Cover art for podcast Radio Diaries

Radio Diaries

221 EpisodesProduced by Radio Diaries & RadiotopiaWebsite

First-person diaries, sound portraits, and hidden chapters of history from Peabody Award-winning producer Joe Richman and the Radio Diaries team. From teenagers to octogenarians, prisoners to prison guards, bra saleswomen to lighthouse keepers. The extraordinary stories of ordinary life. Radio Diari… read more

episodes iconAll Episodes

My So-Called Lungs (Revisited)

March 7th, 2024

30:22

We’re revisiting one of our favorite stories from years ago — with a new twist. Laura Rothenberg spent most of her life knowing she would die young. …

Farewell

February 22nd, 2024

0:39

An important message from RadioPublic

The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records

February 15th, 2024

23:51

In 1921, a man named Harry Pace started the first major Black-owned record company in the United States. He called it Black Swan Records.

In an era …

Guest Spotlight: Parakeet Panic

February 1st, 2024

42:41

This week, we’re featuring an episode of a podcast we’re big fans of: The Last Archive! The Last Archive tells little known histories and how they affect our modern lives. Today’s story, “Parakeet Panic,” explores when …

The Drum Also Waltzes

January 10th, 2024

21:06

At the age of 16, he played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He went on to make landmark recordings with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. He’s considered one of the most important drummers in …

The Unmarked Graveyard: Live at WNYC

December 19th, 2023

1:01:24

We bring you a lot of stories each year, but we don’t often get to share the work behind them. We recently held an event at WNYC’s The Greene Space in New York City, where our subjects and producers reflected on the …

The Man on the President's Limo

November 22nd, 2023

12:07

Today marks 60 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. There are many photos from that day in 1963, but one image in particular …

The Unmarked Graveyard: LaMont Dottin

November 21st, 2023

15:16

Back in 1995, LaMont Dottin was 21 years old and a freshman at Queens College when, one evening, he didn’t come home.

His mother went to the local …

The Unmarked Graveyard: Hisako Hasegawa

November 9th, 2023

12:45

The Belvedere Hotel is in the heart of New York City’s theater district. Many of its guests come to see the sights, take in a show. But there are a few dozen people who call the Belvedere home. Decades ago, they came …

The Unmarked Graveyard: Cesar Irizarry

November 2nd, 2023

15:51

Angel Irizarry spent years working as a detective, and in 2021 he set out on a personal investigation to track down an uncle who’d been estranged from his family for decades.

But early in his search he made a …

The Unmarked Graveyard: Dawn Powell

October 26th, 2023

16:54

Dawn Powell wrote novels about people like herself: outsiders who’d come to New York City in the early twentieth century to make a name for themselves. For a few years, those novels put her at the center of the city’s …

The Unmarked Graveyard: Documenting an Invisible Island

October 19th, 2023

20:52

For more than a century, it was almost impossible to find out much about people buried on Hart Island. But in 2008, that all changed — thanks in large part to a woman named Melinda Hunt.

Melinda is a visual artist who …

The Unmarked Graveyard: Angel Garcia

October 12th, 2023

20:38

When Annette Vega was in elementary school, she found out the man she called “dad” wasn’t her biological father. But all she knew was that her mom …

The Unmarked Graveyard: Noah Creshevsky

October 5th, 2023

13:37

When Noah Creshevsky learned he was dying of bladder cancer two years ago, he decided to decline medical treatment. Soon, he and his husband David …

The Unmarked Graveyard: Neil Harris Jr.

September 28th, 2023

26:01

A few years ago, a young man who called himself Stephen became a fixture in Manhattan’s Riverside Park. Locals started noticing him sitting on the same park bench day after day. He said little and asked for nothing.

TRAILER: The Unmarked Graveyard

September 21st, 2023

4:56

On September 28th, we’re launching a new series: The Unmarked Graveyard: Stories from Hart Island.

Hart Island is America’s largest public cemetery—sometimes known as a “potter’s field.” The island has no headstones or …

The Longest Game

August 25th, 2023

44:11

In the spring of 1981, the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings met for a minor league baseball game of little importance. But over the course of 33 innings – 8 hours and 25 minutes – the game made history. It …

The Girls of the Leesburg Stockade

July 19th, 2023

16:12

On July 19, 1963, at least 15 Black girls were arrested while marching to protest segregation in Americus, Georgia. After spending a night in jail, …

Busman's Holiday

June 15th, 2023

20:11

One day in 1947, NYC bus driver William Cimillo showed up to his daily bus route, but instead of turning right, he turned left. Over the next week, …

Guest Spotlight: Buffalo Extreme

May 12th, 2023

43:41

This week we’re featuring a story from NPR’s Embedded podcast. It’s the first episode in a new series called Buffalo Extreme, which follows a cheer …

The Gospel Ranger

April 25th, 2023

17:23

This is the story of a song, “Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down.” It was written by a 12-year-old boy on what was supposed to be his deathbed. …

The Longest Game

April 17th, 2023

19:41

In the spring of 1981, the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings met for a minor league baseball game of little importance. But over the course of 33 innings – 8 hours and 25 minutes – the game made history. It …

Meet Miss Subways

March 30th, 2023

10:56

Beauty pageants promote the fantasy of the ideal woman. But for 35 years, one contest in New York City celebrated the everyday working girl.

Each month starting in 1941, a young woman was elected “Miss Subways,” and …

The Ski Troops of WWII

March 16th, 2023

24:46

This week we’re bringing you a story about the 10th Mountain Division, a World War II military experiment to train skiers and climbers to fight in …

Sofia's Choice: A Ukrainian Diary, One Year Later

March 6th, 2023

12:54

Sofia Bretl has lived in New York City for the last decade. But she was born and raised in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, about 25 miles from the Russian border. The city has received some of the worst shelling so far …

Living with Dying

February 13th, 2023

14:15

On Valentine’s Day 2020, Peter Fodera’s heart broke. It stopped working. He collapsed in the middle of teaching a dance class. Someone performed CPR, …

The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records

February 3rd, 2023

23:49

In 1921, a man named Harry Pace started the first major Black-owned record company in the United States. He called it Black Swan Records.

