In Fall of 2017, the Missouri Audio Project and the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition at the University of Missouri had the pleasure of co-hosting Nick Spitzer, producer and host of the radio show American Routes (NPR). Spitzer is a folklorist, professor of anthropology and American Studies at Tulane University. He sat down for conversation with Sean Gurd . They talked about making radio, crafting segues, defining creolization, recording prison music, and locating the vernacular humanities.

Peabody-winner Scott Carrier is a master of both personal and political radio. He talks about the importance of bearing witness, about telling difficult stories, spinning tales of human oddness, and about the reporter’s responsibility to challenge power structures. The interview took place in front a live audience in Columbia, Missouri (September 2016). Interviewer: Julija Šukys. You can hear Scott Carrier’s work at http://homebrave.com/

Storytelling and Public Health Policy: Lise Saffran explores how to use narrative to effect change.

Julija Šukys talks to Silas Hansen about writing essays, hermit crabs, and what it means to go through the world as a transgender man. Hansen’s work has appeared in The Normal School , The Colorado Review, and has been anthologized in The Writer’s Presence . You can learn more about him at silashansen.net .

Writer and radio producer Jonathan Goldstein talks about starting out in radio, working at This American Life, and blurring the line between fact & fiction on the long-running show Wiretap. The interview took place in front a live audience in Columbia, Missouri (September 2015). Interviewer: Andrew Leland You can hear Jonathan Goldstein’s work for This American Life here: (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/contributors/jonathan-goldstein) You can hear Wiretap here: Jonathan Goldstein’s new

What happens when you put 9 students of all ages, an expert instructor and a teaching assistant together in a classroom with microphones for 7 days? Well, we tried it, and we got nine amazing pieces of student radio.