Evento

Joe Richman on the Determined Art of Radio Documentary

Facebook, You Tube and "big data" may serve up new documentary evidence on daily life. But it still takes the hand of a skilled sculptor to cull intimacy and connection from the scattered slices of life along a timeline.

Joe Richman, founder of Radio Diaries, is a master story sculptor--and one of the finest documentary producers around. Join us for an afternoon as he offers a behind-the-scenes peek into his latest work 16 years in the making. We'll find out why audio storytelling, the original broadcast format, is as powerful and popular as ever.

In 1996, Richman helped pioneer the genre of first-person storytelling that has become one of the hallmarks of public radio. He handed a group of teenagers microphones and recorders and asked them to document their own lives, in their own words

The result was Teenage Diaries some of the most personal, moving and memorable stories heard on NPR. In these portraits, we meet Josh who is struggling with Tourette's Syndrome, Juan an immigrant living in poverty in Texas, and Amanda who records her experience of coming out to her catholic parents. "The tape recorder is there for all the surprises and lucky accidents of daily life," Richman says.

This month, Richman and NPR are releasing Teenage Diaries Revisited. Five of the original teens, now in their 30s, shared personal stories once again. Richman will tell us how he edited the project, re-connected with the diarists, and how he chose what new stories to tell. "A lot of life happens in sixteen years," as he says.

He will also discuss previous works including his historical documentaries and the use of the radio diary format to broaden media coverage of social issues, spanning life with AIDS, criminal justice, aging and more.

Joined in conversation by Alex Goldmark, Visiting Assistant Professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and Senior Producer at WNYC New York Public Radio.