"Odd Jobs" seems to be about New Yorkers, but it is a series that could run any place, as the brief stories presented transcend their innate regionality. They would make great drop-in on any program with a two minute programming hole to fill. I'd love to hear these spontaneously dropped into Morning Edition and then repeated on All Things Considered later in the day if your schedule runs that way...or any spare minutes throughout the day. "Odd Jobs" is tonic for the ears.

American Soundcheck Charlotte is a musical history book that celebrates Charlotte, North Carolina with high style, great narration, and most of all, great music. Tripp Clark is an engaging host for this hour of storytelling blended with a DJ's distinctive style, interviews, archival tape. I couldn't help thinking of the Cohen Brothers, " Oh Brother Where Art Thou" as a visual comparison to Clark's audio presentation: tight, crisp, breathes in just the right places, and is remarkably refreshing, with a great variety of music: rock, funk, pop bluegrass, not just country, as I was expecting, and all of it connected.

American Soundcheck Charlotte is a gem. A toe-tapping, informative, musical/historical, jaunty two-step through the streets of an American town.

This show would brighten up any Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

This radio drama is a slice of life Friday afternoon with the beehive hairdo cosmetologists and their senile, and perhaps sly client. A quick fun diversion with great voices and sounds. If you are looking to wake up a few listeners with something that is different and well put together, take a listen to Pick Up as well asa the other radio dramas produced by Hassan for WNYE.

These would work well as an early end of hour fill for odd length programs, or as part of a radio magazine program

Like your neighbor coming over with white gloves to inspect your house, the CBC's America Up Close, paints a frank picture of the effects of globalization on America's Heartland.

In typically affable style, hosts Rick McGinnis-Rae, Pia Chattopadhyay, and Frank Coller travel to North Carolina, Nebraska, and Washington, D.C. and speak to people & politicians for a first person account of how the grand changes the global economy are changing the lives and dreams of rural Americans, leaving some with hope of new opportunities, and others in the dust, casualties of unemployment, their own naivete, and crystal meth.

Part of public radio's "Think Global" week, this program ( with a 5 minute hole for news ) would be a great addition to any weekday noon hour. AMERICA UP CLOSE's look at the Heartland of the Homeland, may be too close for comfort, but it's a show listeners will be glad to hear.

This personal essay of a young woman bi-cultural jouney is great commentary, with lots of evocative imagery, and lots of music and lots of sound, maybe too much sound. If every element in a story is a puzzle piece of a larger picture, some of these pieces may not fit as tightly as one might like.

With the presence of the street as a constant backdrop, I was not sure where this commentary was suppsed to take me. In words alone the listener is "taken" to Mexico and India, the home countries of her mother and father respectively, where sensual memories abound, but then there's that street sound. Music from India to smooth beats play in the background , but there's that darn street again!

This piece deserves to be heard everwhere, especially in areas where racial diversity in the local population or the local high schools is the norm.

But als in this case I believe, that less would be more: A little less backdrop, and a little more trust in the power of the voice

Spectrum Radio bounds into the challenging ring of radio shows that try to breakdown technology for everyday listeners. The topics were interesting, but between the often overlong segments, and the uneven production, I found Spectrum a difficult listen. I would like to hear the show again in a few months to see if it has coalesced into a more cohesive production. With more identifiable breaks & program elements, a more even application of sound and music elements where appropriate, and a strong host presence, to draw more of a consistent thread throughout the hour-long show.

House of Pain might be called the final chapter that was begun by Ghetto Life 101, & Remorse, though your guide through the Chicago Public housing pitfalls is self appointed envoy, samaritan, and recording angel, Andre Williams. This journey has no narrator but Willaims himself, as he listens and talks to residents who now find themselves having to relocate when there housing project home comes up for demolition.

This piece would go well with a discussion on rapidly changing housing markets, or stories on eviction move-ins and condo conversions.

It is rich with the sound of people's lives, and the voice of Chicago's central city residents. 30 minutes well done.

A Swede and state convict walk into a bar… well kind of. Spoon Jackson is behind bars for life. Classical composer Stefan Säfsten’s bars are on the sheet music. Through a common friend these two men meet and a collaboration of music and poetry begins, resulting in a CD entitled "Frihet för de Fångna/Freedom for the Prisoned". In listening to the words and music of the composer and the poetry of this PEN award winning prison poet, there’s an engaging synergy, that unfortunately isn’t reflected in the delivery of the bookend narration on this 9 minute meditation, but that doesn’t detract from the curious appeal of this piece. The poet Jackson’s voice comes sounds slightly tinny and metallic, but it actually seems to add a slightly haunting dimension to Säfsten’s composition. Local references in the narration may make this piece difficult to place, but a few minor changes in the text and energy of the presenter can make this piece more airable on a variety of stations with classical & public affairs program segments.

See the review for the July 2005 show of Spectrum radio show, a diffrent show review was posted here by accident