As the 15th anniversary of 99% Invisible approaches, Rob and Britta dig into four very different episodes from the first four years of that show's run (as well as the story of the time Rob met Roman Mars):

• Episode 6: "99% Symbolic"
• Episode 29: "Cul de Sac" (Produced with Katie Mingle)
• Episode 103: "U.T.B.A.P.H" (Produced with Sam Greenspan)
• Episode 83: "Heyoon" (Produced with Alex Goldman)

To support Phonograph, subscribe to our new bonus feed, which features experiments in audio storytelling, including this month's story about a young mother's relationship to her hearing aids, having refused to wear them since she started losing her hearing in the 6th grade.

Show Notes:

Invisible Ink (featured on Transom.org) "Genesis Object" on 99% Invisible HowSound episode on 99% Invisible HowSound episode on Heyoon Alex Goldman's new podcast Hyperfixed Music from Blue Dot Sessions

Episode Description:

Rob and Britta discuss Nancy Updike's podcast "We Were Three," which tells the story of one family devastated by Covid and what that devastation revealed. Also discussed: Nancy Updike's status as as one of the all time great audio producers.

To support Phonograph, subscribe to our new bonus feed, which features experiments in audio storytelling. This month's story comes from Rob: a collage of recordings he made in the spring of 2020 around the theme of anxiety and grocery shopping.

Show Notes:

ICU nurse Kelley Anaas talking about the state of nurses near the end of 2020

Serial Productions podcast We Were Three

Nancy Updike's talk at the Third Coast International Audio Festival

Nancy Updike's story for This American Life about private contractors in Iraq

The Longform Podcast interview with Nancy Updike and Jenelle Pifer

Maintenance Phase episode about Covid Conspiracies

Music - Blue Dot Sessions

Rob and Britta discuss the new podcast Signal Hill, which takes its inspiration from the world of print magazines. Rob talks to Liza Yeager and Jackson Roach about the project, and then we dive into a handful of the stories from Signal Hill's first "issue."

Show Notes:

Signal Hill

Fishing the Sky by Jackson Roach

Desperado by Neena Pathak

A Porous Place by Hannah Sassoon

On the Family Group Chat by Hannah Kingsley-Ma

Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Rob and Britta discuss the classic Alix Spiegel story "Pray" from This American Life, including Spiegel's origin story as a producer and what happened to her when members of the megachurch she was reporting on urged her to become a Christian.

This is the second of three episodes Rob and Britta recorded in 2019 and never released until now. The first of those was our episode about TAL's "Notes on Camp."

Show Notes:

Pray - This American Life

Tape: A radio show about people who make radio, hosted and edited by Mooj Zadie

Alix Spiegel's manifesto at Transom.org

Music:

Defect 2: Curiosidade - Tom Ze (John McEntire Remix)

Coffaro's Theme - Bill Frisell

Other Music - Blue Dot Sessions

Rob is joined by the audio producer Sophie Nikitas to discuss Susan Burton's Peabody award winning podcast from 2023: The Retrievals.

Show Notes:

Sophie's online dating podcast miniseries The Zoo

Sophie's horror anthology podcast Out Cold

Susan Burton's story "In The Event Of An Emergency, Put Your Sister In An Upright Position"

Susan Burton's story "Tornado Prom"

Music from Blue Dot Sessions

Rob is joined by the podcast critic Samantha Hodder, who writes the newsletter Bingeworthy, to discuss the podcast Cement City: a sound-rich, character-rich, immersive exploration of the struggling rust belt town Donora, Pennsylvania.

Show Notes:

Cement City

Samantha Hodder's website

Samantha Hodder's newsletter Bingeworthy

Music - Blue Dot Sessions

Rob and Britta discuss a ten year old story from This American Life called "The Problem We All Live With" produced by Chana Joffe-Walt and reported by Nikole Hannah-Jones. It's an example of the kind of documentary journalism we need more than ever, in a world where such journalism is increasingly under threat.

Show Notes:

TAL Episode 562: The Problem We all Live With

Longform Podast interview with Nikole Hannah-Jones

Third Coast Audio Festival Session: Make Them Care

Saint Louis Public Radio's coverage of the Francis Howell town meeting

"Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City" by Nikole Hannah-Jones

Music - Blue Dot Sessions

Rob and Britta dig into two classic episodes of the podcast Love and Radio, "The Wisdom of Jay Thunderbolt" and "Choir Boy," sparking a discussion about the appeal of abrasive art.

Show Notes:

The Wisdom of Jay Thunderbolt - Love and Radio

Choir Boy - Love and Radio

Love and Radio on How Sound

Salvatore Scibona reads Denis Johnson - New Yorker Fiction Podcast

Music:

Silence Kid - Pavement

You're Killing Me - Pavement

Prefect Depth - Pavement

The Bus at Dawn - Blue Dot Sessions

Orchard Lime - Blue Dot Sessions

Nine Count by Blue Dot Sessions

Plum Blossom - Blue Dot Sessions

Calisson - Blue Dot Sessions

Throughput - Blue Dot Sessions

Coffero's Theme - Bill Frisell

Untitled III - Calexico

Gentle Chase - Podington Bear

Rob and Britta share a discussion they had in 2019 (but never released) about the classic This American Life episode "Notes on Camp." Topics include their own camp experiences, the power of scary stories, Rob's favorite thing ever recorded by any radio show ever, and the wild back story of the beloved camp counselor David Himmel, aka Mr. Popluar.

Show Notes:

Notes on Camp - This American LIfe

"Ira Glass Is a Douche" - Literate Apecast

Longform Interview with Julie Snyder

Music:

Calisson - Blue Dot Sessions

Throughput - Blue Dot Sessions

Coffero's Theme - Bill Frisell

Untitled III - Calexico

Gentle Chase - Podington Bear

On the second of a two-part series about the podast Startup, Rob and Britta talk about how the mini-seasons of the podcast Startup about the growth of Gimlet revealed all kinds of details about the troubles at the company, the ill-fated sale to Spotify, and what all this means for the state of narrative audio.

Show Notes:

Skye Pillsbury's newsletter The Squeeze

Galen Beebe's website

Music:

A Simple Plan Soundrack

Nine Count by Blue Dot Sessions

Within the Garden Walls by Blue Dot Sessions

Gentle Chase - Podington Bear

Audio Excerpts:

Startup