Radio, An Illustrated Guide

Apart from the humorously outdated technological sections and super long passages of text at times, this was a pretty effective comic. I have heard/read most of the information conveyed by the piece already, but this is perhaps the most comprehensive and efficient guide on introducing contemporary radio that I have seen (and it fools readers into thinking that it's just a harmless comic before distilling great nuggets of wisdom, so that's cool and sly).

The Brett story about the guy on the subway platform whispering, "You can stay" and "You have to go," crystallizes an essential facet of storytelling: anticipation. You have to be told or shown that you want something before you know that you want it; the host has to promise you that your time will be well spent over the next however-long-expanse-of-time, or else why are you listening?

In class during the This American Life presentation, an excerpt from one of the shows stood out to me that is STILL BOTHERING ME. Why? Because Ira Glass was introducing the show about personal recordings meant for just one person and said (I paraphrase), "The first recording you will hear is the greatest love letter ever written in the entire history of the universe."

Admittedly that was embellished, but that's what I wanted to believe it was. In just 5 seconds, Ira created more anticipation inside me to hear a love letter simply by promising that it was the best one ever. It is a cold scientific fact, said Ira. He did not say, "I thought it was the best" or "This is one of the best" or even "The best I've heard in recent times." Oh no, it is. The. Best.

I still haven't listened to that clip yet (busy busy busy), but the anticipation lingers.

This is a big reason why I am not a very good storyteller. You have to tease and tickle and even torture your audience if your story is going to have the most effective impact. You can't just tell the punchline immediately (in most cases); nobody would understand. It's the journey and the longing and the wondering right before that final, climactic moment of realization and fulfillment that makes the whole story worthwhile and meaningful – even if that moment is being told an empty statement: "You can stay." What does it even mean? Who cares, that was an awesome ride.

Although hopefully, then, a host or someone would give you closure and explain some wisdom for you to take away and apply to your general life.