All The Best

Do you like scary stories? This week we go trick-or-treating!

Though, to be honest, it's probably more trick than treat. 

Permission To Call by Lindsey Vassallo 

Lindsey shares an eerie story about a phone call.

Performed by Lindsey Vassallo

Sound design by Catarina Fraga Matos 

Music from Nicked by Blue Dot Sessions 

The Urn by Jay Gasser

Sometimes not knowing what is under the surface is a good thing. 

If there were an urn buried in your backyard, would you know about it?

Produced by Jay Gasser

Features: Natalie Ngo

Sleep Paralysis/Duppy by Kwame Slusher 

Sometimes the line between dreaming and the real world is hard to discern.  Sometimes an experience can feel so real that it probably doesn't matter.  

Produced by Kwame Slusher 

Music from Arizona Moon by Blue Dot Sessions

An Un-haunted Story by Nili Javid 

Sometimes, no matter how much you want it to happen, that other-worldly experience just never happens for you.  

Performed by Nili Javid 

Sound design by Kwame Slusher 

Music from Curious Kepler & Delgadezo by Blue Dot Sessions 

Special thanks to Melanie Bakewell and Catarina Fraga Matos for support on this story.

Pssst...there is still time to register for the Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship 2027

All the Best Credits 

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

And a special shout-out to all our volunteers!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 "...as an act of justice doing and expressing how much I care for them, and I guess also the sacredness of all life in witnessing and experiencing multiple genocides and affrontations of, like, what's happening on these lands I think navigating grief as an act of love maybe gave me a sense of autonomy and being able to move through with a, with a bit more grace and not letting it subsume me all of the time." -  Shareeka Helaluddin 

This week we are showcasing our final story from the Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship (JCAF).  

In this special episode, we observe grief and the cultural nuances around the way we observe the passing of a loved one.

We also have an extra-special interview before the story with Shareeka and a surprise guest!

We also have an extra-special interview before the story with Shareeka and a surprise guest! (Extra special thanks to Dhaksh Raj Sooriya for coming into the studio.)😎

Content warning: This story covers themes of grief, genocide, colonial erasure, alongside life transitions and loss.

A Litany of Heavenly Bodies by Shareeka Helaluddin 

How do we feed our hungry ghosts, of futures forgotten and unlived? 

A sonic archive of mourning and reprieve assembled from field recordings, intimate conversations, voice notes, grief songs and multilingual fragments. This work asks what it means to make grief an act of justice - to consider whose lives are grievable, whose deaths are remembered, and what happens when communities reclaim or reinvent the rituals that have been displaced by colonial violence and isolation.

CREDITS 

This story was produced, sound designed and composed by Shareeka Helaluddin and the  Supervising Producer and JCAF Mentor: Farz Edraki 

This story features the voices of Nawa Sybico; Dhaksh Raj Sooriya; Rajani Helaluddin

Artwork by Kata szász-komlós 

Special thanks also to Darren Lesaguis and Priya Panchalingam.

JCAF Credits

Our gratitude and thanks to the friends and family of Jesse Cox, and to everyone who made JCAF 2026 possible.

JCAF 2026 Fellows: Ramon Briant, Shareeka Helaluddin, Tessa Campisi and Anna Outridge

JCAF 2026 Mentors: Ian Walker, Farz Edraki, Liz Keen and Jon Tjhia

Workshop Facilitators: Janak Rogers, Belinda Lopez, Jon Tjhia, Camilla Hannan, Sophie Townsend, Mell Chun, Wing Kuang.

Special thanks to our executive producer Mel Bakewell!

Psst ... if you have an impactful story to tell, apply now to our Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship!

All the Best Credits 

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

All The Best Intern: Nili Javid 

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

And a special shout-out to all our volunteers!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is this Tolstoy quote from Anna Karenina, "All Happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." 

I've always struggled with this binary.

This idea of happiness or unhappiness as somehow being fixed states. No nuance. 

I think real families, ones outside Russian fiction, exist on a more complex spectrum.  

