Family Snapshots

Series produced by Conrad Bishop

Caption: PRX default Series image
PRX default Series image 

Sixty-five 90-second modules, each a complete micro-drama, about the absurdities, traumas, and tiny ecstasies of family life.

Sixty-five 90-second modules, each a complete micro-drama, about the absurdities, traumas, and tiny ecstasies of family life.

They?re unlike anything you?ve ever heard. They?re funny and moving ? each one a surprise. They're the story you?ve heard your dad tell for 30 years. The searing words overheard in the supermarket line. The hour you felt most alone, or most absurd, or most alive. With the barbed hook of a commercial spot, they?re unabashed sales pitches for being human.

How to use them? Morning drive. Evening drive. Before the news. After the news. Follow-up or change-of-pace in a talk show. Anytime as an ear-catching sweetener.

Described by Bill Siemering (first program director of NPR) as ?the most evocative 90 seconds in radio." By the program director of WMUH, Allentown, as "the most thought-provoking 'sweetener' we?ve ever had." And by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as ?what radio can be when good intentions, fine execution, and stunning creativity come together.? Hide full description

Sixty-five 90-second modules, each a complete micro-drama, about the absurdities, traumas, and tiny ecstasies of family life. They?re unlike anything you?ve ever heard. They?re funny and moving ? each one a surprise. They're the story you?ve heard your dad tell for 30 years. The searing words overheard in the supermarket line. The hour you felt most alone, or most absurd, or most alive. With the barbed hook of a commercial spot, they?re unabashed sales pitches for being human. How to use them? Morning drive. Evening drive. Before the news. After the news. Follow-up or change-of-pace in a talk show. Anytime as an ear-catching sweetener. Described by Bill Siemering (first program director of NPR) as ?the most evocative 90 seconds in radio." By the program director of... Show full description


63 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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A man calls his mother to tell her he can't bring his family home for the holidays, but ends up talking himself into it.

Bought by KMXT, WEZU, WRVO Public Media, WQJC, WKSU and more


  • Added: Jun 03, 2004
  • Length: 01:37
  • Purchases: 6
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A college student working a summer job shares a break with a woman whose burdens seem unimaginable to her.

  • Added: Jun 03, 2004
  • Length: 01:37
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A man wants his wife of 25 years to renew their lapsed intimacy, but she resists opening the wounds.

  • Added: Jun 03, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
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A mother explains that they had to move because they're out of work. The child understands only that his friend's house is nicer.

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:37
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Two brothers sort through the attic after their mother's death, coming into contact with memories through the Christmas wrappings she preserved.

Bought by WKSU


  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
  • Purchases: 1
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A suburban couple plan to go out for the evening, but every option is fraught with danger -- they stay home behind locked doors.

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
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A single parent reassures her small child there's no shame in being illegitimate -- but the child is asking something entirely different.

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
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Two parents, disciplining a teenage daugher, present a unified front -- of utter confusion.

Bought by WQJC


  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: PRX default Piece image
A man teaches his young daughter to hammer a nail, but her failure echoes through life.

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
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"The first time I knew my parents loved me" ? a woman's memory of "two frantic angels" coming to her rescue.

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:37
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A son disappoints his dad by deciding to forego college to learn a trade, even though he's clearly "college material."

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
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A woman tries to tell her uncomprehending doctor that she doesn't have her family medical history because, as an adoptee, she's legally denied acce...

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:37
Caption: PRX default Piece image
A man finally meets the son he abandoned 26 years ago; he's prepared to face rage, but not indifference.

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
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A teenager whose parents are divorcing sees that she has become a pawn of negotiation, in competition with the family dog.

Bought by WQJC and East Village Radio


  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: PRX default Piece image
A suicidal youth dials the wrong number for the crisis help-line and gets Sam.

Bought by WQJC


  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: PRX default Piece image
Mom finally allows her child to go out and play in the mud if he promises to keep clean.

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
Caption: PRX default Piece image
He couldn't be with his dying lover because he wasn't family. "What does it take to be family?"

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
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A harried father tries to coach his small child to open a locked bathroom door.

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:37
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A grown daughter rages at the immaturity of the parents who abandoned her but is chastised by the grandmother who raised her.

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38
Caption: PRX default Piece image
Mother and daughter quarrel over the writing of the obligatory "thank you note," while Dad tunes out.

  • Added: May 31, 2004
  • Length: 01:38