PODCAST

Sound School Podcast

Rob Rosenthal/PRX/Transom.org

The Backstory to Great Audio Storytelling, hosted by Rob Rosenthal, for Transom and PRX.

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All Episodes

32:53

Seeking Small True Things

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/11/18

Audio reporter Samantha Broun says young people are "full of life, complicated, passionate, confused, and they want to talk and want to be heard." That's why Sam offers them her curiosity and her caring ear for her project "Small True Things." Rob spoke to Sam in October for Sound School on the mainstage at the annual Audio Festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

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14:04

Revisiting: Hang A Picture In Front of the Microphone

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/11/04

Susan Stamberg sang her own song at NPR. Her writing and her voice, you could always tell it was Susan behind the mic. She died at the age of 87 in October. In honor of Susan, we present this archive episode of Sound School where she lays out her best practices for reporting on the visual arts.

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24:49

When Funny Points to Truth

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/10/21

Neena Pathak produced a very touching story about grieving the death of her father. She says the humor in the story wasn't uncouth. It was how she captured the truth.

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15:16

Revisiting: Fill Your Notebook with Color Notes

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/10/07

In this archive episode from 2018, legendary NPR reporter and raconteur John Burnett answers a perplexing question "How to make an immigration story visual when no mics are allowed in the courtroom?" Answer: Fill your note book with color notes.

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15:30

Host Sits Down With a Reporter

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/09/23

"Host sits down with a reporter." That's a good way to describe how Radiolab stories are produced. Same with "two-ways" on NPR. You can hear those approaches everywhere. But, how else can a "host sit down with a reporter?" The Ghost of a Chance podcast from the Minnesota Star Tribune offers a solid example.

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28:05

Writing Like TV in a Podcast

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/09/09

Writing like it's a television drama complete with instructions for a camera operator. That's an unusual maneuver for a podcast. One I'd never heard before. Neither had Susan Burton until she wrote that way herself in the latest season of The Retrievals, a production from Serial and The New York Times.

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22:01

Fill Your Pockets With Endings

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/08/26

NPR's Robert Smith says when he's writing and gets to the end of a story he has empty pockets. He's used all the good stuff and left nothing for the end. To combat that problem, Robert studied endings from some of his favorite reporters and put together a list of categories that broadly describe memorable story endings.

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16:08

Sound Design - Don't Say Rabbit, See Rabbit

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/08/12

"Don't say rabbit, see rabbit." Write it on a sticky note and post it where you can see it at all times. It's a mantra that will save you from cheesy sound design.

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33:10

Revisiting: Interviewing Shy People

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/07/29

A constant piece of advice for producers is "Find a good talker." But what about shy people? Given their reticence, they may not be great talkers but they may have a good story to tell. The question is "How do you help shy people open up?" Erika Lantz and her sister Elin Lantz-Lesser of The Turning podcast have answers. Good ones.

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30:13

Asking Dad Dicey Questions

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/07/15

Zach Mack really put it to his father. For "Alternate Realities," a series from NPR's "Embedded" podcast, Zach asked his dad pointed questions about the conspiracy theories he believes in that are driving a wedge into the family. On this episode of Sound School, Zach talks to Sally Herships of Radio Boot Camp about the challenges of asking dicey questions.

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28:43

Revisiting - Think of a Radio Station (or Podcast) as...

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/07/01

"I think of radio stations as musical instruments." That's what Steve Junker, the managing editor at WCAI said to Rob over a couple of drinks one night. Soon after, Rob put Steve in front of a mic and asked him "What the heck are you talking about??"

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09:10

Writing Makes All the Difference - Beautifully...

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/06/17

It's time for Leila Fadel at NPR to receive another award for her reporting. Last December, her stories from Syria after the fall of Assad were essential listening. And, as Rob notes in this episode of Sound School, her writing was top-notch.

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14:04

Writing Makes All the Difference: The Episode Handshake

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/06/03

There's a reason why serialized podcast episodes often start with "Last time on (insert name of podcast)" followed by a montage of quotes. It works. It's an effective way to help bring a listener back into a story. But it's used *far* too often. Surely, there's a better way, right? Rob spotlights the way writer and reporter Basia Cummings avoided the trope in "Pig Iron."

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22:50

Revisiting - A Trip to the Dentist

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/05/20

A dear friend of Transom and all creative audio producers passed way last month -- Larry Massett. This episode of Sound School joins the chorus of voices on Transom marking Larry's passing. Rob presents "A Trip to the Dentist," a legendary story Larry made in 1977 for NPR. Easily one of the most hallucinogenic stories aired on the network. You'll want your headphones on for this episode.

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17:22

Writing Makes All the Difference, Part 1

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/05/06

I don't care how much good tape you have. I don't care if the scoring and mixing are superlative. I don't care if the narrator is a solid storyteller. If a story lacks strong writing, the story will fall flat. Great writing is essential. On this episode of Sound School, the brilliant writing in the podcast Noble.

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21:46

Revisiting: My Kingdom for Some Structure

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/04/22

You've got all the good tape you need. Now what? How do you structure the story? Bradley Campbell has a few suggestions. He sketched them -- on cocktail napkins!

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26:11

Champions of Old Radio

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/04/08

Take a short walk into deep radio history. Julia Barton and Sarah Montague join Rob to talk about two audio storytelling classics from the 1930s: "Seems Like Radio Is Here to Stay," an homage to radio by Norman Corwin, and the anti-fascist play "The Fall of the City," by Archibald MacLiesh. Old school radio at its best!

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13:15

Beware the Chicken Bomb

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/03/26

The best way -- sometimes the *only* way -- to describe an element in a story that is disruptive and distracting for listeners is this: chicken bomb. This year, 2025, is the 20th anniversary of "chicken bomb" entering the lexicon of audio storytelling. What exactly is it? With help from Ira Glass, we'll explain.

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06:38

Amen, Chenjerai (Bonus Episode)

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/03/18

In this bonus episode, Rob takes his conversation with Chenjerai Kumanyika one step further. He digs in a bit more to the big question from the last episode: Who is the "you" telling this story now?"

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42:05

Amen, Chenjerai

Sound School Podcast ·

2025/03/11

Chenjerai Kumanyika delivered the goods. Rob interviewed Chenjerai on stage at the recent On Air Fest where Chenjraie was passionate, animated, and electric as he talked about a question he sees as essential for anyone in audio storytelling to consider. We're sure you'll be as transfixed as the audience.

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