In an era when few Black musicians were recorded, the company was …

The Real Refugees of Casablanca

January 23rd, 2023

12:50

It’s been 80 years since the release of the Hollywood classic, Casablanca. When the film opened in 1943—just a year after the U.S. joined World War …

The History Of Now

December 16th, 2022

31:10

One of the questions we often ask ourselves is: How can we produce stories about history that can air alongside the news of today? In 2022, answering that question was easy.

In this year-end episode, we’re taking a …

A Guitar, A Cello and the Day that Changed Music

November 23rd, 2022

17:13

November 23, 1936 was a good day for recorded music. Two men, an ocean apart, sat before a microphone and began to play. One, Pablo Casals, was a cello prodigy who had performed for the Queen of Spain. The other, Robert …

Banging on the Door: The Election of 1872

November 4th, 2022

13:09

Voting rights was just as hot an issue in 1872 as it is today. In 1872, Susan B. Anthony and 14 other women went to cast a ballot in the election - and Anthony ended up arrested and tried. But another woman named …

The Square Deal

October 20th, 2022

17:46

100 years ago, George F. Johnson ran the biggest shoe factory in the world. The Endicott-Johnson Corporation in upstate New York produced 52 million pairs of shoes a year. But Johnson wasn’t only known for his shoes. He …

The Massacre at Tlatelolco

October 6th, 2022

25:17

In October 1968, Mexico City was preparing to host the Olympics - the first Latin American country to do so. It was an opportunity to showcase the new, modern Mexico. However, at the same time, student protests were …

Guest Spotlight: Ear Hustle

September 23rd, 2022

32:04

This week we’re featuring an episode from our fellow Radiotopia show, Ear Hustle. Ear Hustle is produced inside San Quentin State Prison, in California. The show tells stories about what life is really like in prison, …

Working, Then And Now

September 9th, 2022

15:06

In the early 1970s, radio host and oral historian Studs Terkel went around the country, tape recorder in hand, interviewing people about their jobs. The interviews were compiled into a 1974 book called “Working: People …

The Longest Game

August 23rd, 2022

19:04

In the spring of 1981, the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings met for a minor league game of little importance. But over the course of 33 innings – 8 hours and 25 minutes – the game made history. It was the …

Rumble Strip: Finn and the Bell

July 14th, 2022

36:28

This week we’re bringing you a story from independent producer Erica Heilman, who makes the Rumble Strip podcast.

The story is about a teenager named Finn Rooney who loved to fish and play baseball. It’s also about …

The Almost Astronaut

June 29th, 2022

21:49

In the 1960s, the U.S. was in a tense space race with the Soviet Union - and was losing. The Soviets had sent the first satellite and the first man into space. So, President Kennedy pledged to do something no country …

The General Slocum

June 3rd, 2022

13:42

On June 15, 1904, a steamship called the General Slocum left the pier on East Third Street in New York City just after 9 AM. The boat was filled with more than 1,300 residents of the Lower East Side. Many of the …

The End of Smallpox

May 19th, 2022

22:42

Only one human disease has ever been completely eradicated: Smallpox. Smallpox was around for more than 3,000 years and killed at least 300 million people in the 20th century. Then, by 1980, it was gone.

Rahima Banu …

The Story of Jane

May 5th, 2022

14:42

Before the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, abortion was illegal throughout most of the country. But that doesn't mean women didn't get them.

In 1965, an underground network formed in Chicago to help pregnant …

The Greatest Songwriter You've Never Heard Of

April 19th, 2022

17:34

You probably don’t know her name, but you definitely know her songs. Rose Marie McCoy would’ve turned 100 years old today. On this episode of the …

Identical Strangers

April 7th, 2022

18:44

Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein were both born in New York City and adopted as infants. When they were 35 years old, they met and found they were …

Sofia's Choice: A Ukrainian Diary

March 30th, 2022

12:21

Sofia Bretl has lived in New York City for the last decade. But she was born and raised in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, about 25 miles from the Russian border. The city has received some of the worst shelling so far …

The Forgotten Story of Clinton Melton

March 10th, 2022

16:32

This week, the Senate unanimously passed legislation that would make lynching a federal hate crime. It was a historic moment. Congress has tried and …

Claudette Colvin: Making Trouble Then and Now

February 24th, 2022

16:57

Nine months before Rosa Parks, a 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, AL. …

A Voicemail Valentine

February 10th, 2022

14:08

Nowadays we’re very accustomed to recording and hearing the sound of our own voices. But in the 1930s many people were doing it for the first time. And a surprising trend began. People started sending their voices to …

Diary of a Saudi Girl: Then & Now

January 21st, 2022

38:39

When we first met Majd Abdulghani, she was a teenager living in Saudi Arabia, one of the most restrictive countries for women in the world. She …

A Museum of Sound

December 22nd, 2021

33:10

A journey back to the very beginning of recorded sound and the strange, random, beautiful things people captured more than a century ago. We …

A Real Life West Side Story

December 8th, 2021

16:24

A new movie version of West Side Story is hitting theaters this week. The musical, which tells a story of romance and rivalry between white and Puerto Rican gangs in New York City, first opened on Broadway in 1957.

The …

A Guitar, A Cello, and the Day that Changed Music

November 18th, 2021

18:10

November 23, 1936 was a good day for recorded music. Two men, an ocean apart, sat before a microphone and began to play. One was a cello prodigy who had performed for the Queen of Spain. The other played guitar and was …

A Wrench in the Works

November 4th, 2021

40:51

Every day, we go about our lives doing thousands of routine, mundane tasks. And sometimes, we make mistakes. Human error. It happens all the time. It just doesn’t always happen in a nuclear missile silo.

On September …

My Iron Lung

October 22nd, 2021

15:24

In the first half of the 20th century, the disease known as poliomyelitis panicked Americans. Just like COVID today, polio stopped ordinary life in …

When Borders Move

October 7th, 2021

14:26

Ever since Texas became a state, the Rio Grande has been the border between the U.S. and Mexico. But rivers can move — and that’s exactly what happened in 1864, when torrential rains caused it to jump its banks and go …

The Two Lives of Asa Carter

September 23rd, 2021

34:04

Asa Carter and Forrest Carter couldn’t have been more different. But they shared a secret.

