Father's Day Editor's Picks
More fun than another fishing pole or golf-themed tie.
Table of Contents
Hour Specials
- Family and Dads
B-Side Radio, 54:00 - A little unsolicited advice and some fatherly humor as we explore our relationships with people we're tied to by blood or common history.
- Father Figures
HearingVoices, 54:00 - Paternal praise, pride, disappointment and love.
- Life Stories - Families: Fathers, Sons & Brothers
Jay Allison, 59:00 - Four stories of men and family.
- Father's Day - A musical celebration
Kate Borger, 59:00 - A romping roots music celebration of Fathers, Papas and Ding Dong Daddies.
Half-Hour
- My Dad and Pre-Socratic Thought
KUFM - Montana Public Radio, 29:43 - A humorous monologue, from a young boy's point of view, about growing up with a Depression-era Christian Scientist Dad.
- Father's Favorite Shortcut
Peter Bochan, 27:36 - A classic mix of memorable music, clips and interviews with Dad.
- My Dad Died
Nanci Olesen, 29:00 - Seven journal entries chronicling loss.
- "There are several points made in such a wonderful way that they could be modern-day Proverbs." - Anderson
- The Dad Plan
HearingVoices, 29:00 - Features about fathers from Hearing Voices.
Cutaways and Segments (6-22:00)
- Grandfather
Sarah Neal, 07:23 - Sarah's grandfather taped hours of his thoughts for her when she was two. He then hid the tapes away to be found after he died.
- "For The Children" by Scott Russell Sanders
Paul Messing, 14:02 - This is an essay from Sanders' upcoming book, to children of future generations, telling them about his love of nature and about his hope that, because of our wise actions today, they will inherit a flourishing Earth.
- The Ground We Lived On
Sound Portraits, 11:33 - Journalist Adrian Nicole LeBlanc faces mortality and loss in recordings she made during the last months of her father's life.
- My Dad's Records
Outfront, 14:05 - Kent Hoffman draws an intimate portrait of his late father through the memories triggered by an inherited record collection.
- Dad & Daws (Father's Day)
Joe Bevilacqua, 10:46 - A personal essay on how a volatile father's gift led to a career.
- In So Many Words
Teresa Goff, 22:00 - A story about a father and daughter. It is about loss, hope and humility.
- Dads
Sue Mell, 08:45 - People talking about their dads.
- "There are unexpectedly poignant moments in these brief interviews which are somehow simultaneously casual and intimate." - Allison
- Tiger Balm and Batman Comics
Outfront, 13:28 - Edward Lee has questions about his family's immigration to Canada, and the only person he can ask is his father.
- "This is a wonderful and earnest journey to reclaim a history - a family connection." - Merrick
- Sarah's Dream
SALT, 06:24 - Ten-year old Sarah Nichols is training to become a licensed hot air balloon pilot. With help from her dad, Sarah is in the air and well on her way to making it happen.
Drop-Ins and Interstitials (Under 6:00)
- My Dad's Private Diet
Curie Youth Radio, 01:22 - Under a diagnosis of high cholesterol and the watchful eyes of his wife, Berenice's father depends on his daughter to cover him while he sneaks ice cream from the freezer.
- Remembering My Father
Judah Bruce Leblang, 03:15 - A son's rememberance of and tribute to his dad.
- Doc Merrick
Viki Merrick, 03:35 - A father-daughter coming of age story.
- From The Heart
Bill Slammon, 01:59 - Story about my father's decision to stop medical treatment.
- Son of a Coalminer
Appalachian Media Institute, 02:55 - Josh Fleming grew up in a family of miners. In this piece he talks with his father about what being a coal miner has meant to his family and why he values the profession despite its risks.
- Don't You Have Some Homework To Do?
Blunt Youth Radio Project, 02:19 - Eating toast, watching TV, playing guitar, these are the things David Barber-Callaghan likes to do on the weekend. But his father has a different idea of what the weekend is for.
- StoryCorps: Billy Collins
StoryCorps, 01:28 - New York State poet laureate Billy Collins tells his friend Nancy Cobb about his father's penchant for practical jokes.
- "Funny and intimate. Put anywhere in your program schedule that a bright spot is needed." - Astley
- Rock Lung
Appalachian Media Institute, 05:37 - Even though Danny 'Hoot' Campbell has developed 'rock lung' from working in the mines he still recommends the profession to the next generation. Autumn Campbell describes what it's like to grow up as the daughter of a coal miner and asks her father what options young people in the area have for the future.
- Jumping Off The Raft Without Dad
Nanci Olesen, 03:21 - Dad was the fun one, jumping off the raft and acting crazy. Now Father's Day is coming again and we miss him like crazy.
- Father's Day Tribute: Fix'er Up, Dad
Joshua Kilpatrick, 02:44 - A Father's Day Tribute to a Dad who love to fix things.
- Apology Accepted
Matthew Cowley, 03:42 - Late night phone call to Dad.
- "Alright, senorita and senor PDs, if you have missed this short gem till now, this is your chance to score major points with your listeners." - Hassan
- "I Still Love Him...Oh Well."
Curie Youth Radio, 02:21 - The struggle to accept that your parent didn't put you first.
- Gunsmoke on Father's Day
TL Wagner, 05:52 - My attempt to get Marshall Matt Dillon's autograph for my Dad.
- What We Wish We Could Tell Our Parents
Curie Youth Radio, 01:30 - Through this vox-pop, the entire world gets to hear the secrets that teenagers will never reveal to their parents.
- Stoplight
Conrad Bishop, 01:40 - A module from "Family Snapshots," sixty-five 90-second dramas about family life, broadcast from 1994 to the present on more than 70 stations.
- Letter from the Dead
New California Media, 03:19 - Commentary: a letter from a father, five years after his death.
- "It has all of those desired elements that make a perfect commentary: traces of irony, a narrative arc, it is sweet but not sentimental. And like all good radio for a moment it transports you elsewhere." - Merz
- Man in the Bed
Western Folklife Center Media, 04:05 - Songwriter Dave Alvin describes his song "Man in the Bed" which tells the story of the last day of his father's life.
- Three Generations In Manila
Paul McDonald, 02:01 - Three generations of fathers and sons meet (in spirit) at a cemetery in Manila in search of healing.
- Father's Day
Jake Warga, 05:25 - Clearing out stuff of his parents' 10 years after their death, producer Jake Warga found a box of cassettes of his father interviewing him when he was a kid.
- StoryCorps: John and David Heins
StoryCorps, 01:37 - David Heins talks to his father, John, about being a parent.
- Dad and Sam (Locked in Brotherhood)
Jay Allison, 04:45 - A short meditation on the relationship between my father and his mentally disabled older brother, Sam.
- A Better Father
Viki Merrick, 06:21 - Reflections on being a father.
Image by Steven Tom.
© 2007, The Public Radio Exchange
