This not only sounds like an NPR news magazine piece--it literally IS an NPR news magazine piece. It aired on Morning Edition this past August. Given that I don't know if it is really appropriate (and legal) for it to be licensed here. As a showcase piece, it is an interesting and unusual story but there are very few meaty chunks to it.
I'm trying to do at least one review everyday, or PRX won't really be very useful (if stations don't get opinions on what works).
I'm finding out as I'm reviewing these pieces that almost all are really good in the existing boundaries of public radio. This one would be great on any public radio show, toss it in the middle of Morning Edition. Maybe it could be expanded a bit to spend a little more time on Indian culture and their dead. That could lend a unique perspective to the topic... a eulogy about how death is handled in India. Cool.
This is a lovely elegy. It has all of those desired elements that make a perfect commentary: traces of irony, a narrative arc, it is sweet but not sentimental. And like all good radio for a moment it transports you elsewhere.
Comments for Letter from the Dead
Produced by Sandip Roy/New California Media
Other pieces by Holly Kernan
Rating Summary
3 comments
Eric Nuzum
Posted on June 30, 2004 at 02:16 AM | Permalink
Review of Letter from the Dead
This not only sounds like an NPR news magazine piece--it literally IS an NPR news magazine piece. It aired on Morning Edition this past August. Given that I don't know if it is really appropriate (and legal) for it to be licensed here. As a showcase piece, it is an interesting and unusual story but there are very few meaty chunks to it.
Hans Anderson
Posted on November 10, 2003 at 08:05 AM | Permalink
Review of Letter from the Dead
I'm finding out as I'm reviewing these pieces that almost all are really good in the existing boundaries of public radio. This one would be great on any public radio show, toss it in the middle of Morning Edition. Maybe it could be expanded a bit to spend a little more time on Indian culture and their dead. That could lend a unique perspective to the topic... a eulogy about how death is handled in India. Cool.
Chelsea Merz
Posted on September 10, 2003 at 09:31 AM | Permalink
Review of Letter from the Dead
This is a lovely elegy. It has all of those desired elements that make a perfect commentary: traces of irony, a narrative arc, it is sweet but not sentimental. And like all good radio for a moment it transports you elsewhere.