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Radio documentary is a spoken word radio format devoted to non-fiction narrative. It is broadcast on radio as well as distributed through media such as tape, CD, and podcast. A radio documentary covers a topic in depth through one or more perspectives, often featuring interviews, commentary, and sound pictures. A feature can include original music compositions and creative sound design or can resemble traditional journalistic radio reporting, but cover an issue in greater depth. Current notable examples of this format include work by The Kitchen Sisters and non-fiction segments on This American Life.
- 1 History
- 2 Quotes
- 3 Radio documentary in developing nations
- 4 Notable feature makers
- 5 Notable resources
- 6 Notable programs by region
- 7 References
The early stages of non-fiction audio storytelling did not entirely resemble what would later be called radio documentary. In the 1930s, with radio stations like WYNC entering the airspace, reporters documented real people and real life scenarios through short on-the-ground interviews rather than dramatization. Other notable documentary broadcasts include the unrefined one-shot audio recordings of events, such as the Hindenburg disaster in 1937. By 1939, CBS responded to growing anxieties about immigration in the U.S. with a six-month series, titled "Americans All…Immigrants All," that highlighted the stories of immigrant communities.
The lack of documentary style reporting in this era can be attributed, in part, to technological limitations; recording equipment was not easily portable.
An important moment in the establishment of radio documentary as a widely used and discussed format is the expansion of portable audio recording devices. In 1945, sound archivist and radio producer, Tony Schwartz began to use portable audio recording equipment to collect the sounds of his neighborhood in New York City to share on his WNYC radio show; his features ran for 30 years and grew to include the sounds of daily life recorded by and mailed to him from people around the world. This style of sharing true-life sound bytes would remain in public radio documentary.
In 1946, one of the most pivotal developments in the spread and stylization of radio documentary was the creation of the CBS Documentary Unit. It was the first sector of a major media network dedicated to this format of radio. The unit was "'devoted exclusively to the production of programs dealing with major domestic and international issues and involving extraordinary research and preparation'". Not only did the content deviate from programming that favors advertisers, the style deviated from the standard, creating a well known format. The style of reporting for the CBS features was adopted and melded by ABC and NBC networks. The format included extensive interviews to gain multiple perspectives of an issue, an adherence to journalistic ethics, and often a call to action; the programming was usually released as multiple segments and at peak times. Examples of these first documentary projects include CBS' 1946 war feature, The Empty Noose, and ABC's 1949 program, V.D., A Conspiracy of Silence, addressing the lack of public attention to venereal disease.
With the founding of National Public Radio in 1971, radio documentary began shifting again due to non-commercial educational media. Programs such as, All Things Considered, explored creative styles of presenting non-fiction by deviating from now traditional styles of radio documentary by hiring reporters outside of the radio sphere.
Important shifts in technology have allowed radio documentary to travel beyond the analog. In the advent of podcasting and internet radio, the FCC provides no guidelines for these media. Programs are allowed to skirt FCC regulation, marking yet another shift in content and style of documentary programming. Current features that exemplify the new possibilities opened by podcasting include the often gritty subject matter of Love + Radio and the critical success of the podcast Serial due to the ability of listeners across the globe to access the content for free.
At its best, radio combines the power and immediacy of great documentary films with the intimacy and poetry of a New Yorker-style magazine piece.
