Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

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Salt is a thirty-five year old school, gallery, and archive located in Portland, Maine. Students from around the world attend Salt for a fifteen week, intensive semester in documentary photography, writing, or radio. It's like "Outward Bound" for documentary studies. Rob Rosenthal is the Director of the Radio Program. Located in Portland, Maine, Salt can be reached at 207-761-0660 or by emailing info@salt.edu. Many of the pieces here have been broadcast on Maine Public Radio and Maine's community radio stations WMPG and WERU. A few have made it to National Public Radio. We hope the excellent work of our students will now find room in your broadcast schedule.

People who work with Salt Institute for Documentary Studies

User image Rob Rosenthal (Admin) Owner, Shunpike Audio Portland, Maine
User image Amy O'Leary Multimedia Producer Brooklyn, New York
User image Selena Simmons-Duffin Temp Editorial/Production Assistant at NPR Washington, District of Columbia
User image Shane Perry Orono, Maine
Caption: PRX default User image Catherine Spangler Seattle, Washington
Caption: PRX default User image Christine Heinz Portland, Maine
Caption: PRX default User image Sarah Buckingham Columbus/Dayton, OH, Ohio
Caption: PRX default User image donna galluzzo (Admin) Executive Director, the Salt Institute Portland, Maine
User image Alix Blair Chicago, Illinois
Caption: PRX default User image Jamie Yuenger Independent Producer Brooklyn, New York
Caption: PRX default User image Caitlin Allen (Admin) Portland, Maine

Pieces

Caption: Guglielmo Marconi, inventor and early radio technology pioneer. , Credit: Dibner Library for the History of Science and Technology
Artist and writer Dennis Downey's essay on Marconi, an early radio pioneer, and talking on the radio.

  • Added: Jul 26, 2010
  • Length: 00:07:31

  • Added: Jul 12, 2010
  • Length: 00:12:25

  • Added: Jul 05, 2010
  • Length: 00:14:35
  • Licenses: 1
Caption: The Guerette family of Pittston, Maine two years after attackers broke into their home with machetes. , Credit: Sarah Craig
"Left for Dead" is probably the most gruesome story reported by a Salt student. It's not for the faint of heart.

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jul 05, 2010
  • Length: 00:17:50
  • Licenses: 1
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Diane Richard and her husband Todd Melby sure know how to pick a project with a long uphill road to the finish line. On this Saltcast, we talk with...

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jul 05, 2010
  • Length: 00:27:24
  • Licenses: 1
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You didn’t hear this from me, but sometimes the best approach to working on a story is to not have much of a plan.

Bought by KUOW and REMIX


  • Added: Jun 23, 2010
  • Length: 00:14:03
  • Licenses: 2
Caption: Nathan Dyer focuses hard — really hard — on the chandelier., Credit: Morrigan McCarthy
Ninety-nine percent of the time, using the pronoun “I” in a story is a journalistic no-no. But sometimes, it's a useful storytelling tool.

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jun 23, 2010
  • Length: 00:11:47
  • Licenses: 1
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“Ghetto Life 101" is a high-water mark for radio documentary and the story featured on this edition of the Saltcast — our fiftieth!!

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jun 23, 2010
  • Length: 00:38:07
  • Licenses: 1
Caption: Jerry Blackburn, “The Junk King” of the Downeast region of Maine. , Credit: Alexandra Marvar, courtesy of the Salt archive
On this edition of the Saltcast, I chat with Salt alum Josh Gleason about framing a story and listen to his feature "The Junk King."

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jun 21, 2010
  • Length: 00:15:04
  • Licenses: 1
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There are lots of different ways to start a story. Maybe the most common is what I call “Here’s-how-things-are (or were)-here’s-how-they're-differe...

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jun 21, 2010
  • Length: 00:09:50
  • Licenses: 1
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Thought the limerick was a dead artform? A remnant of “ye olde days” that little kids still find humorous? Think again. Molly Haley brings us the ...

  • Added: Jun 21, 2010
  • Length: 00:09:10
Caption: Icebergs ho! The bow of my kayak near Hay Cove, far northern Newfoundland.
The focus of this Saltcast is tension and narrative arc. I dissect an audio postcard of my own, called “Nothing Predictable,” and describe the arc ...

Bought by KUT and REMIX


  • Added: Jun 21, 2010
  • Length: 00:09:02
  • Licenses: 2
Caption: Meatball sub, anyone?, Credit: Catherine Lovell courtesy of the Salt archive
No matter which way producer Audrey Dilling turned in the cafeteria kitchen at Biddeford High School, she was awash in sound, sound, and more sound...

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jun 21, 2010
  • Length: 00:10:11
  • Licenses: 1
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On this Saltcast we feature John’s story “Racial Cleansing In America.” It’s about the expulsion of blacks from Corbin, Kentucky by the town’s whit...

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 00:17:18
  • Licenses: 1
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After sustaining a brain injury in a car accident, Carole Starr was diagnosed with hyperacusis, a severe sensitivity to sound. This would be trauma...

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 00:10:00
  • Licenses: 1
Caption: Rob holds his head in his hands, tears from laughing so hard. , Credit: Adriana Teresa
This fall, the radio students produced a parody of the Saltcast. It’s a riot. And, it’s today’s feature. I admit, it’s a bit of an insider piece bu...

  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 00:08:23
Caption: Make way for Tom Witkowski, the dean of delivery at Pizza Time, Portland, Maine. , Credit: Rebeca Beeman
Mark Kramer, founder of the Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism, says if a story doesn't have an obvious narrative hook, it needs a strong ch...

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 00:08:53
  • Licenses: 1
Caption: Hillary Hebert takes a break after talking about motherhood and bi-polar disorder. , Credit: Keith Lane
We don’t teach “sound art” at Salt, but we do wonder from time-to-time how a feature might benefit from using sound art to tell a story. In particu...

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 00:11:41
  • Licenses: 1
Caption: Have tape deck, will diary.  Josh Cutler, the subject of Joe Richman’s “Josh: Growing Up With Tourrette’s.”
Joe Richman has made some of the best documentaries on public radio. His work is stellar — sound rich, dramatic, personal. On this Saltcast, Joe jo...

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 00:36:00
  • Licenses: 1
Caption: Watch a video tape as a prompt during an interview.
Get people moving and using senses other than their ears during an interview.

Bought by REMIX


  • Added: Jun 16, 2010
  • Length: 00:11:14
  • Licenses: 1