Usually I take notes when I’m listening to review. I took very few notes while hearing this powerful oral history because I did not want to move, not even a little bit. The producer wisely chooses to let the voices carry the piece with very little support. Other than intermittent piano music and the narrator’s occasional naming of those speaking, we hear only the voices of a group of Pentagon survivors and some of their family members. The material is simply but effectively organized. The layers of voice carry you along like a river, from the moments prior to the attack, through the attack, through escaping the building, to recovering from injuries and from the experience itself, up to how people look at life some months later. Family members talk about their version of that day, about finding their loved ones in the hospital, about the effects on their shared lives. I don’t want to share any more of the specifics. This beautifully edited piece deserves to be heard with open ears. It is an obvious choice for the anniversary, but in fact always timely. Our soldiers are killing and being killed, our country inflicting damage, and for a change freshly knowing what is to be hit on our own soil. This work provides a strong reminder of what being at war means to those under attack, as well as a reminder of oral history’s effectiveness, and of the power of radio.

Lovely, respectful documentary, filled with great sound, interesting information, and vivid details. The producer does an excellent job of weaving the elements into an almost hypnotic portrait of the music house-building project. The Baka live in the dense rain forest and learn to navigate by sound, which makes them a perfect radio subject. Interviews with various Baka, the musicians who are funding the project, and the builder give a strong sense of place and culture. Great range of tape -- everything from the trip ferrying tin into the forest, to Baka voices merging with the birds – engages the ear in a variety of ways. About art, life, honoring ancient ways, and creating community across cultures. An excellent way to spend half an hour. Can be broadcast any season, but feels timely this spring moment as our ears brighten at the sounds of birdsong.

A brief, intense audio portrait of a moment in young Kotch's life that is almost cinematic in its precise imagery. While we don't know exactly what happened to him, or what the injury was, the sound of his voice tells you something bad happened. It is not a normal sound, this voice he has. To hear him describe his "million dollar wound," (a wound that sends you home) followed by his yearning to return to the war is haunting. His descriptions of his erratic behavior and of his mother's reactions, are powerful and succinct. Very well edited. Already been on ATC, but would work as drop-in on ME, or around any programming about the war, the soldiers, the losses incurred.

I've re-listened and am re-reviewing because the producer recently made some production changes. So subjective, the review business. Today the piece seems stronger, or maybe my mood is different. In any event, I continue to applaud the honoring of this grandmother's strong spirit, and it's still great to hear the home-recordings of Kitty belting out a song. The writing is good throughout, there's a nice blend of text and music of the period, and Kitty is brought to life. She lived through tough times, and the piece feels timely at this particular moment. This is a fine personal offering for Mother's or Memorial Day programming.

Very amusing piece takes you into workplace culture from an unusual angle. Cool music underscoring and punctuating gives it a bit of a TAL feel. Only problem is too much reverb or something in the vocals, especially the introduction. The subject's voice isn't as caverny-sounding, and I stopped noticing after a while, but it could use a little attention. Good drop into ME were it a bit shorter.

I'm a Billy Joe Shaver fan, yessiree, and any exposure he gets is way overdue and just fine in my book. Interviews with the director, producer, and tape of the man himself offer a good sense of why someone would go to the trouble of making a film about this unique singer songwriter, this grace guy, this terrific performer. And then you get to hear him sing. Air around any date he's in your town, or as a little culture nugget.

The first episode brings me back to a high school moment: standing in a classroom doorway, the packed room of students and teachers silent, alert, eyes glued to the television, watching the moon become mysteriously concrete. Richard Paul’s nimble narrative of the funding challenges involved in transporting humans from here to there enriches my memory by providing a full banquet of information and experience leading up to that televised landing. I didn’t expect a program on budget funding to be so engaging, but this one is. We hear lively interview material from various historians, and scientists, as well as former White House Budget Director Charles Schultz; also, archival tape of Presidents’ Kennedy and Johnson, and other prominent voices from the sixties. Walter Cronkite offers perspective, and congressional testimony (read by actors) is included. Well-chosen music excerpts help the flow. The moon landing is considered one of our great national achievements. It is fascinating to look at it through the budget lens, as a budget line item in competition for tax dollars with the war on poverty and the war in Vietnam –– and to remember its morale boosting power in the midst of so much national turmoil –– a country divided, serious economic problems, the country at war. Kind of like right now. It’s timely listening all right, especially since Bush, however briefly, has floated a Mars balloon. Perhaps, like JFK, he sees the morale boosting potential, and similarly plans on being long gone when the bill comes due.

The second episode in many ways moves like a page-turner about tragedy and destruction. You’re immediately drawn in by an administrator’s recounting of the 1966 moment when Gemini 8 went out of control. Tape from the space docking gone awry runs alongside and underneath his compelling first-person account. It seems odd that space ships exploding in air no longer come as a shock. What almost shocks is to remember that the first astronauts to die in the space program died on the ground. Somber news reports after the Apollo One flash fire that killed three astronauts, and taut narration lead us into the heart of this piece, the aftermath and investigation into what went wrong. So much sounds familiar: NASA outsourcing work to shoddy contractors, NASA administrators scrambling to keep control of the investigation, congressional committees looking into what went wrong, concern about political influence affecting contractor appointments, investigative reports kept secret, conspiracy theories, a man’s death days after testifying before congress, a corporate culture in chaos, damage control in full force. This is the stuff of the Apollo movie that’s yet to be made. This series is timely now, or near any significant NASA dates. Can be aired as space, science, economics, history programming, or as a historical echo in light of current events today. And what was going on forty years ago, in fact, isn’t all that different: we’re at war afar, and culturally at home, the economy is rocky, poverty growing, privatization increasing. It touches on many issues on many levels.

Pleasant peek into the inside of a florist shop from a communications angle – as in those crucial words directing the florist’s arrangements and those that end up on the accompanying cards. Could be aired Valentine’s or Mother’s Day, but really any time of year, because it’s not overly romantic or sentimental. sl