Shortcuts

Series produced by Peter Bochan

Series image

Mixing music, dialogue from soundtracks, press conferences, sound effects and other sources, Shortcuts has presented a wide variety of themes over the past forty years, including programs on growing up, growing old, going crazy, being afraid, alone, in love; shows on music, space, race and politics from Watergate to Obama Care, plus retrospectives featuring the major events of each passing year. Recorded and mixed digitally, shortcuts features no narration, it's message evolves from the careful juxtaposition of the various elements.

Daily News: "a stunning stereo mix of music, news, movie dialogue, commercials and other sound sources...shortcuts is a theme-oriented program with no narration, a splice-of-life montage.... After the Three Mile Island catastrophe, Bochan produced "A Shortcut to Harrisburg" in which a Nuclear Regulatory Commission official repeatedly assured the public that "everything was under control" while Elvis Costello sang "Accidents Will happen" in the background."


"The yearly Shortcuts series has become a genuine pubradio tradition-- something we radio folk look forward to, secure in knowledge our listeners are gonna love it. It's a musical voxpop & sound-bite tour of the past year, and a tour de force of sonic-editing sweat, song, speech, and segue. 2007's Shortcuts got it all: global warmth, Imus' hot seat, The Sopranos swan song, steroids in baseball, and Bhutto's assassination. Instant nostalgia, history and overview. Weeks after we broadcast the 2006 Shortcuts we were still getting gushing listener calls" "What was that great hour you played with news-clips and pop-culture and music and all kinda mixed together and..." etc., etc. Shortcuts is an annual audio extravaganza and audience pleaser.

(Producer) Barrett Golding , KGLT
Bozeman, MT
January 4, 2008 Hide full description

Daily News: "a stunning stereo mix of music, news, movie dialogue, commercials and other sound sources...shortcuts is a theme-oriented program with no narration, a splice-of-life montage.... After the Three Mile Island catastrophe, Bochan produced "A Shortcut to Harrisburg" in which a Nuclear Regulatory Commission official repeatedly assured the public that "everything was under control" while Elvis Costello sang "Accidents Will happen" in the background." "The yearly Shortcuts series has become a genuine pubradio tradition-- something we radio folk look forward to, secure in knowledge our listeners are gonna love it. It's a musical voxpop & sound-bite tour of the past year, and a tour de force of sonic-editing sweat, song, speech, and segue. 2007's Shortcuts got it all: global... Show full description


68 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Shortcut through Black History
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: James Baldwin 100th Birthday
A rewriting of Black History in 2024 with help from Kamala Harris, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr, Langston Hughes, Supreme Court Justice Th...

  • Added: Aug 25, 2024
  • Length: 01:59:12
A Guilty Shortcut
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Nancy "Guilty!"
An Upside Down Star Spangled Mix of current events, music and courtroom drama featuring Donald Trump & Robert DeNiro, Joe Biden, Martin Landau, St...

  • Added: Jun 12, 2024
  • Length: 58:12
A Shortcut Back Through 1994
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Nixon RIP
A retrospective of the entire year in sixty minutes, "A Shortcut through 1994" feature no narration, it's message evolves from the careful juxtapos...

  • Added: Apr 23, 2024
  • Length: 01:00:28
Scrambled Shortcuts
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Diner Chatter
Let's eat! A virtual audio buffet featuring food songs and visits to classic diners and restaurants with vintage movie, television clips and Spam o...

  • Added: Apr 23, 2024
  • Length: 31:42
A Shortcut Through 2023
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: GW Bridge June 2023
A retrospective of the entire year, including the major political, cultural and emotional events, with music and celebrations of those who've left ...

Bought by KZMU Moab Community Radio, KSRQ, WJCT, KMSU, KMXT and more


  • Added: Dec 22, 2023
  • Length: 59:36
  • Purchases: 6
Number 9 Shortcut
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Nine
An extended reworking of the Beatles track "Number 9" which serves as the introduction to Shortcuts and it's influences with additional music from ...

  • Added: Oct 04, 2023
  • Length: 58:24
A Shortcut 2022 Tribute Mix
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Piece image
Remembering those who left us during the past year with music and events as a companion to A Shortcut Through 2022

  • Added: Dec 29, 2022
  • Length: 59:24
A Shortcut Through 2022
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Volodymyr Zelensky
A retrospective featuring the major events of each passing year, Shortcuts features no narration, it's message evolves from the careful juxtaposit...

