Radio Diaries

Radio Diaries, Inc. is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization committed to producing a new kind of oral history. Radio Diaries is grounded in the simple faith that everyone has a story to tell, and that extraordinary stories can be found in ordinary places. Since 1996, Radio Diaries has pioneered a model for working with people to document their own lives and personal histories for public radio: teenagers, seniors, prison inmates, and others whose voices are rarely heard. We help people share their stories - and their lives - in their own words, creating documentaries that are powerful, surprising, intimate, and timeless. Radio Diaries has also established a reputation as a leading producer of historical documentaries. Our work has won almost every journalism award, including The RFK Journalism Award and The Casey Journalism Award and the Sigma Delta Chi Journalism Award. We also publish an oral history guide for young people, the Teen Reporter Handbook, which is used in schools and community radio stations across the country.

Previous and current Radio Diaries projects have received funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Council for the Humanities, the Kaiser Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts.

Radio Diaries work can be heard on NPR's All Things Considered, and on our website at www.radiodiaries.org. Contact us for more information. 

Series

Teenage Diaries
Since 1996, the Teenage Diaries series has given tape recorders to young people around the country. They conduct interviews, keep audio journals, and record the sounds of daily life — usually collecting more than 30 hours of raw tape over the course of a year, edited into documentaries airing on NPR’s All Things Considered. Whether it’s the story of Amanda, a gay teen trying to understand her sexuality, or the story of Juan, who crossed the Rio Grande with his family illegally, these stories offer insight into the mysterious life of teenagers.


Contenders
There have been 43 presidents in American history. But the names of the hundreds who sought the office – and lost – are often forgotten. "Contenders" tells the stories of some of the most groundbreaking and unusual presidential candidates from elections past.



Prison Diaries
Five inmates, four correctional officers and a judge were given tape recorders. For six months, the diarists kept audio journals and recorded the sounds and scenes of everyday life behind bars: shakedowns, new inmate arrivals, roll call, monthly family visits, meals at the chow hall, and quiet moments late at night inside a cell.




New York Works: Audio Portraits of a Vanishing City

94-year old Selma Koch runs one of New York's last old-style bra fitting shops. Walter Backerman still delivers seltzer along the same route worked by his father and grandfather. Frank Sabatino is one of two commercial fisherman left in Jamaica Bay. Charlie Zimmerman builds the rooftop water tanks that dot Manhattan's skyline. New York Works tells the stories of those who keep the city's past alive.



Audio Histories: These audio documentaries weave together oral histories and archival tape to bring the past to life. From World War II to the Civil Rights movement, from the mining industry to the music industry, this series shares a rich, in depth look into our history. 


 

Mandela: An Audio History
"Mandela: An Audio History" is a groundbreaking project that weaves together an unprecedented collection of archival sound materials documenting and preserving the story of Nelson Mandela and the struggle against apartheid. Hear a rare recording of the 1964 trial that resulted in Mandela's life sentence; a visit between Mandela and his wife, Winnie, secretly recorded by a prison guard; marching songs of guerilla soldiers; government propaganda films; and pirate radio broadcasts from the African National Conference (ANC).