The Art of the Audio Essay
PWR 2 Winter Quarter 2006
Jonah G. Willihnganz
Stanford Univeristy

Submissions

Below are examples of the submissions policies of major public radio programs. In each case click the program name for more information. For another listing of submission guidlines and links, go to Air Media's pitch page. Almost all of the web sites that showcase audio listed in Web Resources have pages that describe their submission policies, so check those for more examples. Also,check with your public radio stations in your own home town to see what kind of independently produced audio pieces they consider for broadcast. To see what a major distributor of radio pieces is showcasing to stations, see The Public Radio Exchange.

As I have said in class, listen to several pieces produced by a program to get a good sense of whether or not your own piece is likely to be considered seriously by that program.

Transom.org is an experiment in channeling new work and voices to public radio through the Internet, and for discussing that work, and encouraging more. We've designed Transom.org as a performance space, an open editorial session, an audition stage, a library, and a hangout. Our purpose is to create a worthy Internet site and make public radio better.

Performance Space - Obvious enough. People submit work to be featured on the site. We choose the work we like best. Audiences drop by to listen to it.
Open Editorial Session - Special Guests are invited to comment on the work. Bulletin Boards encourage conversations between them, the producers, and everyone else.
Audition Stage - Work appearing on Transom.org will be auditioned by representatives of radio programs and networks here and abroad. They are scouting for talent, new work and ideas. We have agreements with most of these programs to support Transom.org by mentioning it on the air. If you're interested in getting on the radio, a good way to do it would be to create your best possible thing, and have it chosen to be showcased here.
A Library - Besides the audio work which we'll be archiving, we're offering other resources and links for people interested in radio production. Check the "Tools" section.
A Hangout - The bulletin boards give you a chance to chat with other producers, contribute your ideas, make suggestions for the site, ask questions....hang out.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for great radio -- things that are less heard, different angles, new voices, new ways of telling, and any other good pieces that haven't found another way onto public radio. Editors evaluate material more by what it does than what it is. Some questions they'll consider:
• On the air, would it keep you by your radio until it's over?
• Is the maker someone of talent who should be encouraged?
• Does it push at the boundary of conventional radio in an exciting way?
• Will it provoke fruitful discussion online?

Submissions can be stories, essays, home recordings, sound portraits, interviews, found sound, non-fiction pieces, audio art, whatever, as long as it's good listening. Material may be submitted by anyone, anywhere -- by citizens with stories to tell, by radio producers trying new styles, by writers and artists wanting to experiment with radio. As long as it hasn't already aired nationally, we'll consider it.

How to Send Your Work

First, read our simple Submission Agreement. You need to agree to its terms. We can't accept submissions unless you do.
Our favorite option is a URL. Give us a web address where we can audition your work. For those of you who want to learn how to put your audio on the web, here is a step-by-step Real Audio Primer.

The more venerable option is by mail. Send your work on cassette, DAT, mini-disk, reel-to-reel, CD, cassette, etc. (Caveat: we will NOT be able to return your submission unless you include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with full postage.)
Yet another option is to call our voice mail line and tell us your story or story idea there. Tell us everything we need to know in your message. We can't promise any kind of response, because we really focus on things we can HEAR at this site. We need an email address from you. We mean it. We're an Internet thing. Email is how we work.

Mail To:
Transom.org/Atlantic Public Media
P.O. Box 445
3 Water Street
Woods Hole, MA 02543

The Process
We receive your submission and our editorial team listens to it, sometimes asking our advisors and Special Guests to help. They decide what work gets on the site. Simple.

Before you get started... We highly recommend the "Tools" section on Transom.org; there, you'll find a wealth of material to get you started, especially if you're new to radio. We also strongly suggest you follow-up by reading former intern and now-contributor Hillary Frank's essay, "How to Get on This American Life." This American Life broadcasts fiction and non-fiction, monologues and documentaries. If something has appeared in print or on the radio elsewhere, it can still appear on This American Life. We also commission original reporting and original fiction. We broadcast poetry, but that's rare. We also do an occasional radio drama, but if anything, that's even rarer. We find that it's hard to do poetry or drama on the radio without sounding corny.

What makes the show different from most other programs on public radio is that the stories we broadcast tend to have a very strong narrative. These are stories about a character or characters who are thrown into situations that shed light on something larger. The stories are constructed as a series of scenes or anecdotes (unlike most radio reporting). Often the characters change over the course of the story. Sometimes the entire story involves a writer or reporter (or character) going into situations to try to figure out the answer to some question.

An illustration of how This American Life is different from other radio shows:

During the 1996 Presidential elections, All Things Considered did many reports on the disagreements within the Republican party. These were standard news stories: we heard quotes from moderate and right wingers of various types. Experts weighed in. This American Life broadcast Dan Savage's first person account of how he--a life-long Democrat--decided that the best way to combat the extreme right wing of the Republican Party would be to join the Republican Party himself. His story detailed scene after scene of what happened at Party meetings in Seattle. The scenes were funny, surprising, and took us deep inside a world most of us know only in the most superficial way. Dan is gay, and a number of moderate Republicans pulled him aside to tell him that homophobia and intolerance are just gimmicks the Party uses to mobilize the rank and file, but that really, deep down, the Republican Party has nothing against homosexuals. So Dan started introducing gay rights resolutions. These were voted down by huge margins. In contrast to the All Things Considered news accounts, Dan's story was a drama, a narrative of one person who goes on a quest. There was a natural conflict: gay liberal among the conservatives. It shed light on much larger themes: the direction of the Republican Party, the way Party members see themselves and their political involvement.

The material we most often reject is writing that lacks a narrative. A lot of it is good, vivid writing, but without a real story to it. Often it's recollections about some person the writer knew, or some time in their own lives. Often there are interesting anecdotes, but without any driving question, or real conflict. There's nothing bigger at issue and nothing surprising revealed. In many of these stories, the characters are all the same at the end of the story as they were at the beginning. No one learns anything. No one changes.

The stories that fit most easily into This American Life are accounts of people who had some experience that changed them, or accounts of an incident that illustrated some broader idea. It's best if these are surprising, if they run counter to what we might expect. We also like found texts and tapes: found letters, old recordings from people's attics or from thrift stores. We've done a number of shows with material like this. Again, these work best when the materials tell a story or illustrate some larger theme or idea.

What we are looking for:Work that surprises. Work that's funny. Especially work that's both funny and sad. Writing that works like journalism--even if it's fiction. That is, it describes and documents real things that happen to people. Stories on This American Life are usually six to twelve minutes long, though we've been known to go as long as an hour on one story and as short as a minute and a half. Don't worry much about length. If we like something, we make the time. If we like it and think it should be shorter, we discuss that with you.

If you have a written story or essay or produced documentary or interview, send your material to:
Submissions
This American Life
WBEZ
848 E. Grand Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611We take a horrendously long time to acknowledge and respond to submissions – sometimes up to six months. Please be patient, and don't email the web staff; they are unable to track status.

To submit KQED Perspectives:
If you wish, you may run your ideas past us before writing the script. You may leave a message for the Perspectives editor, Mark Trautwein at 415-553-2108. Please leave a brief message. Or, if you already have a draft, you may FAX it to: Perspectives at: 415-553-2241. You may also email a submittal to mtrautwein@kqed.org. Whether you call, fax or email, we will respond as soon as possible. Be sure to include your name and phone number on all correspondence and on the script itself. All scripts are subject to editing for style and content.