this." So Cursive is the group that invited me out to record. Just sort of like come out and record on our album. And I didn't actually know Cursive. I had met Bright Eyes and Lullaby for the Working Class when I was at Brown, but I hadn't met Cursive and my best friend, who is still one of my best friends was a Cursive fan and dumped all of their CDs and seven inches in my lap and was like, "You need to listen to them, they are so good." So I did and I sort of gave myself a little Cursive education and then I started to get really excited because I felt like there was a lot of interesting potential. Yeah. Gretta Cohn:Moving out there was not an easy decision. It was very unknown for me. I love New York City and I always imagined myself here and I had never been to the Midwest so I didn't know what my expectations were and I didn't... Also at that time Cursive was a fairly well-known band but it wasn't understood that I would move out there and that would be my job, right? I was moving out there to join this community and play in Cursive and do Cursive stuff, go on tour, record records, but at that point there was no promise like, "Oh, I'm going to live off of this." And so I went to a temp agency and I did paperwork in an accountant's office and- Chris Erwin:While also performing with Cursive? Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Yeah. I will also say though, after the first year, things really took off after The Ugly Organ and I would say at that point I was no longer working in the temp office and we were going on long tours and when I came home in between stretches on tour, I was recovering from tour because it's quite exhausting and working on the next thing with the bands. Chris Erwin:Were you touring around nationally? Any international touring? Gretta Cohn:Yeah. National and international. We went all over the States, Canada and then European tour is like often... Cursive was very big in Germany so we would spend a lot of time in Germany, Scandinavia. We went to Japan once. Chris Erwin:What an incredible post university experience! Gretta Cohn:It really, really was incredible. Chris Erwin:Playing music because of a skill that you formed very early on and then working in New York at Carnegie Hall and a job that you weren't too excited about and then you just get this serendipitous phone call. And you started listening to Cursive records in seven inches and you're getting more and more excited and all of a sudden you're traveling the world. That's like a dream scenario. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. It was pretty dreamy. And I think I recognized at the time. I mean, those first tours, we were sleeping on... I had my sleeping bag and we would be sleeping on hardwood floors, end up in like a row and someone's apartment in like Arlington. And I remember some of those first tours internationally, like in Germany, you would play the show and then everyone would leave and they would shut the lights off and we would just sleep on the stage. And in the morning the promoter, like the booker would come back and they would have bread and cheese and fruit and coffee. And it was just this beautiful... But we were sleeping on the stage. Chris Erwin:I mean, you're all doing it together. So it was cool. Right. You just were a crew. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, yeah. It was great. I loved it. I really, really loved it. Chris Erwin:I look at your work timeline between 2001 to 2010, which includes, you're a touring international artist, but then you do a lot of other things in audio. Like you study with Rob Rosenthal at the Salt Institute, do some time in Studio 360, and then you go to radio and then audio books. So what are the next few years? How does this audio adventure start to transform for you? Gretta Cohn:While I was in Cursive, there were other parts of me that I felt needed feeding and so I started writing for the local alternative weekly in Omaha. And I was doing like book reviews and reviewing art shows and doing little pieces, which sort of opened up to me, this understanding that journalism was something that I was really interested in. And while I was still essentially based in Omaha and still, essentially based out of Saddle Creek, I came back to New York for a few months and did an internship at The Village Voice because I just really wanted to sort of start exploring these paths of what would potentially come next. I didn't necessarily think that I was meant to stay in Omaha like for the rest of my life. When I first moved out there, I thought, "Oh, I'll give it a few years. See how it goes and then probably come back home to New York." Gretta Cohn:And then things really took off and so I didn't want to leave. And I was really having a great time and loved it and loved everything that I was doing. And I think that at the time that chapter was coming to a close, it was sort of like naturally coming to a close and I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do next. I was interested in journalism, I was interested obviously in... still thinking about music and audio although I think I needed a break from music after that time. Like when you're so intensively working on something like that, you just need a minute to let everything kind of settle. Chris Erwin:Yeah. It's all encompassing. Right. You're just living, breathing, eating music and the band. It's a lot. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. So I took a couple of years and started to figure it out. Actually, something that's not on your list is I worked at a ringtone company for a bit. Chris Erwin:It is audio based. So I'm not surprised. So yeah, tell me about that. Gretta Cohn:It was just a job that I got. Actually, looking back now, I think that it was a company that was founded by two classical musicians. They mostly had contracts with major record labels and I remember turning Sean Paul's Temperature into a ringtone in particular. It was just like chopping things into little eight seconds and looping them and mastering them and- Chris Erwin:Were you doing the technical work as well? Gretta Cohn:Not really, you spend time in the studio and so you learn and you pick up things. I wasn't recording the band, but that was the first time that I got my own pro tools set up and so I had my own pro tool setup, like was using it for my own little projects at home, but I was not technically involved with the making of any of the records that was on now, except for playing on them. Chris Erwin:Yeah, you were dabbling in pro tools then pretty early on. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, yeah. I had the original Mbox, which is like this big plastic, weird alien looking object with just like a couple of little knobs on it. I finally got rid of it a couple of years ago. I held onto it for a long time and now you don't even need it. Chris Erwin:So you're dabbling and then I know that you spend time as a producer at The Story with Dick Gordon, North Carolina, and then you went to audio books. Is that when things started to take shape for you of knowing kind of what you wanted to do? Gretta Cohn:I think as soon as I went to Salt to study with Rob Rosenthal is when I knew that that's what I wanted to do. I took a few years after Cursive to kind of reset a little bit and then I started working at the ringtone company and began to have conversations with people about where all my interests collided. Like I loved working in sound, storytelling and journalism were really important to me. I don't think at that point that... There was a whole lot that I was exposed to apart from NPR, This American Life and Studio 360 were sort of the major outlets for audio storytelling that I understood and spent time with. And I just remember having a meal with someone who I don't recall his name, but he's done a lot of illustrations for This American Life and public radio outlets and he was like, "There's this place, it's called salt. You can learn how to do this there." And so I just decided that I was going to step down this path. Right. Chris Erwin:Yeah. And Salt is based in Maine, is that right? Gretta Cohn:Yeah. So I moved to Maine for six months. I was very excited. I got a merit scholarship to go there. Chris Erwin:Oh wow. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, and I basically... There's so many fundamentals that I learned there that I use every single day now still. I think Rob Rosenthal is absolutely brilliant and he has trained so many radio producers. It's insane. Chris Erwin:Of all the learnings from Rob, just like what's one that comes to mind quickly that you use everyday? Gretta Cohn:I don't know that this is one I use every day, but it's one that's really stuck with me, is he really counseled to be really mindful when thinking about adding music to a story. He used the phrase, emotional fascism. Essentially, if you need to rely on the music to tell the listener how to feel, then you haven't done your job in sort of crafting a good story. So like the bones of the story, like the structure, the content, the sort of stakes intention and the character you've chosen, like all of that have to clear a certain hurdle and then you can start thinking about adding music, but if you're relying on the music to sort of create tension or drama or emotion, then you've kind of missed something. Chris Erwin:Yeah. That's very interesting. What a great insight! I like that. Emotional fascism. Gretta Cohn:I'll never forget. Chris Erwin:So after the Salt Institute, what's next? Gretta Cohn:I got an internship at WNYC at Studio 360. At that time the internship system at New York Public Radio was like largely unpaid. I think I got $12 a day. So I interned I think three or four days a week and then I had like two other jobs. Chris Erwin:Just to make ends meet, to make it work. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. I worked at a coffee shop, like most mornings. And then I worked at a Pilates studio many afternoons and on the weekends. So it was like a lot, I was really running at full steam, but I really enjoyed the internship there. And then that was my first real glimpse into what it was like to work in a team to make impactful audio storytelling and I learned a lot there too. The team there was really amazing. Yeah. So Studio 360 was fantastic. And then a friend of mine had found out about this gig at The Story with Dick Gordon. It was a short term contract producer role, like filling in for someone who was out on leave. And I got the job and I moved down to Durham, North Carolina, and found an apartment, brought my cat and worked on that show for a few months, which I think was a pretty crucial experience to have had, which helped open the door into WNYC. Chris Erwin:Why's that? Gretta Cohn:So this was in like 2008, 9 and there weren't like a whole lot of opportunities in the audio storytelling space. Like your major opportunities were at public radio stations and public radio stations were highly competitive. It didn't have a lot of turnover. They understood that they were the only game in town if this was the career path that you were interested in going down. So having had a job at a radio station on staff on a show was such a huge opportunity. I don't know that I was like chomping at the bit to leave New York or move to Carolina, although I loved it there. And I had friends who lived there that I knew from the Saddle Creek community. So it was really great. I moved down there and I didn't have to... I can't recall ever feeling lonely. Right. Like I immediately had this community of people, which was amazing, but that gig was only three months. Gretta Cohn:And so I came back to New York and basically spent the next couple of years banging on the door to get back into WNYC, which is when I went to the audio books company where quite a few radio producers worked. Like that's how I found out about it. There were folks who had passed through Studio 360 or elsewhere. And my boss at the audio books company is David Markowitz, who is now currently working in the podcasting department at Netflix. And he previously was at Pushkin and at Headspace and he... So he and I, although our paths crossed at that moment, because our paths have continued to cross over and over again since that time working together with the audio books company. Audio books wasn't my passion, but while I was there I got the idea to pitch the podcast to the audio books company, which they agreed to let me do. And so I had this outlet to just do a little bit of experimenting and to grow some skills and also have just like an outlet to doing this kind of work that I wanted to be doing. Chris Erwin:Had you ever pitched a project or an idea before to any place that you worked at? Gretta Cohn:I pitched stories to Studio 360, but to pitch an idea for something that had not existed before, no. Chris Erwin:It becomes, I believe, The Modern Scholar podcast, is that right? Gretta Cohn:Yeah. You've done like a really deep research. Chris Erwin:Look, it helps to tell your story. Right. So you pitch, and then you get the green light, which must feel validating. It's like, okay, this is a good idea, but now it's got to be more than a pitch, you had to execute. Was that intimidating or were you like, "No, I'm ready to go I got it." Gretta Cohn:I was ready to go. They had an audio book series called The Modern Scholar. Professors would come in and record like 10 hours worth of like Italian history. And so what I did was just have a one hour interview with the professor who was the author of this series and talk about their work, go into detail on something really specific. I will say at that time that like I applied for a mentorship with AIR, the Association of Independence Radio, they gave me a mentor and I had like a few sessions with him and it was great. Like I had someone... I had an editor, right. I wasn't totally on my own kind of like muscling through. And so he really sort of helped refine the ideas for that show and that was a great help. So I'm lucky that I was able to get that. Chris Erwin:What I'm really hearing Gretta is that you moved around a lot and participated in and developed all these different music and audio communities around the US and even the world from like Omaha and international touring and Scandinavia and Europe, and then the Salt and Maine and North Carolina and New York and more, and I'm sure, as you said, with David Markowitz, that these relationships are now serving you in your current business. So it feels like that was like a really good investment of your time where the networking was great, but you also learned a lot and were exposed to a lot of different thinking and ideas. Is that right? Gretta Cohn:Absolutely. Definitely. Yeah. Chris Erwin:After dabbling around a bit for the first decade of the 2000s, you then go to WNYC and you're there for around six years, I think 2008 to 2014. And you work on some cool projects. You're the associate producer at Freakonomics and you also work on Soundcheck. So tell me about what made you commit to WNYC and what were you working on when you first got there? Gretta Cohn:At the time there weren't a lot of options for people doing this work. And WNYC obviously is an incredible place where really amazing work is done, really talented people. It basically was like the game in town, right? Like there weren't a lot of other places where you could do audio storytelling work in this way. There was a pivotal moment that I think could have gone in a different direction, but I had applied for a job at StoryCorps and I applied for the job at Soundcheck. Chris Erwin:What is StoryCorps? Gretta Cohn:They have a story every Friday on NPR that's like a little three minute edited story and it's usually like two people in conversation with each other. It's highly personal. And they're very well known for these human connection stories. It's I think influenced in part by oral history and anthropology, but it's basically this intimate storytelling. And I did not get that job, although I was a runner up and the person who did get the job is now one of my closest friends. But at the same time was an applicant for Soundcheck and I did get that job. And I think it was... That was the right path for me because I have such a passion for music. Right. My background kind of really led me to have an understanding of how to tell those stories. Chris Erwin:What is the Soundcheck format? Gretta Cohn:It changed over time. But