10 Nov 2018

Love + Radio: artfully crafted first-person stories without studio banter

From The Podcast Hour, 12:50 pm on 10 November 2018

For 13 years, the American podcast Love + Radio has been quietly serving up personal narratives (sometimes adult-themed) with cutting-edge sound design.

As one happy listener puts it: "The stories are great, strange, intense, the sound is a delight, and they have never tried to get me to accept a tote bag."

Jay Thunderbolt from 'The Wisdom of Jay Thunderbolt' - a 2011 episode of the podcast Love + Radio

Jay Thunderbolt from 'The Wisdom of Jay Thunderbolt' - a 2011 episode of the podcast Love + Radio Photo: Love + Radio

In the recent episode Coming Back, Pam Reynolds reflects on her near-death experience during major brain surgery in 1991.

Pam speaks of leaving her body on the operating table, being bathed in this calming light, and meeting a succession of her deceased relatives and dead friends. - which, perhaps unsurprisingly, changed her forever.

Listen to an extract of 'Coming Back' on The Podcast Hour:

Listen to 'Coming Back' in full:

Other Love + Radio episodes to check out:

F--- your feelings (2018)

Evan, a New York artist, has a secret.

The Living Room (2015) winner at the Third Coast International Audio Festival

Diane's new neighbours across the way never shut their curtains, and that was the beginning of an intimate, but very one-sided relationship.

Jack and Ellen (2013) winner at the Third Coast International Audio Festival

Ellen was struggling for money, working as a Subway "sandwich artist". So she decided to find a new job, and settled on one that allowed her to make over $30,000 for just a couple hours of work each week. One with emotional and moral consequences she didn't fully anticipate.

The Wisdom of Jay Thunderbolt (2011) winner at the Third Coast International Audio Festival

Jay Thunderbolt's business card is a little mysterious. It reads, "Thunderbolt - Party Naked" and gives a phone number.