You can't get much better than David Isay as producer and for that matter Susan Stamberg as host. The production is sound rich and lively. The stories are personal and unusual. I think the individual stories would work well in any news magazine but as a special it's an odd length (1:13:28). You might be able to take out a couple of pieces to create an hour special. The Longest Diary piece was too happy frantic OCD for me. The better Pullman Porter piece ends short but then it segues into one of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching pieces I've heard - Tossing Away the Keys about lifers in Angola Prison. That piece alone is worth the whole hour. The Bell Museum piece is a welcome relief to the emotions of the Keys piece and is a pleasant musical piece. The Castle Builder is more of a traditional NPR feature. The Mississippi Jews fares better as a slice of life documentary. The Marriage Broker was a nice light follow-up. Great music on Dr. Hepcat though who'd a thought hep would be so quaint? Joe Franklin falls into the frantic happy category for me though I was glad to learn that the Saturday Night Live skits were based on a real person. And frankly, I can live without the sound of fox hunting which is the final story. Should stations run this as a special? Perhaps... if you can make the formatting work and if you like all the pieces. Should they run most of the pieces as features? Certainly! It's all a matter of personal taste and there's a lot to choose from.

Great interview. Great subject. The documentary elements flow nicely together with the trips to the fertility clinic, interviews with the woman's mom and scenes with the sperm donor friend. (Language advisory: Masterbating) This is a timely and worthy profile of an often heartbreaking phenomenon unique to baby-boom age women who waited to have babies. The main interviewee acts an engaging narrator--honest, articulate and speaking for a whole generation. I liked this piece a lot except for most of the music transitions. I would lose much of the music and only use it when needed. I liked the ending music though it cut out rather than fading out. This ran on NPR so of course it would work well on any magazine show. Fertility is certainly a topic that most listeners would relate to and should be heard. Good work.

Fun piece. Takes an upbeat look at the election through the art of graphic design. The main interview of the designer is puntuated with archival sound and music. My favorite quote from his talk is "people want to be different but not too different." That about sums up the 2004 election. More about packaging than substance. This piece would work well on any news magazine show and even though it ran on Studio 360, I think it has local appeal in this election year.

Fine piece of environmental reporting. Producer Guy Hand follows the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes in Idaho that's beautiful except that underneath he asphalt, there is toxic mining debris that nature lovers aren't as aware of as they should be. Sure there are a few signs that say "stay on the trail" or "wash hands before eating" but what does that really tell visitors and yes, even campers. Through essay-like descriptions and a variety of interview sources and outdoor ambiences, this piece draws you into a complicated issue by showing one example of which I'm sure there are many of deceptive Superfund sites. This short doc would work well on news magazine shows. It's a little longer than most features but well worth it.

A solid feature piece on the value of the SATS from the perspective of a high school senior. Chris Waddy takes us throught he consideration and the stress he faces along with most students from SAT worry. He interviews a variety of sources from college admissions to an organization that's critical of SATS to a lawyer who tells him a low SAT score didn't affect his career succes. This would be a good feature for any news magazine particularly now with back-to-school shows or leading up to test taking time around the country.

Jim May is an articulate speaker and worthy of a profile. But the relentless pacing with no breathing space and the use of sound effects and music in the background detracts from what could be an insightful slice of life piece. I think this is worth re-doing simply to add a some breaths. I also wanted to hear sounds of mushing. This piece is called "The Life of Mushing" but where is the sound? I really want to hear him mushing. I want to hear his dogs and his relationship to them. He's a great storyteller but I want to be "showed" more than "told" what this life of mushing is like. This is not to say this piece wouldn't appeal as a monologue to some stations. But it's a bit long as a monologue and I think the subject would be better served with more documentary elements. I hope the producer will rework it because there is potential here.

I think this is great idea for a regular series. Librarians are underrated and perhaps the smartest people around. They can find an answer for any question and more efficiently than google. I love the opening music and Jackson Braider is a great host/narrator. The original description says though that it's a series of 3:30 pieces and I think that time would be better. This piece could be shortened a bit. Also, the mix between the narrator's voice and that of the librarian could be leveled out more. She sounded too much in the background. Still, this is a great module that could be aired as a stand alone piece or within a magazine show. I do think that there should be a version without the music and the SOQ out at the end rather than at the intro at the beginning. This would give the series more flexibility to be aired within magazines. I hope to hear more of these piece...