when I joined Soundcheck, it was a live daily show about music and really open, like wide open as far as what it covered. So in any given episode, you could have like Yoko Ono there for an interview, you could have the author of a book about musicals from the 1920s, and then you could have like a live performance from Parquet Courts. So it was really wide ranging and varied and super interesting. And there's so much about working on a daily show that's I think extremely crucial to building up chops as a producer because every single day you have a brand new blank slate, you have to work extremely quickly and efficiently. Working in the live setting can create so much pressure because not only are you keeping to a clock, like the show went from like 2:01 to like 2:50 every day, and there had to be certain breaks and you have an engineer and you need the music to cue in a certain place. Gretta Cohn:And so you're like, "Cue the music." And you're whispering to the host like, "Move on to the next question." You're like this master puppeteer with all these marionettes and it's pretty wild. It's really fun, super stressful. You go off stage and it's like- Chris Erwin:It sounds stressful. Gretta Cohn:You can't fix it. You just have to move on and you learn a lot. Chris Erwin:It feels like something, you do that for maybe a couple of years or a few years and then it's like, ah you need a break from that. It's amazing that people who work in like live video or live radio for decades, like kudos to the stamina that they build up. Gretta Cohn:And that's exactly what happened is I needed a break from it. And that's when I went to Freakonomics. Chris Erwin:Got it. Before we go into Freakonomics, you also helped create Soundcheck into an omni-channel media brand where you were launching video and live events and interactive series. Was that something that had been happening in the audio industry or were you kind of setting a new precedent? Gretta Cohn:Our team was tapped to reinvent Soundcheck. So it had been this live daily show for quite some time and I think that WNYC wanted to reshape it for a variety of reasons. So we were sort of tasked, like we pulled the show off the air and kind of went through this like sprint of re-imagining, what the show could be, how it would sound, what it would do. And actually, I remember that I pitched this video series that was a lot of fun. I can't remember the name of it now, but we worked with a local elementary school and we would have three kids sitting behind desks and we would play them clips from pop songs- Chris Erwin:Whoa. Gretta Cohn:... and they would review them and- Chris Erwin:That's a really cool idea. Gretta Cohn:... it was awesome. It was so much fun. We did a lot of live performances and I started producing sort of like more highly produced segments and storytelling for Soundcheck at that time, because there was more space to try and figure that out. Ultimately, what it turned into was like a daily delivery of a show that I think ultimately resembled the old show in many ways, but it was not live anymore. And there were all these other tasks. I also created a first lesson type series for Soundcheck at that time where we would like stream a new album before it came out and I would write a little review. It was really fun. When we pulled the show off the air and we were tasked with re-imagining it was like a sandbox that you just kind of could plan, which was great. Chris Erwin:It's a wide open canvas that you can paint to how you desire. I get that why you were burnt out after that. So then you change it up and you become an associate producer at Freakonomics and you work with the fame, Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt. How has that experience? Gretta Cohn:It was great. It was challenging. I think that show has incredibly high standards and there's a particular kind of brain that I think works extremely well at that show. At the time, there were two of us who were the producers of the show, myself, who has this background in music and in production. And then the other producer was an economist who had been freshly graduated from economics school. And so we were this pair and I think what ultimately happened was that where I shown where these like human stories and where he shown was like distilling econ papers into sort of understandable stories. And so I think the two of us together really complimented each other. One of my favorite episodes that I worked on was about the Nathan's hotdog contest and one of the sort of like champs who had come up with a particular system for how to win- Chris Erwin:Dunking them in water and all that stuff. Yeah. I remember watching some of those segments online. In a minute they put back like 47 hotdogs. It was something crazy. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, it's wild. Chris Erwin:After Freakonomics, you decided to depart for Midroll and Earwolf. What was the impetus for that? Gretta Cohn:My time at Freakonomics was sort of like naturally coming to a close. I think that while my strength was in this sort of human sort of storytelling, I think the show needed someone who had a little bit more of that like econ background. And so I started to look around the station at WNYC, of other places where I could land, right? Like I'd moved from Soundcheck to Freakonomics, like what would be the next place for me to go? And I couldn't find it. I spent a little bit of time in the newsroom helping to look for a host for a new health podcast and I had conversations with people around the station about various other shows. I think I talked to the folks on the media and this producer, Emily Botein, who ultimately founded the Alec Baldwin podcast and a host of other really great shows there, but it didn't seem like there was space or a role that really made sense for me as far as like the next step is concerned. Gretta Cohn:At that time, Erik Diehn who's now the CEO of the Stitcher empire was in the finance office, I think at WNYC and he left to go to Midroll/Earwolf. Chris Erwin:I didn't realize he was also WNYC. Bannon was also WNYC who's now the chief content officer over there? Gretta Cohn:Mm-hmm (affirmative). Chris Erwin:Wow. It was a feeder to that company. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. So Erik Diehn left WNYC and I remember the note that went around, he's going to this company, Earwolf/Midroll. And I was like, kind of filed that away. And then it was probably a few months later that they put a position, they were hiring for a producer. And I sort of leapt at the opportunity. I thought that the shows on Earwolf were awesome. I had not worked really in comedy. Although I think that there's so much crossover in Soundcheck. We really had a lot of license to have basically like whoever on the show, like I booked comedians, I booked authors. Like I booked anyone who had a passion to talk about music, which is like 90% of the world. And so I think that that was really of interest to them. And I had a couple of conversations with Erik and the job was mine. I mean, I went through- Chris Erwin:You make it sound very easy. Gretta Cohn:... a proper vetting and interview process. And there were other candidates, but they gave it to me. And I was really, really excited because I think I was ready for a fresh start and I was ready for something new, something a little bit unknown. I think that I tend to find... Typically, I think if you look over the course of my life, like every few years, I'm like, "Okay, what's the next thing?" And I think that I still feel that way except now I have this entity of Transmitter in which to keep iterating and playing, but I was just ready for the next thing. And it was at that time, a really small company, I was the first New York based employee, like Eric was living in New Jersey. So it doesn't count as a New York employee. There was no office. Chris Erwin:I remember that Jeff Ullrich was the founder and it was bootstrap, didn't raise any venture capital and started I think in the early 2000s, if I remember correctly. Is that right? Gretta Cohn:I don't know the dates, but that sounds right. Chris Erwin:Okay. A little context for the listeners. And Earwolf is a comedy podcast network. So there's a slate of comedy shows and Midroll was the advertising arm of the business that would connect advertisers with the podcasters. But no, please continue. So you're the first New York hire. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Which was really exciting to me. I was the first producer hired by the company. They had a few really amazing audio engineers out in LA who ran the recordings and they did editing, but there had never been a producer on staff. So it was really this like wide open field. And Jeff at that time, I think had taken a step back from the company, but the moment that I was brought in is when the idea for Howl came into the picture and Howl was a membership subscription-based app that has now turned into Stitcher and Stitcher Premium, it was folded in, into Stitcher and Stitcher Premium. But at the time there was like this real push to create a subscription-based app with like a ton of new material. And one of my first jobs was to work extremely closely with Jeff to figure out what was going to be on this app, who were we going to hire to make material? What producers, what comedians, what actors? There was an enormous spreadsheet, like one of the most enormous spreadsheets that I've ever spent time with. Gretta Cohn:So that was my first task and alongside, which was to sort of from a producer's perspective look at this later shows on Earwolf and start to think about what would a producer bring to the network? What would a producer bring to the hosts, to the way that things were made, to new ideas to bring to the network? And so those two things were sort of happening concurrently. Chris Erwin:The producer role was not defined. You're the first producer there. So it's you coming in saying, "Here's how I can enhance the slate. Here's how I can enhance the content strategy of where we're headed concurrently with we're launching Howl, which needs a lot of content, both from partner podcasters and probably owned and operated and then filling..." So creating a new slate, that's going to fill that. That's going to make people want to buy the membership product or subscription product, which are big questions that Spotify and Netflix and the biggest subscription platforms in the world have huge teams to figure out. And it's like you and Jeff, and maybe a couple more people? Gretta Cohn:There was one developer. Chris Erwin:Wow. Gretta Cohn:It was intense. It was a lot of work. I remember because at that time too, I was the only New York based person. Eric was in New Jersey. I think Lex Friedman came along. He was either already there or came along shortly thereafter, also based in New Jersey. Chris Erwin:And Lex was running sales? Gretta Cohn:Yes. And he's now with ART19, but there was no office. I was working from my kitchen table, much like I do now. It was great. I think what really excited me was like the open field of really sort of figuring out what everything was going to be and it was like off to the races. Chris Erwin:So I actually reached out to a few people that we mutually know to just get like, oh, what are some stories I can have Gretta talk about from the early Midroll/Earwolf days. So I reached out to Adam Sachs who was also on this podcast earlier. He's a childhood friend of mine that was also the CEO of the company when it sold the scripts, as well as Chris Bannon, who I consider one of the most like delightful humans on the planet. I think he was the chief content officer while you were there and he still is now under Eric as part of this new Stitcher Midroll combined empire. And what Chris said is that, like you mentioned Gretta, no office for the first six months and that you were taking meetings, I think in sound booths as well. And that when you finally did get an office, it was so small that you were taking turns sitting down. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Well, we put our own furniture together. I learned so much from my years at Earwolf that have completely guided and shaped a lot of how Transmitter kind of came into being. Yeah, we put all of our furniture together ourselves in this first office. Chris Erwin:That's good training for you launching Transmitter where it's lean budgets, you're funding from your savings. You probably had to set up your own furniture yourself too. So that DIY attitude persists. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, yeah. And it was exciting. Whereas a place like WNYC is this like well oiled machine, it's also like a big ship that in order to turn 30 people have to be sort of moving things around and like, is the sky clear? There are just like so many little tiny steps that have to be taken to make a decision. Whereas what working at that early stage at Earwolf meant was like you can just make decisions, you just do it. Eric and I went around to see like five different offices. We decided together, "Oh, let's take this one on Eighth Avenue." This is the furniture. All right, let's put it together. I remember walking into the office when the furniture was first delivered and it was extremely dusty and we were wearing dust masks and trying to figure out where's the studio going to go? And it was just really exciting. It's really exciting to sort of pave your way and build something from the ground up. Chris Erwin:I like what you're saying too, is that you can just get things done very quickly. And that's actually one of the things that Bannon brought up about working with you is you guys launched good shows I think in just a matter of a few months or less, like Bitch, Sash and Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People, which was a number one hit on iTunes. And that now making shows like that, if you're at a bigger company with all the bureaucracy and the approvals can take over a year, but you guys were getting stuff done fast, there was no alternative choice. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, we were working very quickly. Chris Erwin:So I'm curious to hear like Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People. That's like an iTunes topper. Was that the first big podcast hit that you had in your career? Gretta Cohn:I would say so. Yeah. I'm trying to remember what if anything came ahead of it, but I'm fairly certain that some of my first meetings after joining the team at Earwolf were with Chris Gethard and working with him on sort of early prototypes of Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People. And he's a remarkable person. He's a brilliant comedian. He's such a good human being. He's an amazing collaborator. And yeah, it was the two of us for a while just, I think the first call that we took, which was sort of just the prototype, the pilot for the show. We're like, "We don't know what's going to happen. Is anyone going to call?" And yeah, I mean, it was really awesome working on that show. And also it was such a departure from the kinds of projects that I had worked on previously, which were extremely buttoned up like very highly produced in the sense that every single step that you took in the process was regimented, right? Like making a Freakonomics episode, making an hour of Soundcheck, thinking about that live daily experience. Gretta Cohn:Like you can't have a minute on the clock that's not accounted for in making those things. And here's a show where we just open a phone line and see what happens for an hour. And it's so freeing to be sort of separated from that regimentation and working with Chris Gethard, I think taught me that you can make something that's really compelling and that's really good. And it was highly produced. Like a lot of thought went into it. There's a lot of post-production, but it didn't need to be the kind of thing where like every single minute of that hour was a line on a spreadsheet. And I love that show. I think that we're all like voyeurs of other people's experiences. Right. And I think it's super interesting the way that people are willing to call and sort of like bare their souls to Chris and working on that show was fantastic. Gretta Cohn:And it was really gratifying and really rewarding when we realized that people were paying attention and they were going to listen. And for that to be one of the first projects of my tenure at Earwolf was great. It was great. Chris Erwin:That's awesome. What a cool story! Bannon even mentioned you work on, I think Casey Holford's Heaven's Gate, which is now an HBO Max series. I think that just came out this week or something, some big projects. All right. So look, in 2015, Midroll/Earwolf sells to Scripps, EW Scripps. Then I think in 2017 is when you start Transmitter Media. I'm curious to hear that after this fun sprint at Midroll and the sale and launching the shows and launching Howl and Wolfpop and all the things, what got you thinking about becoming a founder, which is a very different experience than what you had done for the first 10, 15 years of your career? Gretta Cohn:So after the sale, I think that Adam Sachs kind of offered me the opportunity to reshape my role a little bit. So I had been overseeing the Earwolf shows, developing and producing brand new shows and Howl was in the rear view at that point for me, I believe. I think this is like a classic situation. They're like, "We're going to split your job into two, which half do you want?" And I was like, "This is great." Because it had been a lot to be developing new shows, to have this sort of slate of shows at Earwolf requiring my attention. And I picked the path of new development and that's when they went out and found someone to executive produce the Earwolf network. And in my new role, I needed to build a team and a division. Gretta Cohn:So I had to hire really quickly about six producers to form a team. And there wasn't really a human resources and so it really fell on me to read every application that came in and kind of vet all of the candidates and begin that process of selecting who to talk to. And I probably spent about six months just interviewing. I think that I learned a lot from that process and I think it developed in me like a little bit of an eye for how to spot talent and people that I want to work with, but it also was like supremely exhausting. And at the same time, I think that the company was in a real state of renewal and flux and change following the sale to Scripps, which I think is probably common in any situation where a company is acquired by a company that has a different POV, like maybe doesn't understand podcasting, has its own goals that are separate from what the goals had been at Earwolf. Gretta Cohn:So there were just a lot of strategy shifts that I did my best to kind of keep up with, but ultimately found myself thinking like, "Well, if I were setting the strategy, what would I do? If I were re-imagining sort of the direction that this company was going in, what would I do?" And I looked around and Pineapple Street had been around for a few months, maybe six months. And I went and had some chats with them about sort of like what they were doing and what they wanted to do. And I went over and had a chat with the folks at Gimlet thinking like maybe there would be a place for me there, but ultimately out of my conversations with all of those people, was this kind of clarifying feeling that there was something that I wanted to do and that I wanted to do it differently. I would say it was definitely like burnout that kind of led me to thinking about what I wanted to do next, because it felt like where I was at was like a little bit unsustainable. It was scary. Gretta Cohn:I definitely spent a month sort of quaking with fear on the couch. Like, is this something that I'm going to do? What does it take and what do I need and are there like, long-term consequences that I can't really think of yet? Because I'd always had a job, right? Like I always worked for someone else and enjoyed the freedom, frankly, that that gives you, right? Like you show up, you do the work and then you leave and you can go and take care of whatever. So I just spent a lot of time thinking about it and talking to friends, my close friend who gave me the Cursive records back in the day has run a press, a small press for nearly as long as I've known him. And it's a small non-profit, but it requires the same levels of sort of like entrepreneurship and sort of like- Chris Erwin:Discipline in a way. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Discipline. That's exactly the word. And so I talked to him a lot about he figured out what he was doing. My brother has had his own post-production business for film for more than five years, so I went for dinner with him and talked about... His business relies on film clients who come to him with a movie that needs mixing and sound effects and sound design. So we talked about that and my husband was acquiring a business. He purchased a retail shop in our neighborhood around the same time too. So there was like a lot of this around me where I had just a lot of conversations about this and I decided to do it. I decided that like the fear was not a good enough reason to not do it. And my alternate path to be quite frank was to leave podcasting because I just couldn't see where my next step was going to be. Gretta Cohn:And so I thought I would take the more productive path, the one where I didn't leave podcasting and I made this decision in December of 2016 to myself and then spent the next couple of months just tucking away money. When I say that I saved money before starting the business, I saved $7,000. Like this is not an enormous coffer of like startup money, but it was enough to pay for an office space and to pay for myself for a couple of months to just see what would happen. And I gave extremely early notice at Midroll and I started to look for clients before I left. So I set it up so that by the time I finally left Midroll in the end of March of 2017 and walked into my office, my new office for Transmitter Media, on the 3rd of April of 2017, I already had clients. So this also gave me that added security of like, "I'm not just walking into this empty pit of like who knows what? Like I have work to do." Chris Erwin:Look, that's just like an amazing transition story, but a couple of things stand out. One it's like double entrepreneur household. A lot of couples that I talk to will say, one will start a new venture business that's risky while other has like W2 salaried income. But your husband had just bought a local retail shop in the neighborhood. You were launching Transmitter Media. So you were smart about mitigating risk of landing of clients in advance. Yeah, it's a lot to take on. And the second thing I heard that I think is really interesting is you felt that there was no path for you to stay in podcasting unless you started your own business. So it's either get out and do- Gretta Cohn:It felt that way. Chris Erwin:Yeah. Get out and do something totally different or commit and go deeper with this incredible network and skillset that you've built up for a decade and a half and start your own thing. You committed to it. And yeah, whether it was meager savings of $7,000, it was enough. And you had the confidence. And I think in the early days, confidence is everything that you need. Tell us about what is Transmitter Media or what was it at that point? Gretta Cohn:Transmitter Media was born as a full service creative podcast company, meaning primarily working for clients who needed podcasts production. And it's really 360 ideation. There's like a paragraph that explains what they want the podcast to be and then we figure it out from there. Like it's quite rare that someone comes in the door and they have like a fully fleshed out idea for a show that has all the episodes outlined and the guests and then this and then that. So it's really starting with a kernel of an idea, figuring out how to make it, what it needs, what's the format and executing it all the way up to launch and continued production. And I think that I saw what Pineapple Street was doing. I respect Jenna and Max from Pineapple Street so much. Gretta Cohn:And it felt like the right model, essentially doing what film production companies do or in a way kind of like what advertising agencies do. You have clients, your clients have a story that they want to tell and as a production company, you figure out how to tell it and how to tell it really well. And I think that for me, having a focus on craft was really important quality over quantity and taking the time to really figure out creatively, what does something need was how I stepped into it. Chris Erwin:Clearly as the industry is growing, in terms of more audio listenership, more brands wanting to figure out the space and still early, I think in 2019, the ad market for audio was like 750 million. So you started the company is like two to three years before that, when you look at the total advertising landscape, which is like over, I think, 600 billion globally. But brands are leaning in, they want to figure it out and you have a knack for audio storytelling, and then you commit. And so who are some of the early clients you work with? I think they were Walmart and Spotify. And what did those first early projects look like and had you had experience working with brands before? Or was it like, "All right, I have a skillset, but I kind of got to figure this out on the fly too."? Gretta Cohn:So it was Walmart, Spotify and TED I think were the three sort of major clients at the very beginning. I hadn't worked directly with brands. I understood working with other media institutions. I understood working with hosts. I also understood developing new shows because that's what my team did at Midroll, Stitcher, Earwolf. Before I left, an entire year of just coming up with ideas and piloting them and throwing them at the wall and kind of running them through PNLs and doing all of that. And so I understood all of that. So we have worked directly with brands, but with Walmart, it was running through an advertising agency full of really great creative people and so we were interfacing more with them. And I think that I learned through them a little bit more about how to work with a client like Walmart. Gretta Cohn:But I think also that everyone we were working with at that time was also trying to figure it out for themselves in a brand new way. So we've now been working with TED for over three and a half years, but at the time the show that we developed with them, WorkLife with Adam Grant, I think was their first sort of step into the sort of slate of podcasts that they have now. They had TED talks daily. It was sort of concurrently like I know what the steps to take and the people that I am making these podcasts for don't, they've never done it. And so I think I learned a lot in those first few projects about how to deliver, how to communicate what we're doing clearly. But it's not like I hadn't already done that before. Like I had the skills, it's just was like refining them and putting them into this really particular box. Chris Erwin:Yeah, just a little bit of a different application. Makes sense. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, exactly. Chris Erwin:When we were talking about having to build a development team at Midroll and Earwolf that you said that you had like a unique sense of how to identify good people. So then you start building your own team at Transmitter and it seems that you've built a pretty special team there. So what was your, like when you think about, if I need great people to make Transmitter a success, what type of people were you looking for and what has like your culture become at your company? Gretta Cohn:I love my team so much. I agree. I agree I think they're really special. I think independent thinkers, people who have a really unique creative spark, people who surprise me. Right. I think that what I learned in doing all this interviews at Midroll was like, I prepare a lot for interviews, kind of much like you prepared for this. I would do deep dives. I would listen to a lot of work from the people who were coming into... had applied for the roles. I also like over the years, there are certain producers who I'll just kind of keep in touch with, or follow their work and be excited by their work and hope that one day they might like to come work at Transmitter. And so I also am really keen on people who have a collaborative spirit. So an independent thinker who's down to collaborate, who doesn't necessarily need to put their fingerprints all over everything and it's like cool if their fingerprints kind of merge with other people's fingerprints and we've got this really sort of group dynamic where we're really, everyone is contributing towards something. Gretta Cohn:And people own projects, people own stories, people own episodes, but ultimately, I think that we have a very collaborative team environment. And we're also a group of people who like to celebrate our successes, even like the teeniest tiniest ones. And so we spend a lot of time like talking about the things that go well and I think that creates a lot of pride in work. And I'm interested in working with people who have that same sense of craft as I do. It's not necessarily about perfection, but it's about doing really good work, making something sound as good as it can possibly be. We have an episode that on Monday I got an email about, saying, "This is in its final edit. I'm not looking for any big edit changes. I'm only looking for a notes on music." And I listened to it and I was like, "Ah." Chris Erwin:Is this from a client? Gretta Cohn:"How did they get editorial note?" Chris Erwin:Yeah, was this a client email or internal? Gretta Cohn:No, it's internal. I have a big editorial note and here's why, and I know that you thought you were almost done, but it's going to be so much better because of this. And typically as a group, we come to that agreement very quickly that it's going to be better and our goal is to make work that sounds very, very good. Chris Erwin:I think that's how you build a great company and also become successful and are fulfilled in that. Like yesterday's win or yesterday's excellence is today's baseline and you just keep upping the threshold. My team calls me out for doing that all the time, but I always say, "Yeah, I hired you guys because men and women, you're incredible and I'm going to hold you big." And that makes for a fun work environment. And it's all in our mutual best interests. So I like hearing you say that Gretta and you just talked about celebrating wins often. What is like a recent win that you guys celebrated, big or small? Gretta Cohn:I mean, earlier today we recorded an interview where the host was in a studio in DC, our guests was in her home under a blanket fort in New Jersey. We had a little bit of a technical mishap before it started. One of the newer producers on our team was managing that. And I know that that could have been a situation where she got so stressed out that she could have been paralyzed by the overwhelming sort of urgency of overcoming this technical mishap, but she was calm and she kept us informed of what she was doing and she figured it out and the interview started late and it went long, but that was fine. And you got to give someone a thumbs up for that. Like that was hard and you figured it out. Gretta Cohn:And another recent win is we are about to launch season two of our podcast, Rebel Eaters Club and we have a promotions team working for us this time, we're making new artwork and we've got the episodes of the season in production. It's just exciting for me when all the pieces start to come together and we're like a month away from launch and it's not done and it will get done. But right now it's just this like ball of energy and that feels very exciting. Chris Erwin:This is your first owned and operated podcast where- Gretta Cohn:Yes. Chris Erwin:... your business has helped create audio stories for a variety of different brands and marketers and publishers and now you're investing in your own IP, which is really exciting. And so what is the general concept of Rebel Eaters Club for people who want to check it out? Gretta Cohn:Rebel Eaters Club is a podcast about breaking up with diet culture. Chris Erwin:Ooh. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Our host is, her name is Virgie Tovar, and she's sort of one of the leading voices on breaking up with diet culture because it's extremely harmful. It is a huge industry. It's a debilitating thing that is, fat discrimination is something that's like not very often discussed, but such a huge sort of point of discrimination in our culture. And I have learned so much from this podcast, it's funny, it's a weird,

