The first episode of ‘The Bee Loud Glade Cabaret‘, a new poetry programme created by Roger Gregg and executive produced by Dead Medium Productions just aired on RTE Lyric’s Nova. You can hear the show for the next five weeks on Nova (Sunday’s at 8PM), then for the following seven weeks on Evelyn Grant’s Weekend Drive (Saturdays at 4PM).
The Bee Loud Glade Cabaret is a series of twelve bite-size programmes bringing the best of the contemporary Irish spoken word scene to radio. Each episode showcases one beautifully produced spoken word performance, and one ‘backstage’ interview with emerging & established Irish poets. The series represents an exciting new approach to poetry on radio, mixing studio performance, music and soundscapes to recreate the excitement of the live poetry scene.
Featured poets include Gerry Murphy, Grace Wells, Pat Boran, Mary O’Donoghue, John Moynes, Leland Bardwell, Caelainn Bradley, Stephen Clare, Genevieve Healy, Patrick Chapman, and Eleanor Hooker.
Performers include Ethan Dillon, Deirdre Molloy, James O’Connor, Angel Hannigan, John Moynes, Amilia Clarke Stewart, Juliette Crosbie, Suzie Seweify, and Olivia Haran.
Special thanks to Eoin O’Kelly at Lyric for commissioning the series.
Funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, with the television licence fee.
Any radio or TV series that can be subscribed to and downloaded online.
Almost all are free. Usually updated weekly.
Cover every topic – from sports and films, to the most obscure odd stuff – e.g.: Creature Geek – a podcast for people who like special effects monsters.
Include radio programmes from all around the world, and internet only programmes – some of which are incredibly high quality.
Listen whenever you want. Pause, skip back and forward. Keep it forever, or delete it after you listen.
What do you need to get one
Easiest way is directly through your phone, stream or download from a podcast app.
On android the best one is ‘Pocket Casts’ (also available for iphone).
iPhone comes with it’s own programme, another good one is Overcast.
How to listen…
Search for the podcast name. Hit subscribe.
Now each new episode will be available to listen. Can either download or stream over your home wifi or 4G (if you’ve got a good data plan).
There are podcasts available for literally every interest.
Types of Podcasts
1) Narrative Journalism (storytelling about the real world)
This American Life
Revisionist History – from Malcolm Gladwell
99% Invisible – from Radiotopia
Reply All – a show about the internet
2) Comedy
WTF – with Marc Maron
Chappo Trap House
3) True Crime
Stranglers
Sword and Scale
4) Science & History
Radiolab
Hardcore History
The Secret History of Hollywood
History on Fire
5) Politics
War College – from Reuters News
Trumpcast
6) Irish Podcasts
Dave Fanning Show podcast – clips of the show
RTE Lyric – Culture File
RTE One – Doc on one
Newstalk Documentaries
Headstuff network – Alison Spittle Show
How to find new podcasts you might like
Podcast networks are like TV channels that offer lots of podcasts of a certain style
You can find them in your podcast app or on the web
E.g.: Headstuff (local), Smodcast (Kevin Smith’s shows), Radiotopia (high quality narrative journalism)
How to make your own
Not too difficult!
Lots of guides online
Record on your phone or computer and pay about 20 euro a month to put online with a podcast host like Libsyn
The Broadcast Authority of Ireland this morning released the results of their latest funding round. Dead Medium Productions was awarded funding to develop three new programmes.
The Muse Unbidden is an exciting one off drama from one of Ireland’s most influential radio dramatists. The play, a success on stage at the Collaborations festival in Smock Alley theatre in 2012, follows a group of would-be poets enrolled in a performance poetry workshop led by a charismatic and unconventional teacher. Using music and dream diaries, the participants are cajoled into finding and surrendering to their personal muses. As the workshop progresses they travel a rollicking odyssey of confession and self-revelation, giving voice to their obsessions, desires, wit, pain, and memories. For some their uninhibited self-expression leads to joyous catharsis, for others to grief and loss. The play satirises the world of performance poetry, blending music and poetry to create an original and entertaining programme. This satire on modern poetry and self-discovery, written and directed by Roger Gregg will feature an original musical score performed and recorded by a cast of multi-talented actor-musicians.
