'The best thing about radio, podcasts and audio books is that you can read with your eyes closed'
About
Paper Radio is an audio journal based in Melbourne. We take idiosyncratic, intriguing and irreverent stories by writers and raconteurs from the page and make them audible. We do this with the help of a team of editors, ventriloquists and sound designers.We're starting Paper Radio because we want to augment and amplify the literary scene with stories you can 'read' while you are driving a car, entering data or making toast. That said, we still love the printed page, the pong of ink on paper and the weight of a good journal in our hands - which is why we'll translate stories you want to read into stories you want to listen to.
Each episode will be enhanced by a specially designed soundtrack, custom illustration and a biography of the author. We're sourcing stories predominantly from the Antipodes, though if voices from other lands captivate us then they'll find a home here too.
Please stay tuned for our first episode — arriving March 2010. Fingers crossed. Also toes.
Contribute
What are we looking for?
Paper Radio is divided into two distinct stations — FM and AM. We’re currently looking for material for both stations.
FM is a mix of fiction, fantasy, speculation and other literary gymnastics.
AM is where you'll find exercises in non-fiction, documentary, social commentary and observation.
Paper Radio is interested in stories both fanciful and true. We want to broadcast stories that translate well into the spoken word and, when assembled into a podcast, warm the ears like a good pair of earmuffs. Stories that, when you are listening to them, can almost make you forget where and who you are. We're on the hunt for material that can transition smoothly into audio pieces — stories with the capacity to muffle the outside world and yet call it into sharper focus.
Are you in possession of a short piece of fiction that would make a great soundtrack to a quiet afternoon? Do you have an idea or untold story hidden in your glove box that you'd like to develop further?
Your text could be about anything: soap operas, geography, ecology, extraordinary events or experiences, history, the thrills of the mundane, pfeffernusses, ephemera or politics. It could in the form of narrative, interviews, humour, anecdotes, exposition, micro-essays or open letters. We are currently unable to accept pie charts, line graphs or Venn diagrams — but we're working on it. No poetry. Ever.
Our only requirements are that your ideas are compelling, any existing work is coherent and that there is something, well, special about it. But not so special that it had to repeat grade 7 more than twice.
To contribute material to either the FM or AM station, please pitch us your concept or send us an existing story. Let us know if it's been published previously, and if so, where. Don't forget to include your name and page numbers in your submissions, to use a legible typeface, and to specify whether your piece is intended for FM or AM stations.
Good things to know
We’re producing audio pieces that fall anywhere between 4 and 20 minutes. 160 written words translate to about a minute in speech — keep this in mind when you're submitting ideas or work.
There are no set themes as such, and we won’t be privileging timeliness or topicality.
If you'd like to participate by providing your reading voice, or if you have someone in mind whose dulcet tones would do your work justice, mention it in your submission.
We review new submissions bi-monthly, and we do so with a fine-tooth comb. We are thorough and few so it can take some time for us to respond to your correspondence; please be patient with us.
Note that that there is no Auto-tune™ at Paper Radio.
Paper Radio is made with love and without money — we aren't able to pay contributors at this stage.
To get a better idea about what candies our apples, listen to some of our favourite podcasts: The Moth, The New Yorker fiction podcasts, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 7, You Look Nice Today, CBC Radio's Wiretap and NPR's Radiolab and This American Life.
For all submissions please email us at: broadcast@paperradio.org, with the word 'contribute' in the subject line.
Anything else?
For all enquiries and hellos, please email us at: hello@paperradio.org
Write or visit us at: Paper Radio | Po Box 12287 | Melbourne | Victoria 8006.