In New York State there’s a community—called Lily Dale—established in 1879 by Spiritualists. Yes, Spiritualists. As a consequence the town is full of mediums. This lovely half-hour doc by Frank Falk was originally made for CBC Canada and went out in a religion slot on The World Service at the crack of dawn this morning (MP3).
And I’ve just noticed that’s two CBC programmes in a row! Pic by Ross G.
Canadian radio. We sometimes do Canadian radio. Here’s a lovely soundscape about Toronto, from CBC’s And The Winner Is… podcast, which features Canadian shows that have won radio awards around the world. I’m linking to the MP3 on the CBC site so if it’s gone away by the time you click to listen, let me know. Here’s what they say on the CBC web site:
Toronto is the city the rest of Canada loves to hate. It’s the largest city in the country. It’s a financial hub and it is, to some, the centre of the universe. But what is Toronto really like? This week on And the Winner Is… we’ll hear an award-winning portrait of the invisible Toronto - from the sounds of the city, to the stories overheard on the subway, to the tales told by the people who live there.
As far as I can tell, this version is a 35-minute edit of the one hour original, presumably trimmed to fit an on-air slot. Pity we couldn’t hear the full length version online though…
Radio 2’s occasional oral history strand is called Don’t Start Me Talking. This one’s about the second world war and it’s a contribution to the BBC’s remembrance season. Don’t expect anything cutting edge, just old people talking about their experience of the war—no narration, no interrogation. The programme starts with Vera Lynne and ends with The Last Post… It’s really good (MP3).
Like I said, Night Waves, with economists. Matthew Sweet rounded up a handful of clever and slightly unorthodox economists to talk about, you know, the economy. Very entertaining and just the kind of clever, spontaneous (and only slightly po-faced) thing you can do quite late in the evening on Radio 3 (MP3).
In a frantic bid to keep up with Steve’s topical posts I thought I’d stick this up - The Russell Brand Episode in Ben Thompson’s magnificent set of interviews and audio for The London Ear. (On Resonance). It’s very good and Mr Brand was caught in a pleasingly un-manic phase. Or seduced into one. Should this whet your appetite, Roo’s recent innovations mean you can sample all the extant London Ear’s merely by clicking here. MP3 here.
If Radio 3’s The Essay had a podcast, I wouldn’t need to keep adding them here. But they’re so good. This week’s theme is “New Generation Thinkers“, a series focussing on new work by young academics, and you should listen to all of them really. Here’s the first one, from Monday: Amira Bennison of Cambridge University discusses Islamic history and globalisation. [MP3]
Look! A US election special. Justin Webb’s contribution to this From Our Own Correspondent (conveniently the first item) is a really gorgeous—and moving—snapshot of pre-election America. Another quite awesome example of the freedom that FOOC offers to otherwise constrained reporters. Really spine-tingling writing (MP3, programme page).
Lovely, slow-paced, contemplative Radio 3 Sunday Feature about Byzantium and its continued influence. Pretty much the exact opposite of the Russell Brand Show in so many ways… What a rich and varied thing the BBC is. Here’s the MP3 and here’s the programme page.
Friend of Speechification Matt Jones suggested this one. A nice half hour presented by Robert Elms, White City native, about one of those glorious temporary fantasy cities, this one built to house the Franco-British exhibition of 1908: a dazzlingly white affair that filled a huge vacant plot between Shepherd’s Bush Green and Wood Lane (where the BBC now stands). Also the reason we now call White City White City. MP3.
The pic is from the White City Stories Archive project for primary schools in Hammersmith and Fulham. And here’s a set of lovely pictures made by children in the project.
Nothing flashy here. No clever sound business or comedy voices. Just interesting explanatory radio - telling you why the dollar arrived as top currency, and why its reign might be over. Good old Analysis. MP3 here.
A blog of Radio 4. Not about Radio 4 but of it. We point to the bits we like, the bits you might have missed, the bits that someone might have sneakily recorded. Other speech radio from around the world will no doubt find its way here too.
Of course, one day this might turn into something else, maybe a new way of curating speech radio, or maybe it won’t.
Your hosts on this not very wild ride are Steve Bowbrick, Russell Davies, Dan Hill, Bobbie Johnson, Roo Reynolds and James Bridle. Drop us a line with your thoughts, unless you wish to complain about continuity announcers and their accents.
You might also enjoy the square-eyed sister site, Watchification.
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