The audio stories in Out on the Wire

An index of all the stories mentioned in Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio, in order of appearance: L’atelier du son This American Life Episode 126: Do Gooders This American Life Episode 355: The Giant Pool of Money Jessica Kittams’ “One Acre” from The Transom Workshop “Email Encryption Rare in…

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Be a poser.

I’m just gonna come right out with it: I am a poser.

I’m a cartoonist who didn’t go to art school.
I teach, but I have no teaching credentials.
I wrote two books about how radio producers make stories, but I’ve never* made a radio story.
I write articles that have no basis in research whatsoever.
I’m not punk enough.
My French sucks.

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How Jessica met Ira

This strip is responsible, in a roundabout way, for Out on the Wire. Ira Glass came across this strip when it ran in the NewCity in 1996, clipped it, and stuck it in his files. When he was looking for a cool idea for a pledge drive premium two years later, he thought of my strip, and called me…in Mexico City, where I’d moved six months earlier.

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a few of my favorite podcasts

This moment of vast cultural freakout about how awesome podcasts are (hello, Serial!) feels super-strange to me. I mean, good-strange, like, hey, maybe I’m not crazy for drawing a 200-page comic about how they make this stuff! Here’s a list of some of my top listens while making Out on the Wire: the Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio.

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