the narrative decade
I began my radio career scouting stories for NPR’s Snap Judgement back in 2011. For over a decade, I developed a variety of popular podcasts and wrote, reported and produced hundreds of episodes.
Below are a few examples from the programs I helped create.
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daily news
I was invited to Melbourne to co-develop 7am (at Schwartz Media), Australia's first daily narrative news show. Together host Elizabeth Kulas and I built the #1 news podcast in the country, constructing studios, developing workflows, and training a lean, effective staff. I edited 125 episodes in those first six months. The show now has over 1,700 episodes, with more to come.
investigative series
Empire on Blood was a ride-along series, a real-time documentation as Calvin Buari fought to overturn his life sentence. We recorded within prisons, court rooms, and homes of the affected. The show received a number of awards and was ranked #1 on Apple Podcasts.
The judge who oversaw the case later told us our reporting had played a role in his decision to exonerate Buari.
historical series
While learning conversational microbiology wasn’t easy, The Anthrax Threat was primarily a masterclass in tracking and interviewing sources, most of whom had tried to remain hidden. The 100 plus people I interviewed included dozens of retired FBI agents, Americans affected by the attacks, others who’d been accused of committing the attacks, and a scientific field forever changed by the investigation.
science series
Without was an opportunity to develop a thematic series with author Omar El Akkad. Each episode we’d ask “What would the world look like without X?” From cryogenic life insurance salesmen (without death), to India’s sand mafia (without sand), to a riches-to-rags island (without phosphorus), we were continually surprised by the ways science became personal.
and much more
Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of contributing to many of radio/podcastings household names; NPR, BBC, RTE, PRI, iHeart, Vox, Disney, A+E, Gimlet, Buzzfeed, etc. I’ve taken on technical, journalistic, artistic, and editorial roles, on a wide range of programs, accruing an understanding and appreciation for the myriad of parts involved in production.
radio and film
Now I work primarily in film, but the time in radio has proved profoundly helpful. Radio focuses on a discipline of editing stories to their essential parts, only then applying sound to enhance that structure. It’s that structure-focused muscle that I employ now, translating directors narrative ideas into sound.