Staring red-eyed at the mirror in front of me, having spent another day and half of the night with my computer, I ask myself fundamental questions: Why radio? Why documentary? Answer: No other medium can provide me with more freedom of creation and investigation. It meets my urgent interest in reality and the desire for a 'musical' expression. The material (der Werkstoff) is sound. And sound always surrounds us. And: I'm not so much interested in the description of stable situations, but in processes. Our medium is not space, but time; our stories are not glued to the ground, but have motion, life ... That's why!— Helmut Kopetzky, German author, Self-portrait
So what is a radio feature? Technically speaking, it is a 30- to 60-minute, elaborate broadcast from a semantic field related to a radio drama, that can contain all the elements from original sound (interviews) and author texts (epic or scenic type) to noise and music.— Patrick Conley, 60 Years of Radio Feature in Germany, 2007
Radio documentary in developing nations
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There has been tremendous interest in the field of Radio Documentaries particularly in the developing nations such as India, Iran, South Korea and Malaysia. In India for example, Radio Documentary is gaining in popularity due to the flexibility, efficiency and accessibility to the masses. Producers such as Chitra Narain and Danish Iqbal have been accredited with its revival and popularity in the region. Danish Iqbal who is primarily a Drama Producer combined the elements of Dramatic narrative to produce some memorable Radio Documentaries. His Documentary "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai' is considered a Classic for the use of effective narrative and ambient sounds. This Documentary presents a heartfelt account of unseen bridges between a Kashmiri Shikarah Wala and his Auto Rickshaw Driver friend in Delhi. Although they never met each other but their unseen bond is the subject of this rare Documentary which transcends the barriers of political, religious and regional prejudices.
Because both Chitra and Danish had a long tenure at Delhi and had creative collaboration with many Media Institutes, their influence is seminal in shaping the thinking of many of their students and co-workers. Danish won twice the prestigious Public Service Broadcasting Award for his documentaries.
Notable feature makers
- Sharon Davis
- John Quinn, RTÉ
- Noah Adams
- Jay Allison
- Eurydice Aroney
- Tony Barrell
- Alex Blumberg
- Peter Leonhard Braun
- Kyla Brettle
- Edwin Brys
- Bill Bunbury
- Scott Carrier
- Alex Chadwick
- Sharon Davis
- Bill Drake
- Stephen Erickson
- Joe Frank
- Laurence Gilliam
- John Gilliland
- Ira Glass (and This American Life)
- Glenn Gould (The Solitude Trilogy)
- Alan Hall
- Berit Hedemann (Prix Europa Yleisradio 1997 and 1998)
- David Isay
- Malta Jasperson
- Lisbeth Jessen
- Kitchen Sisters
- Ronan Kelly
- Brigitte Kirilow
- Helmut Kopetzky
- Robert Krulwich
- Bill Lichtenstein
- Klaus Lindemann
- Bosse Lindquist (Prix Futura/Prix Europa 1995, and others)
- Kaye Mortley
- Susan Marling
- Ewan MacColl
- Siobhan McHugh
- Charles Parker
- Piers Plowright
- Lorenz Rollhäuser (Prix Europa 2008)
- Steve Rowland
- Jane Ulman
- Nancy Updike
- Emil Benčík
- Association of Independents in Radio
- American RadioWorks
- Archive.org Audio
- Hearing Voices
- Public Radio eXchange
- Radio Diaries
- RTE Documentary On One
- Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
- This American Life
- Third Coast International Audio Festival
- Tune In - Radio Documentaries
Notable programs by region
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Radio documentaries.|
- Alabama Life
- America Abroad
- American Radio Works - documentaries
- APM Reports
- Babe Ruth's Major League Debut: 100th. Anniversary Radio documentary series about baseball star Babe Ruth featuring interviews, documentaries, and tributes.
- Crossing East Radio documentary series about Asian migration to the United States of America.
- El Nuevo Sol documentaries
- Getting In Radio documentary series produced by Slate magazine about applying for college.
- Human Media Radio documentary production group.
- Happy Presidents Day! Conversations, speeches, and documentaries about American presidents.
- International Day of Peace
- Lichtenstein Creative Media
- KCRW - Sonic Trace
- KCRW - Strangers
- KCUR documentaries and specials
- KQED documentaries
- Making Contact
- Michele Freeman Radio documentary-maker.
- Michigan Radio series & documentaries
- Nature Stories
- New York Academy
- 99% Invisible Radio documentary programme about architecture and design.
- NPR Disney Radio Hall documentaries
- NYC Media - Secrets of New York
- Outside/In Documentary series about nature and how humankind uses it.
- Pacifica Radio Network's Audioport
- PBS - Frontline Audiocast
- PBS - Point Of View
- PBS - The American Experience
- Post-Apartheid South Africa: 20 Years On Radio documentary series.
