Transmissions
Phantom Power: The Sound World of Harriet Tubman
Maya Cunningham + Ravi Krishnaswami (US 2023)
Maya Cunningham + Ravi Krishnaswami (US 2023)
41 min Episode 7 of 7
Ethnomusicologist Maya Cunningham reads “The Sound World of Harriet Tubman.” Maya Cunningham is an activist and jazz singer currently completing a Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in Afro-American studies with a concentration in ethnomusicology
She uses field recordings, historical research, and ethnomusicological research to explore the roles of sound and music, and voice in Tubman’s life and leadership. You’re going to hear about the American Christian revival known as the Second Great Awakening, which stirred both Black and white people from the late 1700s to the mid-1800s. You’ll also hear about the Invisible Church, where enslaved African Americans were able to worship secretly and autonomously and through the singing of folk spirituals, which differed greatly from white religious music at the time, but would go on to influence not only gospel music but pretty much every form of popular music we know today. The sounds and music from today’s show can be heard on Maya’s Spotify playlist
Produced for Phantom Power
Written and narrated by Maya Cunningham
Produced by Ravi Krishnaswami
The True Crime of Your Frozen Death
Ross Sutherland and Cristina Marras (UK/IT 2022)
Ross Sutherland and Cristina Marras (UK/IT 2022)
44 min
A homage to the Giallo film genre, set within the True Crime podcasting scene. What happens when an Italian podcaster becomes the protagonist of their own true-crime podcast? An absurd foray into the genre in Italian.
As Ross says in his intro, you can give it a try without being able to understand a word (if you don’t speak Italian) or you can also get the subtitled version here:
From Imaginary Advice
Story by Ross Sutherland
Translated by Cristina Marras and performed by Cristina Marras
Original music by Jeremy Warmsley
Here Be Monsters: Without Name
Lina Misitzis (US 2013)
Lina Misitzis (US 2013)
30 min
Eugene up and left for California one morning without packing a thing from his apartment in Brooklyn, New York. HBM producer Lina Misitzis and her roommate Adrian got the apartment at a discount. The condition, though, was that they took the place as Eugene left it—full of his left-behind life. For two years they enjoyed Eugene's magazine subscriptions, ate out of his bowls, slept on his old couch and used his designer spices.
Content Note: This episode discusses sex work, drug use and animal abuse.
Produced by: Lina Misitzis
Produced for Here be Monsters
A Fluorescent Feeling: How pain is received
Georgia Mill, Beth Atkinson-Quinton (AUS 2021)
Georgia Mill + Beth Atkinson-Quinton for Broadwave (AUS 2021)
24 min Episode 2 of 3
A Fluorescent Feeling explores pain and our bodies – how we talk about them and live inside them.
Over three million Australians live with chronic pain. Being in pain can be lonely, boring, scary and frustrating. But what if it could also be beautiful, colourful and textural? What if we could share it with others? This audio mini-series introduces you to people with lived experiences of pain, illness and disability. Featuring artists, writers, designers and video journalists,
This episode focuses on gaslighting and patronising behaviour as well as the importance of representation when it comes to chronic pain. You’ll hear from London-based filmmaker and video journalist Jameisha Prescod who is the creator and founder of ‘You Look Okay to Me’ – an online space for chronic illness; and listen to an edited excerpt of I’m Not a Good Girl, a performance by Melbourne-based artist Sam Petersen..
Produced and hosted by: Georgia Mill
Produced by Beth Atkinson-Quinton
Sound design: Michelle Macklem
Understanding Gwyn
Christina Hardinge (UK 2022)
Christina Hardinge (UK 2022)
10 min,
What happens when we reframe our journey with grief as a relationship? 'Understanding Gwyn' is an immersive unscripted story that brings this question to life as Christina Watson recounts her 34 year relationship with 'Gwyn'.
The piece was collaboratively co-created through a series of facilitated workshops and interviews, from which Christina created the character 'Gwyn'; a living, breathing manifestation of her grief.
Inspired by counselling & psychotherapy techniques that ‘bring to life’ adverse experiences through characterisation, adapted by the producer into a device for documentary storytelling.
This piece demonstrates just how powerful naming and anthropomorphising an emotion can be in order to accept it for what it is.
Audio Produced by Christina Hardinge
Co-created by Christina Watson
Music by Noemie Ducimetiere
A Falling Tree Production
The Gospel of Harm Reduction
Haley Paskalides (US 2022)
Haley Paskalides (US 2022)
10min
In this traditional 'NPR' style radio reporting, Haley Paskalides meets Jesse Harvey who created the Church of Safe Injection to give drug users in Maine the resources and support they needed. This story is about how the organisation decided to move forward in the wake of his passing and the women who kept his dream alive.
PLEASE NOTE: This story contains references to substance misuse disorder and sexual abuse. Please take care while listening.