Each year legendary radio dramatist Roger Gregg teaches a one of a kind course in radio drama. The Listening Stage is a documentary following students of The Gaiety School of Acting’s radio drama course, as they pursue their hopes and dreams of fame. This fly on the wall doc follows Roger’s annual week long workshop, introducing actors to the exciting world of audio theatre. This intensive course culminates in a live performance of a radio comedy. We’ll follow the crafting of this production from initial script reading to rehearsals, to the development of sound effects and music, the creation of
memorable characters, all the way through to the final performance. Taking a look, for the first time ever, behind the curtain of this legendary drama school’s singular radio drama workshop.
Migrant Fictions is an ambitious new drama project, bringing together the talents of a diverse group of immigrant writers to capture their experience as émigrés to Ireland. German-Polish writer / director Dominik Turkowski developed five short drama scripts through workshops with writers from the immigrant community. Their stories capture the varied experiences of newcomers to Ireland. This project provided the opportunity for immigrants to articulate their experiences in their own words, through five short radio dramas. These dramas were devised collectively by the immigrants themselves, and connect in profound and mysterious ways that reflect with humour and humanity what it means to be a migrant in Ireland today. Featuring new work from Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan, Tina Brescanu, Özgecan Kesici, and Dalia Smelstoriute.
Dead Medium are a small Dublin company producing highly crafted radio documentaries, on location drama series, culture reporting and more.
Was great to meet the man himself, whose extremely humble and personable as you might expect.
Here are the cliffsnotes…
Christmas Gaming Recommendations
Two new consoles out for Christmas
Both new consoles have HDR – but need 60hrz HDR 4k TV to take full advantage (approx 600 euro minimum)
Xbox One S – 399.00 euro
4k bluray player / HDR, tiny speed boost in GPU and CPU
2TB hard drive
smaller lighter, power unit included
supports Ultra High Definition Blu-Rays
supports Netflix 4k
slightly improved performance on all older games that had frame rate drops
uses less power, but a little louder (still quieter than PS4)
Playstation Pro – 400 euro (1 tb harddrive)
[old PS4 – 299 – 350 (hard disk size dependent)]
4k uprezzing – no 4k bluray
some games slower
double the graphics card
but not a huge upgrade a 1080p
Playstation VR – 399 euro (littlewoods)
+ 60 euro for camera
+ 80 euro for two move controllers
cheapest (fully featured ) VR headset available right now
lets you play regular playstation titles on giant virtual screen
already sold very well, so there’ll be lots of games on the way
social screen multiplayer
VERY IMPORTANT – need to make sure you get a bundle with the playstation camera and move controllers if you don’t have them already
Some games better with PS4Pro – Robinson, Rigs, Driveclub
Other VR options
Oculus Rift + controllers (ships Dec 6th) = 941 euro online + needs high end computer
Gear VR = 99 euro + needs high end Samsung phone (Galaxy S7, S7 edge, Note5, S6 edge+, S6, S6 edge)
HTC Vive + controllers = 929 euro + needs high end computer + large play space minimum 5ft by 6.5ft]
There’s also the NES Classic – 65 euro
a tiny console which holds 30 classic NES Games in a box smaller than a NES cartridge
games would normally be around 5 euro each on virtual console (or free if you pirate them on an emulator!)
including classics like Punchout, Caslevania I & II, Super Mario Brothers I to 3, Legenda of Zelda I & II, Megaman 2
Kirbys adventure, Packman, Donkey Kong Jr, Bubble Bobble, Kid Icarus, Tetris, Final Fantasy I to 3, Paperboy
can save games
only one controller with very short cable (around 3 feet), need to reset to try another game
Nintendo fans may want to wait to buy a console – Nintendo switch
not out till March 2017
combines a portable handheld console with a home console
take ‘grown up’ games on the move
Nintendo hoping to take their massive success with portable console (3DS, 2DS, New 3DS XL)
Uses cartridges!!!!
