Some things you just play right away: a new piece by Sean Cole has always been one of those things for me.  His writing and delivery is always easy on the ears, even when the subject of his work is difficult.  Sean can be heard now on This American Life, but before he landed there, his work was featured on a variety of radio shows and podcasts.  Three of Cole’s early pieces are included in this collection.  Each reflects his signature wry narrative in conversation with his tape.  You can hear his style developing over time with a different blend of contemplation and comedy.

Such a deceptively simple piece, Who’s Your Daddy? lets one interview unfold slowly.  As a listener, you don’t realize you are hanging on every word until you find yourself sitting in tepid bathwater shivering a little but not really ready to move because you want to hear what happens next.   This interview has a delightful twist at the end  and somehow uses a baby crying in a way that only enhances the ending.   There’s an idea that in audio journalism, the narrator is hosting a dinner party and is responsible for introducing the listener to all the guests, shepherding them around, and making sure they feel comfortable.  Well, this piece is the end of the night.  The narrator is exhausted and we’re just among friends.  There’s a little haze in the room, and we’re settling in for a great story.

Such a deceptively simple piece, Who’s Your Daddy? lets one interview unfold slowly.  As a listener, you don’t realize you are hanging on every word until you find yourself sitting in tepid bathwater shivering a little but not really ready to move because you want to hear what happens next.   This interview has a delightful twist at the end  and somehow uses a baby crying in a way that only enhances the ending.   There’s an idea that in audio journalism, the narrator is hosting a dinner party and is responsible for introducing the listener to all the guests, shepherding them around, and making sure they feel comfortable.  Well, this piece is the end of the night.  The narrator is exhausted and we’re just among friends.  There’s a little haze in the room, and we’re settling in for a great story.

Who's Your Daddy (2005)

This hour-long documentary has everything you need for good radio: old people with heavy accents, something you cannot see, and a question that no one ever thinks about.  Where does Boston get its drinking water?  As it turns out, the answer is that  the town of Dana, Massachusetts was flooded in order to create the Quabbin Reservoir.  Hauntin’ the Quabbin’ gives former residents and their families an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between community and place, and all that was lost.  There isn’t a fight about urban development or an environmental scandal driving the piece.  Instead, it’s a quiet story about what used to be and how we should honor those things,  a window into a dying tradition that relishes in the way that experience becomes lore. This hour-long documentary has everything you need for good radio: old people with heavy accents, something you cannot see, and a question that no one ever thinks about.  Where does Boston get its drinking water?  As it turns out, the answer is that  the town of Dana, Massachusetts was flooded in order to create the Quabbin Reservoir.  Hauntin’ the Quabbin’ gives former residents and their families an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between community and place, and all that was lost.  There isn’t a fight about urban development or an environmental scandal driving the piece.  Instead, it’s a quiet story about what used to be and how we should honor those things,  a window into a dying tradition that relishes in the way that experience becomes lore.

This hour-long documentary has everything you need for good radio: old people with heavy accents, something you cannot see, and a question that no one ever thinks about.  Where does Boston get its drinking water?  As it turns out, the answer is that  the town of Dana, Massachusetts was flooded in order to create the Quabbin Reservoir.  Hauntin’ the Quabbin’ gives former residents and their families an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between community and place, and all that was lost.  There isn’t a fight about urban development or an environmental scandal driving the piece.  Instead, it’s a quiet story about what used to be and how we should honor those things,  a window into a dying tradition that relishes in the way that experience becomes lore. 
This hour-long documentary has everything you need for good radio: old people with heavy accents, something you cannot see, and a question that no one ever thinks about.  Where does Boston get its drinking water?  As it turns out, the answer is that  the town of Dana, Massachusetts was flooded in order to create the Quabbin Reservoir.  Hauntin’ the Quabbin’ gives former residents and their families an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between community and place, and all that was lost.  There isn’t a fight about urban development or an environmental scandal driving the piece.  Instead, it’s a quiet story about what used to be and how we should honor those things,  a window into a dying tradition that relishes in the way that experience becomes lore.

Hauntin' the Quabbin: Inside Out (2006)

Spoiler alert: “Yes, yes they are. That was easy.”  This piece is such a buffet for the senses.  It evokes cartoonish images of animals painting and playing music, delivers that music to your ears (including a whole minute of it at the end that could be a Brian Eno track or something you’d hear at H0l0), and seasons it with Cole’s signature wit and  insight.  You can hear the question- are animals creative? - but the answer occupies the space between the ears.  It’s a stellar example of the curious journalism that has driven Cole’s work.

Spoiler alert: “Yes, yes they are. That was easy.”  This piece is such a buffet for the senses.  It evokes cartoonish images of animals painting and playing music, delivers that music to your ears (including a whole minute of it at the end that could be a Brian Eno track or something you’d hear at H0l0), and seasons it with Cole’s signature wit and  insight.  You can hear the question- are animals creative? - but the answer occupies the space between the ears.  It’s a stellar example of the curious journalism that has driven Cole’s work.

Are Animals Creative? (2006)

This piece showcases Cole’s willingness to examine his own role in documentary-making, immediately putting the listener in his reporting shoes for a front seat journey in making a story.  It was going to be this, but it ended up being that.  A unifying experience among anyone making anything.  His long cuts of interview tape include his own questions (and all of their charming doubts) which reflect our own as listeners.  But then, together your doubts fall away as he reveals the bigger picture.  We are left laughing and satisfied, each the reluctant “hammer” of our own career.Also FWIW - the staff of Life of the Law was brimming with iconic talent.  Julia Barton went on to be the founding editor of Revisionist History.  Kaitlin Prest produced this piece while making the groundbreaking podcast The Heart.  Ashleyanne Krigbaum (“Wam Bam Ashleyanne…making earbuds sing and booties shake since 2008”) has worked on every banger Campside show and a million others.  Shannon Heffernan made and hosted Motive for WBEZ before going to The Marshall Project, and Nancy Mullane hosted Life of the Law (where this piece aired) for nearly 150 episodes on stations across the U.S.  This show is still available as a <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-of-the-law/id562788274">podcast</a> that you should definitely check out.

This piece showcases Cole’s willingness to examine his own role in documentary-making, immediately putting the listener in his reporting shoes for a front seat journey in making a story.  It was going to be this, but it ended up being that.  A unifying experience among anyone making anything.  His long cuts of interview tape include his own questions (and all of their charming doubts) which reflect our own as listeners.  But then, together your doubts fall away as he reveals the bigger picture.  We are left laughing and satisfied, each the reluctant “hammer” of our own career.
Also FWIW - the staff of Life of the Law was brimming with iconic talent.  Julia Barton went on to be the founding editor of Revisionist History.  Kaitlin Prest produced this piece while making the groundbreaking podcast The Heart.  Ashleyanne Krigbaum (“Wam Bam Ashleyanne…making earbuds sing and booties shake since 2008”) has worked on every banger Campside show and a million others.  Shannon Heffernan made and hosted Motive for WBEZ before going to The Marshall Project, and Nancy Mullane hosted Life of the Law (where this piece aired) for nearly 150 episodes on stations across the U.S.  This show is still available as a podcast that you should definitely check out.