In The Middle Of Somewhere Episode 1: In the Middle of Protest Music with Dr. Rosenthal In this episode, I sit down with Doctor Rob Rosenthal from Wesleyan University as we dive into the topic of political music. We take a look at artists throughout history who have used their platform as a means of expressing […]

Rob Rosenthal is CRO at Bloomreach, an AI-driven platform that helps companies grow online revenue by creating, personalizing, and scaling premium commerce experiences. In this episode, Rob and Jeremey talk about how and why organizations should move from point solution selling to platform selling. Learn about solving big picture problems vs. singular issues, the need for sales specialization, what it takes to land multi-million dollar deals, and more. Visit SalesLoft.com for show notes and insights from this episode.

In this episode, we tell you a bit about why we do what we do! We are excited to bring you this rebroadcast from an interview with our host, Selly Thiam, on the podcast HowSound. HowSound tells the backstory to great audio storytelling, and in this episode, Rob Rosenthal interviews Selly and does a deep-dive into some of our favorite episodes. We'll also give you an update on season three! Set your calendars for more stories from Queer Africa. AfroQueer Podcast is produced by None on Record at AQ Studios and Edited on Hindenburg Systems. This episode was produced by HowSound, Selly Thiam, Maeve Frances, and Aida Holly- Nambi. Sound editing by Tevin Sudi. For more on audio storytelling, you can find all the episodes of HowSound at Transom.org. Engage with us on- Instagram: www.instagram.com/afroqueerpodcast/ Twitter: twitter.com/Afroqueerpod Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCnaXCpXBwxmp44Ch-zqUGFw Website:afroqueerpodcast.com Patreon: www.patreon.com/afroqueerpodcast Listen to AfroQueer Podcast here: Soundcloud:soundcloud.com/afroqueerpodcast/tracks iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/afro…er/id1411257149 Chartable: chartable.com/podcasts/afroqueer Spotify:open.spotify.com/show/6ZHmsTo9TgL…iiQzmt1B3dsw7RRQ

Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. had a complicated relationship with his mother. But after she passed, he traveled across the world to try and make things better. This story comes from Transom.org and was produced by Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. and Jay Allison Additional production by Pat Mesiti-Miller Special thanks to Kadijatu Suma, Haja Suma, Fatima Rahman, Alimamy Conteh, Sheri Rickson, Lynn Levy and Gimlet Media. Thomas King, Brima Thomas, and Jartu Tejan-Thomas. Thanks also to Milo, Mason and Melissa Allison, Viki Merrick, Samantha Broun, Sydney Lewis, Rob Rosenthal, and WCAI and Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole Massachusetts. Season 11 - Episode 7 The beat doesn’t happen without YOU. Support Snap storytelling... stories you won't hear anywhere else.

