Illustration by Drew Shannon
Radiolab is an American, non-commercial, non-profit public broadcast show.
It sets out to demystify the world of science, philosophy, human experience and
everything in between. It does it in the most inventive way, using the addition
of sound to illuminate ideas in a highly original way.
I have always been interested in the use of sound design, long before it had
that title. Back in the ‘50s, you’d find me glued to the radio listening to the
inventive sounds created for Journey into Space – if you are up for a long read,
take a look at an earlier post of mine on the history of sound design (link at foot of this post) .
Anyway, back to Radiolab. It is the brainchild of Jad Abumrad and Robert
Krulwich (above) and has evolved over the past decade, building up a loyal following of
fans. The programmes are like listening in on an intimate conversation with
friends and, as a listener, you feel like you are being embraced. Now, as many
regular readers of this blog will know, I love radio. And I am in love with
Radiolab and that is thanks to good old BBC Radio 4, which ran a documentary on
Radiolab here. (don’t know for how long it will be up for). The main
website for Radiolab is here. Do give it a listen. It’s well worth it.
And here is the link to my 2008 post on the history of sound design: Sound Barrier