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Piece Description
This work examines what it means to monitor airwaves on patrol, listening in from the perspective of a westerner trained in the nuances of a foreign language, navigating the borders of translation. The piece has been created from a series of extensive interviews with a military linguist. His experiences as a spy and translator forever altered his listening skills and informed his desire to become an actor. The piece combines the forms of radio documentary and sound collage, and seeks insight into the psychological, moral, and ethical implications of this listening activity. The segmented version of this program will air on WSIU-FM. Carbondale IL on 1/21, 1/28, 2/4, and 2/11 at 6:33a, 8:33a, 5:29p.
Broadcast History
WSIU-FM segmented version 1/21, 1/28, 2/4,
and 2/11 at 6:33a, 8:33a, 5:29p.
Transcript
LISTENING AT THE BORDER TRANSCRIPT
Produced by Jay Needham
While you’re looking for something it sounds much like it does when you're looking for something in your car stereo or your home stereo. Just intense static because you have the volume jacked up so you can here even the faintest, you know, voice. The static is just this roar, like the electronic...an electronic ocean wave or something. It's just that white staticy noise and then it fades in and fades out and fades in. And then, when you do here a voice more often than not it sounds like you had taken a voice recorder and put it in a coffee can and then sunk it to the bottom of a lake, and then were trying to listen to it. It's almost unintelligible, and in fact is unintelligible to probably 95% of those who hear it. And that's where the training comes in.
After a 63 week training course in California and then anoth...
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Dmae Roberts
Posted on February 06, 2005 at 11:44 AM | Permalink
Review of Listening at the Border
Now this is great radio! But it needs more work. As is, what a compelling first person narrative of a military linguist who listens to radio transmissions from North Korea all day long. So many elements to make this a great piece: the storyteller interviewee, the radio transmissions and compelling sound design. Right now though it's an intriguing piece that's too long. And the ending leaves you hanging. A bit of the synth tone used during the piece would have added nicely to the end. But I want to encourage the producer to offer a 7-8 minute version of this. I think that it would make it more appealing for stations to include in their news magazines. I say keep the longer version here as well but offer a shorter module, too. I can easily hear this piece paired with international and military stories. This is a debut piece so I encourage stations to check it out.