Watching Ira Glass and Jad Abumrad discuss audio storytelling got me thinking about the craft a lot. I would say it boils down mostly to what Jad said, which is, in my own words, that radio is about a relationship between the storyteller and the audience, and the listener is building the world of the storyteller in his mind, becoming more defined and real with each description and event. Ira focused more on the reporting-style radio and his assessment of himself 8-years into his craft shows how difficult it can be to master that form of communication. I think all artists have the phase he discussed, where their work doesn’t live up to their tastes.

I listened to Space from Radiolab. My initial reaction is how fitting the music is to the interviews he is doing. I chose this story because the description mentioned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, a man I greatly admire. The story of the golden record is a truly touching one, I wasn’t aware of its presence on Voyager II, I’ve seen the Pioneer plaque, but did not know we had sent an audio recording on later missions. Just got to the Neil deGrasse Tyson interview and boy do I feel small, “we are a speck, on a speck, on a speck, on a speck.” I also enjoyed the discussion of the $10 million space prize. I agree that private enterprise is probably the best avenue for future space exploration. The entire broadcast was inter-woven with sound effects, music and previously recorded interviews, it was really effective and I really enjoyed it.

Listening to ds106 radio was a cool experience, I listened Sunday afternoon and caught some tunes and @cogdog talking to @scottlo. @scottlo was talking about the celebrations in the streets outside his apartment, I guess its a big holiday over in Saudi Arabia. Roving bands of kids in automobiles honking horns and waving flags and cardboard cutouts of the King. There was also some good advise on building a radio show. @cogdog left a “hint” that he’d like our radio shows to be more like “This American Life;” more “story” radio rather than “talk radio,” as many students have done in the past. There were 4 peak listeners while I was listening.

grooving to @cogdog on #ds106 radio

— Shawn Gillis (@shawn_gillis) September 23, 2012

@cogdog @scottlo listening in

— Shawn Gillis (@shawn_gillis) September 23, 2012

@cogdog @scottlo sounds like a dream job

— Shawn Gillis (@shawn_gillis) September 23, 2012

My Radio assignments for this week are both summarized in their individual posts, my radio bumper here, and my sound effects story here. I’ve embedded both below for convenience.

TDC254: “Today’s theme is ’3′. Make a photograph that features the number itself or otherwise represents 3 items.”

Very rarely does something like these balls ever have a practical use or application. Today however, their existence has meaning.

TDC257: “Today is Miniature Golf Day. Make a drawing that celebrates the seriousness of this sport.”

I wouldn’t blame you for not knowing, but NASCAR’s slogan is “everything else is just a game.” Now, I know what you must be thinking about me, but I don’t actually watch it. Honest. I must be in the target demographic though, they’re always advertising on my radio station of choice. I am also quite accomplished at putt-putt.

TDC259: “Create an image of unlikely company mergers, and the weird products that might result.”

Let’s say you are toasting an english muffin and you go to watch a little television. In your distracted state, you forget all about your english muffin. It pops up, warm and fully cooked, but you didn’t hear and by the time you remember your english muffin is too cold to adequately melt your butter spread. Oh the humanity. But wait! What if your favorite song played when the english muffin was done? Imagine all the heartache and misery you’d be saved.

I think audio is my preferred method of creativity, I’ve always felt more comfortable with it. I have to admit I procrastinated more than I have in weeks past, my workload in other courses peaked this week, so I had to put off some ds106 work until the weekend. I liked some of the daily creates this week, they were more “hands-on.”