Invisible Ink: Series #1

Series produced by Roman Mars

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Invisible Ink is your radio zine, featuring stories and commentaries from the local, independent and underground press

I get asked this a lot: "So, is Invisible Ink about zines, or is it a zine?" The answer is more of the latter. It's essentially a one-person operation, and it has a very handcrafted feel to me. The majority of the contributors are my indie press heroes, but a good story, is a good story, so "professional" writers and regular people do show up and tell a story or two. I like mixing all those folks up together, and I love it that radio strips away all those visual cues that prejudice us about someone's writing. On the radio you can't tell the quality of the paper, or if the work is bound or stapled, or if it was printed professionally or made at the Kinkos around the corner. Zines and public radio are a natural fit. Zines are publications done for the love of doing them, not to make a profit. Most people involved lose money, and volunteer their time. A good zine and a successful radio story share the same feeling of connection between the author and the audience. I like to think of the show's sound as being zine-like in structure. Sometimes it's straight forward, and sometimes it jumps around with scattered bits of interview strung throughout the half hour, punctuated by shorter stories within. Then sometimes you turn the page and there's a taped down Xeroxed picture of Mr. T for no real reason. Invisible Ink won a 2004 NFCB Silver Reel Award, was the "Best of the Bay" pick by The San Francisco Bay Guardian, and was a feature on both Transom.org and the Third Coast Audio Festival website. Invisible Ink airs weekly on KALW in San Francisco. This PRX series represents some of the best of Invisible Ink. The first nine episodes in the thirteen episode series is available for download right now, and there are sixty more episodes that can be previewed at http://www.invisibleinkradio.com Episodes #10-13 coming very soon!

Featured on Transom.org. For more information and conversation, visit the Invisible Ink on Transom.

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I get asked this a lot: "So, is Invisible Ink about zines, or is it a zine?" The answer is more of the latter. It's essentially a one-person operation, and it has a very handcrafted feel to me. The majority of the contributors are my indie press heroes, but a good story, is a good story, so "professional" writers and regular people do show up and tell a story or two. I like mixing all those folks up together, and I love it that radio strips away all those visual cues that prejudice us about someone's writing. On the radio you can't tell the quality of the paper, or if the work is bound or stapled, or if it was printed professionally or made at the Kinkos around the corner. Zines and public radio are a natural fit. Zines are publications done for the love of doing them, not to make a... Show full description


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Stories from the zine "Burn Collector" and "Why Things Burn": breaking up, dating Marilyn Monroe, and the awesome power of Journey.

Bought by KTNA, KVNF, Audible, WBEZ, WZBC and more


  • Added: Sep 12, 2004
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 6