Listening to CBC Radio online

Often, if I hear something on the CBC that I’d like to record, or if I want to “time-shift” radio, I simply wait a while and pick up an online feed from the next time zone over. And for the geographically challenged, this list of direct URLs beats the pants off the regular map of stations that stream.

Superpowers and Pre-Christmas plans

Finally got my Sean Ward piece in the can this week. I showed up at the CBC this Tuesday, and with the help of Nick Davis, whittled my 6:10 mix down to something like 4:40. Nick is the third CBC producer I’ve worked with, and I always find it helpful to work with someone who’s not as attached to my material as I am. To paraphrase Trevor Ross, Nick has a keen ear and sharp pair of scissors.

Sean is having a release party for his new book this Sunday. And though it’s a shame the piece won’t air before then, at least there’s a nice timely trigger for it to be played. Tonight I listened to the Transom front page story Family Sentence by Jeanne Cornillot, which feature a character who, like Sean, fancies himself a superhero. This made me think of one of my favourite This American Life episodes, Superpowers, which features the great first act Invisible Man vs. Hawkman.

Tomorrow is my last day of classes, but I’m stuck here in Toronto until the 15th, when I write my Case Studies in Communications exam. I’ve been compiling a list of radio-related things to do in the meantime. It includes:

1. Finally finishing up my polka story. I’ve been pursuing a woman named Jennifer Grant at the Textile Museum of Canada. I think there are four messages on her voicemail from me.
2. Starting on a “just for fun” Christmas-themed piece about the Bay and its holiday slogan: “The Official Store of Christmas.” How do you get to be the official store of Christmas? I contacted the Bay PR yesterday. The woman there said she’ll do some research and get back to me. Something tells me I’ll have to hound her. I’d love to get a statement from somebody at the Bay explaining how exactly you get accredited as the official store of Christmas. Also, I’d like to get some streeters – people checking out the famous downtown Bay (formerly Simpson’s) store windows.
3. Job shadows. I’ve got one set up for Classical 96.3 for this coming Tuesday with Kevin Trudell, and I’ve been talking with Anne Lavrih at 680 about shadowing Kevin Misener.
4. Putting together a killer newscast for my demo reel. Dwight Smith has agreed to listen to whatever I come up with and critique it.

Should keep me busy.

For those who love policy

When people discuss satellite radio in Canada, CanCon is one of the big issues. To put things into some historical perspective, here’s the CRTC and Canadian Content (from the CBC Archives).

Audio lomography

Ever since I first heard about it last November, I’ve liked the idea of lomography – people documenting their lives with toy cameras. Moreso than the lo-tech approach, it’s the philosophy that appeals to me:

Lomography emphasizes shoot-from-the-hip photography. Over-saturated colors, lens artifacts, and exposure defects are used to produce artistic, abstract effects and are prized by practitioners. Others use the technique to document everyday life because the small camera size and ability to shoot in low light encourages candid photography, photo reportage and photo vérité.

The lomography credo “don’t think, just shoot” encourages spontaneity, close-ups, ubiquity, and randomness.

This is cool. Problem is, I’m not a very visual guy. So I’ve been thinking about how the principles of lomography can be applied to audio. Can photographic techniques be applied to the temporal world of radio? I think so. The aim of lomography is to celebrate and document life by viewing it in new and exciting ways. Radio producers would do well to try this out – to start hearing the world in new and exciting ways. There are lots of ways to tell an audio story. Why not invent a new one?

So then, after a week of thought and experimentation, I’ve drawn up some thoughts about “audio lomography,” based on (and borrowing heavily from) the 10 Golden Rules of Lomography. Here they are:

The 10 Golden Rules of Audio Lomography

1. Take your recorder everywhere you go

This part is not hard. My MD recorder is small enough to fit in my pocket. Most modern devices (MD, flash, dictation recorders, etc.) are tiny compared to the Nagras of old. Many have microphones built-in. I was able to pick up a small 3-inch omnidirectional mic for next to nothing. It works great. Whatever you use to record, bring it with you.

This isn’t a technical exercise. Don’t be too concerned with achieving broadcast quality. Some of the best tape I have exists only on minicassettes from a dictation machine.

2. Record anytime – day and night

Record when there’s something interesting happening. And when there isn’t. When you listen back, you’ll be amazed at what you tuned out the first time.

3. Audio lomography is not interference in your life, but part of it

If this were film, it’d be cinéma vérité. Tape is cheap. Make taping part of your life. Listening back at night is a great way to reflect on the day.

4. Try the “shot from the hip”

Photo lomographers don’t look through the viewfinder. Don’t use headphones. Headphones just slow you down and make you hyper-aware of what your recorder is picking up. Where’s the fun in that?

5. Play with perspective

Put your microphone where your ears don’t ordinarily go. Get too close, or too far away. Get down low, or way up high.

6. Don’t think

If you have to ask yourself, “Should I be taping this?” the answer is yes.

7. Be fast

This is probably the most difficult part for me. Many of the record functions on my MD recorder are buried in menus. To start recording, I have to press End Search, Pause and Record at the same time, Mode, then Pause again.

Learn the controls of your device. Make them second nature. Sometimes I just walk around with my MD armed to record, so I only have to press Pause to start recording. Again, don’t wear headphones. They’ll only slow you down.

8. You don’t have to know beforehand what you captured on film

You’re not compiling an SFX collection. Don’t take copious notes. Ignore track numbers.

9. Afterwards either

Enjoy listening back. Don’t worry about piecing everything together. Transcribe nothing.

10. Don’t worry about any rules

Experiment. Enjoy. Open your ears. The rest will follow.

Make a nuisance of yourself

From Poynter, Tips for Getting Started in Broadcast Journalism. Nothing you don’t already know, but a few pretty good reminders.