Bought by KZMU Moab Community Radio, KRCB 104.9, Raven Radio, KCPW Salt Lake City, Nevada Public Radio and more


  • Added: Dec 22, 2022
  • Length: 59:58
  • Purchases: 7
A History of Live Radio
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: WBAI Staff, Credit: 1960s
In honor of radio pioneers Larry Josephson, Steve Post and Bob Fass, a look back at the early days of free form radio at Pacifica and WBAI in New Y...

Bought by KZMU Moab Community Radio


  • Added: Aug 21, 2022
  • Length: 59:39
  • Purchases: 1
A Shortcut 2021 Tribute Mix
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Betty White
An extra hour of celebration of those who've left us this year, with music and events that broke too late to be included in A Shortcut Through 2021

Bought by KAAD-LP


  • Added: Dec 31, 2021
  • Length: 58:55
  • Purchases: 1
A Shortcut Through 2021
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Stephen Sondheim, Credit: Al Hirschfeld
A retrospective of the entire year, including the major political, cultural and emotional events, with music and celebrations of those who've left us.

Bought by The Pulse--Messiah College Radio, KAAD-LP, RadioFreePalmer, KVSC, Hawaii Public Radio and more


  • Added: Dec 16, 2021
  • Length: 59:54
  • Purchases: 13
Shortcuts Back To Work
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: The Worker
Labor Day extended special with history of worker's daily struggles mixed with cultural and musical references

  • Added: Aug 27, 2021
  • Length: 59:07
Shortcuts 2020 Tributes
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Fred Willard
An additional hour of tributes from just a few of those lost in 2020

Bought by Mississippi Public Broadcasting


  • Added: Dec 27, 2020
  • Length: 58:50
  • Purchases: 1
A Shortcut Through 2020
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Ruth Bader Ginsburg
A final look at an impossible year, 12 months of incredible drama, played out over the world stage in an hour long retrospective

Bought by KMUN, WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., KBUT Crested Butte, Colo., Mississippi Public Broadcasting, KKRN and more


  • Added: Dec 23, 2020
  • Length: 59:09
  • Purchases: 13
A Viral Shortcut
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Safe Social Gathering, Credit: Facemask Meeting 1955
A thirty minute Pandemic overview featuring the latest information, health warnings and preventative measures, mixed with music from a variety of m...

  • Added: Mar 17, 2020
  • Length: 29:16
Shortcuts 2019-Tributes
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Still Hope, Credit: Daniel Johnston
Celebrating more of those that we lost in the past year with tributes remixed from the cutting room floor of 2019

  • Added: Dec 27, 2019
  • Length: 59:33
A Shortcut Through 2019
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Greta Thunberg
An emotional retrospective of the past twelve months, featuring the major events, the culture, the climate, and the politics, dramatically mixed wi...

Bought by KSFR, KVSC, KMSU, KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash., KVMR and more


  • Added: Dec 20, 2019
  • Length: 59:59
  • Purchases: 11
A Shortcut Through The Past Decade
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Life During Wartime, Credit: by Josh Brown
A retrospective of the Second Decade of The 21st Century mixing the sounds and emotions of an incredibly dark and stormy decade into a three hour m...

Bought by KRCB 104.9 and KVMR


  • Added: Dec 09, 2019
  • Length: 02:57:47
  • Purchases: 2
A Shortcut Through 2018-Part Two
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Caption: Stan Lee, Credit: Drew Friedman
More looking back through the past year with tributes, tragedies, traitors and comedians in another remix from the cutting room floor of 2018

Bought by KRCB 104.9 and KUOW


  • Added: Dec 26, 2018
  • Length: 59:38
  • Purchases: 2
A Shortcut Through 2018
From: Peter Bochan
Series: Shortcuts
Piece image
A retrospective of another troubling year featuring the marches, the elections, the shootings, bombings and all the fake news, mixed with the music...

Bought by KUNM, 'The Sea', KRCB 104.9, KMXT, KISU and more


  • Added: Dec 21, 2018
  • Length: 59:49
  • Purchases: 10

Playlists That Feature This Series: