The award winning Radio Diaries empowers people to “become reporters of their own lives”–then airs their stories on National Public Radio. Finding voices that often go unheard- teenagers, prisoners, AIDS patients- Radio Diaries trains people to share their stories by keeping audio journals, interviewing the people close to them and recording their daily life.
The moving, evocative and honest audio portraits that result from this kind of direct documentation create an immediate sense of intimacy with the listener. Listening to an audio diary is a personal experience, it draws us into the lives of others and leaves us with stories we will not soon forget.
Thembi’s AIDS Diary documents a year in the life of a South African teenager who has AIDS.
And since 1996, Teenage Diaries has worked with teenagers across the country to report on their own lives and unique circumstances, eventually airing them as radio documentaries for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.
Please join Radio Diaries producer Joe Richman as he plays selections from Thembi’s AIDS Diary and Teenage Diaries, as well some other recent work, as part of the Audio Series Doc Bodega at UnionDocs.
Learn more about Radio Diaries and listen to some stories.
“Richman, a kind of Studs Terkel of the airwaves, has elicited intimate, disarming radio documentaries.”
— Los Angeles Times
“Whether it’s teenagers or prisoners, the broadcasts allow listeners to eavesdrop on the aural journal entries of people they might not ordinarily meet. And because these personal revelations come without fanfare, the immediacy of each solitary voice can be startling.”
— The New York Times
“The characters grab you, their stories crackling with passion and truth.”
— The Washington Post
