Daily Create: Best Daydreaming Window

Audio Create: Two Way Interview - Spring Break

My Plan for the Radio Show

EDIT: I had something here before I realized it was all completely wrong. I wasn't in class so I didn't know that the theme was "dating;" now I've got to slightly revise my previous idea.

Vox Pop: What Is Your Biggest Fear?

Listening In - Response

Image taken from the Flickr photostream of Sveeta Bogomolova and used under a Creative Commons Licence.

Reading this article, I was struck by how nostalgic I felt thinking about sitting around the radio at night with my family, listening in, or laying in bed late at night listening. But those things never happened; I was feeling nostalgic about something I never actually experienced.

That's not to say radio didn't have some effect on my life. As I've said in a previous post, when I was younger every morning in the car on the way to school my mom would have Mojo in the Morning on, and we would listen to things like the war of the roses segment or the prank calls. I remember always being sad that I couldn't finish the segments; it was a short drive to school.

As a kid, I also would make fake radio stations with my friend David. He had a karaoke machine, and we would talk like hosts into the microphone and play our CDs, while recording the whole thing onto casette tapes.

But I never went out for a drive late at night and listened to the radio, alone or with friends. Nowadays I always have my iPod with me, so I just listen to that if I'm out driving. Yet reading this article, I long to experience this type of listening. I think that's what the article has going for it, but I know that I only like the idea of radio; if I were to actually go back in time I'm fairly certain I would get bored.

There are commercials in radio! And people remember all of the great hosts and segments and music, but radio was on 24/7; it couldn't possibly be good all the time. I believe it's a romanticized memory. This isn't to say that there couldn't have been great content on the air, I'm sure there was, but there was also mediocre content, as with any medium, and I feel like I would get bored with radio.

Plus I have grown up in a fast paced world where people want what they want and they want it now. Today there's no time for bad content; if you're not creating something good and interesting I'm gonna tune it out. I have a short attention span and something needs to capture my attention in seconds or else I'll move on. This may not be true for everyone, and this isn't to say that I don't give things a chance, but I need to be hooked.

I'm not trying to say that radio today is bad or that watching TV or watching a movie is a better experience; in class I really liked the audio segments we listened to. Also, I didn't grow up in the era of radio so of course I'm going to have a different opinion of it. I'm sure older generations feel nostalgia for having actually experienced the things the article talks about. I know it was a very important cultural phenomenon.

One last thought. The radio talks about how people enjoyed radio so much because they were an active participant, because it stimulated their imagination. They could hear what was happening but needed to fill in the blanks. I think this idea of the "active participant"is really important in all mediums, but most important perhaps in radio. So in creating my own content, I need to keep this idea in mind.

Weekly Summary - Digital Storytelling

This week we started the audio section, which I'm actually pretty excited about. When I was little my mom always used to play channel 955, Mojo in the Morning. But since then, I haven't paid much attention to the radio. Now I have a chance to learn more about the medium and maybe give it a second chance.

This week, I finished my last video for the video section of class and did a couple audio creates. I also finished part two of the Procrastination video, which isn't really for the class but I felt like sharing it anyway.

My Friends iPhone Stop Motion - Third Video
Audio Create: Music with an Everyday Object - Beat with a Pen
Audio Create: Sound of a Meal I Ate - Boiling Pasta
Audio Create: Most Lively Laugh
Elimination - Epic Nerf Gun War

Elimination: Nerf Gun War

Audio Create: Most Lively Laugh

My roommate Jackson.

Audio Create: Sound of a Meal I Ate - Boiling Pasta

Audio Create: Music with an Everyday Object - Beat with a Pen

I used to do this a lot as a kid in middle school, bored in class.