Radio Books

A passionate call for a renewed commitment to responsible broadcast journalism
As someone who has worked both as a broadcast reporter and a network executive, Bonnie Anderson has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in the industry. In News Flash, she chronicles the decline of television journalism into infotainment. Using investigative reporting and personal memoir, Anderson illustrates how television journalism has been co-opted by bottom-line thinking that places more value on a telegenic face than on substantive reporting. She shows how, in the increasingly competitive world of network news, network executives?the real power in broadcast journalism?tend more and more to hail from the entertainment industry. They "cast" reporters based on their ability to "project credibility," consistently valuing good looks and youth over training and experience, and greenlight coverage only if they can be assured that it will appeal to advertiser-friendly demographics.

News Flash shows how the ascendance of infotainment is ultimately disastrous both for the networks' bottom line and for democracy in America. Anderson instead offers a path that will both ensure the continuing relevance of network news and shore up democracy itself, enabling Americans to make well-informed decisions about how to exercise their rights and responsibilities as citizens.

Bonnie Anderson (Atlanta, GA) is a 27-year news veteran who has won seven Emmy Awards and been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She began her career as a print reporter for the Miami Herald, the Miami News, and Gannett Newspapers, and later spent ten years at NBC and close to ten years at CNN, ultimately becoming a vice president of the CNN News Group. As president of Anderson Media Agency, Inc., she currently provides media training for executives, journalists, and other professionals.

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Voices of Our Time: Five Decades of Studs Terkel Interviews

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From the 1950s through 1997, Louis ?Studs? Terkel, bestselling author of Hard Times, Working, The Great War, Coming of Age, and eight other books, hosted a daily one-hour show on WFMT Radio in Chicago. This nationally syndicated, Peabody Award-winning program was an ideal showcase for his curmudgeonly wit, his maverick opinions, and his genius as an interviewer.

The 48 interviews in this collection, span Terkel?s five decades on radio and encompass a wide range of entertainers, scientists, writers and thinkers, including Dorothy Parker, Pete Seeger, Bob Woodward, Simone de Beauvoir, and many more.

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A Prairie Home Collection DVD

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A Shadow of Red: Communism and the Blacklist in Radio and Television

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The Cold War came to broadcasting in 1950. In that year, just as the Korean War was about to erupt, there appeared from a small publisher a booklet called Red Channels, which listed 151 suspected Communist sympathizers in broadcasting. Within months the blacklist in radio and TV began. The purge of the airwaves, distinct from the better-known blacklist in the movie industry, provoked one of the American media's great free-speech controversies. It affected scores of writers, directors, and actors, yet it was instigated by only a handful of anti-Red watchdogs-three ex-FBI agents, a former naval intelligence officer, and a grocer from Syracuse. A Shadow of Red follows the efforts of these five guardians of the broadcast media in a revealing history of the period, based on interviews, personal correspondence, FBI reports, and court transcripts.

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Nashville Broadcasting, TN (IMG) (Images of America)

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Built by a 16-year-old high school student named Jack DeWitt, the first radio station in Nashville went on the air in 1922. Three years later, DeWitt helped start WSM, arguably one of the nation??s greatest radio stations, and in 1950, he and WSM put Nashville??s first television station on the air. Over the years, Nashville has had its share of local radio personalities, such as Noel Ball, Coyote McCloud, and Gerry House, as well as television personalities like Jud Collins, Bill Jay, and Larry Munson. Nationally recognized stars such as Dinah Shore, Oprah Winfrey, Pat Sajak, and Pat Boone started their careers in Nashville as well. Here are the stories and images of the people heard on transistor radios and the programs??including Five O??Clock Hop, Ruffin?? Reddy, and The Mickey Mouse Club??watched by children while they did their homework.

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Understanding Reality Television

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"Reality TV" has rapidly come to occupy a place at the forefront of contemporary television culture on an international scale. This collection responds to this shift by analyzing the terrain of this genre--its range of economic, technological and cultural implications for our understanding of television as both an object of study and a contemporary cultural form. Recognizing how definitions of Reality TV are contentious, the collection examines a range of programs which claim a privileged relation to "the real," from: Candid Camera, Big Brother, Survivor, The Osbournes, he Real World and A Wedding Story, to the spheres of "real crime" programming and make-over TV. Adopting an interdisciplinary focus, these essays cover Reality TV in its myriad forms, examining historical precendents, the international nature of its circulation and consumption, and exploring the key debates which Reality TV has put on our social, cultural and televisual agendas. Topics covered include surveillance, the construction of celebrity, temporality in Reality TV, the politics of representation (with case studies considering the construction of community, women, gay identity and "class"), and audience responses and fandom.

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Prairie Home Comedy: Songs and Sketches from A Prairie Home Companion (CD)

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Thirty-four of the best-loved, most-requested songs and sketches from the original radio broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion.

Contents:

Freelance Writer; American Artistic Association; I Am a Tenor; Car Trip; Memories of Pain; The Management Assumes No Responsibility; Second Methodist Church; Moodism; Reaching Out; Sex; Washing Your Hands; The In and Out Cat Song; The Story of Thanksgiving; My Grandmother's Cat; Animals of Other Lands; Winter Madrigal; The Francis S. Key Story; The Ballad of Peanut Butter; Winged Motivational Products; Twelfth Street Tag; The Old Shower Stall; Am I Boring?; Adversity; Bob Wilson Month; Mavis & Marvin Smiley; American Music Association; Losing Your Job; Vanilla; How Does Our Brain Work?; Dad Angel; Old Folks at Home Cottage Cheese; Swanee Tag; The Announcer; Tuna the Food of My Soul

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Legends of Radio Road Trip: Humorous Travel Tales

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Edition: Unabridged, Audio CD, Radio Spirits

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A Few More Pretty Good Jokes

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The Joke Show is the most popular annual broadcast from A Prairie Home Companion. A Few More Pretty Good Jokes features all the jokes from the most recent shows which aired in April 2000 and 2002 (both were done in New York). These recordings are a welcome supplement to the highly successful previous Joke Book, Tape, and CD.

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Nuts and Bolts Filmmaking: Practical Techniques for the Guerilla Filmmaker

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Nuts and Bolts Filmmaking, an ideal book for the rapidly growing number of low-budget filmmakers, provides how-to information on the day-to-day techniques of actual low-budget production. Containing construction details describing how to replicate expensive tools for under $30 a piece, this book provides quick and inexpensive remedies to both the most common and most difficult production challenges. Nuts and Bolts Filmmaking is an invaluable resource to anyone looking to make a film without a big budget.

* Achieve professional results with inexpensive materials from your local hardware store
*A must-have reference for all low-budget and independent filmmakers
* Time-saving tips and techniques with easy-to-follow photos

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