Introducing The Moth Radio Hour
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The Moth Radio Hour features true stories told live on stage without scripts, notes, props, or accompaniment. Each Moth Radio Hour mixes humorous, heartbreaking, and poignant tales that captivate, surprise, and delight audiences with their honesty, bravery, and humor.
PRX is thrilled to announce the debut of five pilot episodes of The Moth Radio Hour, available for broadcast beginning August first. In the car or on the porch, The Moth Radio Hour is tailor-made for summer listening. The new radio series captures the energy and authenticity of an evening at The Moth without fancy production.
Brought to you by PRX and award-winning producer Jay Allison, the pilot season will be available free to public radio stations. See below for clock and broadcast rights.
Preview audio from the pilot season will be available soon on PRX.
The Pilots
The Moth Radio Hour is old-fashioned storytelling on modern topics hosted by Lea Tau and Catherine Burns, two dynamic women who lead The Moth organization in New York. Each episode presents a selection of the very best stories from The Moth, which has been staging live storytelling shows since 1997. Experience an evening at The Moth with genuine stories that will inspire and captivate listeners:
Hour 1A batboy for the New York Yankees goes on a wild goose chase for a left-handed bat-stretcher; an Irish-Catholic family obsessed with the Kennedys dedicates a summer to spying on their idols; a comedian experiences the ultimate heartbreak; and a drill sergeant faints at the sight of blood.
Hour 2A severely stuttering child finds solace in speaking to animals and vows to speak for them if he grows up to find his voice. Years later we find him as the world's premier jaguar expert, having a face to face with an animal in the jungle of Belize. Plus, a Texas tale of moon pies and bedazzlers, and the surprising story of a Harlem man who ends up at a rodeo in Oregon.
Hour 3"We're grateful for The Moth...it'll make you laugh, it'll make you think" says Time Out magazine, and this hour is sure to do both. We'd be surprised if it didn't make you shed few tears as well.
Hear how celebrated author and writer Adam Gopnik (Paris to the Moon, The New Yorker) embarrasses his son and offends other loved ones by getting lost in the new world of Instant Message abbreviations. Also, stories of first love and unlikely pen pals, and the sad tale of gay man who comes out to his parents with dramatic consequences.
Hour 4This episode of The Moth Radio Hour includes stories from beloved author Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers, Blink, The Tipping Point) about a wedding prank gone horribly wrong; an African-American home care attendant caring for a dying Klansman; and a miracle survivor of a gang initiation.
Hour 5A man is instructed not to fall in love with his monkey, but fails; renowned performer Sarah Jones (Bridge and Tunnel) finds herself the subject of racial profiling; and the inventor of the Baby Calzone runs into trouble with the Mob.
About The Moth
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Originally formed by the writer George Dawes Green as an intimate gathering of friends on a porch in Georgia (where moths would flutter in through a hole in the screen), and then recreated in a New York City living room, The Moth quickly grew to produce immensely popular events at theaters and clubs around New York City and later around the country.
Moth storytellers stand alone, under a spotlight, with only a microphone and a roomful of strangers. The storyteller and the audience embark on a high-wire act of shared experience which is both terrifying and exhilarating. Individuals, without the comfort of fame, instrument, script or props engage in the world's oldest art form — stories that will make you laugh, cry, think.
Today The Moth has three ongoing programs, all of which contribute their very best stories to The Moth Radio Hour: The Moth Mainstage, where celebrities appear alongside unique voices from all walks of life (an astronaut, an owl expert, a reformed pickpocket, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist are among the hundreds and hundreds of storytellers to date); The Moth's StorySLAM competitions, which are open to all and rapidly expanding to cities across the country; and The Moth's community outreach program, MothShop, which bring workshops to people whose stories would otherwise go unheard. To learn more about The Moth, visit themoth.org.
Airing The Moth Radio Hour
Broadcast RightsThe Moth Radio Hour pilot season is available free to all public radio stations.
Broadcast rights open on August 1, 2009, and the station may air each program twice prior to March 31, 2010. Excerpting is permitted for promotional purposes only. The programs may be streamed live from a station Web site but not archived for on-demand listening.
ClockEach program is :59 minutes long, is newscast compatible, and includes two 1-minute floating ID breaks.
SchedulingWhen you hear it, you'll know that The Moth Radio Hour is something special. Consider scheduling it that way: Five summer evenings; in a weeknight strip; Saturday or Sunday after Prairie Home for five weeks; or over five Fridays in place of Fresh Air. Audio promos will be available to support your scheduling decision.
Carriage ConfirmationSince this is a pilot season, carriage reporting is essential to secure funding for additional production. Please confirm carriage of The Moth Radio Hour by contacting Israel Smith.
