The Art of the Audio Essay
PWR 2 Winter Quarter 2008
Jonah G. Willihnganz
Stanford University

Web Resources

On this page you will find links to major web sites that showcase audio essays and to resources that will help you produce your own. You will also find, a bit further down, links to web sites devoted to the history and analysis of radio. This page continues to grow so if you have a link to suggest, let me know.

Research and Sound Resources

Stanford Library Resources for Students in "Art of the Audio Essay"
Be sure to begin here.

Stanford's Archive of Recorded Sound
An array of audio collections, some of which have already been converted to digital format. Sample pieces in the "Bytes" section.

Library of Congress Recorded Sound Reference Center
Begun in 2000, this project of the LOC collects rare and culturally sound. Check out especially the recordings available on line. Also check out the 2002 National Recording Registry, a list of what the LOC has decided are the most important sound monuents to preserve. The list includes recordings of artists, politicians and performers such as T.S. Eliot, Bessie Smith, Franklin Roosevelt, and Elvis Presley.

Library of Congress American Memory Historical Collection for the National Digital Library
A tremendous collection of text, photographs, and recordings. Especially useful if you are interested in researching and documenting the arts (drama, music, dance, etc.). To see what is available begin with "Collection Finder."

Archive.Org
A very large archive of audio and visual material, copyright free, with a good search engine.

Oral History Online
Located at Berkeley, a large collection of oral histories—first-hand accounts and personal perspectives on historical events. Mostly transcripts and texts.

Old Time Radio Web Ring
A list of over 100 web sites devoted to "Old Time Radio" (radio programs and culture from 1920s-1950s)

Public Radio Programs

American RadioWorks
This production company creates documentaries for National Public Radio and Public Radio International. ARW also produces documentaries for online broadcast. Check out the many documentaries they have available on-line. As they ARW creates documentaries, series projects, and investigative reports representing "a sustained effort at explanatory and investigative journalism."

This American Life
They say it best themselves: the program's "mission is to document everyday life in this country. We sometimes think of it as a documentary show for people who normally hate documentaries. . . Each week we choose a theme and invite different writers and performers to contribute items on the theme." Nearly every show they have ever done is available. Explore. Frolic.

Third Coast International Audio Festival
A premier site for feature and documentary audio essays heard on radio and via the internet. Each year Third Coast hosts a competition and a conference. Created and run by WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio.

WNYC's Radio Lab
A great, sonically dense series focusing on questions in science. Be sure to check out this special November 2007 segment about how they produce the show.

WNYC's Radio Rookies
Check out audio essays by folks starting out, just like you. Some great stuff.

Sound Portraits
Sound Portraits is a non-profit production company founded by David Isay "dedicated to telling stories that bring neglected American voices to a national audience." Its radio documentaries are heard on NPR's All Things Considered and Weekend Edition. We will listen to and read scripts from a number of programs (which run anywhere from 5 minutes to a half hour) but check out the others here.

Soundprint
Soundprint is "the aural equivalent of photojournalism." The documentaries they help produce and air feature inventive use of sound. We'll listen to some of the award-winning projects and series they produce but also check out the full archive from 2000-2004. To see the descriptions of the programs listed for each year (the web pages initially just show a list of titles), click the tiny link in the title bar that says "click here for descriptions." Also note that most documentaries have additional materials such as bibliographies.

CBC/Radio-Canada's "Outfront" Program
A showcase of documentaries made by ordinary folks like us. Accepts submissions and pays! See especially the Radio Documentary Tutorial section which contains a number of instructive audio pieces with commentary.

Radio Diaries
Radio Diaries is a program that helps ordinary folks produce oral histories and short memiors for public radio. Their mission is give voice to those typically underrepresented by the media—the elderly, teens, inmates— and "to find extraordinary stories in ordinary places, and preserve these voices for generations to come." Check out especially their Handbook: How to Make Your Own Radio Diary.

Hearing Voices
Their tag line is "Where Journalism Meets John Cage." Innovative and definitely not typical audio documentaries. The latest projects are listed on the first page. We'll listen to and discuss "Prime Candidates" but have listen to the mind-expanding "The Earth Sings" and the funny and disconcerting "Jim Morrison's Grave." The programs devoted to Marshall McLuhan and Buckminster Fuller are also terrific.

Lost and Found Sound
A special year long series of stories "that capture[s] the spirit and sounds of everyday life in this century." Focuses on recordings re-discovered by people from all over the country and documenting America's aural past. Created and produced by the Kitchen Sisters, two of the best known and innovative public radio producers.

The Kitchen Sisters
Some of the best radio there is. They specialize in narrationless documentaries. From their site you can check out their projects, Hidden Kitchens, Lost and Found Sound and The Sonic Memorial Project. To hear audio of the Hidden Kitchens go to this NPR page. Try especially the piece "The Club from Nowhere:Cooking for Civil Rights."

Youth Radio
A terrific program run out of Berkeley that trains high school age students in radio and helps them produce audo commentaries and features. Students' pieces are heard on local stations like KPFA, KQED and KCBS as well as on PRI and NPR programs such as Marketplace. This link will take you to the page that lists on-air archives. Try listening to the perspective pieces produced for KQED. Or try listening to the commentary pieces produced for NPR prgrams like All Things Considered.

Radio and Media History

U. of Minnesota's Media History Project Site
(A terrific site with timelines, histories, summaries, links, etc. on print, electrical, mass, and digital media)

U.C. San Diego History of Technology Links

Think Quest's Evolution of the Mass Media Site