As the first reviewer stated, the juxtapositon of working kids with a translation of their words by English-speaking children is a strong component of the piece. This feature of the story could make it a good piece for helping children in first world countries gain an understanding about the lives of children in developing countries. The piece serves the listener well by touching on the differing perspectives of child labor and by contrasting children working to assist their families with outright exploitation of children in the labor market.

This narration-less program begins with descriptions of the general situation of Ugandan children orphaned by AIDS pandemic. The program shifts back and forth between teachers and students. Students talk about their circumstances, studies, and hopes for the future. Foreign and Ugandan teachers describe their small schools. They offer details as to how the schools are funded, what the programs are and how the programming is planned to train the students in creating everything from cash crops to community. Most of the tape is presented talking-head style, but occasionally interspersed with wonderful tape of music and singing, and the alive sounds of the school in the background. Less talking head, more spontaneous tape would have made the program more compelling, but that’s a minor aside. sl

If you are going to do a piece on "life in a brothel"--it might be a good idea to go to an actual brothel. Instead, this piece is an extended phoner with an author who had spent time in a brothel and wrote a book about it. This places the listener three layers removed from people who work/live/patronize brothels. It's too "hands off" to ring as real and authentic. This extreme disconnection zaps the substance from the subject. This might make for an interesting three-minute piece on the book and its subject, but it doesn't work in this extended format.

A free-flowing collage of voices and views that are predominantly pro-environment, and that paint a rather bleak picture of the future of the globe; told through a Canada-centric lens. Includes a wide range of voices that are excellently recorded so that you feel like you are right there with them, out in the forests, standing by mountain streams.

Some may find the lack of traditional structure/narration disconcerting; in addition, one might not give a rarely identified voice the credibility it deserves, without appropriate context. However if this style of radio is for you (and it might not be for everyone), eventually you go with the flow and hear the words and it doesn't really matter who is speaking. The beauty of this piece is that its narrationless-ness (?!) allows latecoming listeners to dip into it at any stage, without feeling that they have missed out.

Musical/poetic interludes give the listener a chance to digest what they have heard, as do evocative descriptions of various natural habitats that the subjects find themselves in.

A final and minor point: dont be put off by the opening music which is a bit grating, could be just my personal taste! HW

A nature documentary of the uninhabitable yet vital Funk island. An enthusiastic colorful approach to the subject, I kept wanting to SEE this documentary. The sound is quite evocative but there are some drawbacks, particularly: one of the first local speaker's accent is very difficult to decipher, so you find yourself leaning in, which can be a good thing - but not for everyone. If you stay with it there are some fine moments rich in history and sad in extinctness. good for science and ecology focus, though the length is a little awkward. Further production notes will go directly to the producer.
vm

I thought that the piece made for a very interesting commentary about the way that communication can be lost in the enthusiasm that accompanies new ways to communicate ideas. It was short and sweet, and didn't overstay its welcome. The point about the sounds effects was amusing and well-made.
It sometimes seemed as though the sound got louder and quieter as the piece progressed, so that I was having to turn the volume on my computer up and down a little when the piece switched between the main commentary what sounded like a telephone interview. The voice that was reading the power-point parts was kind of muffled, and sometimes unintelligible.
This would be a really fun little piece to hear between longer segments.

You can't review The Kitchen Sisters. They start out at the top. I came to this piece with a reverence for route 66 already in my heart, and the sisters lived up to it. This is why I love radio.

Pleasant peek into the inside of a florist shop from a communications angle – as in those crucial words directing the florist’s arrangements and those that end up on the accompanying cards. Could be aired Valentine’s or Mother’s Day, but really any time of year, because it’s not overly romantic or sentimental. sl