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Radiolab / June 18, 2004

Radiolab

Friday, June 18, 2004
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  • open outcry
    Open Outcry

    Selling

    In a world where everything is bought and sold, salespeople may well be the new psychics. What it is it they know about us that the rest of us don't?

Now Playing

In a world where nothing is what is seems, one man finds the power to do more voiceovers for movie trailers than ever thought possible. That man is Don LaFontaine. This is his story.

Produced by Steve Nelson and Kerrie Hillman for Studio 360.

Links:
» Visit the Studio 360 program where this was first broadcast
» CBC feature on Don LaFontaine

Carnival Talkers

lightbulb
What remains of Todd Robbin's light bulb
Todd Robbins ate a incandescent bulb in our studio, a light snack before his show, "Carnival Knowledge" at the Soho Playhouse. Robbins is part of a dying breed, perhaps the greatest of the living masters of the "ballyhoo" — the sales pitch that happens outside of a sideshow tent that’s almost a show itself. Producers Jay Allison and Rachel Day take us into the world of the carnival talker (don’t call him "barker") with a piece they produced for the NPR series "Lost and Found Sound."

Links:
&raquo Carnival Talkers on Lost and Found Sound
&raquo Robbins’ show Carnival Knowledge

Open Outcry

Trading stock online, or through a broker, may seem instantaneous – you hit send or hang up the phone and it’s done - but the person who actually pulls the trigger is a live human being in “the pit.” We’ve all seen this place on TV, where hordes of aggressive adrenaline junkies scream at the top of their lungs, waving pieces of paper. That’s how it still happens, despite all the technology. It’s an age old system called Open Outcry, and sound artist Ben Rubin, takes you right into the middle of it in this piece he produced for WNYC’s The Next Big Thing.

Links:
» Visit The Next Big Thing program where this originally aired

All My Life For Sale

One day John Freyer decided he had too much stuff, so he went on the internet and sold all of it on eBay — from his sneakers to his sideburns. A meditation on property, tribal gift giving and second hand stories...

The interview with Ave Maria Greene was recorded by reporter Ann Heperman.

Links:
» The website that started it all
» Freyer’s new televisions show

Free Speech For Sale

In the late nineteen-eighties, a group of artists began to attack advertised messages by manipulating billboards to make their own statements, something known as "culture jamming." In that same spirit, audio artist Jay Kennedy assembled "Free Speech for Sale," a CD of audio art made with the mangled sound of commercials. Produced by Jocelyn Gonzales.

Links:
» The Free Speech For Sale website

A Damnation, Directed Toward Telemarketers

We found a book recently called 101 Damnations. It’s a collection of 101 personal visions of hell, contributed by writers like Tim Carvell, who mostly work at home between the hours of 9AM and 5PM—which, as we all know, is when they call...

Links:
» 101 Damnations, the book

Credits

This hour of Radio Lab was produced by Neda Pourang and Jennie Schneier, with help from Ellen Horne, Miyuki Jokiranta and Trent Wolbe. Special thanks to WNYC archivist Andy Lanset.