Can you produce … art … in under a minute? Many years ago, when I was a reporter, I complained to my boss that he wasn’t giving me enough airtime to properly tell a story. He put me down with “Merriman Smith (of UPI) told the story of JFK’s assassination in 48 seconds. Now, kid, what was your story again?” I realized that length was seldom the arbiter of good broadcasting. In fact, when former NPR head of programming Jay Kernis started at NPR, he worked as a “promo producer” and he thought of the 30-second promos he created as art.
Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media, on Cape Cod, has produced a lot of art in his time as a producer. Here is a link to a concept he created called “Sonic ID’s” in which the stations’ call letters are preceded by residents telling little stories of their lives. Enjoy the “art” in this simple but very effective work that gives listeners a real sense of the place where they live.