XMTR Radio Hour #41: Sounding Colossus

Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2026)

67 min / Episode 41 of 41

This XMTR Radio Hour is a little different. Lucia speaks to Garry Hunter  the director of arts and heritage organisation Fitzrovia Noir - and composer/violinist Jack Campbell about a new commission from the educational foundation that has grown out of the Tommy Flowers community pub in Poplar, East London. The pub’s namesake Tommy Flowers designed and built Colossus, the world’s first programmable electronic computer, to help decipher the encrypted messages sent by the German High Command during WW2. 23-year-old composer and musician Jack M.Campbell has recently written and extensively performed a piece inspired by Alan Turing’s Bombe. With a bursary from TFF, he has now composed a score responding to Colossus, the computer built by Tommy Flowers to greatly expedite the reading of Lorenz traffic. The code was cracked by mathematician Bill Tutte, who, after the war, went on to teach at two universities in Canada, Jack’s home country. Following the conversation about outsiders, music, algorithms and maths, is an exclusive rendition of this composition: ‘Colossus’ by Jack Campbell. 

XMTR Radio Hour Produced by Lucia Scazzocchio

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Finding The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Patrick McNameeKing (US 2025)

3 min

Laurie Gordon MacKenzie began teaching social studies in Concord New Hampshire in 1987 --the year after the Challenger Shuttle Disaster when Concord High teacher Christa McAuliffe was lost. One of the courses that Laurie started teaching that year was American Women's History, which was a course developed and taught by McAuliffe. As part of New Hampshire Public Radio's series ""Remembering Christa" Laurie Gordon MacKenzie reflects on teaching that class, and the lessons we can still learn from Christa McAuliffe.

Produced by Patrick McNameeKing
Music from Epidemic Sound

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Shine A Light On The Darkness (In French, English and German)

Candice Savoyat (FR, 2025)

Candice Savoyat · Shine a light on the darkness

53 min

80 years after the end of World War II, what remains?

Candice Savoyat retraces her family’s footsteps. First to Chemnitz, Germany, where her maternal grandmother was born to a Polish Jewish father, before fleeing to France. Then to Mauthausen, Austria, where her paternal great-grandfather, who had joined the Resistance, was deported.

By connecting these two family histories, she brings them into dialogue with the present, gathering the voices of strangers met along the way.

An intimate and universal journey, to be listened with headphones.

Producer by: Candice Savoyat
Music by: Amédée de Murcia
Mixing: Jules Wisocky
Translation: Céline Gay A Stim Matter production With the support of the City of Geneva, the FSRC, the Loterie Romande, and Phonurgia Nova as part of its annual support program for radio and sound projects

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XMTR Festival Selects: Lightning Refuge

Kristina Loring (US 2025)

4 min

What are the gems that lie beneath the wounds? Ruha's family escaped violent riots in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1983, just three months before she was born.  They were targeted because they were Tamil, the minority. Their successful survival could be seen as a string of coincidences, the result of deep human connections. Or was it the result of supernatural intervention?

This piece was created for The Golden Tape project by Kristina Loring, a mixtape of human essence where artists share their secretive and beloved pleasures, grief, ritual, and desires that they want to keep hidden from AI commodification.   

Producer by: Kristina Loring
Voices: Ruha Devanesan and AJ Devanesan 

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Two Dreams of Dolores

Patrick McNameeKing (US 2025)

13 min

On the shores of Lake Atitlan, Dolores, a Mayan healer, shares two dreams that shaped her life.

Producer - Patrick McNameeKing
Music - by Patrick McNameeKing

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Windows: Jill - The Edge of Things

Ivan d'Avoine and Derick Armah (UK 2025)

23 min

To watch the world pass by from your home’s window is an intimate experience: at once deeply personal and yet universal, cinematic even, at times. Although we all do it, when was the last time someone asked you, sincerely; what do you see when you look outside your window?

Featuring experimental sound design that reflects the processes of art-making and city-wandering, we journey to Central London’s Brunswick Centre to meet Jill Rock, who sculpts natural found objects and geometric constructions under the light of her living room window.

Produces by Ivan d'Avoine and Derick Armah
Powered by Transmission Roundhouse

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Jim, Human Waste Expert

Patrick McNameeKing (US 2024)

6 min

Jim, a human waste disposal expert, shares with me the ins and outs of the business.

Producer - Patrick McNameeKing
Music - by Patrick McNameeKing

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In The Dark What’s New: Saltwater Soul

James Trice (UK 2024)

MajDuckworth · Saltwater Soul // Short Documentary

8 min

"Saltwater Soul" is an experimental audio documentary that’s really close to my heart. It dives into the world of sea swimming in Brighton, seen through the eyes of a passionate swimmer. The documentary mixes the peaceful sounds of the ocean with the lively atmosphere of protests against pollution by British water companies.

Creating this piece was a personal journey for me. I even started writing poetry for the first time, which you’ll hear throughout the documentary. It’s a mix of the calm and joy of sea swimming with the serious issue of environmental threats. My hope is that it not only shares the unique experience of sea swimming but also highlights the importance of protecting our waters.

Producer - James Trice

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In The Dark What’s New: Knife Fork Keys

Hye Young Sin (KOR/DE 2023)

8 min

The experience of a night walk alone in the park, through different cultural, sexual, and social contexts.

Composed by: Hye Young Sin.

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In The Dark What’s New: Friends of the Wall

Evan Green (UK 2024)

13 min

Every Friday, a small group of volunteers paint red hearts on the National Covid Memorial Wall, in the heart of Westminster. As the world moves on, why do they keep coming back?

Producer - Evan Green

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