Phonograph

Overview: On this episode, Rob and Britta explore the audio work of Alex Kotlowitz, a documentariean and writer best known for There Are No Children Here. He's spent years building a quietly stunning body of non-narrated stories for Chicago Public Radio and This American Life. Britta's conversation with Alex is woven into our discussion of his stories about home, money, love, and trauma. Support Phonograph on Patreon Links for this episode: A Trip to the Boundary Waters – The New Yorker Radio Hour Panthers and Palm Trees – Stories of Home, produced with Amy Drozdowska Mothers of Invention – This American Life Episode 298, Getting and Spending An Almost Perfect Guy – Love Stories, produced with Amy Drozdowska In Country, In City – This American Life #484, Doppelgängers Harper High School, Part One – This American Life Episode 487 Harper High School, Part Two – This American Life Episode 488 The Bigness of the Small Story – Alex's 2016 Third Coast talk Amy Drozdowska – the full Stories of Home, Love Stories, and money series archives

On this episode, a break from the usual format. About a year ago, Rob came home from his 30th high school reunion with a story he couldn't stop telling: how he tried to apologize to a woman that reunion whose friendship he'd ended their junior year of high school. To get to the bottom of what the story meant, Rob sat down with a close friend, set up two microphones, and told her the whole thing. Rob and Britta talk about what happened when he did, and why a story might mean something different depending on who's listening when you tell it. Support Phonograph on Patreon Links for this episode: Alissa Duryee's music Cheri Johnson's writing Julie Censullo's podcasts Music from Blue Dot Sessions

Overview: On this episode, Rob and Britta dig into the career of editor and writer Julia Barton, whose incredibly varied career has spanned the golden era of public radio, an experimental podcast recorded while doing the dishes, and an executive editing role at Pushkin Industries. Along the way she's traced the hidden architecture of radio—where it came from and what it costs the people who work inside it.  Support Phonograph on Patreon Links for this episode: RadioWright — Julia's Website Continuous Wave — Julia's Newsletter Weekend America — A Life Changing Letter DTFD: The Podcast — Julia Barton Unsung Icons of Soviet Design — 99% Invisible The Broadcast Clock — 99% Invisible Neither Confirm Nor Deny — Radiolab If You Could Do Anything — Anxious Machine The Best Audio Storytelling According to Pushkin — HowSound Music from Blue Dot Sessions

On this episode, Rob and Britta dig into the classic This American Life episode "24 Hours at the Golden Apple," (November 17, 2000) in which a team of producers spent a full day and night at a 24-hour diner on Chicago's north side, trying to interview everyone who was willing to talk. Special guest Joe Richman, founder of Radio Diaries, joins us to talk about the segment he produced for the episode, and what it felt like to revisit that story more than two decades later. Links for this episode: This American Life: 24 Hours at the Golden Apple (Episode 173) Nancy Updike's talk at the Third Coast International Audio Festival: "Die Mediocrity Die" Joe Richman's Radio Diaries Music from Blue Dot Sessions

On this episode, Rob and Britta tell the story of the golden age of podcast advertising — how it started, why it worked, and why it seems to be over. Along the way we tell the story of what happened when Cards Against Humanity partnerned with a very opinionated tech podcaster to create the most entertaining ad campaign in the history of the medium. Guests include Lex Friedman, one of the first people to sell podcast ads, and John Siracusa and Casey Liss, co-hosts of Accidental Tech Podcast. Discussed in this episode: The Wolf Den: Lex Friedman, Midroll's EVP of Sales and Development (Episode 71) Hypercritical: Episode 1 Hypercritical: The Wrong Guy (Episode 42) Hypercritical: Pinching the Harmonica (Episode 49) Hypercritical: Worse and More Diverse (Episode 18) Casey Liss: Siracusa on Toasters Lex Friedman: lexfriedman.com John Siracusa: hypercritical.co Music from Blue Dot Sessions