The Education of Little Tree, by Forrest Carter, is an …

When Ground Zero was Radio Row

September 10th, 2021

17:18

On the 20th anniversary of September 11th, 2001, we’re bringing you a story about the World Trade Center. But it isn’t about the attacks, or about everything that came after. Instead, it’s about what came before 9/11.

Last Witness: The Kerner Commission

August 26th, 2021

12:21

Decades before our current debate over critical race theory, the 1968 Kerner Report pointed the finger at structural racism for creating the conditions that had triggered a series of protests in Black communities across …

Prisoners of War

August 12th, 2021

20:52

During the war in Vietnam, there was a notorious American military prison on the outskirts of Saigon, called Long Binh Jail. But LBJ wasn’t for …

The Gospel Ranger

July 15th, 2021

21:53

This is the story of a song, “Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down.” It was written by a 12-year-old boy on what was supposed to be his deathbed. …

The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records

June 25th, 2021

25:01

One hundred years ago, in 1921, a man named Harry Pace started the first major Black-owned record company in the United States. He called it Black Swan Records.

In an era when few Black musicians were recorded, the …

From the Archive: Josh's Diary

June 10th, 2021

17:21

Twenty-five years ago, Josh Cutler was a 16-year old living with Tourette’s Syndrome, a brain disorder that often causes physical and verbal tics. …

The Tulsa Race Massacre, 100 Years Later

May 27th, 2021

17:39

On May 31, 1921, white mobs attacked a prosperous Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as “Black Wall Street.” As many as three hundred …

Juan, 25 Years Later

May 13th, 2021

34:47

This week we continue celebrating Radio Diaries’ 25th anniversary by catching up with Juan from the Teenage Diaries series, which first aired on NPR in 1996.

Juan was 17 when we first gave him a tape recorder and asked …

25 Years of Radio Diaries

April 30th, 2021

26:32

This week marks a very special anniversary for Radio Diaries. It’s been 25 years since we first started giving people tape recorders to report on their own lives.

To celebrate, we recently checked in with our very …

Busman's Holiday

April 15th, 2021

20:36

One day in 1947, NYC bus driver William Cimillo showed up to his daily bus route, but instead of turning left, he turned right. Over the next week, …

The Last Place: Diary of a Retirement Home

April 1st, 2021

31:50

For the past year, most nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been in lockdown. Residents have been kept apart—not just from their families, but from each other. They ate meals alone in their rooms, met new …

Fly Girls

March 18th, 2021

26:59

Soon after he entered office, President Biden issued an executive order allowing transgender people to serve in the military. It was the latest in a long series of shifts in who can serve and who can't. Women only …

Burma '88: Buried History

March 4th, 2021

16:51

On August 8, 1988 — a date chosen for its numerological power — university students in Burma sparked an uprising against the military dictatorship. …

Living with Dying

February 14th, 2021

14:03

One year ago, on Valentine’s Day 2020, Peter Fodera’s heart broke. It stopped working. He collapsed in the middle of teaching a dance class. Someone …

Teen Contender: Then & Now

February 5th, 2021

31:13

In 2012, Claressa Shields was a 16-year-old boxer in Flint, Michigan. She had an audacious dream: to be the Muhammad Ali of womens boxing. We gave …

America Vs. America

January 16th, 2021

25:43

After the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, we've all been trying to grapple with an event that feels so different from anything we’ve …

Love from Six Feet Apart (Revisited)

December 17th, 2020

24:36

Robert and Wendy Jackson have been socially distancing under the same roof for 8 months. Robert is 71 and had a kidney transplant four years ago. His immune system is severely compromised. His wife, Wendy, is a …

Love at First Quarantine, The Sequel

December 4th, 2020

28:05

When the pandemic hit back in March, Gali Beeri and Joshua Boliver decided to quarantine together, after their very first date. Today on the show, we …

Centenarians (Still) in Lockdown

November 20th, 2020

15:55

It’s been 9 months since Joe Newman (107) and Anita Sampson (100) recorded their story about surviving the 1918 pandemic, getting older, and staying …

How to Lose an Election: A History

November 2nd, 2020

19:03

Presidential campaigns are essentially dramas, and we’re in the final act of this one. The curtain is about to come down.For the past century, the moment of closure has come in the form of one simple act: the public …

When Nazis Took Manhattan

October 1st, 2020

20:13

In an election season when the words "Will you condemn white supremacy" are considered a gotcha question at a presidential debate, it seems like a good time to look back at another moment in American history when race …

March of the Bonus Army

September 10th, 2020

16:20

In the summer of 1932, a group of World War I veterans in Portland, Oregon hopped a freight train and started riding the rails to Washington DC. They were demanding immediate payment of a cash bonus the government had …

The Forgotten Story of Clinton Melton

August 27th, 2020

16:06

This summer, videos of Black people killed by police officers have sparked outrage and protests across the country. 65 years ago, it was a photograph …

The Infamous Words of George Wallace

August 6th, 2020

12:53

A law and order politician who rails against anarchists protesting in the streets and the lying mainstream media? It may sound familiar, but we’re …

The Final Frontline

July 13th, 2020

10:43

The Kearns family funeral business was founded in New York City in the year 1900. Over 120 years, the family has seen a lot of history. Patrick …

Quarantined in the Pizzeria

July 3rd, 2020

10:32

COVID-19 has forced many families to improvise childcare. For some, it's been like a four month long 'bring your child to work' day. Paul Montanaro …

Lockdown in Lockup

June 25th, 2020

9:43

Coronavirus cases are on the rise across the country and the five largest clusters of the virus are in correctional institutions. This isn’t a …

Home is Where You Park Your Mini Van

June 16th, 2020

12:57

Back in March, as the pandemic hit, many people across the country found themselves without a safety net. Naida Lavon was one of them. Naida is 67 …

The Words of Renault Robinson, Then and Now

June 4th, 2020

10:24

Renault Robinson was one of Chicago's few black police officers in the 1970s. He was a founder of the Afro-American Patrolmen's League.

