HAWAII RADIO SHOW

The City & County of Honolulu, Department of Parks & Recreation and the Atherton Family Foundation presented Talk Story Radio, a weekly half hour storytelling program featuring the tales and tellers of Hawaii and the Pacific Rim for two years, 2005-07. it continues as a podcast series.  It included some 80 tellers and over 1200 stories. Jeff Gere, the storytelling Drama Specialist in the Parks Department, in collaboration with the musician/ technical wizards Kelli Heath and Angela Ellenwood created this series which aired on Hawaii Public Radio’s KIPO (89.3FM) Mondays at 5:30pm from August, 2005 - 2007; on KTUH (90.3FM) Thursdays at 7pm, and it continues to air on Maui’s Mana’o Radio (91.5FM) Sundays 10-11pm (two shows). A full listing of shows and credit can be found at www.talkstoryradio.com.

 Jeff Gere said, “I believe storytelling is nourishing entertainment that a fast-food world hasn’t rediscovered…yet. Talk Story Radio seeks to infect listeners with an enthusiasm for storytelling, stimulating curiosity in the art and the tellers of Hawaii.” To nurture this enthusiasm and acknowledge these storytellers, they created an extensive website, www.talkstoryradio.com listing show credits (past and coming), teller pictures and links, and related storytelling sites.

NATIONAL STORYTELLING SHOW:

Gere continues to sort and prepare a voluminous library of storytelling recordings for a national storytelling radio show. In March 2012, between two festival performances on the East Coast, he filled a hard-drive with recordings made of the performances at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennesse. They are archived at the National Library of Congress, Folklife Section, in Washington DC. To do this, he collected permissions from 75 of America's most recognized professional storytellers. Most of these tellers also sent Jeff their collection of CDs. It was an avalanche of recorded material. He continues to dedicate himself to this labor, and indeed believes a wonderful, moving, gripping series of shows will come out of it in the years ahead.

Gere continues (talking of the Hawaii programs), “I took the audio signals from 20 some years of Talk Story Festival video recordings, added CDs/ cassette and various back porch recordings, and put them on my computer. Stories are grouped into themes and shaped/tightened for radio (29 minutes). A gorgeous introduction was created. Then began the ongoing process of collecting teller permissions (these tellings are so good I want to share them with everyone!). I take these “story clusters” to Kelli Heath (my exceptional Parks aide/ collaborator/ partner). She records my prepared introductions, adds musical beds to them (her original music and borrowed cuts), and masters it all into a very tasty story experience! Each one is different, particular to the theme. It took a good year of trial and error to get rolling, but now we’re working wonders quickly with delightful results. Angela Ellenwood started in 2006, continuing this format. With help from Hawaii Public Radio’s Michael Titterton and Jeff Ilardi, we’re on Hawaii Public Radio! Liam Skilling airs us on KTUH, and Barry Shannon plays two shows Sunday nights on Maui’s Mana’o Radio. In 2006, we hope to offer the show to more Hawaii and mainland radio stations, and podcast the shows! I’m so excited to continually share this treasury of tales with so many people."

Podcasts of shows, coming shows, credits, artists, links, & photos @ Talk Story Radio.com 

 'Making Waves: A Thinking Bigger Blueprint with TV/Radio' ('08 interview with Eric Wolf on his 'Art of Storytelling Show', a nationally prominent podcast series)