GAMES FOR CHRISTMAS
Grownup Games – Best of the Year
Doom – All Platforms
– fast paced remake of the classic shooter
Fallout 4 – All Platforms
– still going strong – mods now out to Xbox and PS4
– incredibly deep adventure on a post apocalyptic wasteland
– with base building and lots of subgames
– from makers of Skyrim
Dishonoured 2 – All Platforms
– sequel to incredible stealth game
– you’re an assassin with magical powers in a beautiful victorian fantasy steam punk world
Star Wars Battlefront – All Platforms
– fly, shoot and fight in the starwars universe – from makers of Battlefield
– Rogue One DLC on December 6th
– add on to the popular star wars game based on the upcoming movie
Titanfall 2 – All Platforms
– sequel to the popular fast paced mech shooting game
Uncharted 4 – PS4
– latest update to the action adventure series
Inside – all Platforms
– Horrifying platform game
– beautiful puzzles and unrivalled near monochrome art style
– you’re a little boy fleeing from faceless pursuers
The Walking Dead – all Platforms
– series 3 out – dec 20
– adventure game based on the TV series
Family Games
The Witness
– Stunningly beautiful puzzle game, reminiscent of myst
Life is strange – All platforms
– beautiful highschool adventure game featuring a time travelling teen
Planet Coater – PC
– rollercoaster tycoon for the 21st century
Forza Horizon 3 – XBOX
– latest edition of the classic racing game
Pro Evo 17 / Fifa 17 – All platforms
– latest edition of the popular football games
The Witness – All platforms
– incredibly deep puzzle game from the maker of Braid
Axiom Verge – Wii U
– beautiful 2d retro adventure game
Severed – Wii U
– first person 2d puzzle adventure game with painterly style
Paper Mario Colour Splash – Wii U
– paper cutout style adventure game mixing classic mario gameplay
Mario Kart 8 – Wii U
– latest edition of the classic series
Super Mario maker – Wii U
– build your own levels based on the classic series
– or play thousands of levels from other people all over the world
Two Summers ago, I was lucky enough to attend the first ever Hearsay Audio Festival. If you haven’t heard of the festival, it’s a unique chance to enjoy the most inventive, avant garde and creative audio from around the world. The festival is also a hella chill break, as it’s held in the bucolic idyll of Kilfinane, Co Limerick. One of the highlights of the first Hearsay was the short doc contest run by Bristol based BBC crew ‘In The Dark‘ (and not just cause I won ;). In The Dark run uniquely joyful listening events in a wonderful variety of locations from crypts to eerie forests . At last years festival they setup a shop full of curiosities, each of which was paired with a story. Visitors plucked an object from the shelf and were passed an MP3 player containing an accompanying story. Mine concerned an urban myth about an underground group of students who got their kicks climbing into tumble driers and experiencing the spin cycle!
AIRPI have invited In the Dark to Dublin, for what promises to be a unique listening even at the Unitarian Church. In The Dark will be playing a selection of stories for the start of winter. Highly recommended!
The Wedding Tree is an audacious new radio drama, set in the aftermath of an accident at an Irish nuclear power plant. In the wake of the disaster, fire officer Cian Mitchell is confined to hospital. Tormented by his injuries, Cian finds unlikely comfort in the company of Philips, an elderly English patient. Philips, a retired air force officer, delivers a series of interconnected tales drawing on everything from the golden age of Hollywood to Ireland’s historic mistreatment of women. The play explores mortality, storytelling, and the interconnectedness of all things. This is a tensely paced, meditative piece of radio theatre that plays with the medium, moving from drama to storytelling and back again.
This was my first time working with the incredibly talented, award winning sound designer Brendan Rehill. Brendan’s work captures the power and presence of natural sound to build rich, captivating audio worlds. For this drama he constructed an aural voyage that takes us from the heart of a nuclear reactor to the gizzards of a dying man.
The Wedding Tree was produced by Dead Medium for Newstalk. The programme was written and directed by Gareth Stack, and sound design was by Brendan Rehill.
The cast were: Mitchell – James O’Connor, Philips – William Brady, Surgeon / Mrs Mitchell / Nurse – Aislinn O’Byrne, Rory – Sebastian Connellan.
Theme music and incidental music by Roger Gregg.
‘The Wedding Tree’ was broadcast Saturday 12th August at 8am and 10PM GMT on Newstalk 106 -108FM.
The programmes was made possible by a grant from the Sound & Vision fund. Funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television Licence Fee.
When: Sat 13th Aug, 10-5pm (with 1 hour for lunch) Where:A4 Sounds, St Joseph’s Parade, Off Upper Dorset St, Dublin 1 Cost: 60 Euro Book here
I’m running a one day podcast workshop this August in A4 Sounds. This two part workshop will cover everything you need to create, upload and promote your own podcast. We’ll provide an overview of the history of podcasts, and the current state of the podcast market. You will learn about different podcast hosting and distribution options, how to track downloads and what it takes to get a podcast into iTunes ‘New & Noteworthy’ category.
This workshop is suitable for anyone wishing to create a podcast or improve how their podcasts are created or distributed, and requires no special technical expertise. Whether you already have a podcast you’d like to improve, or are just a keen fan with an idea, this is the workshop for you.