Others might get the humor but it wasn't broad or clear enough to me. It sounds like a bad interview show rather than a satire of it. It wasn't over-the-top enough till the very end and it sounds too much like improv chatter than clever wit. The problem is that it's off the cuff rather than structured as good talk shows need to be. I listened to another piece and came to the same conclusion. The production values are good however and I think the actors sound professional. I'd like to hear more intentional humor that goes over the edge more with a clearer direction. Not sure which stations would air these short pieces as is.

Delightful piece. Fun and well-produced. I've always been intrigued by people who make music from everyday objects, especially thought who have turned it into art. This is a Studio 360-type piece that's never been aired and I recommend it highly for news magazines or as a drop-in for musicshows. Only criticism is that it ends rather abruptly. I think it should have a tail of sound that trails off. It woud be good to upload a version of that.

New Zealand has a thriving arts scene and I hope we hear more about it from Producer Andrew Dubber. This half hour piece works well as an interview/music program. The production values are top-notch with the right mix of music and interview. However, it doesn't delve deeply enough for it to be a documentary. I would have liked to know more about Luke before he was a musician and what made him turn his back on his impending fame. The "mental illness" was probably depression but Luke didn't seem to know that nor did he seem to receive any treatment for it. He credits recording a new album for getting him out of the shadows but without knowing why he sunk into it in the first place one wonders if he will sink back. I was left wanting to know more and I think Luke is worthy subject for follow-up interviews if the producer would want to produce a documentary about him. As an interview program though this could be easily paired with another half-hour music program for a one-hour music special.

Can't help thinking that this piece could have been more interesting than it is. This production has a "PBS-TV-style" to it. Lots of narration telling us about the history and experts talking. You imagine still shots cross-dissolving. The only problem is that this is radio and I'm not getting much in the way of pictures in my mind which is what a radio piece should do. That's not to say this isn't another well-produced piece by Radio Netherlands. Just not as imaginative as some of their other pieces. Yes, it's a history piece but it doesn't-- what's that phrase? Oh yes-- "make history come alive!" This just didn't happen for me with this piece. The last third was the most interesting regarding the British soldiers taking over the town. Perhaps if it had been condensed into a shorter feature, it might have worked better for me. It's still a solid half hour that could be paired with another Radio Netherlands piece. Also, realize I am coming from a West Coast perspective here and I suspect East Coast stations might have more of geographical connection to this history, especially those in NY state. Give a listen and judge for yourself...

Maybe it's because I just saw Fahrenheit 9/11 and I'm still reeling from the idiotic statements captured on film of our President, but I liked this piece. Feels like a perfect companion to any movie reviews of Michael Moore's work or just as a release from the day to day grim news topics. It's not exactly funny but it has a lightness to it and was fun to listen to. We need more commentary that isn't about people telling us their thoughts but about using the sound and the sound bytes all around us to make us think and draw our own conclusions.

This is a good series and the producers are to be commended for taking on Arabic content from a woman's perspective not just with with this piece but with a prior piece "Lolita Unveiled" also on PRX. The production values are high and I like this narrator though at times I think the overall piece could use less compression. But that's nitpicking. I found this an engaging and thoughtful piece and partnering it with Lolita and perhaps some of their other pieces would make a great half-hour or one-hour special for any station concerned with Middle Eastern topics. I hope to hear more from Producers Laura Jackson and Betsy Morgan.

A novel twist on the basketball story with Mexican mothers in the Bronx who take over the courts every afternoon to shoot some hoops. Basketball is traditionally a woman's game in Mexico and these women in the Bronx sound quite experienced. This piece highlights the cultural and gender clashes on the courts between the moms and the kids. Great sound, great interviews. The only criticism is focusing more on the women and finding out more about them and their world outside of basketball. But a great feature for news magazines especially for the summer.

Another great piece from Helen Borten. I'm very impressed with her whole series this comes from her series - A Sense Of Place. This tale of the once oppressed now oppressing is universal and gives thought. Nightfall takes you to may sides of the clash of Quaker farmers and the migrant workforce that attempts to unionize. It's great to hear a documentary with so much sound material of events actually happening - a "you are there" rather than a "I'm telling you what happened" approach. My only question is does this piece need to be updated with an outro? I'm not sure how long ago this piece was made and it might help if the producer could put an outro that would let stations know if this is still an ongoing problem in Chester County or somehow give an update to the piece. Otherwise, stations would do well to look at running this piece with other A Sense of Place pieces to create a great one-hour special during the summer.