We first …

Love at First Quarantine

May 15th, 2020

20:31

Gali Beeri and Joshua Boliver both live in New York City and they were both single back in March when the city was preparing to lock down. Then they …

Love from Six Feet Apart

April 24th, 2020

20:37

Most of the country is social distancing in public, but some people are doing it under the same roof. Robert Jackson is 71 and had a kidney transplant four years ago. His immune system is severely compromised. His wife, …

Centenarians in Lockdown

April 10th, 2020

13:20

Joe Newman is 107 years old. He was 5 during the flu pandemic of 1918. Today, he lives in a senior apartment complex in Sarasota, Florida with his …

Soul Sister

March 11th, 2020

35:15

There’s a long history in America of white people imagining black people’s lives - in novels, in movies, and sometimes in journalism.  In 1969, Grace …

The Long Haul: Busman's Holiday

March 5th, 2020

22:59

Busman’s Holiday: When William Cimillo, a NYC bus driver went on a 1,300 mile detour to Florida.

This story originally aired on This American Life.

History Had Me Glued to the Seat

February 20th, 2020

11:47

You know the story of Rosa Parks. But have you heard of Claudette Colvin?

Claudette grew up in the segregated city of Montgomery, Alabama. On March …

Voicemail Valentine

February 6th, 2020

14:33

Nowadays we’re very accustomed to recording and hearing the sound of our own voices. But in the 1930s many people were doing it for the first time. And a surprising trend began. People started sending their voices to …

My So-Called Lungs

January 16th, 2020

31:54

Laura Rothenberg spent most of her life knowing she was going to die young.

She had cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs. When she was born, the life expectancy for people with CF was around 18 …

The Teenage Diaries Revisited Hour Special

December 19th, 2019

59:21

Back in the 1990s, Joe Richman gave tape recorders to a bunch of teenagers and asked them to report on their own lives. These stories became the series “Teenage Diaries.” 16 years later, in “Teenage Diaries Revisited,” …

Thembi's Diary, Revisited

December 5th, 2019

32:05

We first met Thembi when she was 19 and living in one of the largest townships in South Africa. We were struck by her candor, sense of humor and her courage. She was willing to speak out about having AIDS at a time when …

The Last Witness

November 29th, 2019

10:04

For this episode, Radiotopia gave all of us in the network a prompt: if we were to create another show, any show, what would it be? Well, we’d make …

The Press is the Enemy

November 13th, 2019

16:11

Fifty years ago, on November 13, 1969, Spiro Agnew delivered the most famous speech ever given by a vice president. His message: the media is biased.

President Nixon was getting beaten up by the press, and in response, …

The View from the 79th Floor

October 17th, 2019

16:39

On July 28, 1945 an Army bomber pilot on a routine ferry mission found himself lost in the fog over Manhattan. A dictation machine in a nearby office …

The Dropped Wrench

October 3rd, 2019

41:50

Every day, we go about our lives doing thousands of routine, mundane tasks. And sometimes, we make mistakes. Human error. It happens all the time.

It just doesn’t always happen in a nuclear missile silo.

This story …

Prisoners of War

September 19th, 2019

20:59

During the war in Vietnam, there was a notorious American military prison on the outskirts of Saigon, called Long Binh Jail. But LBJ wasn’t for …

The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel

September 5th, 2019

59:29

In 1974, oral historian Studs Terkel published a book with an unwieldy title: "Working: People talk about what they do all day and how they feel …

Stories from a Vanishing New York

August 22nd, 2019

24:21

Today on the podcast, we pay a visit to Walter the Seltzer Man, and also remember Selma Koch, the iconic bra fitter in the Upper West Side's Town Shop.

Shirley Chisholm: Unbought and Unbossed

July 25th, 2019

16:33

Today…there’s “The Squad.” But 50 years ago, there was only one woman of color in the U.S. Congress, and she was the first. Shirley Chisholm, of New …

The Square Deal

June 20th, 2019

17:17

100 years ago, George F. Johnson ran the biggest shoe factory in the world. The Endicott-Johnson Corporation in upstate New York produced 52 million pairs of shoes a year.

But Johnson wasn’t only known for his shoes. …

Amanda's Diary: Revisited

June 6th, 2019

21:56

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, a turning point in the gay rights movement.
The anniversary is a reminder of how much has changed since 1969, when "homosexual acts" were illegal in all …

Last Witness: Surviving the Tulsa Race Riot

May 20th, 2019

9:57

On May 31, 1921, six-year-old Olivia Hooker was home with her family when a group of white men launched an attack on the Greenwood section of Tulsa, …

Juan's Diaries: Undocumented, Then and Now

May 2nd, 2019

34:25

Back in the 1990s, Juan crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, and settled with his family next to the Rio Grande river in Texas. We gave him a cassette recorder to document his life there for NPR. Almost two decades …

The Bonus Army

April 18th, 2019

16:20

In 1932, 20,000 WWI veterans set up a tent city in Washington. They called themselves the Bonus Army.

See photos of the Bonus Army here: http://www.radiodiaries.org/march-of-the-bonus-army/

The Working Tapes

April 4th, 2019

25:35

In the early 1970’s, author Studs Terkel went around the country with a reel-to-reel tape recorder interviewing people about their jobs. He turned these interviews into a book called, “Working.” After the book was …

The Story of Jane

March 21st, 2019

14:39

Before the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Roe vs. Wade, abortions were illegal in most of the United States. But that didn't mean women didn't have them.

Hundreds of women were dying every year in botched …

The Ski Troops of WWII

March 7th, 2019

25:27

The men of the 10th Mountain Division led a series of daring assaults against the Nazis in the mountains of Italy during WWII. After returning home, …

When Nazis Took Manhattan

February 20th, 2019

21:08

On February 20th, 1939, 20,000 people streamed into Madison Square Garden in New York City. Outside, the marquee was lit up with the evening's main event: a "Pro-American rally." Inside, on the stage, there was a …

A Voicemail Valentine

February 11th, 2019

14:04

Nowadays we’re very accustomed to recording and hearing the sound of our own voices. But in the 1930s many people were doing it for the first time. And a surprising trend began. People started sending their voices to …

The Border Wall

January 16th, 2019

18:01

Stories about walls and borders, and what happens when – instead of people crossing the border – the border crosses the people.