Notes To A Sister by Anna Outridge 

Sisters Anna and Jordyn are house-sitting for their parents for two weeks. This is the longest time they’ve spent together in ten years. As they inhabit the rooms once occupied by younger versions of themselves, they reflect on the memories they shared in this home, the things that brought them together, and the things that tried to pull them apart.

Producer: Anna Outridge 

Co-producer: Jordyn Moore 

Mentor and Supervising Producer: Jon Tjhia 

Original score and composition: Kenneth King @kenny_king_music

This story was made possible by the Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship. 

Special thanks to Daniel Nasrealla for the final mix.  

JCAF Credits

Our gratitude and thanks to the friends and family of Jesse Cox, and to everyone who made JCAF 2026 possible.

JCAF 2026 Fellows: Ramon Briant, Shareeka Helaluddin, Tessa Campisi and Anna Outridge

JCAF 2026 Mentors: Ian Walker, Farz Edraki, Liz Keen and Jon Tjhia

Workshop Facilitators: Janak Rogers, Belinda Lopez, Jon Tjhia, Camilla Hannan, Sophie Townsend, Mell Chun, Wing Kuang.

JCAF Program Facilitator: Mel Bakewell

Psst ... if you have an impactful story to tell, apply now to our Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship!

All the Best Credits 

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

All The Best Intern: Nili Javid 

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

And a special shout-out to all our volunteers!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week's Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship takes us outside. 

There is some change we can’t do anything about, some change that we can, and some change that feels so big that for some it's hard to see where they fit within it.  

 I think the story is about how different kinds of people interpret and integrate their experience of change in a landscape that they love and know well. And I think that landscapes are more than just physical places. I think they exist in the collective imaginary made up of all the different stories and memories that many, many people hold of a place. -  Tessa Campisi

View From A Mountain in Motion by Tessa Campisi 

Perched on the edge of the Victorian Alps, up a long, winding road, lies an old, granite plateau which these days is known as Mt Buffalo.

Beyond its physical geography, Mt Buffalo lies someplace out there in the collective imaginary, held together by a patchwork of memory and story.

But things are changing in the Alps, and what was once known edges towards the unfamiliar.

If we  look out across the arc of time, from the deep past through the present, and nudge our gaze towards the future – what do we see?

And where do we see ourselves.  

CREDITS 

Producer: Tessa Campisi 

Mentor and Supervising Producer: Liz Keen 

Featuring: Jacqui Durrant; Anna Langford; Keith Brettargh; John Dalbosco; Anthony Romano

Music by Blue Dot Sessions 

Archival Audio: “A Kiss by Lake Catani” by Johnny Wade and His Hawaiians (1939); “Alpine Playground” (1963), Australian Tourism Development Commission. Archival audio from the ACMI Collection, Australian Centre for the Moving Image. 

This story was produced with the support of the Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship.

– 

JCAF Credits

Our gratitude and thanks to the friends and family of Jesse Cox, and to everyone who made JCAF 2026 possible.

JCAF 2026 Fellows: Ramon Briant, Shareeka Helaluddin, Tessa Campisi and Anna Outridge

JCAF 2026 Mentors: Ian Walker, Farz Edraki, Liz Keen and Jon Tjhia

Workshop Facilitators: Janak Rogers, Belinda Lopez, Jon Tjhia, Camilla Hannan, Sophie Townsend, Mell Chun, Wing Kuang.

JCAF Program Facilitator: Mel Bakewell

All the Best Credits 

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

All The Best Intern: Nili Javid 

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

And a special shout-out to all our volunteers!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we are featuring our first story from our Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship 2026! 

More than 15 Years ago, Jesse Cox co-developed an incredible audio narrative program on fbi.radio called All The Best.  

JCAF is an audio mentorship program, pretty one-of-a-kind, championing the kind of work and spirit our show's co-founder upheld and honouring his legacy.

After the Storm, Episode 1 - Arrivals by Ramon Briant 

Ramon brings us a Black Mirror-esque vision of Sydney.  

