Silver Shorts

At Silver Sound, we encourage everyone to pull out their microphones and make something new! Every winter and summer, we host a 48-hour audio storytelling competition, shower the top three winners with money and fabulous prizes, and showcase the top 10 finalists both live at a celebration event in NYC and online via our Silver Podcast Network. We call this the Biannual Sonic Dash.

Registration for our Summer 2026 Sonic Dash, which will take place from June 5th to the 7th, is now open so check out the link below to learn more about the contest and the insane prizes you can win!

https://www.silver-nyc.com/sonicdash

Featuring Cory Choy

Produced by Cory Choy and Christian Cuciniello

Music by Ivan Bronson

Sound by Silver Sound

Diego Dionisio de Peñalosa - count, conquistador, would-be king, and confidence man - is one of history’s great forgotten maverick adventurers. Born in Peru in the shadow of Pizarro’s conquest of the Inca Empire, Peñalosa imagined himself a latter-day Cortés, destined to carve out a new empire in the uncharted north. Through charm, cunning, and deception, he rose through the Spanish colonial bureaucracy to become provincial governor of New Mexico. There, he conceived an audacious plan: to discover and conquer Quivira and Gran Teguayo, mythical kingdoms of gold and silver hidden in the mountains of North America. Peñalosa’s life was a blend of ambition and illusion - a tale of imperial dreams, deception, and the thin line between conquest and con.

Kevin J. Brown, Cory Choy, Tom Fama, Christian Cuciniello

Take a listen as Chris Platt talks about war, leadership, and the disconnect between decision-makers and the people affected by their choices.

Written by and Featuring Chris Platt

Produced by Cory Choy and Christian Cuciniello

Sound by Silver Sound

Take a listen as filmmaker Colin Colfer tells us about his animation process, the challenges of the craft, and what he’s working on now in the world of stop motion.

Featuring Colin Colfer

Produced by Cory Choy, Christian Cuciniello, and Ivan Bronson

Music by Ivan Bronson

Sound by Silver Sound

Take a listen as Saul Austerlitz tells us about the origin of the Brooklyn Resisters, the important work that they do, and his book entitled "How to Assemble an Activist"

Featuring Saul Austerlitz and Cory Choy

Produced by Cory Choy, Christian Cuciniello, and Ivan Bronson

Sound by Silver Sound

The fate of Sir John Franklin's lost expedition is one of the most enduring mysteries in Arctic exploration. In 1845, Franklin sailed from England aboard the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror in search of the elusive Northwest Passage, only to disappear in the Canadian Arctic with all 129 men. The massive international search that followed - led by explorers including John Rae and Francis Leopold McClintock - not only uncovered clues to Franklin's tragic fate but also produced some of the most important maps ever made of the Canadian Arctic. In this episode of CartoCuriosity, Spencer Hunt explores the remarkable story behind the Franklin Expedition, the maps it inspired, and how the search for one lost explorer forever changed the cartography of the Far North.

Take a listen as Amy Ernst tells us about how she uses her art as a creative outlet and a way to visualize a more loving world.

Featuring Amy Ernst

Produced by Cory Choy, Ivan Bronson, and Christian Cuciniello

Music by Ivan Bronson

Sound by Silver Sound

What if one of the most remarkable fantasy maps ever created wasn’t designed for a novel or a game, but for the CIA? In this episode of CartoCuriosity, Kevin Brown of Geographicus Rare Antique Maps uncovers the extraordinary story of The Zendian Problem, a top-secret Cold War cryptography training exercise created by eccentric American cryptologist Lambros D. Callimahos. Blending fantasy cartography, military intelligence, codebreaking, espionage, and geopolitical strategy, the fictional Kingdom of Zendia became an immersive world where intelligence officers learned to analyze maps, decipher encrypted communications, and anticipate military operations. Through a rare surviving set of Zendian maps, this episode explores the surprising intersection of cartographic history, cryptology, Cold War history, and one of the most unusual intelligence training programs ever devised.

Take a listen to our adaptation of Robert Reich's writings on our Current Political Climate.

Script adapted from the writings of Robert Reich

Produced by Cory Choy and Christian Cuciniello

Music by Ivan Bronson

Sound by Silver Sound

Zoe Sullivan tells us why she is running for the 76th Assembly District in Wisconsin, some of the issues that the state is facing, and some of the things she would like to accomplish.

Featuring Zoe Sullivan

Produced by Cory Choy, Ivan Bronson, and Christian Cuciniello

Music by Ivan Bronson

Sound by Silver Sound