Sometime around Fall of my Sophomore year at Bard, I found a mentor who loved radio as much as I did. Her name is Danielle Riou and she taught me how to use a field recorder.

Danielle ran (and still runs, to the best of my knowledge) a show called Human Rights Radio out the second floor of the Hannah Arendt Center, a quaint old house on campus. After a series of animated meetings, I began helping her with the show. Editing clips of audio, recording the occasional interview.

I was hooked. By that Spring, I had produced my first ever piece. About a prosthetist with a peg leg by the name of Rich. I shyly presented it to Danielle for feedback. She was enthusiastic, but reminded me that her show was about Human Rights. This Rich piece.. It just didn’t fit in.

Undeterred, I continued to record rogue and vaguely humanist interviews with people I met. Along the way I recruited several friends to help me in this venture, or at the very least discuss the venture with me. I continued to help Danielle with her show from time to time, and I began watching her children after school.

By the next year, me and my friends, we had a show of our own. Echo Radio. And a college-officiated club, to boot. For a brief time, we broadcast monthly on Robinhood Radio: “the smallest NPR station in the nation”. We met for a solid year at the Arendt Center to think and talk and share our recordings. We taught a good many students how to use a field recorder, exposing them to the wonderful world of sound stories. We drank wine on the porch and loved radio together. We made just three full episodes, but a good time was had by all.