In 2075, a jaded ex-revolutionary is called back to Australia to complete his mission, but must avoid detection and navigate the world he left behind to be reunited with the ones he loves.

After The Storm is an original audio fiction written and produced by Ramon Briant. The mentor and supervising producer was Ian Walker. 

Starring:  Indiana Kwong as Alex, Tabitha Lafernis as the Robots Voice and Ad woman, Vinay Seethamraju as the customs officer, Catarina Fraga Matos as the news reader, Aileen Hyuyn as Sonia and Ramon Briant as Forest. 

This episode was produced with the support of All The Best and The Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship. 

Shout-outs!

Thank you to the friends and family of Jesse Cox, and to everyone who made JCAF 2026 possible. 

Our  JCAF 2026 Fellows were Ramon Briant, Shareeka Helaluddin, Tessa Campisi and Anna Outridge

The JCAF Mentors were Ian Walker, Farz Edraki, Liz Keen and Jon Tjhia

The Workshop facilitators were Janak Rogers, Belinda Lopez, Jon Tjhia, Camilla Hannaan, Sophie Townsend, Mell Chun and Wing Kuang. 

And the Program facilitator was our executive producer, Mel Bakewell.

Pssst!

Applications for the Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship 2027 are open. Just head over to the All The Best Radio website.

Keep an ear out for the announcement of JCAF listening party to hear excerpts from the JCAF 2026 participants.  

Join ATB!

If you are looking to jump-start your radio career, applications for a Digital Trainee to go between All The Best at fbi.radio and The Wire at 2SER are open.

All the Best Credits 

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

All The Best Intern: Nili Javid 

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

And a special shout-out to all our volunteers!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sooooo ...  the best way to think of this episode is a bit like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  

But instead of there being a bereaved scientist obsessed with resurrection, we have a monster of a story stuck together from different audio body parts made by audio makers from all over the world.  

Our Programming and Community Coordinator Catarina Fraga Matos breaks down the way the audio corpse works: 

 Here's how the audio corpse works. Storytellers received a prompt to create a short audio story up to three minutes long. But here's the catch. The prompt they receive, it's only the last 10 seconds of the story that came before. So they take that tiny fragment and use it as an inspiration for an entirely new piece that has to be made in 48 hours, and that continues the story in some way.

Special shout-out to M.Cristina Marras for kicking off this idea for All The Best and to our amazing All The Best Intern Nili Javid for stitching all the audio corpses together.  

Head

Produced by M.  Cristina Marras 

– 

Neck 

Monster by Felicity Weaver, Oliver Seymour and Carrie Zhang 

Production and sound design by: Felicity Weaver and Oliver Seymour

Written and narrated by: Carrie Zhang 

Music/SFX: Pixabay; Pixabay; Pixabay; Pixabay 

–

Chest

Produced by Silvi Van Wall 

–

Arms 

Produced by Craig Garrett 

Music/SFX: Freesound Community; Epidemic Sound (ES); Pixabay (Universfield; Soul Serenity Sounds; Dragon-Studio; PWLPL); Library of Congress (USA); BBC Sound Archives (via the BBC Sounds and BBC Rewind platforms).

All other SFX found and/or recorded and produced by Craig Garrett.

– 

Hands

The Birds by Alice Garner 

Producer: Alice Garner

Cellist: Alice Garner

Voice Actors: David Bowers, Alice Garner 

–

Torso

“Stop, Think, What's That Sound?” by Lindsey Vassallo, Imogen Brosnan, Dina Dewnarain, Liliana Occhiuto

Produced by: Lindsey Vassallo; Imogen Brosnan; Dina Dewnarain; Liliana Occhiuto

Sound Design by: Lindsey Vassallo; Liliana Occhiuto 

Voice Actors: Lindsey Vassallo (Commissioner); Imogen Brosnan (Agent 945); Dina Dewnarain (French woman); Simba Nguyen (Train Conductor); Henry Ung (Entrance Guard)

–

Legs

Produced by Jay Gasser 

–

Feet

Produced by Hethre Contant

All the Best Credits 

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

All The Best Intern: Nili Javid 

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

And a special shout-out to all our volunteers!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speculative fiction is all about reimagining the world. 

