July 11, 2008
NEW CALL-OUT - "Stories of Self"

Transom, in association with Art Outlet and the FLIK International Movie Festival, is seeking multi-media self-portraits to be featured at the festival and on the site. We'll offer honoraria to those we put on Transom. All stories must be non-fiction, under five minutes, and include both audio and visual components. The visual can literally reflect the story, or complement it - your choice. Along with your soundtrack, you can use photo slideshows, cut up old films and videos, animation, footage of locations or related imagery, or even a series of hand drawings. Whatever works for the story. (By the way, Transom is pleased to be working on this project with our original Web Director, Josh Barlow).

Visit this page to get all the details and see a sample. We'll hope to hear from you.

http://transom.org/home.php/?p=84

Drop over any time,

Jay Allison
Atlantic Public Media
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

June 26, 2008
NEW SHOW - How Are You Who You Are?

The Nadeaus were, to most eyes, an ideal family--enlightened, brilliant, prosperous. But then things turned upside down. In a remarkable series of events, Doug and Lynn Nadeau were forced to re-define their identities and confirm the foundation of their love.

Growing up in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Eric Winick knew and admired the Nadeaus, and this portrait of their relationship is his first piece for radio, made with skills he acquired at Transom.

http://transom.org/home.php/?p=65

Drop over any time,

Jay Allison
Atlantic Public Media
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

=============

"Doug Nadeau was running on the beach when he stopped breathing and collapsed. At the hospital, when doctors removed his clothes, they found women’s underwear, and a series of foam pads, fastened to Doug’s hips and chest. How those pads got there, and why Doug died on that beach, is the story of two people: a man who made a choice to be happy, even if that meant isolating himself from family and friends; and a woman who made the choice to be a wife, even as her traditional notions of marriage faded."

--Eric Winick, from "How Are You Who You Are?"

June 9, 2008
NEW GUEST: Jesse Hardman "Lifeline Radio" & NEW REVIEW: Elizabeth Arnold "On Interviewing"

* NEW GUEST - Jesse Hardman "Lifeline Radio"

Jesse Hardman has been to Transom before, premiering his delicate piece about his father's Parkinson's Disease. Lately he's been traveling, setting up radio programs in the developing world. Right now, he's in Sri Lanka, doing... well, this is his short answer: "I drive around in a white Toyota van with four or five Sri Lankan reporters along the perimeter of the war zone here. I am in charge of both training these reporters and helping them produce a weekly newspaper and radio show. In the van we have one Sinhalese Buddhist, one Muslim, one Tamil Hindu, and one Tamil Catholic." Jesse has prepared a remarkable description of what he's doing, how, and why. He has included photos and audio and he's prepared to talk with all of you about making radio under these conditions. Highly recommended.

http://www.transom.org/guests/review/200805_jesse_hardman/


* NEW REVIEW - Elizabeth Arnold "On Interviewing *

Now you can download Elizabeth's frank and useful Manifesto "On Interviewing," along with her dialog with Transom users. Elizabeth talks about interview situations from Alaska to Sri Lanka to Mongolia to Capital Hill. "I don't think being dispassionate necessarily translates into fairness or even objectivity. Often it translates into a boring story where you can actually feel the distance between the reporter and the subject and even more troubling to me, the reporter or host can often sound downright condescending. I hate that!"

http://www.transom.org/guests/review/200804_elizabeth_arnold/


Drop over any time,

Jay Allison
Atlantic Public Media
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

=================

"I am sitting in a climate-controlled boardroom on the 36th floor of Colombo's 'World Trade Towers,' looking out the window at the Indian Ocean. The only boat at sea is a Navy cruiser, patrolling the harbor for rebel attacks, reminding me that there's a war going on. The programming director of an FM Tamil language radio station, is telling me that all of the content produced by my staff of journalists, every last word, must be proofread by him before it goes on the air. It is clear he's a government stooge as he does not even speak the Tamil language, only Sinhala, the dialect of the Buddhist majority. He explains that no politically controversial stories will be allowed on the air, period. The problem is politically controversial in Sri Lanka can be as simple as explaining a food shortage or the usefulness of having a birth certificate. My colleague and I are then told by a radio representative that, 'We can't tell the truth in Sri Lanka.' Welcome to journalism in the developing world."

