Witness to an Execution

Cloe Axelson, a senior editor at WBUR, was feeling like the essays she produced that were written by listeners weren't sounding conversational enough -- until she deployed this one simple trick. It's a trick any producer could use to help narrators sound more like themselves.

How powerful can audio storytelling be? So powerful that distraught listeners stand-up, wave their arms, and yell "Turn it off! Turn it off!" That's how good the documentary we're featuring on Sound School is. 

Jad Abumrad and FayFay Odudu, drop some valuable audio storytelling reporting and production insights on the latest episode of Sound School. Jad and FayFay recently earned a Peabody Award for "Fela Kuti: Fear No Man," the podcast about Fela, the Nigerian saxophone player and political activist. Jad and FayFay sat down with Lesedi Mogoathle in February for an online chat sponsored by Radio Workshop. It's a valuable conversation you'll want to hear. 

Almost every reporting trip has its pitfalls. Andrew Leland's story for Radiolab in 2022 had more than most including nausea, flying in the equivalent of zero gravity, and his blindness. On this encore episode of Sound School, Andrew lays out how he navigated it all. 

You could describe it as a long walk. Or a climb up a hill. But, it seems like Salman Khan's path to launching a new podcast was more like a slow, persistent march. Hear how Salman practically willed "More Muslim" into existence on the latest Sound School. It's inspiring. 

Back when I worked at radio stations, people joked "Silence is bad juju." We're not supposed to include much, if any, silence in audio stories -- for broadcast or podcast. Noam Hassenfeld went the opposite direction and embraced silence -- lots of it! -- on a recent episode of Unexplainable, the science podcast from Vox. Noam explains how he craftily deployed silence in his storytelling on this episode of Sound School. 

The first question I had to ask Pejk Malinovsky was "Why the hell did you think that would make for a good radio story?" Of course it was. Pejk followed a cow for eleven hours recording her every move and turned it into a 30-minute documentary. Naturally, Pejk answered saying "A cow a day keeps the boredom away." Find out what he means on this episode of Sound School. 

Julie Shapiro and John Delore made a pilot for the Audio Flux podcast. Okay, now what? How did they go from pilot in 2024 to podcast in late 2025? On this episode of Sound School, a deep dive comparing the Audio Flux pilot to the first episode of the podcast and the thinking behind Julie and John's production choices.

Short Cuts said no. WNYC said no. Hell Gate said no. Even Transom said no. Finally, after about six months of pitching, Will Coley heard "Yes." Will regales us with his story of how he made it to "yes" with his pitch about public nudity on the latest Sound School. 

Noel King says first things first. Before writing a story, take a friend to a bar and tell them the story. On this archive episode of Sound School, Noel says that's the approach she took back when she reported for Planet Money and it worked like a charm. Her writing was more like telling.