LISTENER AND STATION FEEDBACK ON
HEARING VOICES FROM NPR® WEEKLY SERIES

Listener email: “I have really enjoyed listening to the Hearing Voices podcasts. It is like the radio equivalent of someone making a collage from a mix of elements of your own life, our shared history & the events, feelings and histories of people who become essentially intimate strangers.”

Blog post: “My new favorite big people’s podcast is called Hearing Voices, because it’s an hour of people’s stories. Do you know what a driveway moment is? Many radio are so amazing, drivers will arrive home and sit in their cars — often in the driveway — until the report is finished. Hearing Voices is all about driveway moments. These are not stories you play in the background while you’re busy doing something else (although I highly recommend listening to them while taking a nice long walk). You’ll want to hear every word of these reports.”

iTunes podcast reviews: “This is the MOST amazing piece of radio production. Elegant, inspired, soulful!” ~ “I heard this on my local member station. As and avid NPR listener, I always love stumbling across something new or different. The ‘driveway moments connected by a common theme’ description is *very* appropriate. And who doesn’t love those stories that grab you and make you sit in your car with the engine off, just to hear the conclusion?!” ~ “I Love this podcast. I got an A+++ on my science report.”

Listener email on “The Earth Songs: For Earth Day” (HV #7): “Last night, I heard episode 7 (“The Earth Sings”) on KQED in San Francisco, I REALLY enjoyed it, and was thrilled to find the entire program today on your web site. Thanks so much for making it available for repeat listening; I’m sharing it with all my friends.”

PRX Reviews: “Sounds flawless. Although it is an often stunning mixture of speech, sound and music and a thoughtful integration of sociology, psychology and history, it is deep insight artfully conveyed.” ~ “Brilliant. As richly layered and poetically powerful as can be. A beautiful mixture of factual absurdity and fear fueled nightmare.”

Program Director, KCUR-Kansas City: “’Shoah’ is so touching, and ‘All Mom’ with the over-protective Jewish mother is a riot! I know listeners will enjoy them!”

Listener emails on “All Mom Radio: For Mother’s Day” (HV #10): “Wanted to complement you folks: I tuned in late to NPR and heard your ALL MOM RADIO’s segment on the gay son and mom. Excellent. Pathos. Sensitive. Thoughtful.” ~ “I laughed so hard about Amy’s mom’s messages. And the story of Margy was so touching.”

Listener emails on “For the Fallen: Memorial Day” (HV #12): “Last night I grabbed a pencil and paper to scribble down a few lines from a poem in your special that spoke straight to my heart: ‘The navigator knows where he’s going because he knows where he’s been.’ Thank you for this moving special — I listened through the tears.”~ “Thank you for a touching and well presented story. Tears ran down my face too while listening to taps. My admiration for our servicemen is enhanced by the reminders you provide for us.”

Listener email on “Bugs & Birds: For Summer Solstice” (HV #16): “I listened with absolute fascination to your recent show, Birds and Bugs! Wow! Talk about having a whole new world open up! We know that birds make sounds, but insects? Of course we know about the obvious ones such as crickets, cicadas, etc. Leafhoppers making sounds with vibrations, though? Who would have thought?? Thanks for a great show!”

Listener email: “I heard my first “Hearing Voices” episode last night (‘Back Roads’), and it was terrific. Scott Carrier has long been a favorite of mine — he has a wonderful way of telling his unique stories — as are The Kitchen Sisters. Great stuff. I loved the music accompanying those stories. Thanks for producing such a wonderful program.”

Listener email on “Stars & Bars: For Independence Day” (HV #18): “Made me chuckle, and think, and cringe. Everything a good radio story should have.”

Blog comment on “My Prostate Diaries: A Slight Discomfort” (HV #30): “A brilliant piece of writing. I cringed and laughed, but mostly cried. I also understood a lot more than I had been told. Thank you.”

Listener email on “About Aging” (HV #8): “I just wanted to thank Ms. Leblanc for her piece about her dying father. I felt such a kinship with her - it was almost as if my own experience had been caught on tape. I called my father Daddy too, and many of the things that she said to him were exactly what I said to my own father as he lay on that bed in the nursing home during his last days. The feeling of helplessness that she felt was palpable - you could almost reach through the radio and hold it. Thank you for sharing this intimate, painful experience. God Bless.”

Blog comment on “The Old Country: Homeland” (HV #20): “I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this. I do not have relatives with “a place to return to” so it was quite eye-opening to me - how returning to a home country can be nostalgic and yet so frustrating… There is something so intriguing about Andrei Codrescu. I’d like to hear more from him.”

Listener email on “Tony Schwartz, Documenting Life in Sound” (HV #21): “THANK YOU SO MUCH for that incredible pod cast on Mr. Schwartz. Although I knew of the work, I did not know about him or how amazing he was. I am inspired.”

PRX Editorial Board review of “Old School” (HV #29): “A pure delight. Katie Davis hosts an hour of material revolving around the teacher/student experience while contributing some lovely work of her own. The program actually misted me up.”

News Director, KCPW-Salt Lake City, on “Crossing Borders: From Mexico to US” (HV #13): “This program tells stories from the other side of the immigration debate which is refreshing. Scott Carrier’s contribution is stellar, as always. The reading by Luis Alberto Urrea is a stunning and powerful piece of radio. It gives voice to another side of the current debate — and manages to do so without bluster or politics.”

Program Director, Cape & Islands Radio, on “Portrait of a Plague: For World AIDS Day” (HV #40): “Hearing Voices specials feel like themed Harper’s Magazines for radio to me. Their culling of fine new or archival material is always beautifully paced and produced. This program is no exception. The power is in people’s voices, from South Africa’s exquisitely human nurse Sister Agnes, to North America’s excruciatingly human HIV+ mother Jackie. This heart-moving hour needs to be heard.”

Listener email: “Last night, I heard episode 7 (“The Earth Sings”) on KQED in San Francisco, I REALLY enjoyed it, and was thrilled to find the entire program today on your web site. Thanks so much for making it available for repeat listening; I’m sharing it with all my friends.”

For More information about Hearing Voices check out the website.