I don't care how much good tape you have. I don't care if the scoring and mixing are superlative. I don't care if the narrator is a solid storyteller. If a story lacks strong writing, the story will fall flat. Great writing is essential. On this episode of Sound School, the brilliant writing in the podcast Noble.
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17:22
Revisiting: My Kingdom for Some Structure
You've got all the good tape you need. Now what? How do you structure the story? Bradley Campbell has a few suggestions. He sketched them -- on cocktail napkins!
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21:46
Champions of Old Radio
Take a short walk into deep radio history. Julia Barton and Sarah Montague join Rob to talk about two audio storytelling classics from the 1930s: "Seems Like Radio Is Here to Stay," an homage to radio by Norman Corwin, and the anti-fascist play "The Fall of the City," by Archibald MacLiesh. Old school radio at its best!
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26:11
Beware the Chicken Bomb
The best way -- sometimes the *only* way -- to describe an element in a story that is disruptive and distracting for listeners is this: chicken bomb. This year, 2025, is the 20th anniversary of "chicken bomb" entering the lexicon of audio storytelling. What exactly is it? With help from Ira Glass, we'll explain.
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13:15
Amen, Chenjerai (Bonus Episode)
In this bonus episode, Rob takes his conversation with Chenjerai Kumanyika one step further. He digs in a bit more to the big question from the last episode: Who is the "you" telling this story now?"
Colombia