SELECTS

Curated works of canonical audio, updated monthly

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The Selects Podcast

Selects is a show that brings you unearthed audio works we’ve found buried in web archives, radio streams, and old podcasts. They’ve come to us through the recommendations and inspirations of some of the most talented audio creators working today.  Every two weeks we release a new episode right here and it is going to be something that you definitely want to hear. The works that we are going to feature are going to be some of the most compelling and exciting and ambitious works in audio.  You can find the whole library of exclusively curated works and bonus content at selects.fm or on our Apple Podcasts channel. 

  1. A Woman on the Ice by Rikke Houd for Third Ear (subtitled by Radio Atlas) *Video Podcast*

    4D AGO · VIDEO

    A Woman on the Ice by Rikke Houd for Third Ear (subtitled by Radio Atlas) *Video Podcast*

    Note: this week's episode is a video podcast because it is a celebration of audio subtitles.  You'll need to experience it on a platform that supports video files. This week we're sharing a choice work from our new collection celebrating ten years of Radio Atlas, an English-language home for subtitled audio from around the world. A place to hear inventive documentaries, dramas and works of sound art that have been made in languages you don’t necessarily speak.  Radio Atlas has subtitled stories from over 30 countries, and has been an instrumental part of audio festivals and awards since its inception (and it's won several awards itself).   We're sharing one feature from the collection today: The Woman on the Ice produced by Rikke Houd for Third Ear in 2014.  A young woman walks out onto the ice in Greenland, under a full moon, and disappears.  It's haunting, super compelling and will reshape your expectations for documentary.    ********* Original Series Credits from Radio Atlas:  Produced by Rikke Houd for Third Ear (11th March 2014) “In 1932 a young, Danish woman went as the first Danish nurse to the sparsely populated Greenlandic east coast. She trained as a nurse with the sole purpose of going to Greenland, but she didn’t get to live there for a year. One night she went out into the frozen landscape. She walked out on towards the sea, to the edge of the ice. Here the story ends with her footprints…” Deep beneath the Greenlandic ice, lies a hidden history. The Danish feature-maker Rikke Houd travels in the footsteps of Karen Roos, who disappeared on the ice outside the small East Greenlandic town of Tasiilaq in 1933. Winner of the 2015 In The Dark award for audio documentary presented at Sheffield Doc/fest. Produced with support from the Danish Arts Council.  thirdear.dk

    57 min
  2. The Big Read: A Lesson Before Dying

    FEB 11

    The Big Read: A Lesson Before Dying

    This week we're sharing a piece from The Big Read, a book club for public radio from the National Endowment for the Arts. This episode is about Ernest Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying.  Set in the fictional community of Bayonne, Louisiana, in the late 1940s, A Lesson Before Dying tells the story of Jefferson, a twenty-one-year-old Black field worker wrongfully accused and convicted of the robbery and murder of a white man, and sentenced to death by electrocution.  It's an incredible story of friendship and what it means to resist and defy one's fate Original Series Credits: This program was created by the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services.  It was hosted by Dana Gioia and written and produced by Molly Murphy and Dan Stone, and mixed by Molly Murphy. Readings from A Lesson Before Dying were by KenYatta Rogers. "Were You There?," "Guitar Man," "John Henry," "Piedmont Medley" and "Amazing Grace" by NEA Heritage Fellow Cephas and Wiggins used courtesy of John Cephas, Phil Wiggins and Joe Wilson."Cotton Fields," "Leaving Blues," "Let it Shine on Me" and "Moanin'" performed by Lead Belly. Plus "Death is Awful" by Doc Reed, all used with permission of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.  Original sound effects by Brent Finley at Sonic Magic Studios. Production Assistant: Adam Kampe. Administrative Assistants: Pepper Smith and Erica Koss. Special thanks to Ken Hoffman, Louise Herras, Keith Cornell, Sister Margaret, Luthetha Martin, Angie Knorwood and to our contributors: Warden Burl Cain, Ruby Dee, Ernest J. Gaines, Ash Green, Romulus Linney, Sister Helen Prejean and Cicely Tyson.

    30 min
  3. Diary of a Bad Year by Kelly McEvers and Jay Allison

    11/12/2025

    Diary of a Bad Year by Kelly McEvers and Jay Allison

    This week we're sharing a banger documentary from Kelly McEvers which may leave you standing, staring at a wall by the end.  The podcast version of a driveway moment.   Ten years before McEvers' show Embedded hit the air, you can hear the idea for it beginning to form.  Diary of a Bad Year is a bold and compelling look at why journalists risk it all for the story.   ***** Jay Allison financed, produced, edited and mixed this series for Transom.org.  More about the piece can be found at Transom: https://transom.org/2013/diary-of-a-bad-year-a-war-correspondents-dilemma/ Original Thank You and Music Credits for Diary of a Bad Year are here: I dedicate this piece to the lost members of the tribe and to their families. I stand forever in salute to Chris Hondros, Tim Hetherington, Gilles Jacquier, Anthony Shadid, Marie Colvin, and Remy Ochlik. A huge thanks to those who participated in this project by agreeing to talk to me: Mark Brayne, Anthony Feinstein, Paul Wood, Anna Blundy, Jon Lee Anderson, Sebastian Junger, and Christiane Amanpour. Thanks again to the wonderful folks at Transom, who opened their houses and their hearts and reinforced my belief in the principle that if you listen, really listen, great things happen. Thank you to my true partners in crime — Lava Selo, Rima Marrouch, and Rasha Elass — who have been by my side on every Syria story. Thank you to my dear friend and editor, Doug Roberts, who let me try weird things on the radio despite the fact that I was breaking all the rules. I am forever in his debt. Thanks to the inimitable Loren Jenkins, for believing in me after all those years of trying. Thank you to Jonathan Blakley, who first put me in touch with Mark Brayne and who helped me understand it’s okay to talk to a counselor; to Barbara Surk and Hassan Jamali, who were with me as we were tear-gassed in Bahrain; to Noor Kelze, who first took me to the front line in Aleppo; to Manoli Wetherell, Jim Lesher, and Suzanne Lennon, who engineered and recorded interviews; to Jennifer Dargan, who helped arrange my interview with Christiane Amanpour; and to Tim Fitzsimons, Susannah George, and John Mangin, who provided early and very helpful feedback. And perhaps the biggest thanks of all goes to my family — Steve, Claudia, and Dave McEvers — whose support is unwavering despite the pain it causes them, and to Nathan Deuel, my collaborator, my best friend, and my one great love. Music Thank you to Matthias Bossi, Carla Kihlstedt, and Jon Evans for the original music they composed for this piece. You can find more of their music at: Lawless Music Rabbit Rabbit Radio Carla Kihlstedt Matthias Bossi Jon Evans

    57 min
4.8
out of 5
18 Ratings

About

Selects is a show that brings you unearthed audio works we’ve found buried in web archives, radio streams, and old podcasts. They’ve come to us through the recommendations and inspirations of some of the most talented audio creators working today.  Every two weeks we release a new episode right here and it is going to be something that you definitely want to hear. The works that we are going to feature are going to be some of the most compelling and exciting and ambitious works in audio.  You can find the whole library of exclusively curated works and bonus content at selects.fm or on our Apple Podcasts channel. 

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