Playlist: News Station Picks for November
Compiled By: PRX Editors
Looking for news picks for December? PRX Format Curators are here to help stations quickly locate radio pieces that are more relevant to their local air. Format Curators are very good in their fields: they have proven content expertise and have worked at local stations. They get the challenges of programming to a specific format and a local sound. Here are the November picks for News stations from Julianne Welby of the Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI). Julianne Welby's 18 years in public radio include reporting and producing stints in Salisbury, MD, Washington, DC, and New York City, where she was WFUV's News Director for 8 years. She's now an editor in WNYC's... Show full description
Turkeys
From Hearing Voices | Part of the Scott Carrier stories series | 06:39
This grim, sound-rich journey, which aired on Hearing Voices and WATC, goes from farm to factory to supermarket. In 6 minutes, deadpan reporter Scott Carrier introduces us to an insouciant farmer who says turkeys are "suicidal by nature," and a frank factory rep who narrates the slaughter step-by-step.
At times, the sound is indistinguishable -- it could be an assembly plant in Detroit. Ultimately, you know what you're hearing, and you reconsider the main course for Thanksgiving.
- Playing
- Turkeys
- From
- Hearing Voices
From turkey farm to supermarket, the life and death of a turkey.
Buffalo Turkey Butt
From Andy Raskin | 07:05
Storyteller Andy Raskin is on a quest for the "delicious, best tasting ugly piece of meat," at least according to the panhandler who joins him. This 7-minute "tail" is more about welcoming unusual characters into life than adventurous eating.
- Playing
- Buffalo Turkey Butt
- From
- Andy Raskin
This piece follows a San Francisco panhandler (who is not homeless) on a quest to find an elusive delicacy known as Buffalo Turkey Butt.
* Note: If you have room in your show and you can ID me as follows, much obliged!
"Andy Raskin is the author of the forthcoming memoir, The Ramen King and I : How the Inventor of Instant Noodles Fixed My Love Life. More info at WWW dot Andy Raskin dot com."
The Gastronauts
From WFUV | 09:38
Anyone willing to eat turkey butt or camel would fit in well with this group of culinarily curious friends in New York City (they actually search for chicken butts). Producer Jody Avirgan invites us to a 9-minute telescoped meal with people known to eat live shrimp and octopus, hooves and bone marrow.
- Playing
- The Gastronauts
- From
- WFUV
The Gastronauts are a group of adventurous eaters who get together once a month to push their culinary limits and explore the most exotic food New York City has to offer. In the past, the Gastronauts have eaten inch-long Nigerian snails, fried Pork Belly and - most famously - live, squirming Octopus.
This piece follows the Gastronauts to the Rudar Soccer Club, a beer hall/restaurant in Long Island City, Queens that serves traditional Istrian (western Croatia) cuisine. It features interviews/stories with the group's three founders, sound of the night's festivities, all interweaved with the music of the Tin Hat Trio, Tosca Tango Orchestra and Kronos Quartet.
Getting Full For Free: Dumpster Diving in the D
From Zak Rosen | 05:07
I enjoyed every moment of this on-site interview, and I'm glad it's not a narrated feature. Host Zak Rosen asks visual, open-ended questions as he follows a woman who's been foraging for food in Detroit dumpsters for years. It feels like a treasure hunt as we jump in and look for the heavy bags -- the ones more likely to yield good ingredients. In 5 short minutes, it's a very human story about frugality, waste and recycling.
- Playing
- Getting Full For Free: Dumpster Diving in the D
- From
- Zak Rosen
Detroiter Jean Wilson took WDET's Zak Rosen to one of her favorite organic markets the other night. Well, actually, she took him to dumpster behind the market to talk all about how she and a lot of other people are getting full for free in Metro Detroit. Jean Wilson has been diving for herself, friends, neighbors, and even her mother for more than five years. The 50-year old Wilson estimates she's spent $50 on food in the last five years!
Commentary on Food and Cooking
From Adam Hirsch | 03:26
Here's a lovely and well-voiced meditation on the humanity we find in the act of preparing food. Adam Hirsch reflects on a humble childhood with farm-raised meals and his mother's cooking, and how it shaped his own attitude about food. There's an oblique and effective message about buying local. At a concise 3 minutes, it would pair nicely with other programming on the subject.
- Playing
- Commentary on Food and Cooking
- From
- Adam Hirsch
I grew up on a farm, eating and cooking the food we grew in the garden -- later I worked in a restaurant, and now, as a grad student, my relationship with food and cooking is one that (literally) sustains me and brings me closer to the people I love.
This is a short personal commentary I wrote for a radio production class.
Smell of Onions Frying
From Susan Barrett Price | 02:50
Producer Susan B. Price also remembers her mother's cooking, and it's the gateway to some poetic reflection about a transitional time in her life. The music and sound work well with her read.
Bon Appetit!
- Playing
- Smell of Onions Frying
- From
- Susan Barrett Price
A mellow piece about those moments when a smell or taste or sound floods back memories. The smell of onions frying takes me back to a moment of family belonging... but also a moment when independence and adulthood was just around the corner...