Act 1: Wrong Side of the Fence

Pamela Taylor technically lives in the U.S. But somehow, …

Thembi's Diary

December 19th, 2018

33:10

We first met Thembi when she was 19 and living in one of the largest townships in South Africa. We were struck by her candor, sense of humor and her courage. She was willing to speak out about having AIDS at a time when …

Bonus Episode: Hear the World Differently

December 10th, 2018

5:33

There’s an old saying that “sound is like touch from a distance.” We think it’s a perfect metaphor for what we at Radio Diaries — and all the shows …

A Guitar, A Cello, and the Day that Changed Music

November 15th, 2018

17:14

November 23, 1936 was a good day for recorded music. Two men – an ocean apart – sat before a microphone and began to play. One was a cello prodigy who had performed for the Queen of Spain; the other played guitar and …

The Song That Crossed Party Lines

November 1st, 2018

13:31

Our country is so politically polarized these days, it’s hard to remember a time when Republicans and Democrats could agree on anything at all.

In …

Campaigning While Female

October 18th, 2018

28:43

A record-breaking number of women are running for Congress in the midterm elections this November. There are 257, dwarfing all previous years. And in 2020, we’ll likely see a record number of women running for President …

Serving Time 9-5: Diaries from Prison Guards

October 4th, 2018

24:17

Sergeant Furman Camel spent 27 years in a North Carolina Prison. That's as many years as Nelson Mandela spent behind bars. But Camel did his time, as …

Matthew and the Judge

September 20th, 2018

21:18

We gave Judge Jeremiah, a Rhode Island juvenile court judge, and Matthew, a 16-year-old repeat offender, tape recorders. Through their audio …

Prisoners of War

August 29th, 2018

22:01

During the war in Vietnam, there was a notorious American military prison on the outskirts of Saigon, called Long Binh Jail. But LBJ wasn’t for …

Last Witness: Mission to Hiroshima

August 6th, 2018

15:41

On August 6, 1945 the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. It was the first time a nuclear weapon had been used in warfare. There were three strike planes that flew over Hiroshima that …

Nelson Mandela at 100

July 17th, 2018

1:02:26

Nelson Mandela would have been 100 years old this week. And we’re marking the anniversary by bringing you our documentary, Mandela: An Audio History. …

Busman’s Holiday

June 21st, 2018

21:54

The story of William Cimillo, a New York City bus driver who snapped one day in 1947 and went on a 1,300 mile detour with his bus… to Florida.

*************

This episode is sponsored by  Quip. _

_Brush Better with …

Last Witness: The General Slocum

June 14th, 2018

19:03

On June 15, 1904, a steamship called the General Slocum left the pier on East Third Street in New York City just after 9 AM. The boat was filled with more than 1,300 residents of the Lower East Side. Many of the …

Last Witness: Surviving the Tulsa Race Riot

May 31st, 2018

22:01

On May 31, 1921, six-year-old Olivia Hooker was home with her family when a group of white men launched an attack on the Greenwood section of Tulsa, …

Fly Girls

May 3rd, 2018

25:47

In the early 1940s, the U.S. Air Force faced a dilemma. Thousands of new airplanes were coming off assembly lines and needed to be delivered to military bases nationwide, yet most of America’s pilots were overseas …

Strange Fruit, Revisited

April 19th, 2018

18:00

Over the past few years, there’s been a movement to tear down the Confederate monuments dotted all over the south. At the same time, there are some new monuments going up. On April 26, the nation’s first lynching …

Crime Pays

April 6th, 2018

23:19

There’s a program in Richmond, CA that has a controversial method of reducing gun violence in their city: paying criminals to not commit crimes. …

The Green Book

March 22nd, 2018

20:40

The 1950s were the golden age of the American road trip. But of course freedom of movement didn’t apply to all Americans. Jim Crow was the law in the …

Deported: Weasel’s Diary

March 8th, 2018

33:31

At 26-years-old, Jose William Huezo Soriano—a.k.a. Weasel—was deported back to his parents’ home country, El Salvador, a country he hadn’t seen since …

Nine Months Before Rosa Parks

February 28th, 2018

11:45

You’ve heard of Rosa Parks, but do you know about Claudette Colvin?

On March 2, 1955, when Claudette was 15 years old, she refused to give up her …

A Voicemail Valentine

February 14th, 2018

14:26

Nowadays we’re very accustomed to recording and hearing the sound of our own voices. But in the 1930s many people were doing it for the first time. And a surprising trend began. People started sending their voices to …

The Story of Jane

January 19th, 2018

14:28

Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in American life and politics. 45 years after Roe vs. Wade – our country is still split.

It’s easy to …

The Dropped Wrench

December 23rd, 2017

40:31

Every day, we go about our lives doing thousands of routine, mundane tasks. And sometimes, we make mistakes. Human error. It happens all the time.

It just doesn’t always happen in a nuclear missile silo.

A …

Majd’s Diary: Two Years in the Life of a Saudi Girl

November 21st, 2017

34:18

Majd Abdulghani is a teenager living in Saudi Arabia, one of the most restrictive countries for women in the world. She wants to be a scientist. Her …

Under the Radar

November 2nd, 2017

15:46

16 years after recording his teenage diary, Juan now lives in Colorado. He has a house, a good job, and three American kids. But…he’s still …

Juan’s Story, Live at the Moth

October 23rd, 2017

30:09

Juan crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally as a teen, and settled with his family in Texas. In 1996, he recorded an audio diary for our Teenage Diaries project. In this week’s episode, listen to Juan’s Teenage Diary, …

The Two Lives of Asa Carter

October 5th, 2017

33:02

Asa Carter and Forrest Carter couldn’t have been more different. But they shared a secret.

The Education of Little Tree, by Forrest Carter, is an …

The Last Place

September 21st, 2017

30:31

When you spend so much of your life getting to the next stage, thinking about the next move, what is it like to find yourself in…the Last Place? In this episode, we bring you audio diaries from a retirement home.

The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel (Hour Special)

September 3rd, 2017

58:26

For Labor Day, we’re bringing you a special, one hour episode of our series The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel.

