Out of Focus

Pausing for Podcasts: Radiolab Digs Through the Dirt

As I've discussed before, I'm addicted to Podcasts. In an era where polemical talk radio dominates the airwaves and in a city like New York where most of us barely listen to radio because we don't drive to work each day, for me, the "Podcast" as an entity has had quite an impact. I've always listened to NPR here and there, but I've never had the chance to listen to some programs (and discover others) as regularly as since discovering podcasts two or three years ago.

One of the best radio shows around is WNYC's Radiolab. If absence truly does make the heart grow fonder, people should be fondest of Radiolab. The hour-long program which uses science to look at a variety of interesting subjects is produced in seasons of only five episodes each. Maybe the amount of time and care taken to produce each hour is why the show is so damn fascinating and phenomenal. I have yet to listen to an episode that hasn't kept me riveted. As I only discovered the show a few months ago, everything is still new to me.

The episodes are rebroadcast on WNYC every two weeks, and then posted as podcasts . I just got around to listening to one episode that was posted at the end of September but originally aired in April 2006. The episode is called "Detective Stories". The episode is summarized on their web site as follows:

Forensics, archeology, genealogy, and genetics are devoted to figuring out what really happened. In this hour, we hear surprising stories of playing detective and finding that what really happened in the past is not at all what you’d expected. We start at a trash dump in Egypt, where we find Jesus, Satan, sissies, and porn. Next, the mystery of why hundreds of old letters written to the same woman were discovered on the side of Route 101. And lastly, a blood sampling tour of Asia reveals a prolific baby-maker and potentially a world conqueror.

The final two stories are particularly fascinating. I found myself laughing out loud in the grocery store last night during parts of "Goat on a Cow," only minutes after being saddened by the central events in the story. And the implications presented in "Genghis Kahn" are no less jaw dropping.

Give Radiolab a try. It's another one of those radio shows that proves why at one time even television was considered to possibly be simply nothing more than a fad that could never completely replace radio. Just like talkies!

PAUSING FOR PODCASTS: DIVORCE GIVING ME CHILLS

There was a new episode of This American Life this weekend, and the theme was "Break-up." As usual, the entire episode is excellent, but nothing stuck me quite as powerfully as the second act called "But why?"

During a very tight 10 minutes, they first played an interview from 1987 when Noah Adams -- then host of All Things Considered -- talked to eight-year-old ("Nine, next month") Betsy Walters, a young girl trying to deal with her parents' recent divorce. She had written a letter to then-NYC mayor Ed Koch, asking for some advice on how to handle things. She figured since he was the mayor, he must be smart and might have an idea on how to help. Of course she wanted her parents to get back together, but all she was looking for was an answer as to why? The second half of the This American Life piece was another interview between Betsy -- now an elementary school teacher -- and Adams today, as she's almost 29.

I'm a child of divorce. My parents got married quite young -- Dad was 22, Mom not yet 20 -- and by the time I was four, they had been married 10 years ... but that was more than enough. I'll be 36 in just over three weeks. By this time in my father's life, he had an eight-year-old son and my parents had already been apart for four years. It was only once I reached my very late 20s and really early 30s that I even started to realize how growing up in this environment affected me. Don't get me wrong: my parents' divorce was probably the best thing possible in terms of me and my upbringing, and as far as divorced couples go, my parents handled it very well, never arguing in front of me; always making sure that I had a home with and knew I was wanted by both of them; and always making sure that every child's fear -- What did I do? -- was definitely not the case. Being a child of the '70s, I don't think my story is all that unique, and I think in lots of ways, I was likely luckier than many.

But this experience of mine certainly played a part in me finding myself virtually stopped cold on 42nd Street tonight, walking back to the subway after a show at Signature Theatre Company, and hearing this little, eight-year-old voice full of pain and confusion asking why? Why did her parents have to split up? Why couldn't or wouldn't they get back together? They tell me it's not my fault, and I don't think it's my fault? But ... why? At one point, Adams asks her if she now understands her parents divorce better, and she answered no. He then asked what she still doesn't understand. Transcribing the following doesn't have the proper impact, but even so:

Why did they have to go off and do it? Because, see, the most painful part was when I saw my dad packing up, and I really don't understand because ... it's hard because they won't tell me what happened to them, and I really want them back together and I don't understand why they can't.

When Adams and Walters begin their modern-day chat, it was fascinating to hear Walters describe how even though she remembers the 20 year old experience vividly, hearing it now as an adult with a greater understanding of what did actually happen was painful in an entirely different way. In her own words:

Then recently, I heard it as an adult, and it was so heartbreaking. I didn't think it was so sad when it was me. It was just what was going on. It made me sad to hear the pain in my voice, confusion, and now I hear it even differently as an educator.

There are certain things that certain media do quite well -- often better than others. There is a reason why This American Life is such a successful show -- because it uses the format of radio the best way possible. The juxtaposition of these two interviews, I would bet, is much stronger happening without a visual accompaniment. The emotion -- whether we would recognize it or not -- comes from the sound and tone of this little girl in a way that is likely far more effective -- and focused -- than had it been accompanied by her sad face. That may seem hard to believe, and yet, I'd still argue it to be true. I didn't give it all away: go listen for yourself.

THIS WEEK'S OLD YET NEW AMERICAN LIFE

I'll admit it: I was late to the party. I had heard about PRI's This American Life for years, but it wasn't until I started regularly subscribing to Podcasts that I became a regular -- and utterly addicted -- listener. I don't actually have Showtime right now (yeah, yeah ... it's actually far more disturbing to me than possibly surprising to you) so I haven't seen the recent TV show, but every weekend without fail, my little Podcast subscription downloads the current week's This American Life to my iTunes and then it becomes regular listening to/from work.

Strangely enough, for a listener-come-lately like me, one of the coolest things about the show is that brand new episodes air only every three weeks. In the interim weeks, they replay hours from the entire history of the show. And since the only episode that is ever downloadable for free (although I believe they're all available via streaming) is the most recent, it's nice to be able to hear older -- and yet still interesting and even topical -- episodes that remain new ... at least to me.

This week's episode was, it turns out, to be one of the earliest broadcasts of this 12-year-old program. It's number 14 of a total of 336 broadcasts, but you'd never know it. It's called "Accidental Documentaries" and features several found recordings: tapes discovered in thrift shops, basements, etc. While the entire show is interesting, the first act is the most compelling as we listen to a midwestern family who recorded "letters" to their male son/brother who was in medical school in California at the time. The recording perfectly depicts a family that was likely not all so unique at a very specific time in our country's social history. I highly recommend you check out this (and other) episodes whether you're a regular listener or not.

While I'm at it, there are two other old-but-new episodes which I found particularly fascinating and, if you have the time, you should consider streaming. "Notes on Camp" is a must-listen for anyone who went to summer camp growing up. The final piece, called "Color Days" is especially riveting -- humorous and entertaining, but truly revealing as well about adolescent social structures and rituals. The other episode that comes to mind is "81 Words" which is fairly unique to the program as the entire hour is dedicated to one story. The episode takes a look at the history of the American Psychiatric Association's treatment of homosexuality: before 1973, homosexuality was officially considered a mental illness. The story told is a personal one; a family history from the perspective of a woman named Alix Spiegel whose grandfather was not only a one-time president of the APA, but also a member of a secret group of gay psychiatrists who worked to change the official designation. Before that time, it was not possible to be a psychiatrist and openly homosexual. Check them out if you have the time.