Our guest today is Jonathan Mitchell, a seasoned radio producer, sound designer and composer whose work has appeared on Studio 360, Radiolab, This American Life, Fair Game, The Next Big Thing, Living on Earth, Weekend America, Marketplace, and All Things Considered. Wow!
What’s most exciting is that Jonathan is a lifelong fan of radio drama, and has created a new series called The Truth, a new fiction program for public radio produced by Jonathan Mitchell and American Public Media.
We feature The Truth’s debut piece, Moon Graffiti, the uses a script written for Richard Nixon in the event of a failed moon landing to explore what might have been said on the surface of the moon if the astronauts knew they weren’t coming home. We also talk to Jonathan, who has a lot of interesting things to say about radio drama (as evidenced in this excellent article on modern radio drama that appeared on Transom).
Our Captain Radio review this week is a double-header, featuring two Chicago based gumshoes, Murder on the Evanston Express and Trouble’s Up in Alphabet Town (a new serial).
It’s a great week of listening – dig in!
I listen to NPR at work and I heard this today and liked it so much I had to come home and listen to it again. It really gets me interested in checking out more of the audio dramas. I feel like I’ve stumbled onto a lost art. I hope more people will enjoy this as much as I did. I plan to spread the word.
Thanks Arlen! Yes, Jonathan Mitchell’s work is excellent – and I’m so thrilled you’ve stumbled across our site, there is so, so much more to listen to out there (though nothing is quite like what Jonathan is up to). Welcome! And let me know if I can help you by sending along any particular links.
Best,
Fred