SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling

Series produced by Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

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The SaltCast was a bi-weekly podcast produced from 2008-2010, aimed at pulling back the curtain on radio storytelling. From fieldwork and recording techniques to narrative and ethics, Saltcast explored the ins-and-outs of radio production.

If you want to hear more Salt radio work, including that produced by more recent students, check out http://www.prx.org/group_accounts/1185-salt !

The SaltCast was produced by Rob Rosenthal for the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine (salt.edu) and the Public Radio Exchange (prx.org).

The podcasts are available as free MP3 streams and downloads at www.saltcast.org, iTunes, other podcast directories, and here at PRX.


59 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
#38 - Josh: Growing Up With Tourrette's
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: Have tape deck, will diary. Josh Cutler, the subject of Joe Richman’s “Josh: Growing Up With Tourrette’s.”
Joe Richman has made some of the best documentaries on public radio. His work is stellar — sound rich, dramatic, personal. On this Saltcast, Joe jo...

Bought by Radio Newark, KUT, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 36:00
  • Purchases: 3
#39 - Mind on the Brain
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: Watch a video tape as a prompt during an interview.
Get people moving and using senses other than their ears during an interview.

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 11:14
  • Purchases: 2
#37 - Sound Healer
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: Sound healer Sandra Chausse., Credit: Rebecca Beeman courtesy of the Salt archive
In the radio track at Salt, we use Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Franklin’s definition of story: a sequence of events where a sympathetic chara...

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 12:40
  • Purchases: 2
#36 - Survivors: Solitary Confinement in America's Prisons
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: Robert King Wilkerson spent twenty-nine years in solitary confinement., Credit: Terry Foss
When is the sound of a slamming door not a slamming door? When it’s designed. On this Saltcast, we feature Claire Schoen’s story "Survivors: Soli...

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 39:23
  • Purchases: 2
#35 - A Jew Grows in Rockland
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: Rabbi Amita Jarmon lights a menorah., Credit: Hannah Fox courtesy of the Salt archive
Humor ain’t easy. And, on the radio, I think it’s particularly difficult. You have only your voice to make the point. And, on top of that, the audi...

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 14, 2010
  • Length: 14:14
  • Purchases: 2
#34 - Swing Free
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: Dining at the swingers party. , Credit: Jessica Sheldon courtesy of the Salt archive
I just shake my head sometimes. At least once a semester, usually more, Salt students find themselves in the most out-of-the-ordinary places. It bo...

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 14, 2010
  • Length: 11:47
  • Purchases: 2
#33 - Waiting for Jarod
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: Breakfast with Margery Richard and her “flat son” Jarod. , Credit: Kristin Wright courtesy of the Salt archive
How close to a story can you get? When should you take yourself off a story? When should your editor? How emotional can you get — with your class, ...

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 14, 2010
  • Length: 13:04
  • Purchases: 2
#32 - Fifty-Four Years
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
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This may seem a bit obvious, but timing is really important to reporting a story. You can have the best story in the world, full access to sources,...

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 14, 2010
  • Length: 12:45
  • Purchases: 2
#31 - Why Is It So Hard to Read Aloud?
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: “When this modern monster talks through the loudspeaker installed in its chest, its lips move in time with its speech.”
On this Saltcast, it’s all about narration. I offer a few tips for improving narration and we listen to two pieces.

Bought by Radio Newark, WNJR, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 14, 2010
  • Length: 13:42
  • Purchases: 3
#30 - Look Me In the Eye
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: Bill Buffard races across the court in a game of quadriplegic rugby., Credit: Judy Beedle courtesy of the Salt archive
On this Saltcast, producer and former Salt student Sarah Reynolds offers up a few interviewing tips to help with the production of non-narrated sto...

Bought by Radio Newark, WNJR, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 14, 2010
  • Length: 12:51
  • Purchases: 3
#29 - The Rolling Diamonds
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: How do they do it? The Rolling Diamonds. , Credit: Stephanie Ewens
What if, to get the best sound, you have to hand your recording gear over to a circus act who’s roller skating ten feet off the ground on a six-foo...

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 14, 2010
  • Length: 10:41
  • Purchases: 2
#28 - No Praise, No Blame, Just So
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Piece image
How do you say to someone “I’d like to interview you about a traumatic, horrendous event from your past”?

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 14, 2010
  • Length: 11:52
  • Purchases: 2
#27 - Mei Mei, A Daughter's Song
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: Dmae Roberts and her mom during their trip to Taiwan in 1989.
Independent producer Dmae Roberts produced “Mei Mei, A Daughter’s Song” in 1989. It was cutting edge then and it is, unfortunately, cutting edge now.

Bought by KUER, Radio Newark, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 14, 2010
  • Length: 30:41
  • Purchases: 3
#26 - Tending the Barter's Island Bridge
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: Duane Lewis (foreground) and his twin brother Dwight operate Barter’s Island Bridge, Boothbay, Maine., Credit: Rebecca Stewart courtesy of the Salt archive
Amanda Davis produced “Tending the Barter’s Island Bridge” in two weeks. That’s close to the shortest production time of any Salt piece.

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 14, 2010
  • Length: 10:47
  • Purchases: 2
#25 - Dyana, Goddess of the Moose Hunt
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Piece image
Hope you enjoy this startling piece about a moose hunt gone sour — “Dyana, Goddess of the Moose Hunt.”

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 10, 2010
  • Length: 17:43
  • Purchases: 2
#24 - Cody Appleseed
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Piece image
One of the ways good radio stories paint pictures is with ambient sound and active tape. Ambient sound is the general, background sound of a place....

Bought by Radio Newark, WNJR, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 10, 2010
  • Length: 11:23
  • Purchases: 3
#23 - Sleepover!
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: The girls not sleeping at the sleepover., Credit: Maureen Wellner
Producers Hillary Frank and Jonathan Menjivar knock the rust off some pre-teen memories with "Sleepover!" On this Saltcast we talk with Hillary and...

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 10, 2010
  • Length: 18:36
  • Purchases: 2
#22 - What If?
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Piece image
Radio producer Joe Richman says when producing a radio story you “cast” for characters. Here’s one thing to look for when “casting” your story: a c...

Bought by Radio Newark, WNJR, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 10, 2010
  • Length: 12:49
  • Purchases: 3
#21 - Silence Among Friends
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Piece image
Silence is radio’s worst enemy. Or so the thinking goes. In fact, some commercials stations have alarms that sound when the station goes silent for...

Bought by KPIP-LP, Radio Newark, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 10, 2010
  • Length: 12:08
  • Purchases: 3
#20 - The Angel Warrior on His Way to the Top
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
Series: SaltCast: the Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling
Caption: The Angel Warrior and his chariot. , Credit: Maisie Crow courtesy of the Salt archive
If you learn something about a character in a story that is unflattering, do you put it in your story? Even if it’s so loaded it may throw off the ...

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 10, 2010
  • Length: 13:30
  • Purchases: 2

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