In an episode from 2014, host Rob Rosenthal talks with editor Viki Merrick about her method of helping producer Will Coley reach emotional depths in his first-person documentary “Southern Flight 242: Bringing My Father Home.” A rare behind-the-scenes look into the delicate dance between an editor and a producer. Click here for more.  […..]

Part one of a new manifesto at Transom,  is from Ariana Martinez, multimedia artist, sound designer, and radio documentarian, who is on a mission to slow us down. This summer, she tweeted a statement:  “…the demand for stories [to] be constantly, maximally engaging, full of surprises, twists/turns etc. ensures that certain kinds of stories don’t[…..]

Transom is celebrating the first anniversary of Alice Wilder’s popular Starting Out newsletter, which is a helpful resource and a terrific addition to the world of audio. In this edition, a conversation with Code Switch host B.A. Parker, about jumping into audio from an entirely different field, and her identity as a “gentle host.”  […..]

A new SHOW on Transom is from poet, teacher, and musician B. J. Wilson. His lyric essay, created after the death of a friend, is a compelling read. In sharing the words in audio, they reach us in a way that insists we feel their intimate, raw power. Wilson also describes  his state of mind[…..]

Transom welcomes back producer/sound designer extraordinaire Brendan Baker. In a new essay, Brendan dives deeply into the evolving word of spatial audio, delineating concepts, specifics, its best uses in radio and podcasting, and more. Click here for more.    

Producer Andrew Leland’s recent story for Radiolab had challenge upon challenge. He was reporting on travel in space, specifically on how people with disabilities responded to zero gravity, and he went along for the test drives. Andrew dealt with the difficulties of nausea and recording in zero gravity.  Also, Andrew’s losing his vision. In a[…..]

In the new issue of Starting Out, Alice Wilder talks with novelist, audio producer, podcast creator, and teacher Daniel Alarcón about the power of imagination ­­–– from re-envisioning your surroundings, to finding your professional path, to creating anew the audio industry. Click here for more.

This American Life producer Ben Calhoun was working on a story centering on racial issues, and struggling with including mention of his own mixed race heritage. In a new HowSound, Ben talks with host Rob Rosenthal about the way he wrestled with this delicate writing task. Click here for more.   ~~~~~~~~ Produced in collaboration[…..]

  Australian producer Mike Ladd wrote this inspiring primer on the craft of audio storytelling for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation a few months ago, and Transom is pleased to be able to share it. Along with its brass-tacks, how-to suggestions and lots of audio links to sample, Mike champions a sensibility that’s getting harder to[…..]

The 10th issue of Starting Out, Alice Wilder’s monthly feature for audio industry newbies, is now on Transom. Alice’s interview with members of the union organizing committee that worked to create a union at Gimlet offers a good story and much useful thought on organizing workers in any field. Click here for so much more.[…..]

In a new installment of Sound School’s occasional episodes offering darts and laurels for exceptional and not-so-exceptional work, host Rob Rosenthal  offers only laurels. This time, exactly two. Click here for more. ~~~~~~~~~~ Produced in collaboration with PRX, The Sound School Podcast delves into the ins-and-outs of audio storytelling. The show features conversations about everything from[…..]

Robert Krulwich has been a beacon for so many of those in Transom’s sphere, an expander of our understanding of what radio can do and be as an artform, an inspiring creator and lover of what happens inside the ear. Although retired, in a new manifesto at Transom, he continues to explore the medium that[…..]

Every radio journalist knows the rule: don’t share scripts with sources. For more than twenty years, Laurel Morales obediently followed the rule. Laurel now produces the podcast 2 Lives and she’s left that rule behind. She explains why on a new episode of HowSound. Click here for more. ~~~~~~~~ Produced in collaboration with the Public[…..]

  HowSound’s new episode features sisters talking about talking with sisters, though not the kind you’re related to. In a valuable conversation about helping shy or reluctant-to-speak interviewees open up, Erika Lantz and Elin Lantz Lesser talk about the many months they spent interviewing former nuns in Mother Teresa’s order for the series The Turning:[…..]

Field Recording requires a slightly different mindset from, say, recording an interview in a studio. Sound School’s new episode features a conversation with field recordist Melissa Pons, who talks about humility in nature, and more fully connecting to the landscape you’re in… before you press record. Click here for more. ~~~~~~~~ Produced in collaboration with[…..]

  Transom is featuring an intimate share from former soldier, current storyteller, Elliott Woods. At one time, he  served as an Army combat engineer in Iraq. Seven years later, working as a journalist, Woods embedded with a squad of 12 Marines in Afghanistan, one of whom didn’t survive. A decade passed, and he decided to[…..]

In the world of journalism, some stories are evergreen, and so are some questions. Fifteen years ago, when Andrea Silenzi was starting out, she reported a story about a woman dying of ALS. It was a difficult story to report and she regularly wondered “Who am I to be here?” Host Rob Rosenthal, revisits that[…..]

The 9th episode of Starting Out, Alice Wilder’s monthly feature for newcomers to the world of audio, offers an insightf-filled interview with Rebeca Ibarra, the host and producer of Insider’s The Refresh. Click here for more.  

Producer Hillary Frank is a journalist, podcaster, and novelist. She’s called upon all of those talents in creating Here Lies Me, a fictional podcast that delves into the complications of life as a pre-teen in this country. HowSound host Rob Rosenthal deems it one of the best of last year. In this episode he talks[…..]

Over at Transom, when exciting new work comes in “over the transom” it is a pleasure to feature and share word of it. Recently Abby Wambaugh submitted her first produced audio work, a “thoughtscape,” as she describes it. Along with the piece, Transom features her excellent notes on the process she undertook to move words[…..]