In 1974, oral historian Studs Terkel published a book with an unwieldy title: “Working: People talk about …

Willie McGee and The Traveling Electric Chair

August 17th, 2017

30:40

In 1945, Willie McGee was accused of raping a white woman. The all-white jury took less than three minutes to find him guilty and McGee was sentenced to death. Over the next six years, the case went through three trials …

Miss Subways

July 27th, 2017

10:54

Most beauty pageants promote the fantasy of the ideal woman. But for 35 years, one contest in New York City celebrated the everyday working girl.

Each month starting in 1941, a young woman was elected “Miss Subways,” …

Mexico ’68 and the Tlatelolco Massacre

June 27th, 2017

26:04

In 1968, Mexico City was preparing to host the Olympics. It was the first time that a Latin American country would host the Games, and the government …

The Rubber Room

June 2nd, 2017

31:39

The New York City public school system is huge. More than a million students, all being taught by 75,000 teachers. Except, a few hundred of those …

The Oddest Town in America

May 19th, 2017

11:30

This month, the big tent is finally coming down. After 146 years, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey are closing the ‘Greatest Show on Earth.’ The elephants have already retired to a farm in central florida. Where …

Radio Diaries Live at the Moth

May 4th, 2017

25:45

When our friends at the storytelling show, The Moth, heard Melissa Rodriguez’s audio diary, they invited her to tell a story live on stage, in a special show in Brooklyn.

For Mother’s day, we’re bringing you Melissa’s …

The Gospel Ranger

April 13th, 2017

17:17

This is the story of a song, “Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down,” written by a 12-year-old boy on his deathbed. A boy who – instead of dying – …

Remembering Robben Island

March 31st, 2017

11:29

Nelson Mandela famously spent 27 years in prison for fighting against apartheid in South Africa. He was sentenced to life in 1964 for treason, along with 7 others. One of them was Ahmed Kathrada who died this week. He …

The Vietnam Tapes of Michael A. Baronowski

March 16th, 2017

24:46

In 1966, a young Marine took a reel-to-reel tape recorder with him into the Vietnam War. For two months, Michael A. Baronowski made tapes of his …

Weasel’s Diary, Revisited

March 2nd, 2017

34:06

An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States. Over the past month, the Trump Administration has unveiled plans to arrest and deport large numbers of them. Under Obama, close to 3 million …

The Last Civil War Widows

February 13th, 2017

13:43

Daisy Anderson and Alberta Martin lived what seemed like parallel lives. Both had grown up poor, children of sharecroppers in the South. Daisy in Tennessee; Alberta in Alabama. Both women got married in their early …

The Border Wall (Updated)

February 2nd, 2017

16:37

One week into his Presidency, Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Trump says it will be, “an …

Strange Fruit (Updated)

January 19th, 2017

18:13

Finding artists willing to perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration proved harder than expected. Elton John, Celine Dion, Garth Brooks, Ice-T, and Kiss were among those reportedly invited. They all declined. Then there …

Busman’s Holiday

December 20th, 2016

20:26

The story of William Cimillo, a New York City bus driver who snapped one day in 1947, left his regular route in the Bronx, and drove his municipal …

The Working Tapes – Part 4

December 6th, 2016

12:13

A new story from our series The Working Tapes.

In the early 1970’s, author Studs Terkel interviewed the owners of Duke & Lee’s Auto Repair in Geneva, Illinois for his book Working. He went to talk to them about …

March of the Bonus Army

November 22nd, 2016

16:54

Author James Baldwin once wrote, “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason: I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

Criticism — and dissent — are patriotic. In …

The Song that Crossed Party Lines

November 4th, 2016

15:36

This election season, our country seems more politically divided than ever. The race has been so ugly that it’s hard to even imagine a time when …

The Working Tapes – Part 3

October 25th, 2016

18:18

A private eye, a jockey, a hotel piano player….voices from The Working Tapes.

In the early 1970’s, author Studs Terkel went around the country with a reel-to-reel tape recorder interviewing people about their jobs for …

The Working Tapes – Part 2

October 12th, 2016

18:53

A Chicago police officer, a female advertising executive, a gravedigger……voices from The Working Tapes.

In the early 1970’s, author Studs Terkel …

The Working Tapes – Part 1

September 30th, 2016

17:39

An auto union worker, a switchboard telephone operator, a press agent…

The Working Tapes – A Preview

September 24th, 2016

12:43

In the early 1970’s, author Studs Terkel went around the country with a reel-to-reel tape recorder interviewing people about their jobs.

The result …

From Flint to Rio

July 27th, 2016

26:14

2012 marked the first year that women boxers were allowed to compete in the Summer Olympics. Our audio diary followed Claressa Shields, a 17-year-old …

Contenders: The Veep

July 14th, 2016

11:21

Harry S. Truman once wrote that the President of the United States is a “glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.”

Contenders: Say it Like You Mean it

July 7th, 2016

20:14

Throughout American history, one of the most important job qualifications for the office of President has been knowing how to talk. You have to be …

Contenders: Women Who Fought for the White House

June 24th, 2016

28:04

If Hillary Clinton wins in November, she will become the first female President in American history. But she is not the first woman to seek this office. Today, we look back at three of the most groundbreaking female …

Majd’s Diary: Two Years in the Life of a Saudi Girl

June 1st, 2016

33:15

Majd Abdulghani is a teenager living in Saudi Arabia, one of the most restrictive countries for women in the world. She wants to be a scientist. Her …

A Mother, Then and Now

April 28th, 2016

41:51

In celebration of Mother’s Day and Radio Diaries’ 20th anniversary this month, we’re revisiting Melissa’s story. As an 18 year old, Melissa recorded …

Radio Diaries Turns 20!

April 8th, 2016

21:30

20 years ago, NPR’s All Things Considered began running our occasional series, Teenage Diaries… which then grew up to become Radio Diaries. Today on the podcast, we check in with our very first diarist, Amanda Brand.

The Man in the Zoo

March 25th, 2016

12:51

In 1906, New York’s Bronx Zoo was the largest zoo in the world. That year, the zoo introduced a new exhibit that would quickly became its most …

Claudette Colvin: “A Teenage Rosa Parks”

March 2nd, 2016

11:45

Nine months before Rosa Parks, a 15-year-old girl refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, AL.

