January 31st, 2009

2009-01-31 Program announcement

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January 24th, 2009

2009-01-24 Scene to Song - The Radio Ballads

In 1957, the steam pipe on a goods train in England blew. The train was roaring down a steep incline. The driver, John Axon, knowing he would die, stayed on board warning others of the impending disaster. A year later, songwriter Ewan MacColl, musician Peggy Seeger and recording pioneer Charles Parker decided to make a musical about the heroic driver... but after having collected their material, they decided to tell the story a completely different way.... `The Ballad of John Axon´ was so successful, that seven others soon followed. Known as "The Radio Ballad"s, these programs presented a new way of radio story telling, bringing working peoples´ voices, together with song, onto the airwaves. In today´s Radio Eye, we speak with Peggy Seeger about the making of the Ballads, and listen to excerpts from some of the programs in this compelling series. Sound Engineer: Steven Tilley

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January 17th, 2009

2009-01-17 Return to Arnhem Land - retracing the journey of Colin Simpson

In 1948 the Australian journalist and travel writer Colin Simpson went on an extraordinary excursion into Arnhem Land to record, on film and audio tape, many of the people and places around the Oenpelli region. The expedition broke remarkable ground, bringing back scenes and sounds never experienced outside the region. Historian Martin Thomas retraces Simpson´s footsteps, visiting the same communities and `repatriating´ the images and sounds with copies of the film and sound recordings made nearly 60 years ago. Sound Engineer: Andrei Shabunov

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