Transmissions
The Random Kindness of Strangers
Mairi Johnson (UK 2024)
Mairi Johnson (UK 2024)
27 min
A non-narrated piece which tells the story of a refugee's escape from Iran and journey to the UK in the early 1980s, focusing on the random kindness of strangers (and sometimes the lack thereof) encountered during the journey. This piece was originally conceived in the 'In the Dark' Audio course, 2024.
Produced by Mairi Johnson
XMTR Festival Selects: Slag Speaks (Extract)
Emily Candela (UK 2025)
Emily Candela UK (2025)
5 min
‘Slag Speaks’ centres on a seemingly unassuming specimen found in the backroom archive of the Lapworth Museum of Geology in Birmingham: a small chunk of slag, cast off by a Bilston steelworks in the 1950s. Slag is an industrial by-product of steel production that is found all around the post-industrial West Midlands. While it is indelibly linked to the region, it lacks the public attention and respect reserved for monuments and the monetary value of the glistening minerals displayed in the front of the museum. Slag is easily dismissed. But it is a persistent and powerful reminder of the industrial past. ‘Slag Speaks’ is a polyvocal life story of slag, including voices of a steelworker, curator, geologist and the fictional voice of slag herself. Together, these voices stitch together themes of labour, the blurring line between human-made and natural, and the dynamics of the often-overlooked, or ‘slagged-off’ industrial byproduct and post-industrial region.
Produced by: Emily Candela in partnership with the Lapworth Museum.
It is part Emily’s Arts Council funded Sonic Minerals project that sits at the intersection of her audio and experimental history practices, and explores the role podcasting can play in museums.
XMTR Festival Selects: Majd’s Diary: 2 Years in the Life of a Saudi Girl
Sarah Kate Kramer (US, 2016)
Sarah Kate Kramer (US 2016)
25 min
Majd Abdulghani is a young woman from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who dreams of becoming a scientist — while her parents hope to arrange her marriage. Radio Diaries sent Abdulghani a recorder — and she ended up chronicling her world for over two years.
Produced by Sarah Kate Kramer and Joe Richman
Assisted by Nellie Gilles
Edited by Deborah George and Ben Shapiro
Searching for the Lost Language of Cumbric
Caitlin Kennedy (UK 2024)
Caitlin Kennedy (UK 2024)
36 min
In a quest to uncover the lost Celtic language of Cumbric, I hunt for clues in Cumbria's history, folklore, and dialects. Helped along the way by folk musicians, storytellers and a linguist with a secret, I grapple with the complexities of language evolution and how we mythologise the past.
Produced by Caitlin Kennedy with support from Gareth Mitchell and Paul Chauncy.
Featuring the voices and contributions of Neil Whalley, Gordon Jones, Phillip Gate, Tom Fisher and Sheila Fell. Music credit: Joe Broughton Folk Ensemble; Old Molly Metcalfe by Jake Thackray; Jus a wee deoch an' doris by Sir Harry Lauder & Gerald Grafton
Shorn Women
Chloe Turpin (UK/FR 2025)
Chloe Turpin (UK/FR 2025)
33 min
At the end of WWII, around 20,000 women across France were accused of ‘horizontal collaboration’. Their alleged crime: sleeping with German soldiers. And their punishment was having their heads shaved and facing a public beating. Chloe’s grand-mother’s Émilienne was one of the shorn women of French liberation. Like many others at the time, her story was always shrouded in shame and mystery.
From uncomfortable conversations with family members in Brittany to a trawl through the French National Archives, Shorn Women looks at this controversial and overlooked historical event. Confronting official and personal narratives, it's a story about justice, taboo and the power of speech.
Produced, Written and Music by Chloe Turpin
Voices: James Davey, Naomi Bloomstein and George Roll
Life In Progress
Life in Progress (UK/DE 2025)
Phoebe McIndoe (UK/DE 2025)
6 min
Life in Progress is the story of Nanou Thassinda and her journey for belonging and acceptance in the UK. After Nanou's dad was murdered in The Democratic Republic of the Congo for publicly speaking-out against the government, Nanou lived as an asylum seeker for 11 years in and around London. In that time, Nanou found hope and empowerment, experimenting with english and the specific regional dialects she encountered as she moved from door to door. This piece is about finding voice, hope and the ever-transitory nature of life.
Produced by Phoebe McIndoe
Voice & Story: Nanou Thassinda.
Executive Editor: Ingo Kottkamp
The Lido Cafe
Charlotte Petts (UK 2024)
Produced by Charlotte Petts (UK 2024)
32 min
Charlotte has been intrigued by this place ever since she and her dog took refuge there from the wintery Worthing seafront to have a steaming hot pot of tea and a tunnocks tea cake. With its metal grills over the windows and a heavy door to strain open, it almost always looks closed, except for a little neon red 'Open' sign glowing in the gloom. Inside, there were mainly older people, sitting alone. It's part of an old lido complex, with a bandstand built in the 1920's jutting out into the sea, almost like a mini pier.
The tablecloths are chequered, you can get breakfast for a fiver and despite sitting separately, everyone seemed to know each other. One lady leaned over and chatted to her about her dog. It was just... friendly. She wanted to spend more time there, see what is was like in the warmer months and spend more time with the people that go there and the people that run it. And so she did. And she took her recorder with her.
Produced and presented by Charlotte Petts
XMTR Radio Hour Ep25 : A Field Trip to Edmonton
Social Broadcasts (UK 2023)
Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2023)
60 min / Episode 25 of 25
This show is dedicated to the joyful chaos that is Angel Edmonton in Enfield, North London. Once an industrial hub attracting factory workers and their families, the area has been neglected for decades as factories gave way to warehouses and social housing fell into decay. Today it's a multicultural crossroads undergoing massive redevelopment. Echoes of Angels produced by Social Broadcasts takes us on a trip down the main artery - Fore Street, guided by local residents and business owners.
Echoes of Angels a Social Broadcast by – Lucia Scazzocchio
Commissioned by Fore Street for All
Next we join Enfield People’s Theatre with local producer Soveks Lo behind the scenes of their latest production Bread and Roses - a community play recounting the 1915 Edmonton Rent Strike and the community action (led and won by local women) drawing parallels with the current housing crises.
Produced by Lucia Scazzocchio
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This is Chicago: Alley
Supraphonic Studios (US 2023)
Supraphonic Studios (US 2023)
7 min, Episode 10 of 18
In an undisclosed alley, a diver finds divinity among the dumpsters. Bada bing, bada boom! Who knew dumpster diving could be so lucrative?
This series of short audio portraits from Chicago draws from the long lineage of oral history recording in the city, perhaps inspired by the likes of Studs Terkel and the assumption that everyone has a story if you just ask.
Produced and recorded by Stephen Pate and Ashlie Stevens
Created by Supraphonic Studios
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Class Divide
Curtis James (UK 2023)
Curtis James (UK 2023)
30 min Episode 1 of 4
This series follows the lives of a family, one daughter and three sons from Whitehawk, whose stories will highlight what a massive difference a good education can make to life chances. Across the series families, teachers and education experts talk about the roots of the UK's education, segregation and subsequent attainment gap and why it’s so bad in places like Brighton and Hove.
Writer and presenter of the series Curtis James says: “I grew up in East Brighton and this podcast series has been in the making since I made my first radio programme in 1990. The stories I’ll be sharing are rarely told by people like us, and it’s important for people to understand where the issues are, so the city can begin to make things fairer. The ideal outcome from this series is that the good people of Brighton get together, work together, to ensure every child gets the support they need to learn and thrive. It’s going to take the whole city to support the education of all of its children.”