En NotiPod Hoy Statista actualiza su informe del estado de la industria del podcasting en Estados Unidos: 70% están conscientes de la existencia de los podcasts, 51% han escuchado uno en 2019 y la categoría más popular son los podcasts de música. Según Podtrac, NPR y iHeartRadio dominan la escucha de podcasts en EEUU. Discover Pods concluye, al analizar la evolución de los podcasts, que uno de los cambios ha sido la longitud de los podcasts. El Clarín presenta 5 podcasts argentinos que podrían ayudar a impulsar el crecimiento de medio. Rob Rosenthal, del Taller de Historias de Transom, explica que preguntas hacerse para contar una historia de manera que atrape a la audiencia. HelloCast un servicio que invita a los podcasters a centrarse en su programa, mientras ellos te ayudan a colocar todo en solo lugar. Podsights lanza ‘Open downloads’ (oDL) un código abierto basado en la idea de que los números de descarga de podcasts deben ser consistentes y transparentes. Beneficios de comenzar una red de podcasts. Según un estudio reciente de Coleman Insights, The Joe Rogan Experience lidera la categoría de ‘conciencia del oyente'. La historia detrás de Earios, la primera red de podcasts solo para mujeres. Podcast recomendado: ‘Saliendo del círculo’, un podcast muy personal en el que se presentan historias de personas que un día tomaron la decisión de salir de su zona de confort y tomar un camino diferente al esperado, quizá una aventura que los ayude a redescubrirse. Es un programa que busca motivar a los oyentes para que sigan dando sus propios pasos en función de sus sueños. Es presentado y producido por Molo Cebrián. Más detalles y otros episodios y contenidos sobre Podcasting en ViaPodcast.FM

Adam gets down and dirty with his top 10 podcasts that are either narrative or about narrative. What do our personal tastes tell us about the type of art we create? Also find out about some must listen podcasts! The Butterfly Effect with Jon Ronson Out On The Wire with Jessica Abel 30 for 30 on Bikram Yoga with Julia Lowrie Henderson Dear Franklin Jones with Jonathan HirschHow sound with Rob RosenthalStartup season 1 with Alex BlumbergThe Moth Radio HourRevisionist History (Malcolm Gladwell), This American Life (Ira Glass)The Shadows (Audio fiction from Caitlin Prest) jShort Cuts from the BBC Radio 4 * Study with Joshua at Hollyhock in July! * Don't forget to download the NOYN 2019 Creative Workbook to get your creative goals clear! -------- * Joshua's Guided Meditation for Creativity * Rate us on iTunes!* * Leave a Voicemail for us: 415-735-6095* * Find us on Instagram!* * Join our Facebook Group* * Email us at notesonyournotes@gmail.com* * All Episodes at our website, www.notesonyournotes.com*

Is mealtime with your kids a full-contact sport? Drop in for some coaching from Rob Rosenthal, author of the book Short Order Dad: One Guy's Guide to Making Food Fun and Hassle Free and host of the All You Can Eat podcast. Before becoming a dad, Rob earned a professional cooking degree and he shares his simple 6-word philosophy on feeding your family. Also, his 5 essential kitchen tools, the many faces of avocado toast, and savory oatmeal?? Find Rob at shortorderdad.com

Tune into this fun conversation that is being shared between myself & Rob Rosenthal… I had to tag the chicken, because it is important! Rob Rosenthal is the Short Order Dad, named by his daughters for preparing tasty meals that […]

Greg Warner is one of Rob Rosenthal's favorite radio writers. He deftly put the "broken narrative" to good use in an episode of his NPR podcast "Rough Translation." In fact he's so good at it, you'd have no idea he was using it. What is the broken narrative? You'll have to listen.

Experience Maritime Maine is introducing a new 6-part podcast series, produced by industry legend Rob Rosenthal that will take you on a very unique journey on the Maine coasts of Eastport, Stonington, Searsport, Rockland, Bath, and Portland. The audio stories paint remarkable character portraits of the “women lobstermen” of Stonington, the owners of today’s Windjammers, and the salty fish monger of Portland’s Maine Pier just to name a few. More info www.experiencemaritimemaine.org

Attention new producers! Before heading out into the world with headphones on and mic facing forward, what do you need to know? Here's where you find out. Armed with a multitude of audio examples, Rob Rosenthal discusses story-making preparations - from research and interview planning to thinking in scenes and collecting ambient sound - and shares thoughts on making a go of radio for a living. Recorded at the 2006 Third Coast Conference. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today’s guest is Bryan Orr from Podcast Movement: Sessions. Bryan's podcasting story: Bryan got into podcasting doing a typical interview show around small business. He found he was getting bored listening to his own content. Some guests were great and the application was strong but it wasn’t grabbing attention the way shows like 99% Invisible and This American Life had done. He had a real discontent with what he was producing, so he began Mantastic Voyage with his brother. Now he does more of a narrative style with Podcast Movement: Sessions. It’s not quite storytelling, but synthesis: synthesising information into a story. Define narrative: A narrative is anecdotes, so descriptions of things that happened, plus emotions or moments of reflection. If you take something that is an occurrence and add in elements of reflections or emotion into it, that can become a narrative. Another way to describe a narrative is to raise questions but be much more slow to answer them using occurrences or a sequence of events. In a question based podcast the host would ask a question and the guest would answer it. But in a narrative based podcast you explore the answer, and you find it by weaving through a set of occurrences. The pros and cons: A good reason to have a narrative of any kind is if you are wanting to make an emotional connection. If you have no interest in emotion whatsoever, making an emotional connection or getting people’s emotions to rise and fall, then don’t do a narrative. If all you’re wanting to do is simply express information and have information absorbed, then narrative doesn’t make sense. But Bryan challenges anyone who says that all they’re doing is relaying information because information is absorbed when it’s attached to emotion. If we have no relationship to information given to us then you’ll have a tough time remembering it. But if you can attach information to an emotion, then you’ll remember it. Humans are hard-wired for story. As soon as you hear a story, you’ll listen to it. The only reason to decide not to do it is if you don’t have the time, the discipline or a subject matter that has any emotion whatsoever. If you don’t have any time, if what you’re wanting to do is simply create a content machine and not actually go through and edit and write, then don’t do narrative. Narrative requires a great amount of effort on the front, middle and back end in order to pull it off. It requires a time investment a lot of people don’t have, and for certain niches, it may not be worth it. The steps required: The steps required depends on the type of narrative podcast you’re doing. Some are content-centric. For example, Podcast Movement: Sessions is content centric. Take the content that you already know you want to talk about and find the best story you can from within that. It’s easier than starting from scratch. Fiction podcasts start from scratch and are much more difficult because they centre around really good writing. First, distill one idea, even if it’s a content-centric podcast. Figure out what the one idea is that everything you’re doing is surrounded around. Think about how you want the podcast to sound: intense, mysterious, funny. How do you want it to sound generally speaking? Then start to lay it out on a timeline. What are some pieces you can fit in, and then see the gaps that need effective narration or sound clips to augment it. Bryan's editing process has evolved over time as he has used different programs and learned to be a better podcaster over time. His process is to record the audio and load it into Reaper, which is non-destructive software so you can make changes and go back later not having lost the original take. He will then go through and log the tape using markers, making notes at significant points. Brian uses brown, green or red markers: red says ‘no way to use it’, green says ‘definitely going to use it’ and brown says ‘maybe’. Then, aggressively hack it because it’s non-destructive so he can get it all back later if he wants. He will then assemble the piece with all the narration and extras, then do a final edit where he makes it even tighter, and then he does the scoring which is adding the music. The timeline also helps in the editing. Loosely, you will  know generally the points you want to hit, maybe 6 points. As you log the tape you find the specific things that you want so you fill in the timeline with the specifics, adding more detail until get to a really tight story. Bryan says you can still create a good podcast even if you don’t know where you’re going, but it will take more time. It’s better if you have the general outline of where you want to end up and how you want it to sound before you start. The interviews: In Podcast Movement: Sessions the main topic for each episode is the main speaker. Then Bryan weaves in interviews and discussions with other people as well as his own narrative comments. He works ‘in the tape’ a lot. That means he goes through the tape a lot to find some areas that are really strong, and some areas that are weak. It’s nice to have balance from other voices when you have areas that aren’t so strong, that don’t stand on their own that well. Bryan turns on a recorder when anyone is willing to talk to him. He has a mobile set-up and does a cell phone interview for the secondary voices. The point of these sections is to create some balance so the audio quality can be less than that of the main interview. He emphasizes the need to get a lot of tape. You never know what you’re going to get, sometimes you’ll get great stuff from unexpected places. The ethos of a one-take interview show doesn’t translate into narrative because the whole interview won’t necessarily be strong. The cutting room floor: Bryan uses a list of questions to ask himself to make sure he’s not missing anything in the editing process. Is there an idea of place? Is there emotional balance? Are there ups and downs? In the timeline you can mark this with up arrows and down arrows. Is the story bouncing or falling flat? What are the stakes? What is at stake in the story if the subject if the narrative doesn’t go the way that you hope it goes? Establish that early on. Look at your story and if it happens just like someone expects it to happen then it’s not a good story. It has to have some element of the unexpected to it. Rob Rosenthal of the House Down Podcast says use your best tape first, and Bryan follows this advice. Figure out a way to take some of your most engaging audio and use it early on. It creates draw into the story and interest in the story. It establishes the ‘why you should care’ factor. Be conscious that whatever you end the story on is what you’re leaving people with. It’s ok to leave it unclosed. Good modern storytelling very rarely has grand summation, however it does have something that you want to leave the audience with and they’re very intentional about that. Whatever it is that you’re doing with your narrative, you want to make sure you’re conscious of that. As for out-takes, if it’s good, clip it so you can have it later. If it’s topical and interesting, save it as a clip and maybe you’ll use it later. Transitions: Bryan advises you think of the mood and emotion, make sure the timing is appropriate, give people enough time to digest what just happened and then transition them emotionally into what’s about to happen next. Music is a huge part of that. Ira Glass says This American Life uses ‘plinky’ music. The biggest mistake people make getting into narrative is they just use the wrong music. Music for sound and transitions is not the same kind of music that works if you’re doing an interview podcaster type of intro. Pick music that is very understated and simple and mood appropriate to what’s going on. Usually it’s fairly neutral, even for sad scenes. Tracking is the name for the cutting of those little narrations in between pieces. What works nice is to not only introduce the next thought, but do some of their talking for them so that the narrations aren’t literally just introducing the next idea. Resources: Listen to really great narrative podcasts. The RadioTopia podcasts are great examples of narrative podcasts: 99% Invisible, The Memory Palace, The Illusionists, Kitchen Sisters, Lost and Found Sounds. That will give you a feel for what is good, it helps you obtain good taste. You have to actually enjoy it yourself. If you’re not passionate about stories at all, it won’t work. Listen to podcasts that specifically talk about how to do narrative. How Sound by Rob Rosenthal is the best one around, or Out on the Wire by Jessica Abel. Also look into Alex Bloomberg’s storytelling workshop on Creative Live. Go to the Third Coast Festival in Chicago, where the world’s best audio storytellers go to meet and learn to each other. Transom.org and Airmedia.org are good places to go. Look into Smart Sound, which you can use to create your own music tracks and make them exactly what you want them to be. It’s not cheap but it’s a good resource. The takeaway: Just do it. Do it even if you’re never planning on publishing it. Start with your family, start with the stories you can tell about yourself, and sit in front of the microphone and work on editing it. You can’t read your way into becoming a good storyteller or a good editor. Just get started and you’ll find once you put in some hours you’ll be good. If you’re going to do narrative, you can’t outsource it. You are going to have to learn how to do it all. Bryan strongly suggests getting in and learning every step of how to do it. Cutting your own tape, doing your own logging, learning how to write your narrations, learning how to write your own music. If you want more from Bryan you can find him at PodcastMovement.com    

