Transmissions
Remembering Stonewall
David Isay (US 1989)
David Isay (US 1989)
29 min
On Friday, June 27, 1969, eight officers from the public morals section of the first division New York City Police Department pulled up in front of the Stonewall Inn, one of the city’s largest and most popular gay bars.
At the time, the vice squad routinely raided gay bars. Patrons always complied with the police, frightened by the prospect of being identified in the newspaper. But this particular Friday night was different. It sparked a revolution, and a hidden subculture was transformed into a vibrant political movement. What began with a drag queen clobbering her arresting officer soon escalated into a full-fledged riot, and modern gay activism was born.
This documentary, broadcast on the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, is the first documentary — in any medium — about the riots. It weaves together the perspectives of the participants, from Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine, who marshaled the raid, to Sylvia Rivera, one of the drag queens who battled most fiercely that night. The revolutionary impact of the riot is better understood by looking at life for gay men and lesbians in the era before Stonewall, seen through the eyes of people like Bruce Merrow and Geanne Harwood, a gay couple who have been together for 60 years, and Jheri Faire, an 80-year-old lesbian. Remembering Stonewall also examines how Stonewall affected gay politics through the voices of people like Randy Wicker, the first openly gay person to appear on television and radio; Joan Nestle, founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives; and yippie leader Jim Fouratt, who helped found the Gay Liberation Front on the third night of the Stonewall Riots.
This documentary comes from Sound Portraits Productions created by Dave Isay in 1994. Sound Portraits was the predecessor to StoryCorps and was dedicated to telling stories that brought neglected American voices to a national audience. This was David Isay’s first radio documentary.
Producer - David Isay
Narrator -Michael Schirker
Night Walking - A Call from Terry
Bianca Giaever ( 2023)
Bianca Giaever (US 2023)
29 min Episode 1 of 4
Constellation Prize, the podcast from The Believer magazine, talks to subjects about their existential problems—how art, God, and loneliness fit in their lives. Nightwalking, is a four-part mini series featuring the poet Terry Tempest Williams.
Bianca receives a call from a famous writer, Terry Tempest Williams, who suggests they do a project together. They plan to embark on a ritual—taking walks at night, and writing each other daily letters. Terry promises that this will bring them closer to God. Bianca has doubts.
Hosted and produced by Bianca Giaever
Blasstal #1: Moots
Lucy Dearlove and Katie Callin (UK 2022)
Lucy Dearlove and Katie Callin (UK 2022)
38 min Episode 1 of 3
In episode 1 of Blasstal, Katie introduces Lucy to the vegetable at the heart of Hop-tu-Naa traditions of the Isle of Man. They explore the island's folklore with poet and folklore expert Annie Kissack, attend a Hop-tu-Naa celebration at Cregneash, carve their own moots, and finally head out Hop-tu-Naa-ing around Peel. Everything you never knew about Moots or turnips and the traditions connected to this underrated root vegetable.
Hosted and produced by Lucy Dearlove and Katie Callin
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Nobody Dies Here: Everyone is welcome, not everyone is welcome
Michelle Ransom-Hughes (AU 2023)
Michelle Ransom-Hughes (AU 2023)
29 min Episode 1 of 8
A beautifully produced audio portrait of the Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR) trial in North Richmond, Australia with health workers and people who inject drugs. In the entry zone, staff walk the fine line between extending a warm, non-judgemental welcome to all and adhering to licensing regulations. People from every walk of life present here to access the room.
Producer/ Writer/ Editor/ Sound Design/ Mix - Michelle Ransom-Hughes
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Radio Armed Response
Claudia Wegener (ZA 2007)
Produced by Claudia Wegener (ZA 2007)
60 min
South Africa based artist Claudia Wegener from Radio Continental Drift walks the streets of two suburban communities in Johannesburg S.A. In door to door interviews, at times through intercom systems and across gates, she asks questions related to public safety and a privatised security system. The result is a radio artwork mixed from what the artist likes to call dramatic field recordings. In surprisingly intimate, often humorous conversations, narratives of a complex urban patchwork of communities unfold before your ‘very eyes’. Yet what unravels, far beyond ‘issues of security’, social and urban divisions are shared concerns, questions, stories and visions about living together.
