Revisiting: Fill Your Notebook with Color Notes

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. 

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. 

"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. 

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. 

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.

"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. 

 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. 

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. 

"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??" 

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.