Q&A with CPR's Brad Turner

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 19:54:58 +0000

Q&A with CPR's Brad Turner Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/20/2021 - 13:54

Alexx McMillan

Brad Turner directing a live taping of On Something.

Put Your Headphones On

After working several years as a print reporter and editor, Brad Turner (Jour, Mus’02) moved to Colorado Public Radio (CPR) where he is now executive producer of the Audio Innovations Studio, overseeing podcasts and other creative audio projects. In his eight years at CPR, he has explored his interests in journalism and music while producing podcasts with the newsroom, composing theme songs and scores, hosting a podcast on modern composers, and reporting stories for the radio. Here, he talks about his time at CU, his recent projects and the power of podcasting.

What was the best part of your CU experience?

Well, I met my wife Kim in one of my reporting classes. So that's hard to beat. And there were many places in Boulder I loved. I spent a lot of time on the Boulder Creek Path, in Chautauqua Park and shopping for music at Second Spin, which is long gone but always had something great in the new arrivals section.

What skills did you learn at CU that help you today in your career?

I earned degrees in journalism and music, which was fantastic. Podcasting didn't really exist at that point, but there were still moments where I got a glimpse of what I might like to do for a living. I wrote a couple of features about the Conference on World Affairs for a reporting class, and my instructor Sandra Fish helped get them published in the Boulder Daily Camera. Those first bylines in the newspaper are a thrill for a journalism student, and I loved interviewing people about the ideas that went into their work. On the music side, I remember really pouring myself into chopping up sounds on a computer for my electronic composition classes with John Drumheller and Michael Theodore. I got so into playing with sound on a computer screen that I'd be in the lab well past midnight.

More than anything, I learned at CU that I love the kind of work that lets you sink into a flow state and lose yourself for a few hours. I feel that when I write a script for an audio story, mix a podcast episode or write music.

What is special about podcasts versus other forms of media?

It's a really intimate medium. Great podcasts can have similarities to radio news, documentary film or talk shows, but it feels a little different to have the voice of a host or storyteller in your ear. That's powerful. I think it helps us connect on an emotional level with stories and ideas. I find it very easy to empathize with other people's stories that I hear in podcasts.

I've also come to appreciate that podcasts are a break from screen time. I like that both as a listener and as a parent.

You’ve helped produce many podcasts at CPR. Is there one that you are particularly proud of?

I am really proud of Systemic, which we released earlier this year. I hired a brilliant producer named Jo Erickson last fall, and in her first week or two on the job she came to me and pitched this great idea for a documentary series. She wanted to follow Black police officers who were working to make changes to law enforcement from the inside. This seemed like such an important story to tell. So Jo and the rest of our team collected audio over the next few months, and we released the show around the anniversary of George Floyd's murder. Apple Podcasts placed Systemic in its featured podcast queue that week, and it was amazing to have so many listeners discover the show during that national moment of reflection.

**You've launched a new podcast, Music Blocks. Tell us about it.**

Music Blocks grew out of a research project with CPR Classical, the classical music station at Colorado Public Radio. We wanted to create a show for younger listeners. We had conversations with teachers and curriculum experts in Colorado schools and heard they could use something to help students think more deeply about music. We’ve released eight episodes so far, using listening examples from both current pop music and classical music. The common thread in each episode is an emotion, like happiness or fear.

**You helped create Back From Broken, an interview podcast about recovery and comeback stories. What inspired this series’ creation?**

It began as a passion project. Our host, Vic Vela, is a journalist who's in recovery himself. A small team worked with Vic to find a format, and we settled on an intimate series of one-on-one interviews about substance abuse and other challenges people struggle to overcome. We hear about how the person's life got off track, what the worst moments were like, how they found a path back and what they've learned from it all. It touches on incredibly raw subjects at times, but it always ends in a hopeful place. I think it's important that we interview some big names like members of Colorado folk-rock band The Lumineers or professional wrestler Jake the Snake Roberts along with everyday people, because addiction and mental health affect people in so many different ways.

Why is telling these stories important?

Back From Broken changes lives. We've had other podcasts that racked up more downloads, but the volume of messages we get from Back From Broken listeners is incredible. We've had listeners say that hearing the show led them to re-examine their lives or decide to seek treatment. Or we hear from family members who have a newfound sense of empathy for a loved one who's struggling. It's a great feeling to work on a show that means so much to listeners who need it. We saw the listenership grow quite a bit during the pandemic, probably because people wanted to hear stories about overcoming difficult times and finding hope.

What is your go-to podcast?

