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Playlist: O'Dark 30 episode 174 (4-18)

Compiled By: KUT

Caption: PRX default Playlist image

KUT's O’Dark 30 is now in semi-prime time with more of the very best from the world of independent radio production. Sunday nights at 10 on Austin's KUT 90.5 we present 3 hours of a bit of everything from the world of independent radio production.

Episode 174 (4-18) includes The Things They Carry: Captain Rich Evans...Treeline...Summit '63 - The 50th Anniversary - The First American Tops Mt. Everest...Birdathon...KUT's Views and Brews: Benny Goodman and The Art of Intersection...99% Invisible #68- Built For Speed (Director's Cut)...Episode 10: A Kind of Republican...#35 - Jad's Brain

The Things They Carry: Captain Rich Evans

From Jake Warga | Part of the The Things They Carry: U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan series | 02:49

Part of a series that asks U.S. soldiers serving in Afghanistan what they have to carry around with them every day—from the physical to the emotional...

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A soldier’s personal experience of serving in Afghanistan through what they have to carry—from the physical to the emotional: The helmets, the guns, the reminders of home, the hardships of deployment, things they brought with them, the things they will leave behind.
And the memories they will have to carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Inspired by Tim O’Brien’s Pulitzer-nominated book “The Things They Carried”

The series offers a larger look at what America, as a nation, will have from its longest running war.

This production is part of the Global Story Project, with support from the Open Society Foundations. Presented by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.   

 

 

Treeline

From Jay Allison | Part of the Animals and Other Stories series | 03:40

A vet's story of shootng a blackbird

Playing
Treeline
From
Jay Allison

Animals Vietnam veteran Jim McMullen tells of the he shot a blackbird outside his hometown, and was compelled to destroy his weapons forever. (NOTE TO STATIONS: Be sure to frame this piece as "vintage," produced in the 1980s. While the content holds up fine, you need to note the fact that this story was made about 20 years old, so that you don't unintentionally mislead your listeners into thinking these are contemporary voices.)

Birdathon

From Long Haul Productions | 28:59

Long Haul Productions follows two teams as they compete in the Southwest Michigan Birdathon

Woodcock_small Every spring since 1989, bird lovers in Berrien County, Michigan, (directly across the lake from Chicago,) have taken part in the annual Southwest Michigan Team Birdathon. Birdathons are much like walkathons, but instead of racking up miles for charities, people pledge donations based on the number of birds a team sees or hears. The proceeds are, for this particular event, donated to nature or conservation groups Participants in the southwest Michigan birdathon can start at midnight and go all out until 7 p.m., tracking down as many species as possible within Berrien County. And because the event is held at the height of spring migration near the shores of Lake Michigan, a major corridor for migrating birds, there are literally hundreds of different species teams can tally on their official checklists. Producers Elizabeth Meister and Dan Collison followed two of the 24 teams who took part in last spring's event. One team was made up veteran birders who won the previous year's Birdathon. The other included younger, less experienced members.

KUT's Views and Brews: Benny Goodman and The Art of Intersection

From KUT | Part of the KUT's Views and Brews Remix series | 59:55

In this Views and Brews Remix feature on Benny Goodman host Rebecca McInroy and Rabbi Neil Blumofe engage in a spirited discussion about Goodman's life, music and his relationships to his musicians — specifically, pianist Teddy Wilson, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, and guitarist Charlie Christian-and some of Austin's best musicians help us relive Goodman's style.

Featuring:

Ben Saffer, clarinet
Erik Hokkanen, guitar
Red Young, piano
Roscoe Beck, bass
Brannen Temple, drums

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In the 1930’s, the clarinetist and bandleader, Benny Goodman, brought jazz stylings to mainstream America. What was the lasting significance of Goodman’s contributions beyond the Swing Era? In an age of segregation, creeping fear, and xenophobia, Goodman boldly set forth a new agenda for American music, integrating his band and exasperating the assumptions of culture, sophistication, and assumed ways of life.


What does it mean to be a visionary? How do we balance our dreams and our dramatic idiosyncrasies with the everyday and grueling disciplined life that we must live to make an impact? How do we know if we have been successful? What does success really mean?




99% Invisible #68- Built For Speed (Director's Cut)

From Roman Mars | Part of the 99% Invisible (Director's Cut) series | 10:03

How long are lines on a highway?

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[For standard 4:30 version go to: http://www.prx.org/pieces/90055-99-invisible-68-built-for-speed-standard-4-30]


I want you to conjure an image in your mind of the white stripes that divide the lanes of traffic going the same direction on a major highway. How long are the stripes and the spaces between them?

You can spread your arms out to estimate if you want to.

Over the course of many years, a psychology researcher named Dennis Schafer at Ohio State asked students from many different parts of the country this question and the most common response was that the white stripes are two feet long.

Tom Vanderbilt, author of the brilliant book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), reveals the real answer and some of the other perceptual countermeasures that are designed to make you feel comfortable going way faster than your brain can adequately process.

We also talk about how this design language of exaggerated scale and wide vistas is great for limited access highways, but it’s problematic when these features are grafted onto suburban landscapes where they don’t belong.

All the music in this episode is courtesy of my favorite new label, the Utah based, Hel Audio. Specifically, we played the bands OK Ikumi and Mooninite. Hel Audio focuses on physical releases of electronic and experimental music. I just bought myself the full Hel Audio catalog on four glorious cassette tapes, along with less glorious but more versatile (and free with purchase) digital downloads of the same songs. The tape deck in my twelve-year-old Golf has never been happier.

Episode 10 -- A Kind of Republican

From Decode DC | Part of the DecodeDC series | 26:58

Jim Kolbe, a Republican member of the House of Representatives from 1985-2003, is a political outlier.

Oejimkolbe_small Jim Kolbe, a Republican member of the House of Representatives from 1985-2003, is a political outlier. He is pro-choice, he supports same-sex marriage, and he's against any kind of institutional discrimination. Even more interesting? You probably haven't heard of him.

#35 - Jad's Brain

From HowSound | 17:06

Okay, we're goin' in! Grab your earbuds and don your spelunking light. Our destination? Jad Abumrad's brain.

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Okay, we're goin' in! Grab your earbuds and don your spelunking light. Our destination? Jad Abumrad's brain.

This could get weird.

Jad's a co-host and the producer of Radiolab , a science (and more) program produced at WNYC. Several years ago, Ira Glass was quoted as saying of Jad "there's a new sheriff in town." Why? Jad's production style. Stories on Radiolab fall of the edge of the earth, zip back, swirl around your head, and worm their way into your ears.

Arguably, an episode of Radiolab is equal parts story and composition. On this HowSound, Jad talks about the composition element and what influences his one-of-a-kind production style. If you've wondered why Radiolab sounds the way it does, Jad explains all.

Listen deliberately.

Rob