Produced and hosted by: Haley Paskalides
Produced for the Salt Institute
Chop 10
Tarikh Korula (US 2005)
Tarikh Korula (US 2005)
4min
Exploiting the techniques of current commercial radio practice, <em>Chop 10</em> re-mixes a live, dynamic assemblage of commercial radio streams as a commentary on the current state of regulated radio. As "Chop 10" moves from one Arbitron-rated Top Ten radio station in New York City to the next, the hyper "scan" makes it impossible to discern any single station's content, resulting in a jumpy, never-ending parody of commercial radio.
Producer: Tarikh Korula
Creepy Twisted Asians: Covet
Zag Podcasts (MY 2022)
Zag Podcasts (MY 2022)
11 min
Happy wife, happy life? An unassuming husband is disturbed by the growing conflict between his wife and their attractive domestic maid.
The first of 6 spine tingling, unapologetically Malaysian stories adapted from The Big Book of Malaysian Horror Stories. The following anthology series contains diabolical characters, goosebump inducing soundscapes and chilling performances from Malaysia’s creative community.
A Zag Podcasts production
Writers: Terence Toh, Tina Ishak, Chua Kok Yee, Izaddin Syah Yusof, Lai May Senn and Nurul Hafizah Mat Kamil
Producers & Creative Directors: Sumi & Abirami Durai Sound Design: Kael Lim & Michael Smith
Listen to the series
XMTR Radio Hour Ep21 : Samuel Robinson's audio world
Social Broadcasts (UK 2023)
Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2023)
60 min / Episode 21 of 21
This Transmitter Radio Hour is a selection of audio works chosen by sound artist, musician and audio maker Samuel Robinson who joins Lucia in conversation as they discuss what audio works bring him joy, as well as unpacking some of the current podcast tropes, listening in on some heart- felt conversations and joining some dots between Sam’s life in the US and the UK through sound.
Here is his selection:
1. Captain Maurice Seddon - May i explain explain my situation?
In the words of william english “captain maurice seddon was a highly unusual and inventive person who took an uncompromising stance on life”. he was the inventor of heated clothing, and made many media appearances in the 1980’s to promote them.
Seddon recorded his phone calls, this piece is one of 12 from the collection ‘the seddon tapes vol. 1’ put together by his friend William English in 2017 and released on paradigm discs.
2. Emily Naylor - Untitled
This is a piece a friend (Emily) sent me a while ago and recently remembered. Emily made it while doing a radio masters at Goldsmiths.
3. The onion - A very fatal murder (episode 1)
It’s such a clever send up of the true crime ‘genre’ of podcast spawned by the success of serial. it nails it. I listened to this first in 2018 (i think when it came out) and yet despite it feeling so played out then i’ve noticed the production of podcasts with the approach of this podcast is parodying only increase!
4. Everything is alive - Grain of sand (inspector sands clip)
This clip is taken is an interview with a grain of sand called chioke. each episode of EIA (or those i’ve heard) has an intermission of sorts that features a short segment that is tangentially linked to the primary interview. in this episode the link is the ‘inspector sands’ announcement used at train stations to alert staff to a fire without scaring the public.
Hosted by Ian Chillag, produced by Jennifer Mills
Listen to the whole episode
5. Samuel Robinson - Driving to the airport with Larissa
Very few people make me really laugh but Larissa is one of them. in 2021 she gave me a lift to the airport and started talking to the GPS which made me laugh. I wanted to capture the moment, to document our friendship and its dynamic. I started recording on my watch (i think), and a few months later when home I cut it up and paired with a piece of music i’d made at some point.
6. Raw sounds podcast (cultural exchange segment)
In early 2019 I worked with a group of people at raw material’s raw sounds project to develop their creative audio production skills. It was pitched to me as a podcast course, but there’s so many different types of podcasts, and this group had disparate interests and needs. I chose to work to each week support them to develop skills with interviewing, recording, editing, music production, critical thinking, scripting, ideation, etc. we would record what we did each week with the view to edit it together ultimately to create our own podcast. I have a very good friend who worked as a teacher in Sonoma county, California with a group of younger people with varying special needs. i proposed we do a ‘cultural exchange’, in which members of each group would ask and answer each others questions — the results of which i edited together and assembled over a piece of music composed by someone in my group.
Recorded and Edited by Lucia Scazzocchio
Curated by Samuel Robinson
Follow the series
Tales of the Town: The Great Migrations
Delency Parham and Abbas Muntaqim (US 2022)
Delency Parham and Abbas Muntaqim (US 2022)
34min Episode 1 of 12
The first epsiode in a 12 part grassroots series telling over 100 years of Oakland history. There’s over 30 interviews, from elders, ancestors, and peers, that tell the tales of the town. The series starts with the 1st and 2nd Great Migrations that brought Black Southerners in influx to the Bay Area - looking at the circumstances that made these people travel across the country in search of “freedom” and opportunities and the struggles they encountered upon arrival.
Produced and hosted by: Delency Parham and Abbas Muntaqim
Audio Production: Maya Cueva