Joined PRX: April 26, 2005

CDS radio projects explore American lives and communities through the intimate power of sound. They emphasize storytelling and audio verite: the sound of life happening. Featuring multiple voices, real-life scenes, and in-depth fieldwork, they tell stories that advance understanding about society and explore, even if implicitly, questions of human dignity and justice.

More broadly, audio programs at CDS are multifaceted, reflecting a commitment to the teaching, making, and presentation of documentary work. Students in undergraduate and continuing studies courses, as well as participants in CDS audio institutes, learn various skills--from sound recording to writing and scripting to digital mixing. Students hear audio work from many genres and explore broader issues such as documentary ethics and producer-subject relationships. Pieces produced at CDS summer institutes have been played before rooms filled with people from local neighborhoods whose stories are being told; student pieces have also found homes on a variety of radio outlets, from WUNC and WNCU in the Triangle region of North Carolina to PRX, NPR and This American Life.

In addition to teaching, audio program director John Biewen produces documentaries and features for National Public Radio, American Public Media, and other radio and online audiences, often in collaboration with other CDS staff, independent producers, or public radio stations.