Identical Strangers

February 18th, 2016

17:35

Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein were both born in New York City and adopted as infants. When they were 35 years old, they met and found they were …

Frankie’s Second Chance (Updated)

February 5th, 2016

30:34

As a teenager, Frankie was a high school football star whose picture was in his hometown newspaper every week. Years after graduating, Frankie was …

Friday Night Lights

January 22nd, 2016

18:44

“In the seventh grade, I was real little, probably weighed 75 pounds. Everybody used to pick on me all the time. They picked on me and beat the crap out of me everyday…Then one day, my ninth grade year, I decided to …

The Ski Troops of WWII

January 7th, 2016

24:14

The 10th Mountain Division fought in World War II for only four months, but it had one of the highest casualty rates of the war. The division started out as an experiment to train skiers and climbers to fight in the …

From Prison to President

December 24th, 2015

20:04

Four years after Nelson Mandela was released from prison, he became president of South Africa. And yet, those 4 years were among the bloodiest and …

The Last Place

December 3rd, 2015

30:31

When you spend so much of your life getting to the next stage, thinking about the next move, what is it like to find yourself at…the Last Place? On this episode of the Radio Diaries Podcast, we bring you audio diaries …

A Guitar, A Cello, And The Day That Changed Music

November 19th, 2015

17:10

November 23, 1936 was a good day for recorded music. Two men – an ocean apart – sat before a microphone and began to play. One was a cello prodigy who had performed for the Queen of Spain; the other played guitar and …

The Story of ‘Ballad for Americans’

November 5th, 2015

13:09

How a ten minute operatic folk cantata managed to unite Democrats, Republicans and Communists.

Serving 9-5: Diaries from Prison Guards

October 22nd, 2015

24:03

Polk Youth Institution in Butner, North Carolina is a prison for young men between the ages of 19-25. For our series Prison Diaries, I gave tape …

The Man Who Put the ‘P’ in NPR

October 8th, 2015

21:46

One of the best mission statements we’ve ever read is the original NPR mission, which was written in 1969 by Bill Siemering. Bill is an amazing guy who, at the age of 80, continues to help create radio stations and …

Crime Pays

September 11th, 2015

22:10

This month’s podcast is about what it takes to get people to change. We focus on a group of people that might be the hardest to change – or at least they’ve had the most money thrown at them in hopes of change: …

Strange Fruit

August 6th, 2015

17:05

“Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck, for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, for the sun to rot, for a tree to drop. Here is a strange and …

Mandela’s Prison Years

July 9th, 2015

17:51

While Mandela and other political leaders languished in prison, the government cracked down. It seemed that resistance to apartheid had been crushed. …

A Visit to the Memory Palace

June 18th, 2015

11:50

Big, happy announcement: The Memory Palace is the newest member of Radiotopia!

To celebrate, we bring you an episode from The Memory Palace, by Nate DiMeo. It’s the story of Guglielmo Marconi, sometimes called the …

Matthew and the Judge

June 5th, 2015

20:05

We gave both Judge Jeremiah, a Rhode Island juvenile court judge, and Matthew, a 16-year-old repeat offender, tape recorders. Judge Jeremiah released …

Seeing the Forrest Through the Little Trees

May 22nd, 2015

33:02

The Education of Little Tree is an iconic best-selling book, with a message about living in harmony with nature, and compassion for people of all kinds. But there’s a very different story behind the book. It begins with …

The Traveling Electric Chair

May 7th, 2015

30:40

Bridgette McGee grew up knowing nothing about her grandfather, Willie McGee. Now she is on a quest to unearth everything she can about his life – and his death.

In 1945, Willie McGee was accused of raping a white …

From Bullets to Balance Sheets

April 25th, 2015

10:55

As a teenager, Kamari Ridgle was a drug dealer and drive-by shooter until a near-death experience led him to his true love…accounting.

Let us know what you think of the Radio Diaries Podcast. Take this 5-minute survey …

The Square Deal

April 2nd, 2015

18:38

When George F. Johnson died, the nation witnessed one of the largest funerals in U.S. history. What did Johnson do? He made shoes. Lots of them. 100 years ago, the Endicott Johnson Corporation, headquartered in upstate …

Fly Girls

March 19th, 2015

25:09

In the early 1940s, the US Airforce faced a dilemma. Thousands of new airplanes were coming off assembly lines and needed to be delivered to military bases nationwide, yet most of America’s pilots were overseas fighting …

Claudette Colvin – A “Teenage Rosa Parks”

March 5th, 2015

11:45

What makes a hero? Why do we remember some stories and not others?

Consider Claudette Colvin. She was a 15-year-old girl in the segregated city of …

First Kiss

February 12th, 2015

20:39

Josh Cutler has Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes uncontrollable tics and involuntary verbal outbursts. In this episode, …

The Greatest Songwriter You’ve Never Heard Of

February 3rd, 2015

17:20

You probably don’t know her name, but you definitely know her songs. Rose Marie McCoy passed away recently at the age of 92. On this episode of the Radio Diaries Podcast, we’re remembering Rose and her music.

George Wallace and the Legacy of a Sentence

January 23rd, 2015

12:52

If you’ve seen the movie Selma, our new podcast features two people who are important characters in the film: Representative John Lewis, the civil rights leader who was brutally beaten while crossing the Edmund Pettus …

The View from the 79th Floor

January 8th, 2015

16:39

On July 28, 1945 an Army bomber pilot on a routine ferry mission found himself lost in the fog over Manhattan. A dictation machine in a nearby office …

Miss Subways

December 22nd, 2014

10:56

Beauty pageants promote the fantasy of the ideal woman. But for 35 years, one contest in New York City celebrated the everyday working girl.

Each month starting in 1941, a young woman was elected “Miss Subways,” and …

Last Man on the Mountain – Updated

December 11th, 2014

16:23

A few years ago, we produced a story about the greatest underdog we’d ever met: Jimmy Weekley.

