Transom.org

06/03/2026

It’s Sound School’s 100th episode (or 470th, depending on how you count...!)

For this special milestone, Rob talks about one of his favourite audio documentaries–a piece so powerful that when he played it once at a workshop, listeners stood up and waved their arms to yell “Turn it off! Turn it off!”

Listen below:

Witness to an Ex*****on - Transom

06/02/2026

New presenter just dropped: Alex Lewis joins us at !

Alex Lewis is an independent radio & podcast producer living in Philadelphia, PA. He's the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Rowhome Productions, a Philadelphia-based audio production agency that specializes in making podcasts, radio documentaries, audio tours, and other narrative audio projects. Before Rowhome, Alex spent more than a decade producing award-winning audio documentaries and podcasts for NPR, BBC Radio 4, and many other public media outlets, media companies and local organizations. His work has been recognized with multiple Edward R. Murrow Awards and a Peabody Nomination. He's a graduate of the Transom Story Workshop and Northwestern University, where he studied music theory.

05/28/2026

Erica Heilman joins the line up for !

Erica produces Rumble Strip an independent podcast based in East Calais, Vermont. She's also written for Transom before, including her own "Rules for Radio" which you can read on our website.

05/22/2026

Another amazing presenter at : Award-winning podcast host and journalist Lauren Ober! See our pinned post for more information.

Lauren Ober is a journalist and independent creator and host of narrative podcast series. She’s recently made shows about January 6ers (We Live Here Now, for The Atlantic), Koko the talking gorilla (Fine Gorilla Person, for Topic Studios/Audible) and, in a departure, herself (The Loudest Girl in the World for Pushkin Industries/iHeart Media). All of these shows have landed on “Best of…” lists all over the world. Before that she was a host of Spectacular Failures from APMStudios — one of TIME magazine’s top 10 podcasts of 2019, and NPR’s The Big Listen. She is currently at work on a documentary series about extreme mountaineering for ESPN and Scott Free Productions. In a life before audio, Lauren was a newspaper reporter. A proud Pittsburgh native, Lauren currently lives in the 51st state with her partner and a coterie of very particular pets.

05/22/2026

Joining the streak of amazing presenters coming to is Bianca Giaever!

Bianca is an independent radio journalist and filmmaker. Her recent short film, STALIN BOYS, won a Special Jury Award and Audience Award at SXSW. It has since screened at festivals worldwide, including DC: DOX, AspenShorts, Mountainfilm and Sheffield DocFest. Her upcoming documentary feature film, "Free Help," was profiled in The New York Times. Her other stories have appeared on This American Life, Radiolab, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. She is the creator and host of "Constellation Prize," a podcast distributed by The Believer magazine, and a former producer on The New York Times' audio team, where she produced and occasionally hosted episodes of "The Daily." In 2013, her college short film, "the Scared is scared," was named "Web Video of the Year" by USA Today. She is the winner of a Daytime Emmy and a Webby award and recently completed a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.

05/21/2026

Announcing another presenter coming to : the inimitable Yohance Lacour! See our pinned post for details.

Yohance is a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning journalist, leather artist, educator, activist and entrepreneur based in Chicago. A lifelong storyteller from the South Side, he came of age shaped by Hip Hop, Black journalism, and a deep commitment to bearing witness to his community. He first covered the 1997 beating of 13-year-old Lenard Clark for the South Street Journal — a story that would define and haunt him for decades.

After serving a decade-long federal prison sentence, Lacour returned home in 2017 determined to resume his tradition of Black storytelling. He created and hosted You Didn't See Nothin, a podcast produced with the Invisible Institute that reimagines narrative audio as something cinematic, political, and deeply personal. The podcast earned a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award.

He discovered leathercraft while incarcerated and went on to found YJLacour, a luxury brand celebrated for handcrafted sneakers, bags, and bespoke pieces rooted in Black culture, resilience, and redemption.

05/19/2026

Hot off a Peabody Award, Jad Abumrad and Efe Odudu, drop some valuable audio storytelling reporting and production insights on the latest episode of Rob Rosenthal's Sound School. Jad and FayFay recently produced "Fela Kuti: Fear No Man," the podcast about Fela, the Nigerian saxophone player and political activist. Jad and FayFay sat down with Lesedi Mogoathle in February for an online chat sponsored by Radio Workshop. It's a valuable conversation you'll want to hear.

https://transom.org/2026/jad-and-fay-fay-talk-fela-kuti-fear-no-man/

05/18/2026

Transom is honored to be part of this special episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour, created in collaboration with historian Jill Lepore as the country approaches its 250th anniversary.

The piece grows out of Transom’s ongoing project, The Listeners — an effort to make deeply human, hyperlocal documentary portraits that help us listen to one another again, especially at a moment when so much of public life pushes us apart. America at 250 asks people to reflect on patriotism, memory, belonging, and what the United States means to them at this moment in time.

The segment was produced by our Executive Director, Sophie Crane and features reporting from Erica Heilman, Scott Carrier, Eve Abrams, David Weinberg, and Yohance Lacour, with mixing by Josh Crane.

We’re deeply grateful to everyone who shared their stories with us. A version of the story will be available from Transom soon. Listen below to the NYRH episode below.

Find out more about The Listeners: https://transom.org/the-listeners/

The two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence arrives during intense disputes about American history, as the Trump Administration demands a more glorif...

05/15/2026

Come learn from Lauren Chooljian of NHPR’s documentary podcast team, Document, at ! See our pinned post for more information.

Lauren Chooljian is a senior reporter/producer on NHPR's DOCUMENT team, a narrative-driven, long form and often investigative reporting project. She is perhaps best known as the host and reporter behind The 13th Step, a podcast about sexual misconduct in the addiction treatment industry. The 13th Step won a duPont-Columbia award, was named one of the best podcasts of 2023 by The New Yorker, The Atlantic and Vogue, and was a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Audio reporting. Before joining NHPR in 2017, Lauren spent nearly six years as a reporter, producer and fill-in host for WBEZ in Chicago.

05/15/2026

Come learn from Jason Moon of NHPR’s documentary podcast team, Document, at . See our pinned post for festival details and tickets!

Jason Moon makes documentary podcast series for New Hampshire Public Radio's Document team. His stories are often about high-stakes mysteries and involve the criminal legal system. Jason’s work includes two seasons of Bear Brook, which got shout-outs from Stephen King, The New Yorker, and Time magazine. Jason was the producer for The 13th Step (hosted by Lauren Chooljian) which won the duPont-Columbia Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting. Jason was an intern for Transom in 2013.