Radio: an Illustrated Guide

Here's a cool comic book presenting a "how to" on putting together a radio program.
You can go to Amazon and buy a a copy of the Radio: an Illustrated Guide comic book for $75.. but that's just silly.. You can get it at This American Life for only $2 as a download to print yourself, or have one mailed to you for $5..

Radio: An Illustrated Guide is a comic book that explains how to make a radio program. Specifically, it explains how to make the public radio program This American Life. In comic book form, the producers of This American Life explain how to find a story, how to do an interview, how to edit sound, how to write for radio and how to mix a radio story. It also explains how the narrative structure of a radio story works, and how it's different from other kinds of stories. This American Life is the most popular documentary program on American radio, with a weekly audience of over a million listeners, on more than 380 public radio stations nationwide. It's produced at WBEZ Chicago and distributed by Public Radio International.

 Jessica Abel is the artist and she tells the story behind how the comic book came to be and provides some full page views on her website.  

You can also check out Brainpickings for a closer look.



Below are some screenshots along with snippets from customer reviews at Amazon, but it's better to read them in their entirety 


If you have ever entertained the notion of trying to slow society's slide into stupor by giving your take on things some sort of voice, this is a great manual for using radio as your format. The format, as an iluustrated guide, takes on the feel of a Boy Scout manual or some other type of DIY instruction....  ..a primer on first focusing on the work to be presented, then the techinical aspect of broadcasting it... 

I recently started a one-man show on a community radio station. I quickly learned it isn't hard to do, but its very hard to do very well. Wanting some tips on the cheap, I found this book....

 Having read "Radio", I can say it is packed with information not only on the production, but on how to tell a story...

 I didn't know what to expect when I ordered this. All I knew what that I knew nothing about radio. This little comic has changed that however. With its easy to read format and great illustrations I was able to understand the fundamentals of radio production in about an hour... ..If you want to know the absolute basics  

Jessica Abel and Ira Glass have done an admirable job of explaining the basics of what it takes to do radio reportage and story telling in a novel format, mainly that of a comic. Inexpensive, easy to read and even easier to understand, the book gave me a clearer idea of what it talks to engage in this field and how to do it properly. of production then buy it.






This book was recommended to me during a seminar on multimedia storytelling for photographers, so its value is not limited to those who only want to do radio. It's a comic book, but not shallow. Anything but... ..This is a little gem.

 

Download yourself a printable copy of the Radio: an Illustrated Guide comic book at This American Life for only $2, It's a fun and insightful resource.