Jimmy was the last remaining resident of Pigeonroost …

Busman’s Holiday

November 13th, 2014

20:07

The story of William Cimillo, a New York City bus driver who snapped one day in 1947, left his regular route in the Bronx, and drove his municipal …

Weasel’s Diary, Revisited

November 7th, 2014

34:12

Jose William Huezo Soriano – aka Weasel – is a 26-year-old Los Angeles resident who gets deported to his parents’ home country of El Salvador, which …

When Ground Zero was Radio Row

October 17th, 2014

16:24

For more than four decades, the area around Cortlandt Street in lower Manhattan was the largest collection of radio and electronics stores in the …

When Borders Move

October 6th, 2014

15:55

What happens when, instead of people crossing the border, the border crosses the people? In this episode of the Radio Diaries Podcast, two stories from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Working, Then and Now

September 1st, 2014

14:42

In the early 1970s, radio host and oral historian Studs Terkel went around the country, tape recorder in hand, interviewing people about their jobs. …

Strange Fruit – Voices of a Lynching

August 25th, 2014

17:05

The images coming out of Ferguson, MO this summer have reminded us of another upsetting image of race in America. It’s a photograph that was taken just a few hours from Ferguson, but eight decades ago…and it inspired …

The Gospel Ranger

July 17th, 2014

17:11

This is the story of a song, “Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down,” written by a 12-year-old boy on his deathbed. A boy who – instead of dying – …

“Halfrican” Revisited

June 23rd, 2014

21:32

When Jeff Rogers was 16 years old he started referring to himself as a “halfrican.” Jeff has a black father and a white mother. And like many …

Walter the Seltzerman – It’s Not Easy Being Last

June 2nd, 2014

14:57

Back in 1919, Walter Backerman’s grandfather delivered seltzer by horse and wagon on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Today, Walter continues to deliver seltzer around the streets of New York. Some customers, like Mildred …

The Long Shadow of Forrest Carter

May 12th, 2014

18:19

Asa Carter was a speechwriter for Alabama Governor George Wallace. He penned one of the most infamous speeches of the era… Wallace’s Segregation Now, Segregation Forever address. Forrest Carter was a Cherokee writer who …

The Day Nelson Mandela Became Nelson Mandela

April 20th, 2014

19:50

The moment Nelson Mandela really became Nelson Mandela was on April 20th, 1964 – fifty years ago today. It happened when he stood up in a stuffy South African courtroom and gave a speech.

50 years is a long time. It’s …

Frankie’s Teenage Diary, Revisited

March 20th, 2014

32:21

As a teenager, Frankie Lewchuck recorded an audio diary about his family in rural Alabama. 16 years later, he recorded a follow up story for the …

Willie McGee and the Traveling Electric Chair

February 18th, 2014

30:40

On the night of May 7th, 1951, in the small town of Laurel, Mississippi, close to a thousand people gathered around the courthouse. They came to witness an execution. Willie McGee was a young black man who had been …

Teenage Diaries Revisited 1-Hour Special

January 13th, 2014

58:48

Back in the 1990s, Radio Diaries producer Joe Richman gave tape recorders to a handful of teens and asked them to report on their own lives. Now, 16 …

A Guitar, A Cello, and the Day that Changed Music

December 20th, 2013

17:10

What would it sound like if one of the world’s greatest classical cellists, and the most legendary blues guitarist of all time…jammed together?

Mandela: An Audio History

December 5th, 2013

1:01:05

An award-winning radio series documenting the struggle against apartheid through intimate first-person accounts of Nelson Mandela himself, as well as those who fought with him, and against him. Hosted by Archbishop …

The Last Man on the Mountain

November 14th, 2013

17:15

In the 1990s, Arch Coal began mountaintop removal mining in a corner of West Virginia called Pigeonroost Hollow. There used to be dozens of houses in …

The View From the 79th Floor

October 16th, 2013

16:39

On July 28, 1945 an army bomber pilot on a routine ferry mission found himself lost in the fog over Manhattan. Stories from the day a plane crashed …

Teenage Diaries Revisited: Juan

August 19th, 2013

31:39

16 years ago, Juan reported on his life as a recent Mexican immigrant living in poverty in Texas. In his new diary, Juan takes us on a tour of the life he has built since he first crossed the Rio Grande. It looks a lot …

Burma ’88: Buried History

August 8th, 2013

15:43

25 years ago, university students in Burma sparked a countrywide uprising. They called for a nationwide strike on 8/8/88, a date they chose for its …

Teenage Diaries Revisited: Melissa

June 12th, 2013

42:16

As an 18-year-old raised in the foster care system, Melissa took NPR listeners along when she gave birth to her son Issaiah. Over the past 16 years …

Teenage Diaries Revisited: Josh

May 30th, 2013

42:38

In high school, Josh documented his life with Tourette’s Syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes uncontrollable tics and involuntary verbal …

Teenage Diaries Revisited: Amanda

May 17th, 2013

19:55

At the age of 17, Amanda knew she was gay. But her parents kept insisting she’d grow out of it. Today, a lot has changed in the country, and within her own family. 16 years later, Amanda goes back to her parents to find …

Loading ...

Listen to Radio Diaries

RadioPublic

A free podcast app for iPhone and Android

  • User-created playlists and collections
  • Download episodes while on WiFi to listen without using mobile data
  • Stream podcast episodes without waiting for a download
  • Queue episodes to create a personal continuous playlist
RadioPublic on iOS and Android
Or by RSS
RSS feed
https://feed.radiodiaries.org/radio-diaries

Connect with listeners

Podcasters use the RadioPublic listener relationship platform to build lasting connections with fans

Yes, let's begin connecting
Browser window

Find new listeners

  • A dedicated website for your podcast
  • Web embed players designed to convert visitors to listeners in the RadioPublic apps for iPhone and Android
Clicking mouse cursor

Understand your audience

  • Capture listener activity with affinity scores
  • Measure your promotional campaigns and integrate with Google and Facebook analytics
Graph of increasing value

Engage your fanbase

  • Deliver timely Calls To Action, including email acquistion for your mailing list
  • Share exactly the right moment in an episode via text, email, and social media
Icon of cellphone with money

Make money

  • Tip and transfer funds directly to podcastsers
  • Earn money for qualified plays in the RadioPublic apps with Paid Listens