Longshot Radio: Creativity and Failure

At the end of the 48 hours of Longshot radio, we put together a...

Wed, 09 May 2012 14:27:00 -0400

At the end of the 48 hours of Longshot radio, we put together a 30-minute showcase featuring some of our favorite pieces. Take a listen, and be sure to visit longshotradio.com for all the audio from this and our previous episodes. Also on itunes.

Now, we’re going to get some rest…

Creativity and Failure: A Little of Both

Fri, 04 May 2012 20:15:00 -0400

Whew. From noon Thursday to Friday evening, Longshot Radio and Radiolab used the 99% Conference in NYC as our home to talk about creativity, failure, and revision.

In a little under 30 hours we received over 75 pieces of raw tape, and ended up with 25 finished stories. We wanted to find a way to link the voices of people at the conference with those online and around the world. By having people post and answer questions on the Radiolab blog, we were able to have Jericho in Hawaii answer a question from Lisa in Texas. All told, we got tape from Hawaii, Virginia, Missouri, Toronto, San Francisco, Boston, and a dozen other cities.

We had entirely original music composed just for this project by music by Hsi-Chang Lin and Xander Duell. Every piece of scoring you hear was written in the last day. And Chang also provides the voice of our intros and outros.

You can hear all our pieces on our Tumblr by navigating the categories at the top of the page. Or, you can just with our editor’s picks.

Our goal at Longshot is to give seasoned radio makers a chance to try new things, and those just starting out a way to work on pieces that excite them. And, also, do it all really fast. If you want to join us for the next round, whenever that may be, sign up here. Be sure to follow us on twitter, visit soundcloud, and check out our previous episode.

Our thanks to everyone who helped make this possible (in absolutely no order): Chris Berube, Sean Sullivan, Posey Greuner, Rachel James, Mooj, Louisa Beck, Rachel Ward, Zack Seward, Anna Pinkert, Brian Karfunkel, Tim Falconer, J. Telischak, Kiani Angus-Torres, Jessicah Hohman, Jessica Naudziunas, Karen Ho, Gregory Warner, Sharon Mashihi, Hethre Contant, Julia Furlan, Alex Ballentine, Blake Cooper, Sam Greenspan, Nathan Dalton, Kim Werker, Kaitlin Prest, and Green Spaces NYC for letting us edit late into Thursday night. And thank you to everyone who submitted questions and answers online, and offered support and retweets and more.

Plus: Ellen Horne and all of Radiolab; Rachel and Jocelyn with the 99% Conference; Alexis Madrigal, Sarah Rich and Mat Honan of Longshot Magazine

Longshot radio is Jody Avirgan, Brendan Baker, Dylan Fareed, Alex Goldmark, Emma Jacobs, and Pat Walters Talk soon.

Word Game: What is the most creative thing you’ve done in...

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:52:19 -0400

Word Game: What is the most creative thing you’ve done in the past week?

Longshot Feature: Sometimes you just have to go back to the...

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:23:27 -0400

Longshot Feature: Sometimes you just have to go back to the drawing board. Julia Lowrie Henderson sits down with Matt Creer, Ryan Ross Smith and Nick Wang to get a Creer Story. More of Julia at her website.

Longshot Feature: Blake Cooper searches for inspiration as he...

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:12:00 -0400

Longshot Feature: Blake Cooper searches for inspiration as he builds his latest song. More of his work on Tumblr.

Longshot Feature: Kim Werker tells a story about making ugly...

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:13:00 -0400

Longshot Feature: Kim Werker tells a story about making ugly stuff - on purpose.

What is the most creative thing you’ve done in the past...

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:29:00 -0400

What is the most creative thing you’ve done in the past week?

We’re at the 99% conference with Radiolab talking about...

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:07:39 -0400

We’re at the 99% conference with Radiolab talking about failure and creativity. Here’s Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere witha great story about taking a risk.

A question from New Jersey about making a mess, and answer from...

Fri, 04 May 2012 12:04:24 -0400

A question from New Jersey about making a mess, and answer from Ohio about Mud Pies.

edited by Brendan Baker | music by Hsi-Chang Lin and Alexander McMahon

Producer Nathan Dalton tells the story of how John Cage turned a...

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:36:53 -0400

Producer Nathan Dalton tells the story of how John Cage turned a challenge — a too-small performance space — into a creative breakthrough.

We’re talking about creativity, and risk in the story...

Fri, 04 May 2012 10:28:00 -0400

We’re talking about creativity, and risk in the story booth at the 99% conference. Here Geore Sheer talks about a crazy idea that he just can’t stop thinking about.

Join The Story Chain Here | More on Tumblr

edited by Chris Berube

We’re at the 99% conference with Radiolab, talking about...

Fri, 04 May 2012 10:04:39 -0400

We’re at the 99% conference with Radiolab, talking about creativity and failure. Here Alexis Ohanion of Reddit, answering a question about “creating a mess” asked by Sean online.

Join The Story Chain | More Audio on Tumblr

edited by mooooooj

Longshot Word Games, Part 1: A Good Idea Is Like A Family Pet...

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:13:00 -0400

Longshot Word Games, Part 1:

A Good Idea Is Like A Family Pet Because …

Here’s a bite sized version of what we can do with collaborative word games. Please help us make the next few rounds bigger and better. (For how to help, see below) We asked a bunch of random people — hailing from NYC, Spain, Sweden, and someplace in Canada Alex forgot to ask about, and more — to complete the sentence:

“A good idea is like a family pet because …”

Ask a random question, get a creative answer, that’s what we always say.

HOW TO HELP

1) If you have a mic, go outside to a public place and ask a few friendly folks these questions: - Tell me about the most creative thing you’ve done this week? - Failure is like the ocean because … - If at first you don’t succeed … [ANYTHING BUT TRY TRY AGAIN]

2) Answer the questions yourself Record directly to our drop-box here. Say your name and where you are from and then say the sentences above with our beginning and your ending.

Thanks!

Longshot Radio Twitter | More on Radiolab Blog | Longshot Radio Site | Previous Word Games

Story Booth Question Chain A question from Texas, and answer...

Thu, 03 May 2012 18:41:38 -0400

Story Booth Question Chain

A question from Texas, and answer from Hawaii: When did you have to start from scratch? Join In

Longshot Radio and Radiolab are using the 99% Conference to...

Thu, 03 May 2012 13:53:11 -0400

Longshot Radio and Radiolab are using the 99% Conference to start a conversation about creativity and failure.

Happening on Thursday and Friday, May 4-5 in NYC and online everywhere.

You can join in. Upload a question. Answer a question. We’ll mix them together!

Join In Here | Email Longshot Radio