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CommentsTransom.org channels new work and voices to public radio through the Internet, and discusses that work, and encourages more. Transom is a performance space, an open editorial session, an audition stage, a library, and a hangout. Our purpose is to pass the baton of mission and good practice in public media.
We’re looking for great radio — things that are less heard, different angles, new voices, new ways of telling, and any other good pieces that haven’t found another way onto public radio. Editors evaluate material more by what it does than what it is. Some questions they’ll consider:
- On the air, would it keep you by your radio until it’s over?
- Is the maker someone of talent who should be encouraged?
- Does it push at the boundary of conventional radio in an exciting way?
- Will it provoke fruitful discussion online?
Submissions can be stories, essays, home recordings, sound portraits, interviews, found sound, non-fiction pieces, audio art, whatever, as long as it’s good listening. Material may be submitted by anyone, anywhere — by citizens with stories to tell, by radio producers trying new styles, by writers and artists wanting to experiment with radio. As long as it hasn’t already aired nationally, we’ll consider it.
First, read our simple Submission Agreement. You need to agree to its terms. We can’t accept submissions unless you do.
Our favorite option is a URL. Give us a web address where we can audition your work.
The more venerable option is by mail. Send your work on CD. (Caveat: we will NOT be able to return your submission unless you include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with full postage.)
We receive your submission and our editorial team listens to it. They decide what work gets on the site. Simple.
What Happens if Your Work is Not Selected
First, we’re sorry. We know what rejection is like. In fact, to prove it, here…you can listen to a radio piece about rejection. If you have sent us a file or hard audio version, you will receive an email response to your submission within a reasonable period of time, plus, we hope this site will offer other benefits besides the acceptance of your work which will help you with the tools and techniques of radio production. If you haven’t sent us audio, but only an email or voicemail or a letter, we will try to respond, but, honestly, we may not have time. Consider a lack of timely response to be a respectful pass.
What Happens If Your Work *IS* Selected
This happens in one of two ways:
1) Your piece is finished and we take it as is, per the terms in the Acquisition Agreement, to place on the Transom site and for broadcast on a local radio show for Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket on public radio stations WCAI and WNAN, where we live. We might also acquire the work for the Transom Radio Specials, which will involve an extra fee. You retain all other rights to the work. Any further use of the work on other national programs will be between you and those programs, but we expect a credit, so talk to us first and let’s get clear on that. You can take a look at our acceptance agreement which we’re developing as we go. If your work is accepted here, we’re happy to discuss the arrangement. Our goal is to be fair to artists and also help Transom.org succeed.
2) Your piece seems full of promise, but not yet ready for public scrutiny. In cases like this, we may offer to help in various ways… only rarely, though, because we don’t have much money or manpower for this. If this does happen, it will likely have the effect of making the piece a co-production, though, so the agreement will be a modified version of the standard acceptance agreement, written to fairly recognize the collaboration. We’ll talk.
Programs like “All Things Considered,” “Weekend Edition,” and “Morning Edition” and PRI programs like “This American Life” sometimes adopt material from Transom.org that they think would sound good on their programs. They have agreed to mention Transom.org when they do, which will send more potential contributors to the site. We encourage this circle. It’s the point.
Good ideas and helpful advice come from everywhere. We hope our bulletin boards will be such places. In addition to the bulletin board discussion for each piece, we also maintain a “Tools” section with lots of advice. We are especially interested in your postings of lasting value that we can archive on the site. Occasionally, we will award a Transom.org t-shirt to especially helpful users, and/or invite them to become Special Guests.
If you’re a visitor from a radio show or audio site or magazine or some other place that’s interested in acquiring work you find on Transom.org, well, that’s good. Here’s the deal. We can put you directly in touch with the producer of the work. Please note, though, that our agreement with producers requires that Transom.org be mentioned wherever the piece goes from here, so you need to honor that. (Our only other restrictions are on pieces Transom.org co-produces, but we can deal with that on a case-by-case basis.)
We are producers and writers and journalists and we have an inordinate fondness for public radio.
Our “About Us” page has all the names. Here’s the story: briefly… Atlantic Public Media administers Transom.org. APM is a non-profit organization based in Woods Hole, Massachusetts which has as its mission “to serve public broadcasting through training and mentorship, and through support for creative and experimental approaches to program production and distribution.” APM is also the founding group for WCAI & WNAN, a public radio service for Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket under the management of WGBH-Boston. APM is the cofounder of the Public Radio Exchange PRX.org.
The idea for Transom.org came from journalist and devoted public radio listener, Bill McKibben, arising from his wish to hear more interesting and diverse stories on the air. Bill’s idea was championed by Jay Allison, Executive Director of APM, who liked it for the way it brings together the worlds of public radio and online community. Jay has been involved with both since the early days — with NPR since the 1970s and as a host on the WELL and of AIR online conferencing since the 80s.
This project has received funding from the Schumann Center for Democracy, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ford Foundation.
