In the first two parts of Ira Glass’ videos on storytelling through audio broadcasting, he dives into the “building blocks” of anecdotal stories.

In the first video Glass speaks to the first two major parts of storytelling as both the sequence of actions as well as the “reflection” part of storytelling. I found this video and his wording for what storytelling is really resonated with me in that I too often find that the way in which we are told to write is boring, dry, and almost robotic. A “nugget” for me was when Glass said something along the lines of we are always taught to tak a topic sentence or a thesis and build upon it beginning with an introduction and ending with a conclusion, not matter the topics we write on be it a autobiography, a fictional story or a argumentative one. But in actuality it is the manner in which we tell stories and the reflection and inner thoughts of the speaker that keeps the listener interested and typically the most accurate. As an english major I really felt drawn and connected with this video because Glass speaks to humanizing stories instead of standardizing them.

The second part of Glass’ four part series on storytelling, he speaks to finding an interesting story and the difficulty in telling a good story. The “nugget” in this video was when he spoke to wanting to make stories both memorable and special. This could not be more true, I want to say that more that half the reason that we tell stories to people is to get a reaction and share an experience that we felt was so memorable that someone else need also be aware of the moment, story, or situation. Glass goes on to speak of how too often, especially in media, we are given boring situations and stories but it is up to the storyteller or broadcaster to make the story interesting. And it is through this editing, bending, and forming of stories that we become like killers. Killing the story until it becomes something almost entirely different from the stale beginnings from which it was born. I found this especially interesting because for me storytelling has never been about the actual story but rather the light we shine on it and the way in which the speaker (or broadcaster) grows it into something absolutely entertaining.

Now for a more concentrated look on radio and broadcasting I turned to Jad Abumrad’s video on “How Radio Creates Empathy”. Abumrad begins his video speaking to how radio is a interesting form of media in that it solely uses words, no visuals. As a linguist this took special place in my hear but I digress. He goes on to speak of how radio broadcasting is collaborative and how he believes through this magic of collaboration radio will never really die, though it has been declared dead many a time before. Now for me the “nugget” in this video was not the 20 seconds in which Abumrad spoke to empathy, which in my opinion was a very poor choice of wording, but it was the point at which he spoke to radio as a form of co-authorship. THIS WAS A BEAUTIFUL THOUGH! I chose to close my eyes during this entire video because I felt it more impactful, and this was only proven more so when he spoke about the sunset and the foxes belly, what beautiful imagery. Abumrad is right in that when someone describes something to you it is only half of the work it takes for you to invision the image. The other half is the listener taking those words and applying them to their own ideas, experiences, and thoughts to create the image we all get in our minds eye. I really like this video and I would encourage everyone to watch his video on “Why “Gut Churn” is an Essential to the Creative Process”

Jad Abumrad: Why “Gut Churn” Is an Essential Part of the Creative Process from 99U on Vimeo.