Producer: Claudia Wegener
The original half hour audio piece from 2005 is reframed in recent footage for London’s art radio station Resonance104.4fm
Recommended by Paris based sound artist Dinahbird
Running the Goat
Chris Brookes (CA 2005)
Chris Brookes (CA 2005)
25 min
On July 2, 1992 the once-gigantic Newfoundland cod fishery was shut down. Twelve years later, 70,000 people had left, and coastal communities were struggling to survive. The blow to the culture was as dramatic as the economic effect, but how do you measure cultural change? Perhaps with a centuries-old Nfld “set dance”.
Celebrating the life and works of the late Chis Brookes.
Produced by Chris Brookes - Battery Radio
First broadcast by Radio Netherlands April 24, 2005
AWARDS: Third Coast Festival 2005. Grand Prix Marulic 2006
Bodies - Touch
Allison Behringer US 2023)
Allison Behringer (US 2023)
27min Episode 31 of 31
A vending machine ritual, a life-changing massage, a spiffy velvet outfit and a belly full of caterpillars. Bodies returns with four stories of touch.
Each episode of this documentary series begins with a medical mystery. Sometimes the sickness is in the body, and sometimes the sickness is in the system.
Hosted by Allison Behringer
Produced by Allison Behringer, Lila Hassan, Hannah Harris Green
Composer and Sound Designer Hannis Brown
Every Voice: The Magic Flute: From Morehouse … to the opera house with Monostatos
David Norville + Terrance McKnight (US 2023)
David Norville + Terrance McKnight (US 2023)
22min Episode 1 of 5
Every Voice spotlights the vibrant stories and perspectives that reflect the whole of the American musical experience. There are many different kinds of classical music, depending on where you are in the world. While this music typically preserves the traditions of a given society, classical music in America remains wedded to its Western European roots. This show explores why — and what America’s classical music really sounds like. Through interviews, historical investigation, and personal storytelling, Terrance McKnight unearths the hidden voices that have been shaping our musical traditions all along. This debut season examines the representation of Blackness in opera. While character flaws are universal, stereotypes often fall along racial lines. We look at the loneliness, jealousy, self-loathing, and cultural appropriation associated with African characters in 18th and 19th century operas by Mozart and Verdi, introducing the African-American personalities found in the operas of Atlanta-based composer Dr. Sharon Willis.
Hosted by Terrance McKnight
Produced by David Norville
Contributing Strategic Advisor Tony Phillips
Dwelling: Squats, protest and Olive Morris
Marnie Woodmeade (UK 2023)
Marnie Woodmeade (UK 2023)
30min Episode 1 of 5
As the housing crisis deepens, home is becoming increasingly difficult to find. Join host Marnie Woodmeade as we speak to the people seeking alternatives. From abandoned buildings to lost rivers, they redefine what a home can be. But as restrictions on alternative lifestyles tighten, how can they protect their sanctuaries, sites of resistance and dwelling?
Squats have been demonised by the media, but how have empty buildings supported the feminist, environmental and black power movement?
Hosted and produced by: Marnie Woodmeade
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Discarded: Addicted to Convenience
Gloria Riviera, Alie Kilts, (US 2023)
Gloria Riviera and Alie Kilts (US 2023)
42 min Episode 1 of 4
The invention of plastic changed the way we live — and now we’re hooked. The journey starts in Louisiana, where plastic is born, to New Jersey, where plastic goes to die… or live again. This episode explores greenwashing, wish-cycling, and our collective culpability as we try to understand how we became so reliant on plastic — despite knowing its harm to the earth and the communities closely impacted.
This is the story of a modern-day Erin Brockovich, set on the Mississippi River in an area known as “Cancer Alley.” Her name is Sharon Lavigne, her community is St. James Parish in Louisiana, and her fight is to keep out one of the largest plastic manufacturing companies in the world. In this investigative four-part series, hosted by Emmy award-winning journalist Gloria Riviera, we discover how our plastic world came to be. Because plastic is everywhere – it has advanced our world, but it has damaged our environment and our health. So what do we do? We look at what’s next for all of us, and how we can learn from communities like St. James to make a difference in our own backyards.
This series is presented in partnership with Only One, the action platform for the planet.
A Lemonada Media original
Hosted by Gloria Riviera
Produced by Alie Kilts