Taking something ordinary, turning it upside down, and asking, 'What if?'

Pigeon Empathy by Alby Bennett

So, quick question ... How do you feel about pigeons? 

Pigeons - basic, don’t you think? Scuttling about, cooing vacantly. But in this here audio fiction, they have a secret life. Producer Alby says: “Prepare to emerge from Pigeon Empathy with a new perspective on not only pigeons, but reality itself.” 

Producer: Alby Bennett

Tutor / Supervising Producer: Danni Stewart

Voicework: Benji Mckay

Music: Blue Dot Sessions (Corner Store; Highway 104; Lakkalia; No Two Ways)

SFX: Beating wings.wav by juskiddink; BIRDSong_Park.Pigeons.Cooing.Flapping wings.Human voices.Traffic 3_EM.wav by newlocknew.; Creepy static fade out into a low hiss from microphone by PantherK.; Domestic Dove Coo by haulaway.; Static Burst 2 by SilverIllusionist

iPad by Joyce de Badts

Have you ever had someone you care about no longer be a part of your life and you wonder what they are up to? 

Producer: Joyce de Badts 

Voicework: Helena De Groot

Supervising Producer: M. Cristina Marras 

 The Looking Glass by Keyari Page

This last story comes from our second annual 24-hour radio race.

The premise is that a number of audio producers gather at fbi.radio or online and are given a theme.  

They spend a little time brainstorming… and then they have  24 hours to have a story finished and submitted. 

The theme for this race was Mirrored. 

In this audio science-fiction story, Keyari Page explores the idea of someone facing their own reflection. 

Extras 

You can check out  our Mirrored episode here

And here are more  stories from our 24 Radio Race on our Substack  

And if you really love audio challenges we are having a listening party for our recent audiocorpse. 

And ... pssst ...  if you'd like you'd like to work with the All the Best team and The Wire we are hiring a new Digital Trainee!

All the Best Credits 

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

All The Best Intern: Nili Javid 

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

And a special shout-out to all our volunteers!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we explore taking unnecessary risks, being in the wrong place at the wrong time and how you and your friends can remember the same events very differently.

Like very, very differently. 

The Medina by Patrick Lazzar

Our first story takes us to Egypt. 

When the hustle and bustle of the Medina, a chaotic market in the heart of the city centre, becomes all too overwhelming, a stranger offers to show Seamus and his friend Alex  a "secret leather market."

Producer: Patrick Lazzar 

Supervising Producer: Nicholas Doring 

Featuring: Seamus McDyre

Tutor: Camilla Hannan

Routine Traffic Stop by Eleanor Crosby-Hardman

In a small Victorian town, Craig, on his way to work, finds himself in the middle of a real-life police drama and ends up on the other side of the car crash of a lifetime.

Producer: Eleanor Crosby-Hardman

Peer Supervising Producer:  Ellie Starkiss

Featuring: Craig Hardman

Tutor: Dylan Bird

As We Remember It by Alannah Kein

Have you ever had that experience where you realise that your memory of an event doesn't match anyone else's version of the story?

April 10th, 2026. A night in Adelaide city for Gather Round. As they retraced one night, their stories of the event began to conflict in surprising ways. Through a seemingly simple story of friends, football and beverages, this audio piece explores a bigger question. Are our memories a record of the truth, or simply the stories we come to believe as such?

Producer: Alannah Kein 

Peer Supervising Producer: Saro Blaikie

Featuring: Michaela Kein; Leo Hemsley; Abhay Narsai

Tutor: Dylan Bird

Don't forget to check out our Substack!

All the Best Credits 

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

All The Best Intern: Nili Javid 

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Episode Tile: Jennifer Ibe

And a special shout-out to all our volunteers!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we are exploring the liminal spaces. Looking for answers between what we think that we know and the unknown spaces. 

Between Two Worlds by Olivia Wright

What’s your take on card readings, psychics and traditional understanding of fate and spirituality?  

