How do you tell a great radio story? It’s a question I keep in mind writing these reviews. You need a compelling idea, and a subject that lends itself to the intimacy of audio. A sharp script, killer interviews, atmospheric music and sound recordings. And then there’s something else, the way all these elements blend together to create a narrative that grabs the listener and won’t let go.
Earlier this year I was a judge for the Charles Parker Prize, awarded annually to the best student audio feature. It is named in honour of the late BBC producer, who pioneered new styles of broadcasting and was known in particular for his Radio Ballads of the 1950s and 1960s, which documented the overlooked lives of working people using their own words and music. This was what my fellow judges and I wanted to hear in the dozens of 15-minute entries submitted: the stories of people not often deemed worthy of storytelling, with music bringing their real lives to life.
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