When nonviolent arrestees can't afford even a low bail, should the bail system be done away with? Plus, an investigation into asbestos exposure in Boston's renovation boom. We check back in with author Colin Woodard to learn why some in the region he calls “Yankeedom” flipped from blue to red in the presidential election. And one woman remembers the 2007  ICE raid in New Bedford, MA. Chris Webber studies for his GED while held on $500 bail at the Valley Street Jail in Manchester, New Hampshire. Photo by Emily Corwin for NHPR. “Now, I Have to Gasp for Breath” On an given day in Manchester’s Valley Street Jail, several dozen people are being held on bail of $1000 or less. Most are charged with low level offenses, and would be back at home if they could pay their bail. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Emily Corwin reports on New Hampshire’s money bail system, a process some courts in other states have abandoned. South of Manchester, all across the greater Boston area, demolition crews are taking down walls, sometimes entire buildings, in one of the biggest construction booms in decades. But there are concerns that this rampant renovation is creating a new wave of workers that are exposed to an old enemy – asbestos. Mike Dennen, a former construction worker, has mesothelioma, a disease linked to asbestos. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR. An investigation by WBUR and The Eye found that while asbestos abatement projects are on the rise, there are big gaps between the mandated safety standards and what’s happening on the ground. Martha Bebinger and Beth Daley report. Just out: a follow up story about allegations of unpaid wages by asbestos removal companies. Rural Yankees Defect When we launched this show about New England, we knew we wanted writer Colin Woodard on our first episode – and we got him).  Woodard is the author of American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. The book imagines eleven distinct “nations” connected not by our current governmental boundaries, but by a common culture. 2016 presidential election results calculated for the 11 cultural nations described by Colin Woodard. Image by Christian MilNeil for the Portland Press Herald. In a recent Portland Press Herald article, Woodard explains the presidential election through the American Nations framework – including why some typically Democratic areas in Yankeedom – like Maine's second district – flipped for Trump this year. We invited him back to the show to learn more. Listen to John’s earlier interview with Colin Woodard for the first episode of NEXT. The Best and Worst a Country Has to Offer Archit Rastogi is studying for his PhD in molecular and cellular biology at UMass Amherst. Photo by Lisa Quinones for the NENC Every year, about 85 thousand overseas students come to study at New England’s Colleges and universities. As New England Public Radio’s Jill Kaufman reports, students and administrators in our region are worried about how the Trump administration’s immigration policies may impact the flow of students into the United States. She found that foreign students are critical when it comes to research in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math. 2017 marks the ten-year anniversary of an immigration raid that shook the town of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Early in the morning on March 6, ICE officers arrested 361 immigrants working illegally in the U.S. at Michael Bianco Inc, a leather goods factory that made gear for the military. The event gained national attention, and fueled debate about immigration and labor rights. The former site of the Michael Bianco factory in New Bedford, Mass. Photo by Victoria Lora for the Transom Story Workshop. Most of those caught in the raid were deported. Independent producer Virginia Lora brings us the story of one woman who was allowed to stay. We're calling her by her middle name, Carolina. To read about how Lora reported this story, visit transom.org. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Emily Corwin, Martha Bebinger, Beth Daley, Jill Kaufman, Virginia Lora Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Special thanks this week to Rob Rosenthal and the Transom Story Workshop! Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, and story leads to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hour, the story of how an event affected one woman, her family and the criminal justice system. A Life Sentence: Victims, Offenders, Justice and My Mother by Samantha Broun and Jay Allison for Atlantic Public Media and Transom.org In 1994, Sam Broun's mother, Jeremy Brown, was the victim of a violent crime. She was 55 years old and living alone. A stranger came into her backyard, attacked her from behind and five hours later, he left her lying on her bed — hands and feet bound with tape. Alive. She survived. This is a story of how the system failed and how that crime launched and destroyed political careers. It's also a story about family — both the victims and the assailants — and how thousands of prisoners' hopes for a second chance were lost. This piece was made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts with special thanks to Thanks to Rob Rosenthal, Melissa Allison, Sydney Lewis, Viki Merrick, public radio station WCAI and Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Transom Story Workshop student Sally Helm talks with Rob Rosenthal about learning the value of being skeptical and pushing back during interviews. Also featured in this episode, her excellent story about the 1977 Martha's Vineyard secession movement.

Our stories are our babies, but not all babies are cute. This week, we figure out just how far we've still got to go when we take a finished draft of our own show and subject it to the cold scrutiny of an edit by Robert Smith and Jess Jiang of Planet Money. Our baby was kinda messed up, but he's much prettier now.  Also: learn what makes Ira Glass mad, find out how editing is like biofeedback, and hear how Rob Rosenthal of the Transom Story Workshop and the HowSound podcast trains the next generation of expert producers and editors. 

Our stories are our babies, but not all babies are cute. This week, we figure out just how far we’ve still got to go when we take a finished draft of our own show and subject it to the cold scrutiny of an edit by Robert Smith and Jess Jiang of Planet Money. Our baby was kinda messed up, but he’s much prettier now.  Also: learn what makes Ira Glass mad, find out how editing is like biofeedback, and hear how Rob Rosenthal of the Transom Story Workshop and the HowSound podcast trains the next generation of expert producers and editors. 

Rob Rosenthal, Lead Instructor Rob Rosenthal …one of the things I love most about my job as lead instructor [is] I have no idea what’s going to happen. From day-to-day, from workshop to workshop… every class is different. The stories are different. Even the style of storytelling is different… Read more. TSW: Class of Fall 2015 “No Flush, No Fuss” by Devika Bakshi Devika Bakshi Follow the good tape. Like a besotted stalker. Like you followed Teju Cole on Twitter. With utter devotion. Read more and listen. “Good Intentions: A Story of Cross-Racial Adoption” by Brenna Daldorph Brenna Daldorph Someone once told me that if you are comfortable during discussions about race, then nothing important is actually being said. I held that close to heart as I worked on this piece… Read more and listen. “An Act Relative To Sex Offenders” by Ciara Gillan Ciara Gillan You’re prepped from the outset that your story may not unfold the way you thought it would. But sometimes, at that very last minute, your story can grab you by the ears and spin you right upside down. Read more and listen. “More Than A Game” by Jimmy Gutierrez Jimmy Gutierrez It took me a long, long, long time before I understood the ingredients to make this story work. In the editing process I relied heavily on all eight classmates, along with Rob and Catie. Read more and listen. “Ears Underwater” by Bethel Habte Bethel Habte …go out and drink beers with scientists. More generally, always be on the hunt for stories. Read more and listen. “Trigger Warning” by Jacqui Helbert Jacqui Helbert It was extremely difficult to share so much about myself and make myself vulnerable while working on the piece. But both Paige and I are happy with the end result and hope that our story will help someone who has suffered at the hands of a family member. Read more and listen. “Secession’s the Answer” by Sally Helm Sally Helm On my way to gather tape at the karaoke bar, I wondered if I was crazy to think that this might work. At first it was awkward to record people on their night out. By the end of the night, though, I’d started to enjoy the rush that comes from talking to strangers and going out on a limb. Read more and listen. “Driving In Circles” by Martine Powers Martine Powers Coming from the world of print journalism, I always believed in the adage, “Everyone needs an editor.” Here’s what I learned at Transom: Everyone needs eight editors. Or nine. Or ten. Read more and listen.

