“Finding Miles” took over a year to record and produce. In the crush of daily journalism on the radio, it’s rare to hear a story unwind over time. Sarah Reynolds writes, “I first knew Miles as Megan back in college. When he decided to transition from female to male, he gave me a call. He was slowly coming out to his friends as transgender — testing them, really — to see who he could still count on. The radio producer in me kicked in and I thought, this is quite a story about to unravel. I pitched him the idea and he agreed to do it: we would document his transition for radio.” This brave and intimate diary illuminates gender transition in an immediate way—from the mundane practical considerations to the fundamental identity transformation. Take some time to follow this path with Megan toward Miles. And talk to Sarah about her producing challenges, like editing a voice which steadily deepens over time from testosterone treatment.

For the sixth year running, Transom is blogging the Deep Wireless Festival in Toronto. If your ears are bored, this would be a good way to change that. The line-up is intriguing and so are our bloggers: Jennifer Brandel (who makes radio and video stories and runs the international free-form women’s workout class “Dance Dance Party Party”) and Andrea Silenzi (who is a multi-media reporter and produces the show “Seven Second Delay” for WFMU Radio, which sometimes involves booking puppets.) Here’s what they promise: “We will be traveling together from Chicago to report on the international aural celebration that is Deep Wireless for Transom. The festival includes limitless listening for curious ears – including transmission art, audio installations and radio broadcasts from artists on both sides of the border. You can expect an enthusiastic mix of high to lowbrow reporting on everything from memorable moments of artistic profundity to what the tastemakers in the field are actually tasting. Yes, there will be extensive lunch coverage at this year’s festival, as well as US Weekly-style dishing on what your favorite radio makers are wearing and what gear they keep in their backpacks. Jennifer and Andrea will be looking stylish at this year’s festival with their digital SLR cameras, flash recorders and a wee flip camera ready to make some blogging magic.”

We have had some lively discussion at Transom lately. Our latest downloadable issue of the Transom Review includes Gregory Whitehead’s Manifesto and the pursuant challenging conversation about the art of radio. I urge you to read it all. But you might begin at the end with Gregory’s final quote here and then circle back to the beginning.

For the past ten years, Transom has sought out and tested the best tools for audio journalists and producers. We’ve reviewed venerable, hardy cassette recorders and the latest, tiniest digital machines. A new category is emerging: audio editing and transmitting via cell phone. Jeff Towne has the latest on two amazing little apps for the iPhone: Monle from American Public Media, and Hindenburg Mobile from Nsaka. Jeff says, “It started as an Apple marketing slogan, then morphed into a pop-culture cliché: There’s an App for that. The idea that you can do pretty much anything on an iPhone has become an overused joke, but as we covered in a previous column, with the addition of some hardware, the iPhone can indeed become a viable field recorder, capturing good-sounding audio to its internal memory. Now, with the release of some new, affordable apps, it’s even possible to edit that audio directly on the iPhone, and to use its WIFI or 3G connections to send that edited audio to remote FTP sites, back to a host computer, or even as an email attachment.” Complete with screen shots, audio samples, and Jeff’s careful testing.