And it turns out that Bill McKibben captured a lot of what I was trying to say about Radiolab in a section of his article on public radio’s renaissance.

Tough as the show’s topics are, and demanding as the sound can be, it’s also remarkably intimate because of the interplay between Krulwich and Abumrad. “We knew we could make the material interesting to each other, and that if we did it in duet form and showed our affection to each other, it would be kind of a warm place,” says Krulwich. “That’s intentional, because the subjects are kind of cool. So we thought the mood should be warm and seductive. We’re not afraid to say ‘this is hard and we don’t get it either.’”

And what happens when you take this much care, and include this much of your humanity?

“I remember when the show began, I’d get this comment all the time: ‘I really can’t wash the dishes when I listen to you guys,’” says Abumrad.

Meaning, there’s an expectation that when the radio is on you’re only using a quarter of your brain. But now that we’ve got podcasting, people will put it on iPods or whatever. People will listen to it many times, will appreciate the layers and the details.

Think about it. People will repeat this unchanging, monosensory experience over and over–paying too much attention to also wash the dishes–because it is deep, and rich, and textured, and changes the meaning that you can find in the world.

–Katherine

Comments »

The brilliant folks at RadioLab relaunched their website. They’ve tagged their stories as being gut-wrenching, heart-swelling, knee-slapping or mind-bending. Imagine the exhibitions we could create by developing to those categories.

- Katherine

Comments »