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WCRXFM had the privilege of attending the Nascar Chicago Street Race Weekend 2024! This was the second year for the race as well as WCRX’s second year in a row covering the event. Here’s the scoop on how the weekend went!

Reporters include: Madison Blancas, Mya DeJesus, Jazlynn Edwards, Leonardo Esparza, Leah Flanigan, Adriah Hedrick, Samantha Ho, Kate Julianne Larroder and Izzy Smith

Spring 2023 Columbia College Chicago Audio Drama Class

Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash

In this series, students from the Department of Communications’ spring 2023 oral traditions class explore West African cultures and the African American diaspora.

Students draw comparisons between their own cultures and that of the Maroons, formerly enslaved Africans who fled imprisonment and formed close-knit communities throughout the americas. Professor of history and humanities, Robert Hanserd, joins to discuss specific cultural elements.

Our second segment explores rituals and spirituality of the Fon people. The discussion includes the West African region of Ghana and Benin, the rituals of women warriors, and Robert’s rite of passage in writing about africa.

Concluding today’s show is a commentary on the book, Five Hundred African Voices, the accounts of African slave ship survivors. Students highlight Rosa Cruz, a formerly enslaved writer and religious mystic, and Phillis Wheatley, the first known and published African American poet.

Robert Hanserd shares his thoughts on the African symbol of freedom, the black star.

Additional Content:

Wonders of the African World: Slave Ship and Ethiopia

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Five Hundred African Voices: A Catalog of Published Accounts by Africans Enslaved in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1586-1936

500 African Voices - Student Animations

Martin De Sousa Ritual

In this series, students from the Department of Communications’ spring 2023 oral traditions class explore West African cultures and the African American diaspora.

In this episode, students speak with musicians and experts of Chicago's rich jazz scene and discuss topics from the birth of the free jazz movement to the modern artists who are pushing the boundaries of the genre.

We continue the show by exploring the fashions of West Africa with international designer and philanthropist, Haj Gueye. Haj goes into his formative experiences in fashion, the mission of his brand, and fashion as a means of storytelling.

Song used in this episode include:

Art Ensemble of Chicago - “Odwalla” Recorded at the 1972 Ann Arbor, Jazz and Blues Festival (1972)

John Coltrane - “Part 1 - Acknowledgement” from A Love Supreme (1965)

Marvin Gaye - “What’s Going On” from What’s Going On (1971)

Pharoah Sanders - “Astral Traveling” from Astral Traveling (1971)

Roscoe Mtchell Sextet - “Ornette” from Sound (1966)

The Gang Font - “You Haven’t Lived Until You Have Had to Have Read Beowulf” from The Gang Font Feat. Interloper (2007)

Every Voice Chicago Archive Project

Columbia College Chicago Oral History Model Case Study, a product of this CIC grant.

Every Voice Chicago Archive Project

Columbia College Chicago Oral History Model Case Study, a product of this CIC grant.

This is an audio documentary on the alarming rise of anxiety and depression among Americans, and especially the young.

Students in the Audio Documentary Class at Columbia College Chicago took on the subject and spoke with numerous experts on mental health, and with those who are or have suffered with anxiety and/or elements of depression. They looked at the growing numbers of cases, the reasons why we are a more anxious society, and avenues of treatment, including controversial micro-dosing treatment.

Individual segments of the documentary are produced by individual students or groups of students.

Student Producers: Kevin Ashley Peyton Zignego Skye Crumpler Jackie Diaz Jake Eisendrath Francis Garcia Hernandez Zayd Hussein Zachary Keltner Renni Kieschnick Peter Midwa Joseph Murrary Osa Obaseki Jay Puca Scott Sroka Sam Stibal

Executive producer: David Berner, Associate Professor, Radio Program, Communication Department, Columbia College Chicago

We welcome you to the Radio Storytelling Showcase! — produced by the Spring 2022 Radio Storytelling class taught by David Berner.

(0:50)

“Pool Days” by Lauren Holt is about the recollection of one of her favorite childhood memories. This sweet story will bring you smiles and laughs and remind you of being at the pool as a child. Through looking back at one of her happiest simplest days, Lauren thinks of how to bring that same joy to her life today.

(6:33)

Robert finds a poem written on the wall of the men’s room at Columbia College. It takes him back to high school when he wrote poetry to deal with his depression and social anxiety. Somewhere along the way, he stopped because of writer’s block. Robert is inspired to continue the poem with his friends.

(8:45)

Cosme Castillo recalls the months before beginning college and his newfound interest in learning about the history of his father’s family through his mysterious grandma Francis. What was it like growing up? What type of music was popular? What was it like raising all those kids on your own? All of which are questions discussed over a box of classic Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

(12:53)

Prepared to leave his father to the mirror, Davis Bryant shares the tale of his encounters with Bloody Mary.

(16:08)

This is the story of Caroline’s first love and her most regrettable moment. Spending all summer working at a Catholic camp, with very little access to the outside world, she, unfortunately, falls head over heels for an older counselor. Getting to know him better, she realizes she isn’t in love with him like she thought and decides to let him know. Awkwardness ensues.

(24:41)

A six-year-old’s interest in telling stories via model-making and design is ignited after visiting a national traveling model train exhibition with his family in the 1980s. After the experience, he accidentally finds himself with the opportunity to acquire some tools that would enable him to begin to make his own model-making stories. He just needs the courage to ask his father for the gift.

(34:26)

(36:53)

This radio essay is a silly yet meaningful story about a girl buying her first bra. You will hear about all the trials and tribulations that come with bra shopping as a young girl.

(39:53)

Júlia D'Aló tells with humor about her first-ever panic attack. A public experience that included a clueless teacher, a lost bug, tears of panic, and a gentle stranger. Immerse yourself in the first-person experience of a panic attack that in the end is more funny than scary.

(43:05)

(45:37)

This essay is a story that is very relatable to anyone who has lost a person in their life. I lost my dad when I was 16, it was hard for me to show emotions because I wanted to be strong for my family. Years passed by until I couldn’t hold my emotions in any longer, I found a way to cope with my feelings which was driving away and speaking with my dad. To some people it was starting to seem crazy that I would talk to my dad, so I started to take those drives alone and I realized that taking some time to speak with a person you have lost is a great way to cope with your emotions, you let everything you’re feeling out and feel relieved at the end. This story is dedicated to my dad.

(48:35)

Learn about how Pat Nabong, a visual journalist at Chicago Sun-Times, got into photojournalism in this profile from Trent Sprague. Originally from the Philippines, Nabong started learning photojournalism through her father’s interest in bird photography, before moving to the United States.

(53:26)

Lillian Wade’s is a story of a 48-year-long commitment to the collection of comic books. Lillian’s father is an avid comic book collector. He has every series under the sun. Over the years that has added up and now faced with the overwhelming number of books, Lillian has to come to terms with inheriting them one day. Will she learn to love her father’s collection?

(57:35)

About 37% of airline travelers experience plane fright. The fear turns even the most frequent of flyers into shivering scaredy cats. In this essay, Shelby Steele shares the story of how daughter turned into caretaker. When flying with her mother, she expects the typical trip home: Chicago CTA to airport to plane to Texas. But after two Xanax and one margarita, should mom be fearful of a crashing plane or an angry daughter?

Radio Storytelling Showcase – produced stories by students of the Fall 2021 Radio Storytelling course.