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Hey there. This is Rob. Welcome to a little bonus episode of Sound School. I’m offering some additional thoughts about the conversation I had on the last episode of the show.  

It was a popular episode. We got a lot of positive response.. I hope you had a chance to hear it. 

It featured a live recording of my chat with Chenjerai Kumanyika. Chenjerai talked about his latest podcast. Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD. 

Chenjerai delivered important and helpful thoughts on an unusual question. And, by unusual, I mean a question that’s not asked enough. 

“Who is the ‘you’ telling this particular story?” I repeated it on the last episode. I’ll repeat it here again: Who is the ‘you’ telling this particular story?” 

Chenjerai – Thinking about this question, “who is the you?”

Rob – Here’s something Chenjerai said on the previous episode. 

Chenjerai - One of the reasons why I think it's important to do that is all of us are so multifaceted, right? And when you're getting ready to write, whether you're writing a memoir, but hopefully you know, you're doing radio, you gotta choose. I think in sound and radio, you really got to choose. You can't bring your entire life to the mic, right? 

But at the same time, we know that part of the power of our medium is that we are able to bring the personal in and have the stakes, right? That's literally the power. So it's a problem. You got to bring yourself, but what part of yourself? You got to choose. 

I want to take this idea of choosing and explore it a little more with a personal story. About a time I was struggling to figure out who I was writing an audio documentary about a racist incident in the state of Maine 

It was a complex story to report and tell and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to start the story. Nothing I tried seemed to work despite throwing my shoulder into it again and again and again. 

I solved the problem by asking myself a question: Who am I as a storyteller? It’s not quite as psychological as Chenjerai’s question. But, it’s in the same ballpark. 

I discovered an answer while thinking and noticing how I tell stories. 

One thing I know about myself is this: If you visit me where I live, I’ll give you a guided tour. Back when I lived in Maine, when friends visited,  I’d be sure to show them the coast of Casco Bay and talk about the lighthouses and forts and other points of interest. We’d get out, walk around, and I’d have a little story to tell about the place. 

And it dawned on me one day “Oh. Do that. Tap into “Rob the tour guide” for some of the writing. And that’s what led to this opening of the documentary. 

Clip – Opening to “Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold”

That’s from a radio documentary I produced in 2009 called “Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold. I Listening to it now, I hear “Rob the tour guide” in that clip but also “Rob the wannabe public radio reporter,” too. I was trying too much to sound like the people I heard on the radio. 
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For a much deeper dive into the question “Who is the ‘you’ telling this particular story” be sure to listen to the previous episode of Sound School: Amen, Chenjerai. 

Sound School is a production of PRX and Transom. In Woods Hole Massachusetts, the radio center of the universe, I’m Rob Rosenthal. 

Thanks for listening to this bonus episode of the program. 

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