- PRI - Whose Century Is It?
- PRX Remix
- Radio Diaries of Sciences - Science & The City
- Radiolab Presents: More Perfect
- Rowan radio documentaries
- RT radio documentaries
- Siobhan McHugh Radio documentary-maker.
- Smithsonian Folkways Record label that produces recordings of music and radio documentaries.
- Sound Portraits
- SoundFeatures.Com - Updated listing of downloadable documentaries
- State Of The Re:Union
- Stuff They Don't Want You To Know Radio documentary series examining conspiracy theories.
- Talking History
- The Changing World
- The Heart
- The Kitchen Sisters Radio documentary-makers.
- The Listening Lounge
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness Radio documentary series
- The Outside Podcast
- The Stanley Foundation radio documentaries
- The 7th. Avenue Project Radio programme featuring documentaries and interviews.
- The Trail
- The Uncertain Hour
- The Untold
- Us & Them
- Vinny Hurrell
- The World In Words Radio documentary series about linguistics.
- This Thing Called Love
- Voices of the First World War Radio documentary series by the Imperial War Museum about the First World War.
- Metropocalypse Documentary series about issues related to the Washington D.C. railways.
- WBUR - Inside Out
- WFIU - Profiles
- WNYC - Documentary of the Week
- WNYC - Documentary Specials
- WNYC - Radio Rookies
- WNYC - There Goes The Neighborhood Documentary series about the gentrification of Brooklyn.
- CBC - As It Happened
- CBC - Back Story
- CBC - By Design
- CBC - Rewind
- CBC - Stripped Documentary series about the human body.
- CBC - The Doc Project
- CBC - The Sunday Edition Radio programme featuring interviews, music, and radio documentaries.
- NPO radio documentaries Dutch radio documentaries.
- ABC Radio National - Background Briefing
- ABC Radio National - Current Affairs Specials
- ABC Radio National - Earshot
- ABC Radio National - Hindsight
- ABC Radio National - Mongrel Nation Six-part radio documentary series about immigration and multiculturalism in Australia.
- ABC Radio National - Pocketdocs
- ABC Radio National - Radio Eye
- ABC Radio National - Showcase
- ABC Radio National - The Night Air
- ABC Radio National - 360 Documentaries
- SBS - The Story Untold - Part 1 Part 1 of the radio documentary The Story Untold, which is about the possibility of contact between people from the Indian subcontinent with the Indigenous people of Australia during the Stone Age.
- SBS - The Story Untold - Part 2 Part 2 of the radio documentary The Story Untold, which is about the possibility of contact between people from the Indian subcontinent with the Indigenous people of Australia during the Stone Age.
- Radio New Zealand - A Wrinkle In Time Radio documentary series about ageing.
- Radio New Zealand - Spectrum
- Radio New Zealand - Sunday Morning With Wallace Chapman
UK and Republic of Ireland
- BBC - Newshour Extra
- BBC Radio Documentaries available to listen to online
- BBC Radio 2 - World War One Radio documentary about World War One
- BBC Radio 3 - The Radio 3 Documentary
- BBC Radio 4 - Punt PI Humorous radio documentary series.
- BBC - The Radio Ballads
- BBC World Service documentaries
- Carson, Saul (1949). "Notes toward an Examination of the Radio Documentary". Hollywood Quarterly. 4: 69–74.
- Carrier, Scott (3 Feb 2014). "A Brief History of Documentary Forms". transom.org. Retrieved 2 Dec 2016.
- Shiffman, Dan (1996). "A Standard for the Wise and Honest: The "Americans All…Immigrants All" Radio Broadcasts". Studies in Popular Culture. 19: 99–107 – via JSTOR.
- Suisman, David (2012). "Listening to the City". Smithsonian Folkways Magazine.
- Ehrlich, Matthew C. (2011). Radio Utopia: Postwar Audio Documentary in the Public Interest. University of Illinois Press. pp. 46–70 – via JSTOR.
- "National Public Radio (NPR) | American organization". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
- "Audio Division". Federal Communications Commission. 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
- "Siobhan McHugh".
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