Los Audio: Jan 13- Jan 26
I'm publishing today to retain some sense of normalcy, but I have no words.
I am not including in person events in this edition.
Many of the locations are evacuated or are no longer standing.
I have no words.
I evacuated with my partner and my cat from Highland Park on Wednesday morning out of an abundance of caution due to the winds and Eaton’s trajectory at the time. I am now safely back home, keeping my go bag packed. For now, I am enormously fortunate.
Coming back to this post I drafted on January 3rd feels so surreal. A week ago I was writing about professional meetups, and today I am thankful firstly to be alive, and second to have – thus far – all of my material things.
What’s important right now is taking care of yourself and your loved ones. For those affected by Eaton, I have found the Pasadena subreddit to be very helpful. For those affected by the Palisades fire, the Los Angeles and AskLA subs are good resources.
New York Boulevard is posting good community-sourced resources for the NELA region, whether you are seeking resources yourself or ways to help.
If you are looking to volunteer or donate, here is a good list.
I have no right to be so emotionally fried considering how lucky I and my loved ones have been, but I am spent. Nothing below this line matters, but if engaging with the art and craft of audio brings you comfort, please read on.
I love this city, and I can’t wrap my head around this. Please take care of yourselves.
LA Radio Club is taking stories of your experience, if you feel you want to share. Click here to read more.
⭐ OPEN CALL ⭐ Low Orbit
Low Orbit is looking for audio pieces!
What's this now?
Low Orbit is an audio magazine featuring voices, stories and sounds from the creative community. We feature lots of different kinds of things; documentary stories, memoir, fiction and non-fiction stories, poetry, music, comedy, avant-garde soundscapes, it's a sonic navigation of creative work from many different artistic disciplines, shared in the spirit of collaboration.
The mission: To provide a collaborative platform for creative audio.
What we’re looking for: Audio pieces that span a wide range of sonic and artistic styles. basically anything that sounds interesting or compelling in some way.
Do you want to tell me about your ‘82 Firebird that you lost your virginity in, and how it all went so downhill since? Good! We’ll take it!
Have you been wronged by society or a rambunctious goose? Come on down!
An ambient sound-collage made entirely out of the various sounds a toothbrush can make? Excellent! You’re speaking our language.
Disclaimer! Low Orbit is a no-profit podcast meaning that there isn't any money in it. In fact it loses money! So you'd be sharing your work in the spirit of community and collaboration.
If that's something you're interested in, let Josh know! Email Josh Mattison at Josh@rocketfromearth.com.
💻 Virtual Events 💻
Workshop: How to Pitch
There’s an art and a science to a successful pitch for an idea, a story, a show. Join experienced editor and executive producer Dave Shaw as he walks you through real life examples of pitches that sang and pitches that fell flat, drawn from his more than 20 years of experience in getting other people as excited about a pitch as he is.
This workshop is divided into two parts. After a presentation with practical advice on honing your idea to give it a greater shot at success in part one, you’ll have the chance to share a pitch of your own and to workshop it with the instructor and group in part two.
📅/⏰ January 14th 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM and January 21st 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
👤 Radio Boot Camp
💰 $150
🎟️ Register
Workshop: Your Podcast’s Data is Your Friend!
In today’s competitive audio landscape, the best way to grow an audience is to create the kind of content that will have listeners returning – and engaging with it. But, in a saturated market, identifying and connecting with the right audience can be as challenging as finding a needle in a haystack.
In this workshop, podcast executive and audience growth specialist Christabel Nsiah-Buadi will empower you to take control of your audience growth using listener data by understanding how your data, like starts, streams, and listening hour numbers, will help you learn how listeners engage with your show. She’ll share techniques to help you generate show-specific research and point you toward tools you can use, and you’ll leave with the knowledge you need to better understand your listeners.
This class is for you if you want to discover tools to help you learn about your audience and incorporate data-driven feedback into your creative process.
📅 January 16th
⏰ 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
👤 Radio Boot Camp
💰 $100
🎟️ Tickets
Workshop: How to Interview for Narrative Storytelling
It takes a different set of interview skills to get people to share not just the facts of their situation, but also an actual narrative. In this online class, we’ll talk through practical skills for narrative interviewing, from figuring out what questions to ask, to asking questions in a way that prompts story and emotion, and how to help sources tap into the details of stories that are often long past. If you have taken Karen’s Story Structure class, some of the material may be familiar though will be addressed from a different angle.
Bonus: Registration comes with a free, three-month license for Hindenburg audio editing software!
📅 January 26th
⏰ 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
👤 Radio Boot Camp
💰 $100
🎟️ Tickets
LA is so strong.
Everyone I know is so strong.
Whatever happens, I hope we can carry this perspective forward of what really matters in the end.
This is a level of devastation that we as people are not engineered to surmount. Whatever you feel right now, however you were affected, is correct.
Sending so much love.
Submit an Event
Do you know of (or host!) a radio, podcasting, or audio event in LA? Shoot an email to losaudio@substack.com with the details! Include the date, time, location, any applicable links, and whether or not the event is recurring (along with any other relevant info, and maybe a photo of the best LA sunset you’ve seen recently.) Any kinds of events, meetups, and workshops are applicable.
Los Audio is a biweekly (every two weeks) newsletter – if your event is time-sensitive, please mention the timeframe you’d like it to appear and I’ll do my best to accommodate your request!