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Playlist: O'Dark 30 episode 82 (2-30)

Compiled By: KUT

Caption: PRX default Playlist image

KUT's O’Dark 30 does it, whatever it is, again this week with the best from the world of independent radio production. Every Sunday at midnight on Austin's KUT 90.5 and also at 4pm on digital KUT2 we present 3 hours of a little bit of everything from the world of independent radio production.

Episode 82 (2-30) includes Meet My Dad...The Great Textbook War...HEY WE'RE BACK: Episode 5...Grad Student Discos for Dollars...Southern Slices: Summer Institute Stories from CDS...Scared..."Water for Elephants" author Sara Gruen...Do You Remember What You Hear?

Meet My Dad

From Homelands Productions | 05:17

Reporter Jon Miller celebrates his 83-year-old father, Mike, a retired schoolteacher who shares his zest for life with residents of a Boston nursing home.

Mike_at_nursing_home_small A portrait of Mike Miller, an 83-year-old retired middle school teacher from Lexington, Massachusetts, who volunteers twice a week singing old songs at a nursing home in Boston. Miller's early years were full of pain and death, but he says the experience made him love life all the more. Includes scenes of singing and conversation between Mike and his son, independent producer Jon Miller. Suitable for Father's Day or any program that celebrates old people, volunteerism, schoolteachers, or the power of music.

The Great Textbook War

From Trey Kay | 58:59

In 1974, Kanawha County was the first battleground in the American culture wars. Controversy erupted over newly-adopted school textbooks. School buildings were hit by dynamite and Molotov cocktails, buses were riddled with bullets and surrounding coal mines were shut down by protesting miners. Textbook supporters thought they would introduce students to new ideas about multiculturalism. Opponents felt the books undermined traditional American values. The controversy extended well beyond the Kanawha Valley. The newly-formed Heritage Foundation found a cause to rally an emerging Christian conservative movement. This documentary tells the story of that local confrontation and the effect that it had on the future of American politics.

Textbooks_small

In 1974, Kanawha County was the first battleground in the American culture wars. Controversy erupted over newly-adopted school textbooks. School buildings were hit by dynamite and Molotov cocktails, buses were riddled with bullets and surrounding coal mines were shut down by protesting miners. Textbook supporters thought they would introduce students to new ideas about multiculturalism. Opponents felt the books undermined traditional American values. The controversy extended well beyond the Kanawha Valley. The newly-formed Heritage Foundation found a cause to rally an emerging Christian conservative movement. This documentary tells the story of that local confrontation and the effect that it had on the future of American politics.

 

The Documentary                                                                                                                        More than 40 interviews and archival sound of school board meetings, public debates and news reports bring the story of the Kanawha County textbook wars to life. School board member Alice Moore, who led the opposition to the books, describes what she found objectionable, and more broadly, how she felt traditional family values were under attack. Superintendent Kenneth Underwood recalls that a reasonable conclusion felt impossible after the debate was hijacked by a mob of angry fundamentalist Christians. Reverend Henry Thaxton remembers feeling dismissed and disregarded by an arrogant governing class. English teacher Mildred Holt was excited to teach the works of African American writers, but when the KKK began to protest the books, she felt sure the protest was racially based. Their memories describe the charged political environment of 1974, and show how messy and destructive cultural confrontations can be, particularly in a narrow river valley where there is not much room for retreat.

Host Trey Kay was a 7th grader during the textbook protests. He rode the bus into junior high past a crowd of mothers holding picket signs. Telling the story as both the chronicler and a witness, the documentary has the personal tone of a first-person account. Combined with   exclusive interviews and archival sound of national news coverage, the documentary guides the listener through the tumultuous protests that tore this community apart while setting a new course for conservative religious politics.

 

 

Praise for Documentary

Trey Kay has produced a riveting, surprising and scrupulously fair-minded documentary about a little-known but extremely important early battle in what we now call "the culture wars." I can't imagine a better, faster way to acquire a solid, visceral understanding of the roots and long-simmering ferocity of today's angry populist right than listening to The Great Textbook War.

-Kurt Andersen, host of PRI’s Studio 360

 

Although I've written repeatedly about the famous 1974 Kanawha County fundamentalist uprising against "godless" textbooks, Trey Kay's public radio documentary nonetheless opened my ears to details and incidents I didn't know. Now I understand the mentality of the protesters better. It's a superb program and a valuable addition to West Virginia history.

-Jim Haught, editor of the Charleston Gazette, West Virginia’s largest newspaper

 

This program highlights a moment in history when our society had to face some very difficult decisions.  It’s an evocative hour of radio told from a unique perspective that brings you close to this story in an unexpected way.  I was riveted. 

- Abby Goldstein, Program Director, New Hampshire Public Radio

 

I really liked this program!  It was well produced, very interesting, had great tape from the time, a good flow and timely with the link to today’s Tea Party activism.  It hooked me in quickly and told a good story.

- Jacqueline Cincotta, Assistant Program Director, WNYC, New York City

 

 

The Radio Broadcast

The Great Textbook War premiered on West Virginia Public Radio in October 2009 and has had two encore broadcasts.  In addition, New York public radio WNYC will air the documentary this spring, PRI’s Studio 360 has requested a follow-up segment for their program and APM’s American RadioWorks for inclusion in their fall 2010 season.  

