Add sound effects and music together with a voice speaking words, and there you have one of radio’s most popular features today: creative audio documentary. This program will focus on writing nonfiction documentaries and researched essays and bringing them alive with sound. Participants will learn how to write, record, perform, and edit creative and engaging nonfiction audio programs and podcasts.

Radio programs themselves will be among our texts as we discover the variety of nonfiction currently airing. Online archives of audio essays will provide opportunity to analyze not only specific mixes of words and sound, but also the ways in which making meaning with words must be shaped to match radio’s one-time-only quality, with careful word choice and directness, brevity, rhythm, and pacing.

Writing and speaking workshops will focus on developing effective skills for oral story-telling and description as these contribute to meaning-making in audio communication. Basic audio recording and editing workshops also will be provided. This program is especially well-suited to students who have some familiarity with audio technology and for those who have strong interest in a specific topic they'd like to share with others. Students may have the option of airing their work on community radio or through other public forums.