I found the stories in Radiolab’s “Deception” broadcast really interesting, especially the story of the con-woman Hope.

I spent a lot of time thinking about the style of broadcast that Radiolab used, especially the way they layered sounds and used sound effects in their stories.

For the most part, I find sound effects somewhat effective in radio stories to add to ambiance. But I found myself distracted by the jarring background music sometimes – especially when it was paired with people talking in the background as well. 

There seemed to be a pattern of moving between two or three speakers very quickly, sometimes having them reiterate each other. When coupled with background noise or sound effects, it’s more cacophonous. I thought it was especially distracting with the story of Paul Ekman, which I think is something better told with a visual aide, especially during his description of different expressions. It was really hard to visualize what he was talking about when his discussion was interspersed with the interviewer every other second.

The most effective use of this layering was during the section on pathological liars, when the woman is asked out in the elevator. It gives a sense of claustrophobia, which I think was appropriate for that scene. Other than that, I found their use of sound effects really distracting, especially with some of the more disturbing/erratic sounds they used, like the weird guitar and digital sounds around the 47-minute mark.

I think that Radiolab’s show was well-researched and, content-wise, I really enjoyed it. However, I think that its editing made it harder for me to soak up the information, especially in comparison to the NPR story.