Joe Richman is the founder of Radio Diaries, a non-profit organization. Over the past 15 years, Radio Diaries has helped to pioneer a model for working with people to document their own lives for public radio. Richman has collaborated with teenagers and octogenarians, prisoners and prison guards, bra saleswomen and lighthouse keepers to create award-winning productions including: Teenage Diaries, Prison Diaries, My So-Called Lungs, New York Works, Thembi's AIDS Diary, Mandela: An Audio History, and Willie McGee and the Traveling Electric Chair. Before Radio Diaries, Richman worked for many years as a freelance reporter and producer for NPR programs All Things Considered, Weekend Edition-Saturday, Car Talk, and Heat. He also teaches at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
Teen Contender
By Joe Richman, Sue Jaye Johnson & Samara Freemark
Sixteen-year-old Claressa Shields has a dream, to be at the 2012 Olympic finals and hear the announcer call out, "The first woman Olympian boxer at 165 pounds - Claressa Shields!" (more)
Oscar, Shmoscar! (Saturday)
By Gwen Macsai, Adam Burke, Adam Fowler, Bridgette McGee-Robinson & Joe Richman
Who needs the Academy Awards when you have the Third Coasties? (more)
Willie McGee and the Traveling Electric Chair
By Joe Richman & Samara Freemark
On the night of May 7th, 1951, a thousand people gathered in Laurel, Mississippi, to witness the execution of Willie McGee, a black man convicted of raping a white woman. (more)
Documenter and Documentee -- Part Two
By Joe Richman & Michele Norris
Documenting somebody else’s life is one of the hardest challenges producers face in their work. Over an extended period of time relationships intensify, stories often change drastically, and the line between personal and too personal blurs easily. (more)
Documenter and Documentee -- Part One
By Joe Richman & Mary Beth Kirchner
Documenting somebody else's life is one of the hardest challenges producers face in their work. Over an extended period of time relationships intensify, stories often change drastically, and the line between personal and too personal blurs easily. (more)
Thembi's AIDS Diary
By Joe Richman
In South Africa more than five million people are living with HIV/AIDS, including a young woman named Thembi Ngubane. (more)
The Invisible Narrator
By Joe Richman
This session explores "found narration" - archival tape, interviews, audio diary entries - and sound that can all be used to perform the job of the narrator. What do you gain and what do you give up when you throw away the script? (more)
Mandela: An Audio History
By Joe Richman, Sue Jaye Johnson & Ben Shapiro
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of South Africa's first democratic election, Radio Diaries produced this five-part series featuring newly discovered archival tape of Nelson Mandela, his supporters, and detractors. (more)
My So-Called Lungs
By Joe Richman & Laura Rothenberg
Laura Rothenberg is 21 years old, but likes to say that she’s already had her mid-life crisis. Laura has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs and other organs. (more)
Once Upon a Time . . . The End
By Alan Berliner, Gwen Macsai, Joe Richman & Robert Krulwich
So, you've got your assignment. You've done your research, you've collected your tape, and now it's time (oh god) to write. In this panel discussion, moderated by Robert Krulwich, we examine the Everest and K-2 of story telling: How to Begin and (assuming you can get past that one) How to End. (more)