Rob Rosenthal, Lead Instructor Rob Rosenthal …one of the things I love most about my job as lead instructor [is] I have no idea what’s going to happen. From day-to-day, from workshop to workshop… every class is different. The stories are different. Even the style of storytelling is different… Read more. TSW: Class of Fall 2015 “No Flush, No Fuss” by Devika Bakshi Devika Bakshi Follow the good tape. Like a besotted stalker. Like you followed Teju Cole on Twitter. With utter devotion. Read more and listen. “Good Intentions: A Story of Cross-Racial Adoption” by Brenna Daldorph Brenna Daldorph Someone once told me that if you are comfortable during discussions about race, then nothing important is actually being said. I held that close to heart as I worked on this piece… Read more and listen. “An Act Relative To Sex Offenders” by Ciara Gillan Ciara Gillan You’re prepped from the outset that your story may not unfold the way you thought it would. But sometimes, at that very last minute, your story can grab you by the ears and spin you right upside down. Read more and listen. “More Than A Game” by Jimmy Gutierrez Jimmy Gutierrez It took me a long, long, long time before I understood the ingredients to make this story work. In the editing process I relied heavily on all eight classmates, along with Rob and Catie. Read more and listen. “Ears Underwater” by Bethel Habte Bethel Habte …go out and drink beers with scientists. More generally, always be on the hunt for stories. Read more and listen. “Trigger Warning” by Jacqui Helbert Jacqui Helbert It was extremely difficult to share so much about myself and make myself vulnerable while working on the piece. But both Paige and I are happy with the end result and hope that our story will help someone who has suffered at the hands of a family member. Read more and listen. “Secession’s the Answer” by Sally Helm Sally Helm On my way to gather tape at the karaoke bar, I wondered if I was crazy to think that this might work. At first it was awkward to record people on their night out. By the end of the night, though, I’d started to enjoy the rush that comes from talking to strangers and going out on a limb. Read more and listen. “Driving In Circles” by Martine Powers Martine Powers Coming from the world of print journalism, I always believed in the adage, “Everyone needs an editor.” Here’s what I learned at Transom: Everyone needs eight editors. Or nine. Or ten. Read more and listen.

Rob Rosenthal combs through Ira Glass's piece "Dead Animal Man" minute by minute pointing out all of its radio goodness.

Neenah Ellis talks with Rob Rosenthal about her series "One Hundred Years of Stories" and she shares some of her tips for first-person stories.

In this episode of HowSound, Rob Rosenthal talks with producer Karen Brown about her piece, "The Path to Primary Care: Who Will Be the Next Generation of Frontline Doctors." A local piece with national appeal.

On this edition of HowSound, Alex Chadwick and Rob Rosenthal trade tips on writing for radio that new producers will find invaluable.

This week on HowSound, Rob Rosenthal shares one of his favorite pieces of all time, "Concerning Breakfast" produced by Annie Cheney and Jay Allison for the series, “Life Stories,” (Associate Producer, Christina Egloff).

Anna Sale, the host of the podcast "Death, Sex and Money" talks with Rob Rosenthal in front of a live audience about the art of interviewing and getting people to talk about difficult things.

Rob Rosenthal talks with producer Bradley Campbell about "barf drafts." A technique for producing radio stories that Bradley swears by. Especially when he's on a tight deadline.

The podcast, “Criminal” has enjoyed a big jump in popularity. Rob Rosenthal talks with “Criminal’s” host Phoebe Judge about growth—how good press and partnership helps, how doing good work helps, and the “Serial” effect.

About Southern Flight 242 When I was seven years old, my father died in a commercial plane crash. It’s a fact I grew up knowing and something I never wanted to look into, until now. After I decided to make a radio story about the crash, I often wondered if it was the best choice as my first big project as a new radio producer. It took far longer than I ever expected, in part because it was so personal. But I realized that if I couldn’t answer tough personal questions, how could I expect others to do the same? The initial kernel of the story idea came back in 1997 when I stumbled on an article in the New York Times about the 20th anniversary of the Southern Flight 242 accident (my family somehow missed being invited). And then in 2012, fifteen years later, I happened to be in Georgia for a conference that was 70 miles from the crash site. The key event in those intervening years was participating in the Transom Story Workshop. In Woods Hole, I learned much of what I needed to tell the story. I learned even more along the way. Be vulnerable in your interviewing. Researcher Brene Brown argues that vulnerability is vital for true human connection. Looking back on the project, I see now that I connected with my interview subjects out of weakness. In practice, this meant that my interview subjects knew that I was the child of a crash victim. We empathized with each other. Faith Thomas, the stranger I met in the airport, was scheduled to fly on the same delayed flight; we were equally powerless. Connecting with her was as simple as shaking my head and asking if she’d heard a recent update. Knowing about the power of vulnerability makes me wonder how I’d approach other interview subjects in the future. I’ve heard that oft-told story about Studs Terkel fiddling with his recording equipment and asking his interview subjects for help. Also useful, things like asking interview subjects for directions or advice on where to park even though those could be Googled. It also helps to be introduced by someone. I was fortunate to connect with Cherry Waddell of the New Hope Memorial Flight 242 Committee who was integral to my meeting with survivors and family members. Get the best sound for the type of story. I used an Audiotechnica 8010 omnidirectional mic throughout (mostly I paired it with a Sony PCM M-10 but I also had a Zoom H4N as backup). This was important for this project, since I knew that I’d need to be part of it and I also wanted to get location sounds. Unlike non-narrated radio stories where the interviewer needs to become a mime, I loosened up on reacting to the interview subjects and often pointed the mic at myself. It’s still funny to hear my reactions like affirming mmm’s and incomplete sentences. But that’s what happened! I tried to record interviews in quiet spaces but there were still noisy toddlers and determined dishwashers that wouldn’t be silent. In the end, I think all those extraneous sounds help tell the story. Recording on airplanes was a challenge, especially with flight attendants enforcing the no-electronics-during-takeoff rule, but I still managed to secretly record. I had a great foundation on this issue (and lots more) from my radio guru Rob Rosenthal at the Transom Story Workshop. Gordon and Will Coley Listen to yourself tell the story. I once heard

About Southern Flight 242 When I was seven years old, my father died in a commercial plane crash. It’s a fact I grew up knowing and something I never wanted to look into, until now. After I decided to make a radio story about the crash, I often wondered if it was the best choice as my first big project as a new radio producer. It took far longer than I ever expected, in part because it was so personal. But I realized that if I couldn’t answer tough personal questions, how could I expect others to do the same? The initial kernel of the story idea came back in 1997 when I stumbled on an article in the New York Times about the 20th anniversary of the Southern Flight 242 accident (my family somehow missed being invited). And then in 2012, fifteen years later, I happened to be in Georgia for a conference that was 70 miles from the crash site. The key event in those intervening years was participating in the Transom Story Workshop. In Woods Hole, I learned much of what I needed to tell the story. I learned even more along the way. Be vulnerable in your interviewing. Researcher Brene Brown argues that vulnerability is vital for true human connection. Looking back on the project, I see now that I connected with my interview subjects out of weakness. In practice, this meant that my interview subjects knew that I was the child of a crash victim. We empathized with each other. Faith Thomas, the stranger I met in the airport, was scheduled to fly on the same delayed flight; we were equally powerless. Connecting with her was as simple as shaking my head and asking if she’d heard a recent update. Knowing about the power of vulnerability makes me wonder how I’d approach other interview subjects in the future. I’ve heard that oft-told story about Studs Terkel fiddling with his recording equipment and asking his interview subjects for help. Also useful, things like asking interview subjects for directions or advice on where to park even though those could be Googled. It also helps to be introduced by someone. I was fortunate to connect with Cherry Waddell of the New Hope Memorial Flight 242 Committee who was integral to my meeting with survivors and family members. Get the best sound for the type of story. I used an Audiotechnica 8010 omnidirectional mic throughout (mostly I paired it with a Sony PCM M-10 but I also had a Zoom H4N as backup). This was important for this project, since I knew that I’d need to be part of it and I also wanted to get location sounds. Unlike non-narrated radio stories where the interviewer needs to become a mime, I loosened up on reacting to the interview subjects and often pointed the mic at myself. It’s still funny to hear my reactions like affirming mmm’s and incomplete sentences. But that’s what happened! I tried to record interviews in quiet spaces but there were still noisy toddlers and determined dishwashers that wouldn’t be silent. In the end, I think all those extraneous sounds help tell the story. Recording on airplanes was a challenge, especially with flight attendants enforcing the no-electronics-during-takeoff rule, but I still managed to secretly record. I had a great foundation on this issue (and lots more) from my radio guru Rob Rosenthal at the Transom Story Workshop. Gordon and Will Coley Listen to yourself tell the story. I once heard

“Diary of a Bad Year: A War Correspondent’s Dilemma” on PRX About Diary of a Bad Year: A War Correspondent’s Dilemma This project was born in the place where so many good ideas come to life — Woods Hole. I was visiting Jay and the Transom Story Workshop to talk about making radio. Like good reporters, Jay and Melissa Allison, Viki Merrick, Samantha Broun, Sydney Lewis, and Rob Rosenthal asked me a lot of tough questions. As I answered, I realized the tables had been turned on me, that by confronting me with the curiosity I usually apply to the people I interview, they were getting me to say and realize things I didn’t even know were true. I had deep concerns about my job, but I never would have examined them this fully had it not been for the welcoming, open, supportive, loving hearts in Woods Hole — and, later, for conversations I had with my dear friend, the great radio producer, Sean Cole. At one point I remember writing an email to Jay that said something like, “If I really go through with this project, I will end up quitting my job.” We’ll see about that. What I do know is that making this story has totally altered the way I look at what I and most of my friends do for a living. It has made me more aware and ultimately more safe in the field. It was hard, it was personal, but I think it was worth it. What I learned One of the biggest lessons for me was that it’s all about perspective. It’s one thing to talk about this stuff casually with friends (and with yourself), but it’s another thing to really dig deep and try to prosecute the ideas, especially when it’s your own life that’s on the stand. Doing this kind of work is hard, and it takes time. When Jay and I started this back in 2011, he suggested I record diaries as I went along. No expectations — just record what comes to mind as it’s happening. It sounds easy, but for me it was hard. Just that simple act of stepping back, removing myself from the moment, was a struggle. Some of the diaries were unusable, mainly because I wasn’t able to step back far enough, or because they were just too sad. Here’s diary I recorded at like 3:00 a.m., in Yemen, the week that Anthony Shadid (the award-winning journalist for the The New York Times) died. I had just heard that another member of the tribe, Marie Colvin (the award-winning journalist for the British paper The Sunday Times), died. Listening back to this clip, it’s clear I didn’t have much perspective. I talk about how I’m NOT a war correspondent like Marie and others, and yet only a few months later, I was basically embedded with Syrian rebels. Months after that I was at the front line. Also, I talk about how Marie’s stories had some bearing on the international community’s policy in Syria, clearly because that’s what I wanted to believe. It’s only now that I can painfully admit her stories had little impact. The killing in Homs, the place where she was reporting when she died, continued after her death. More than one year later, it continues today. Still, keeping a diary was really, really cool. So cool that I still do it, as a matter of course. One great help is that I can do it on my iPhone. I just tap Hindenburg and start talking. That way if I’m in public, I don’t look like a crazy cat lady — I look like I’m talking on the phone. At the risk of repeating myself, I have to say that I think the key here was knowing that someone would be *listening* to these diaries, that someone actually cared to know what I had to say.