I listen to so many podcasts because I need to stay on top of what kinds of new shows people are making and talking about. I end up listening to a little of everything, but rarely make it through a whole season of anything because there's just so much to hear. But the exception to that is probably Heavyweight, a show that helps people find closure for unresolved moments from their past. That podcast is so beautifully written, and I'm pretty sure I've laughed out loud at some point in every episode.

What are your favorite things to do when you’re not working?

I like to spend my weekends with my family, usually riding bikes or hanging out in the mountains. We also love to visit national parks. I'm really happy that concert venues and movie theaters are opening back up. I've been at Red Rocks and the Alamo Drafthouse lately, making up for a lot of music and films that I didn't see over the past year and a half. And I still like to play bass and make music on the computer, just like when I was at CU.

Condensed and edited by Alexx McMillan.

Photo courtesy of Brad Turner

Brad Turner, executive producer of Colorado Public Radio’s Audio Innovations Studio, talks about his time at CU, his recent projects and the power of podcasting.

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Searching for Bigfoot

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 17:19:32 +0000

Searching for Bigfoot Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/03/2019 - 11:19

Sarah Kuta

Former ��ƷSM��ӰƬ Journalism Fellow Laura Krantz explores all things Bigfoot in Wild Thing, which the Atlantic named one of 2018's Best Podcasts.

Maybe Bigfoot exists in nature, maybe not. What’s for sure is that the mysterious hairy guy (or gal) has firm footing in American culture.

Bigfoot, aka Sasquatch, and his cousin the yeti, are everywhere — on Great Divide Brewing’s “I believe” stickers, which bear the elusive creature’s silhouette, in shops selling kitschy “Bigfoot crossing” signs, in movies and on TV.

But who, or what, is Bigfoot? And why are we so fascinated by him?

Laura Krantz, a 2014-15 Scripps Fellow in ��ƷSM��ӰƬ’s Center for Environmental Journalism, wanted to find out. She spent more than a year digging into the scientific, psychological, historical and social aspects of the legendary bipedal primate who, if real, most likely lives in the woods of the Pacific Northwest.

The resulting podcast, Wild Thing, became a hit, with more than 1.5 million downloads since its October 2018 debut. The Atlantic called it one of the best podcasts of 2018 and Vox described it as “delightful.” Listeners loved it, too, writing in reviews that it’s “beautifully scripted” and “the definitive podcast on Sasquatch.”

It’s a huge success story for Colorado podcasts.

In nine 30-minute episodes (and several bonus interviews), Krantz weaves together pieces of the Bigfoot puzzle, touching on biology, popular culture and the psychology of belief.

“We’ve always had monsters in our history,” said Krantz, a former NPR editor and producer. “‘Beowulf,’ the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh,’ this thing that’s beyond the campfire or just outside the city wall. We’ve evolved with these kinds of stories for centuries, and maybe we need them more than we think.”

Through it all, Krantz reminds us why she went down this rabbit hole in the first place, referring often to Grover Krantz, an anthropologist at Washington State University and leading Bigfoot expert who happens to be her distant cousin.

Sharing a last name with one of the world’s preeminent Sasquatch researchers helped her gain trust among Bigfoot seekers, many of whom are simply interested in the world around them — not quacks, as Krantz initially assumed.

“If you look at it from the angle that Bigfoot is a creature that has eluded capture or hasn’t left any concrete evidence behind, then you just have a group of people who are curious about the environment and want to know more about it, which isn’t that far off from what naturalists have done for centuries,” she said.

The seed for Wild Thing began germinating when Krantz stumbled upon a Washington Post story about Grover Krantz in 2006. Afterward, she learned of their family relation.

For years, she considered how best to tell the story. When the true crime podcast Serial launched in late 2014, it captivated millions of listeners around the world. Krantz, a radio veteran, was among them. She decided the medium was ideal for Wild Thing.

Many hit podcasts are backed by well-funded companies. Krantz and husband Scott Carney, a journalist and former Scripps Fellow, created Wild Thing independently. And while they haven’t made all their money back yet, Krantz said they’re close to breaking even and considering options for a slate of podcasts under their Foxtopus Ink masthead.

“It’s a huge success story for Colorado podcasts,” said Paul Karolyi of Denver podcast incubator House of Pod.

Success doesn’t mean Krantz found Bigfoot; she didn’t. And she’s at peace with that.

“I’m not sure I want to find Sasquatch,” she says in the show’s last episode. “I’d prefer the mystery remain intact, for people to go out into the woods and look for something, to feel a sense of possibility and discovery.”

In our print edition, this story appears under the title "Bigfoot, Big Hit." Comment on this story? Email editor@colorado.edu.

Illustration by Paul Blow.

Former ��ƷSM��ӰƬ journalism fellow Laura Krantz explores all things Bigfoot in Wild Thing, named one of 2018's Best Podcasts by the Atlantic.

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