What will the workshop cover Part one of the day will be an overview of podcasting, covering different ways podcasts are made and distributed, and moving onto all the major monetisation routes – from advertising to Patreon, paid downloads, app purchases and more.
Part two will cover the process of creating a podcast, using free and low cost tools. Participants will work together to record, edit and distribute a podcast. They will learn through hands on practice, how to submit to the most popular podcast directories and apps.
The facilitator will be available after the workshop to answer further questions and technical issues that might pop up with your first attempts at making a show.
Materials Required:
Participants to bring along:
Previously recorded programmes they wish to podcast
OR ideas for a show they’d like to create
Laptops to follow along with the practical portion of the class
Claire meets an old friend at the abandoned CIA listening post at Teufelsberg (Devils Mountain). As a storm begins, Claire learns the truth about what happened to Emil. Violence, death, and horrible secrets from the past finally exhumed, in the final episode of The Wall in the Mind.
The Wall in the Mind
The Wall in the Mind is an original radio drama series, scheduled to broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm, Saturdays at 7AM and 10PM GMT over the next three weeks.
The drama explores the consequences of the imprisonment of an Irish woman in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall. The series combines a variety of innovative storytelling and sound production techniques to create a thrilling drama linked to real historic events. Listeners travel back and forth in time, as Irish woman Claire O’Hanlon tries to make sense of her experiences as a teenager in communist East Berlin and to solve the mystery of her vanished first love, Emil.
Writer / Director Gareth Stack travelled to Berlin to research the historic locations featured in the series. There he explored the ruins of the paramilitary police barracks, where on 7th and 8th October 1989 hundreds of East German protestors were held in one of the last desperate acts of a tyrannical regime. Thousands marched as the communist government faced revolution on the streets. Those unlucky enough to be arrested were tortured by the notorious ‘Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft’ paramilitary police. These events inspired a story that explores the marks history leaves on the lives of ordinary people.
You can subscribe to these bonus episodes, and download or stream the podcast of ‘The Wall in the Mind’ at the following places – iTunes, RSS, Soundcloud.
Claire is pushed to extremes in her quest to discover what happened to Emil. Her actions have consequences, both for her and the people she loves. Claire receives another mysterious tape, recorded after her release from jail in 1989, revealing a terrible secret from the past.
The Wall in the Mind
The Wall in the Mind is an original radio drama series, scheduled to broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm, Saturdays at 7AM and 10PM GMT over the next three weeks.
The drama explores the consequences of the imprisonment of an Irish woman in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall. The series combines a variety of innovative storytelling and sound production techniques to create a thrilling drama linked to real historic events. Listeners travel back and forth in time, as Irish woman Claire O’Hanlon tries to make sense of her experiences as a teenager in communist East Berlin and to solve the mystery of her vanished first love, Emil.
You can subscribe to these bonus episodes, and download or stream the podcast of ‘The Wall in the Mind’ at the following places – iTunes, RSS, Soundcloud.
In Episode 4 of ‘The Wall in the Mind’ we learn more about the relationship between Claire and Emil, and Claire’s friendship with Matthaus back in 1989. Claire confesses to Matthaus why she came to Germany. In the present, Matthaus tries to convince Claire not to illegally pursue her former Stasi tormentor. Torture, squat raids, riotous vengeance and wishful thinking in part four of our cold war mystery series!
The Wall in the Mind
The Wall in the Mind is an original radio drama series, scheduled to broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm, Saturdays at 7AM and 10PM GMT over the next three weeks.
The drama explores the consequences of the imprisonment of an Irish woman in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall. The series combines a variety of innovative storytelling and sound production techniques to create a thrilling drama linked to real historic events. Listeners travel back and forth in time, as Irish woman Claire O’Hanlon tries to make sense of her experiences as a teenager in communist East Berlin and to solve the mystery of her vanished first love, Emil.
Writer / Director Gareth Stack travelled to Berlin to research the historic locations featured in the series. There he explored the ruins of the paramilitary police barracks, where on 7th and 8th October 1989 hundreds of East German protestors were held in one of the last desperate acts of a tyrannical regime. Thousands marched as the communist government faced revolution on the streets. Those unlucky enough to be arrested were tortured by the notorious ‘Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft’ paramilitary police. These events inspired a story that explores the marks history leaves on the lives of ordinary people.
You can subscribe to these bonus episodes, and download or stream the podcast of ‘The Wall in the Mind’ at the following places – iTunes, RSS, Soundcloud.
Gareth Stack - Blog 