“Diary of a Bad Year: A War Correspondent’s Dilemma” on PRX About Diary of a Bad Year: A War Correspondent’s Dilemma This project was born in the place where so many good ideas come to life — Woods Hole. I was visiting Jay and the Transom Story Workshop to talk about making radio. Like good reporters, Jay and Melissa Allison, Viki Merrick, Samantha Broun, Sydney Lewis, and Rob Rosenthal asked me a lot of tough questions. As I answered, I realized the tables had been turned on me, that by confronting me with the curiosity I usually apply to the people I interview, they were getting me to say and realize things I didn’t even know were true. I had deep concerns about my job, but I never would have examined them this fully had it not been for the welcoming, open, supportive, loving hearts in Woods Hole — and, later, for conversations I had with my dear friend, the great radio producer, Sean Cole. At one point I remember writing an email to Jay that said something like, “If I really go through with this project, I will end up quitting my job.” We’ll see about that. What I do know is that making this story has totally altered the way I look at what I and most of my friends do for a living. It has made me more aware and ultimately more safe in the field. It was hard, it was personal, but I think it was worth it. What I learned One of the biggest lessons for me was that it’s all about perspective. It’s one thing to talk about this stuff casually with friends (and with yourself), but it’s another thing to really dig deep and try to prosecute the ideas, especially when it’s your own life that’s on the stand. Doing this kind of work is hard, and it takes time. When Jay and I started this back in 2011, he suggested I record diaries as I went along. No expectations — just record what comes to mind as it’s happening. It sounds easy, but for me it was hard. Just that simple act of stepping back, removing myself from the moment, was a struggle. Some of the diaries were unusable, mainly because I wasn’t able to step back far enough, or because they were just too sad. Here’s diary I recorded at like 3:00 a.m., in Yemen, the week that Anthony Shadid (the award-winning journalist for the The New York Times) died. I had just heard that another member of the tribe, Marie Colvin (the award-winning journalist for the British paper The Sunday Times), died. Listening back to this clip, it’s clear I didn’t have much perspective. I talk about how I’m NOT a war correspondent like Marie and others, and yet only a few months later, I was basically embedded with Syrian rebels. Months after that I was at the front line. Also, I talk about how Marie’s stories had some bearing on the international community’s policy in Syria, clearly because that’s what I wanted to believe. It’s only now that I can painfully admit her stories had little impact. The killing in Homs, the place where she was reporting when she died, continued after her death. More than one year later, it continues today. Still, keeping a diary was really, really cool. So cool that I still do it, as a matter of course. One great help is that I can do it on my iPhone. I just tap Hindenburg and start talking. That way if I’m in public, I don’t look like a crazy cat lady — I look like I’m talking on the phone. At the risk of repeating myself, I have to say that I think the key here was knowing that someone would be *listening* to these diaries, that someone actually cared to know what I had to say.

“After The Forgetting” on PRX About After The Forgetting This story started in my living room. I was teaching a youth radio class for the Vermont Folklife Center, and Greg Sharrow, my colleague and friend from the Folklife Center had agreed to a marathon interview with three high schools kids. I’d given the kids a few choice details about Greg’s life—of which there are many—and they’d each prepared some questions. Greg is perfect for anyone’s first interview. He’s completely open. He’ll answer anything. And he speaks in complete sentences. One of the kids had elected to talk with Greg about his mother who has dementia. It was a phenomenal interview. The kid dropped out of the youth radio project and I fell in love with the tape and decided to start working on a story about Greg and his mother. I knew Marj. I’d met her at parties and eaten dinner with her at Greg and Bob’s. I’d sat in the backseat a few times when Greg drove her back to her assisted living place. I remember her exclaiming about the lights driving past Wendy’s, ‘Look at all that RED!’ Greg and I both did recordings at the dinner table, which was no easy proposition in a house with sixteen fish tanks and a cockatiel. Still, some nice stuff came of it. I started to think I’d frame the whole story around a single dinner. I spent a lot of hours making a cutlery track, which I thought I might run under the whole show…so when you were listening to an interview segment with Greg, for instance, you could still hear the dinner conversation in the background, and Greg would fade out and we’d come back to the conversation at dinner. Sort of like Glen Gould’s Idea of North. In the end it didn’t work. I didn’t have enough well-recorded dinner conversation to do it, and there wasn’t enough momentum in the story. I had to ditch the idea, and the cutlery track. Still, the dinner conversation is threaded through the story, and it starts and ends at the dinner table. My favorite audio segments came from the interviews that Greg did with his mother on the couch at his house. They are the most relaxed and intimate; Marj’s mind is at its clearest, and some of the best non sequiturs happen in these conversations. ‘What would you like to do? Would you like to go on and on?’ I edited these sections pretty heavily and slowed them down a lot. I wanted it to feel like they were floating above the rest of the story somehow. When the story was about an hour long, I sent it to SALT Institute’s Rob Rosenthal who had agreed to mentor me on this project as part of the AIR mentorship program. I had read about this mentoring program on the AIR website and jumped at the chance. Essentially, AIR offers its members four hours of advice time with a radio producer. I work alone and I don’t have any associates in radio. It was incredible to be able to talk with someone about this story at that uncomfortable stage of production when you’re wondering, ‘What is this? And who cares?’ Rob was incredible. He listened to the show and did two thorough paper edits, and his criticism helped me take a giant step back from the story and look at it fresh. He made excellent structural suggestions and I remember he pushed me hard to look for conflict. He was left wondering what was at stake for these people. I remember really studying the end of the show then, and noticing that it felt saccharin and bloated. In that initial version, Greg went on and on about all that his mother has taught him about being alive. At a certain time I really loved that tape. What he was saying seemed important and true. But I was also made uncomfortable by it somehow. It felt like a song that only I liked and that I was probably going to get sick of. So I went back and interviewed Greg again. I remember we had kind of a snippy interview. I was really pushing him to tell me where the cracks we...

“After The Forgetting” on PRX About After The Forgetting This story started in my living room. I was teaching a youth radio class for the Vermont Folklife Center, and Greg Sharrow, my colleague and friend from the Folklife Center had agreed to a marathon interview with three high schools kids. I’d given the kids a few choice details about Greg’s life—of which there are many—and they’d each prepared some questions. Greg is perfect for anyone’s first interview. He’s completely open. He’ll answer anything. And he speaks in complete sentences. One of the kids had elected to talk with Greg about his mother who has dementia. It was a phenomenal interview. The kid dropped out of the youth radio project and I fell in love with the tape and decided to start working on a story about Greg and his mother. I knew Marj. I’d met her at parties and eaten dinner with her at Greg and Bob’s. I’d sat in the backseat a few times when Greg drove her back to her assisted living place. I remember her exclaiming about the lights driving past Wendy’s, ‘Look at all that RED!’ Greg and I both did recordings at the dinner table, which was no easy proposition in a house with sixteen fish tanks and a cockatiel. Still, some nice stuff came of it. I started to think I’d frame the whole story around a single dinner. I spent a lot of hours making a cutlery track, which I thought I might run under the whole show…so when you were listening to an interview segment with Greg, for instance, you could still hear the dinner conversation in the background, and Greg would fade out and we’d come back to the conversation at dinner. Sort of like Glen Gould’s Idea of North. In the end it didn’t work. I didn’t have enough well-recorded dinner conversation to do it, and there wasn’t enough momentum in the story. I had to ditch the idea, and the cutlery track. Still, the dinner conversation is threaded through the story, and it starts and ends at the dinner table. My favorite audio segments came from the interviews that Greg did with his mother on the couch at his house. They are the most relaxed and intimate; Marj’s mind is at its clearest, and some of the best non sequiturs happen in these conversations. ‘What would you like to do? Would you like to go on and on?’ I edited these sections pretty heavily and slowed them down a lot. I wanted it to feel like they were floating above the rest of the story somehow. When the story was about an hour long, I sent it to SALT Institute’s Rob Rosenthal who had agreed to mentor me on this project as part of the AIR mentorship program. I had read about this mentoring program on the AIR website and jumped at the chance. Essentially, AIR offers its members four hours of advice time with a radio producer. I work alone and I don’t have any associates in radio. It was incredible to be able to talk with someone about this story at that uncomfortable stage of production when you’re wondering, ‘What is this? And who cares?’ Rob was incredible. He listened to the show and did two thorough paper edits, and his criticism helped me take a giant step back from the story and look at it fresh. He made excellent structural suggestions and I remember he pushed me hard to look for conflict. He was left wondering what was at stake for these people. I remember really studying the end of the show then, and noticing that it felt saccharin and bloated. In that initial version, Greg went on and on about all that his mother has taught him about being alive. At a certain time I really loved that tape. What he was saying seemed important and true. But I was also made uncomfortable by it somehow. It felt like a song that only I liked and that I was probably going to get sick of. So I went back and interviewed Greg again. I remember we had kind of a snippy interview. I was really pushing him to tell me where the cracks we...