"I want to invite any questions people might have about media development work. How do you edit in a language you don't speak? How do you work within the limits of government censorship? How do you protect journalists whose lives are at risk? How do you change a culture of media that has lost its way? Those are a few I'm happy to elaborate on, but feel free to ask your own. Fire Away!

-Jesse Hardman more at www.transom.org

May 23, 2008
NEW SPECIAL FEATURE: Deep Wireless Blog 2008

For the third time, we're sending Transom Bloggers to the Radio Without Boundaries Conference at Canada's Deep Wireless Festival. Our correspondent Justin Grotelueschen, web/podcast/audio/video man, has blogged the conference for us before and says it's the most inspiring event of its kind, full of enough art, ideas, and play to occupy both halves of your brain. This year, he'll be accompanied by Nick van der Kolk, self-described as "the main brain behind alt.NPR's Love & Radio, a freelance radio producer, documentarian, and man about town." Check out their reports from the front and ask them what's happening.

http://www.transom.org/blogs/specialfeatures/pages/cat_deep_wireless_2008.php

Drop over any time,

Jay Allison
Atlantic Public Media
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

May 15, 2008
NEW TOOL: Olympus LS-10

TOOLS Editor Jeff Towne has been living and working with another of the new little digital recorders and just added his review to our roster. Like all Jeff's reviews, it approaches the machine from the radio producer's perspective, complete with lots of photos, sound tests, and a comparision chart. The Olympus LS-10, depending on your needs, is pretty close to the mark...and it's cute, especially when it's wearing its little earmuff windscreens.

Check it out:

http://www.transom.org/tools/recording_interviewing/200805_olympus_ls10/

Drop over any time,

Jay Allison
Atlantic Public Media
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

May 5, 2008
NEW GUEST: Elizabeth Arnold

We think of Elizabeth Arnold as intrepid. After all, her reporting has
ranged from the halls of Congress to the world's deepest wilderness. When
we created our recent series, "Stories from the Heart of the Land," we
asked Elizabeth to go, by herself, to the Great Bear Rainforest, Mongolia,
and the North Pole! Like I said, intrepid.

But Elizabeth has a different view. She actually feels insecure about her
work. Which may be what makes it so good. Come read her manifesto "On
Interviewing" which centers on the values of patience and respect. Also,
Elizabeth will be available at Transom to answer your questions.
http://www.transom.org/guests/review/200804_elizabeth_arnold/


Drop over any time,

Jay Allison
Atlantic Public Media
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

==========================

If there's one assignment I hate more than anything in the world it's "man
on the street," "vox," or as one AP radio reporter friend calls it "triple
A....Ask Any Asshole." I hate it simply because I am shy and insecure.
Really.

The idea of walking up to a perfect stranger and asking a question like,
"How did you feel on September 11th?" Or "what do you think about the fact
that farmed salmon has red dye added to it?" I can't do it. It's intrusive,
it's arrogant, it's obnoxious...and worst of all it gives the person a
perfectly legitimate opportunity to tell me what a jerk I am to my face, or
better yet, the once in a lifetime opportunity to snub a reporter with "no
comment."

But I do it.

So, how could someone like me possibly be a poking, prodding, intrusive,
obnoxious, question-asking reporter for more than 20 years, asking any
asshole anything on a daily basis?

In a way I think, my insecurity and shyness has helped. I am forced to dig
down deep, to summon the courage to blurt out my question. It had better be
good, it had better be important, I better not be wasting this person's
time.....okay just hear me out, before you start blogging all over the
place about how lame I am.


....Elizabeth Arnold, continued at www.transom.org