Producer Olivia takes on a journey to explore the realm of psychics and why people are drawn to them.

Producer: Olivia Wright 

Supervising Producer: Thomas Phillips 

Featuring: Michelle Buckley; Callum Moloney

Navigating a grief by Isaure Duruy 

Sometimes new understandings of the world can come through dealing with the passing of a loved one. 

Theo talks to producer Isaure about his experience of the passing of his mother from cancer.  

Producer: Isaure Duruy

Supervising Producer: Thomas Phillips 

Featuring: Theo Schwartzmann

Funeral Trees by Fionn McCabe

Coming to see the world in a new way can come from a simple misunderstanding.  

Fionn’s attempt to explain the death of a loved one to his son creates a new and beautiful understanding.   

Written and read by Fionn McCabe

Producer: Zacha Rosen 

This story was originally published on Or It Didn’t Happen, an audio fiction radio show from fbi.radio’s archives. 

Stargazing by Jiali Hong

Do you ever just sit still at night and just look at the stars? 

It's probably pretty hard to do if you live in the city, but if you get out of the city, into the bush on a clear night, you might be surprised at what you can see.  

Producer Jiali interviews Sam, a 26-year-old astrophysicist who drives outside of the cities to chase stars in the night sky. 

Produced by Jiali Hong

Featuring: Sam 

Supervising Producer: Mell Chun 

Music:  Youtube Free copyright/ Bilibili Free copyright

If you are looking for more stories like this 🙂!

Stargazing, Navigating A Grief, and Between Two Worlds were produced by students at the University of Melbourne, in collaboration with the Centre for Advancing Journalism. Special thanks to Louisa Lim, Thomas Phillips, Dan Semo, Mell Chun and Persephone Waxman. You can hear more student stories from this cohort over at The Yarn. 

All the Best Credits 

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

Digital Trainee: Imogen Brosnan (Thank you so much, Immi!)

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Episode Tile: Jennifer Ibe

And a special shout-out to all our volunteers!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we return to the theme surveillance.  Looking beyond what it feels like to be watched but, also what it like to do the watching.  

Behind Me by Xuanmeng Cai

Xuanmeng explores the theme of hyper-vigilance. examining why women feel unsafe on their way home after dark, how the body responds to possible danger, and why this fear has become such a familiar part of everyday life.

Producer: Xuanmeng Cai 

Supervising Producer: Persephone Waxman 

Featuring: Vivian Chen; William Hua; Jordan Liu

Music/SFX: BBC Sound Effects; Blue Dot Sessions 

Watching From Far Away by Xinnang Wang

Xinnang examines that murky area or parental surveillance. She speaks to speaks to Xiaoqi Chen, a master’s student at the University of Melbourne, about family expectations, silence, independence, and how “watching” slowly changed from one-sided into mutual care.

Producer: Xinnang Wang

Supervising Producer: Thomas Phillips 

Featuring: Xiaoqi Chen

Music/ SFX:  Cobwebbed from Purple Planet; A Greater Love from Purple Planet

Uber by Ruonan Yang

Have you ever thought of what it might be like to be an Uber driver?  Through personal experience and a conversation with fellow rider Shirley Wang, Ruonan reveals how surveillance shapes life in the gig economy.

Producer: Ruonan Yang
Featuring: Shirley Wang

Mt Rothwell  by Alexandra Nevill 

Alexandra Nevill investigates how one sanctuary is doing things differently. Using surveillance as a tool to restore biodiversity, and deal with disruptors.

Producer: Alexandra Nevill
Featuring: Sheryl Nettleton, Field Officer at Mount Rothwell Safe Haven; Matthew Singleton, COO of Odonata

The stories in today’s episode were produced as part of a collaboration between the University of Melbourne, The Centre for Advancing Journalism, and All The Best. You can tune in to more stories like these on the Centre for Advancing Journalism’s podcast The Yarn. 

All the Best Credits 

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

Digital Trainee: Imogen Brosnan 

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Episode Title: Izzy Boustead

And a special shout-out to all our volunteers!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.