Radio wasn’t necessarily a field Jonathan Goldstein sought out in the beginning of his career. As a freelance writer on a mission to get published, it turned out writing essays for radio worked for him. Without realizing it, his conversational narrative-style writing, with cleverly placed jokes, leant itself to being read on air. “Initially I wasn’t thinking too much about the medium, but when I started working as a producer on This American Life I kind of fell in love with the medium and starting working on radio as a language,” says Goldstein, now known for letting us listen in on his phone calls on CBC’s hilarious Wire Tap. “I think radio caters to a kind of control freakiness in the writer, or in me, where you are able to control not only the words, but the way the words are coming out and the emphasis. You do multiple takes, choose the best takes and you can score it with music you feel is appropriate—so you’re almost kind of telling people how to hear it.” Goldstein will open the National Community/Campus Radio Conference, reading some of his work and offering wise words on the process of radio production.
Mon June 6, Potter Auditorium, Rowe Mgmt Building, 6100 University Avenue, 7:30-9pm, free w/NCRC pass, $10 suggested donation
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2011.