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B-Side goes EXTREME with stories about sports that you won't find at the Olympics or the X-Games, any time soon. To get in the mood, the B-Side crew went bowling. This may not sound too extreme to you...and it didn't seem that extreme to us either. But we found than any sport can be extreme if you play it with the right attitude. Liner Notes "Spelling Bee" Rene Gutel: B-Side’s Rene Gutel put together this audio portrait of an extreme speller from rural Pennsylvania, as he prepared for the nationally televised Scripps National Spelling Bee. "Punkin Chunkin" Matt McCleskey: At the World Championship Punkin Chunkin in rural Delaware, people build elaborate machines to make pumpkins fly - kind of like a sport and a science fair and Thanksgiving all rolled into one. "Pigeon Racing" Caitlyn Kim: When you think extreme, pigeon racing is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. But for the birds who fly hundreds of miles at speeds up to 50 miles per hour, it's totally extreme. Just don't call them rats with wings. "Rodeo" Emelie Gunnison: Unfortunately, in extreme sports, there's always a certain amount of danger involved. Emelie Gunnison has this profile of a participant in one of the riskier sports - bull riding.
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Piece Description
B-Side goes EXTREME with stories about sports that you won't find at the Olympics or the X-Games, any time soon. To get in the mood, the B-Side crew went bowling. This may not sound too extreme to you...and it didn't seem that extreme to us either. But we found than any sport can be extreme if you play it with the right attitude. Liner Notes "Spelling Bee" Rene Gutel: B-Side’s Rene Gutel put together this audio portrait of an extreme speller from rural Pennsylvania, as he prepared for the nationally televised Scripps National Spelling Bee. "Punkin Chunkin" Matt McCleskey: At the World Championship Punkin Chunkin in rural Delaware, people build elaborate machines to make pumpkins fly - kind of like a sport and a science fair and Thanksgiving all rolled into one. "Pigeon Racing" Caitlyn Kim: When you think extreme, pigeon racing is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. But for the birds who fly hundreds of miles at speeds up to 50 miles per hour, it's totally extreme. Just don't call them rats with wings. "Rodeo" Emelie Gunnison: Unfortunately, in extreme sports, there's always a certain amount of danger involved. Emelie Gunnison has this profile of a participant in one of the riskier sports - bull riding.
Broadcast History
This show aired on KALX-FM, UC Berkeley's student radio station.
The spelling Bee Story has aired on NPR's Day to Day and on WITF-FM Harrisburg.
Timing and Cues
00:00 B-Side Logo
00:07 Show open, theme
26:52 End music/credits
28:07 Host out music continues
28:51 Record warble sound
29:00 Out
Musical Works
Champion of the Spelling Bee - Marigold
Ben Vaugn
Doin' The Pigeon - Sesame Street
Country Boy Can Survive - Hank Williams Jr.
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Bill McKibben
Posted on November 11, 2004 at 09:59 AM | Permalink
Review of B-Side: Extreme Sports
Hmmm. The framing here is a little questionable--I mean, the bowling isn't really extreme at all. And the pieces are fine but a little predictable--pumpkin firing is one of those inevitable stories that feature reporters get to every year or two. It's done pretty well here, but nothing special. Ditto with pigeon racing. As for spelling, well, many listeners will have viewed Spellbound, the truly exceptional documentary about spelling bees. This take on spelling is okay, just okay. In general, this seems more heavy on attitude than content--if you put pigeons in a truck it's "a pigeon movile home." People "mosey" places. And the bull-riding stuff struck me as condescending. None of it is as offbeat as it really wants to be.