Sample Scenes

The Spark                                                                                                                                 

The textbook selection committee introduces a series of new language arts books at the Kanawha County board of education meeting on April 11, 1974. School board member Alice Moore, who has been concerned that liberal teaching methods are watering down the education system, objects to the introduction of the teaching of non-standard English. In particular, she speaks against the teaching of “dialectology,” a method that the book selection committee hoped would diminish the elitism of English classes and encourage an appreciation of language. Alice feared that incorrect grammar would affirm the practice of “ghetto English.” Since the board faced a deadline to adopt the books or lose state funding, Alice moves to accept the books and later delete materials that the board considered unsuitable. 

After the motion passed, Alice’s husband (who had been reviewing the books during the meeting) presents her with a book and says “Look at what you’ve adopted.” She reads a quote from The Autobiography of Malcolm X: “All praise is due to Allah that I moved to Boston when I did. If I hadn't, I'd probably still be a brainwashed black Christian.” Alice, a life-long Christian, finds this passage highly offensive. She notifies the superintendent that she wants all of the books sent to her home so she can begin a personal review of other material.  After her initial review, she objected to passages by Sigmund Freud, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Eldridge Cleaver and others as inappropriate material for children’s textbooks.

The Violence                                                                                                                              After the school board’s adoption of the books, many local fundamentalist preachers organize a protest campaign. Reverend Marvin Horan calls on parents to boycott the school system until the books were removed.  He opens an “Anti-Textbook Headquarters” in the coal mining community where he lives.  At this office, he and his followers develop a plan to get the books out of the schools. One strategy is to have concerned mothers set up picket lines in front of schools. Since many parents adhered to the coal miner union tradition of never crossing a picket line, families are reluctant to send their children into schools.  Many schools  operate at half (and less than half) capacity. 

Coal miner Butch Wills goes to the protest office every night after supper.  “It was a good place to loaf.  I mean, it was what was going on up here.  There was all the national news media ABC, NBC, CBS.” He says that in those meetings Rev. Horan always said, “Whatever we do, no violence.” 

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Rich says that in that office, Horan and some of his followers planned and executed dynamite bombings of two schools to discourage parents from bringing their children to school. The bombs exploded when schools were empty and no one was injured. Rich says he grew concerned that things could escalate when he heard of a plot to wire blasting caps into the gas tanks of cars of parents driving their kids to school. He moved to arrest and indict those involved. Rev. Marvin Horan was ultimately convicted of conspiring violence and sentenced to federal prison.

The Production Team                                                                                                  

Trey Kay (host, producer and reporter) has produced segments for This American LifeMarketplaceWeekend AmericaDay to DayMorning Edition and Studio 360. In 2005, he shared in a Peabody Award for 360’s “American Icons: Moby Dick” show. He was also an associate producer for “News Wars: Secrets, Sources and Spin,” a two-hour report for PBS Frontline. He is a native of Charleston, where he was a junior high school student in 1974. 

Deborah George (editor) has been an NPR editor for over fifteen years. Deb’s work has received numerous awards, including the DuPont-Columbia Gold and Silver Batons, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and the Casey Award for reporting on children.

HEY WE'RE BACK: Episode 5

From Jonathan Katz | Part of the HEY WE'RE BACK series | 07:32

Episode 5

Bigredsmall_small Sandy Briscoe was my roommate at Oxford. We were doing post-grad work and became bosom buddies. We shared everything and then one day, we lost track...of each other. I missed him recently and decided to pay him a suprise visit in the jungles of Peru. It didn't work out the way i had hoped. Mark Mc Dermott is the spin doctor's spin doctor. Our very own Dan Snider had a chance to sit down with him and talk about George W. Bush. I think the results will suprise you.

Grad Student Discos for Dollars

From Hillary Frank | 05:19

A grad student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago pays for his living expenses by disco dancing on the street.

Disco2_small Jason Hopkins didn't know how to dance when he was the student body president at his high school. But when he was put in charge of promoting an upcoming school dance, he figured he'd have to learn quick. So he rented Saturday Night Fever and learned all of John Travolta's moves. He had no idea that one day those moves would earn him around $10,000 a year and would help him through grad school. This story first aired on Sound Money.

Southern Slices: Summer Institute Stories from CDS

From The Center for Documentary Studies | 54:00

A collection of student pieces from CDS "audio camp," 2003 - 2007.

P1020775_small Radio-making isn't just for professionals. Every summer, several dozen people from across the country converge on the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University to learn the skills of audio documentary work -- recording, shaping and crafting a piece, and mixing it on the computer. They get guidance and inspiration from seasoned producers. (They also tend to eat good barbecue and see a Durham Bulls baseball game.) This show pulls together seven of the best works made by those students -- many of them first-time producers. "Southern Slices" is hosted by CDS audio program director John Biewen.

Scared

From John Biewen | 03:00

A (very) short story of love and anxiety. A child grows to age 13 in three minutes while a father muses on parental fears.

Playing
Scared
From
John Biewen

Harper-john-small_small This essay/montage was produced for the Third Coast Audio Festival's 2008 Audio Challenge, Radio Ephemera.  The challenge was to produce a piece of no more than three minutes based on any two of five books selected from the Prelinger Library of San Francisco -- and to include the voice of a stranger.  "Scared" is based on the books, "Control of Mind and Body," and "The Stork Didn't Bring You!: The Facts of Life for Teenagers."  The stranger is the voicemail lady.  

Do You Remember What You Hear?

From The humble Farmer | 02:38

Do we have selective hearing?

Humbleoats_small Perhaps the people who finally wrote down the Odyssey and the Icelandic Sagas heard it wrong