Radio Diaries – The Rawest, Most Human Stories The World Has To Offer

Radio Diaries is a podcast that transcends time. Each show makes you feel so deeply for the voices you hear, you wonder if you'll come out of it the same person. 

It's a Radiotopia show that's been produced by Joe Richman since 1996. This is a podcast that tells extraordinary stories of everyday people. Regular individuals (with no radio experience) are given recorders and are told to document their daily lives. Joe and his team take that audio and work their magic – and what you get is some of the rawest, freshest, most timeless audio the world has to offer. 

Heart-wrenching stories like Weasel's Diary: Deported – about a 26-year-old Los Angeles man who gets deported to his parents’ home country of El Salvador – a place he hasn't seen since age five. Another piece that has made it into the unofficial radio hall-of-fame: Josh’s Diaries: Tourette’s / First Kiss – a gritty, tender story of navigating the gauntlet that is boyhood, with the complication of Tourette's syndrome lurking just beneath the surface.

The one that has always stuck with me most is Teen Contender. It's the diary of young Clarissa Shields, a now world-famous boxer. These recordings follow Clarissa at age 16, when she was the youngest woman to compete for a spot on the first-ever women’s Olympic boxing team. It's the story of a teenage girl, trying hard to be a teenage girl, but also making history against devastating odds. If I ever need inspiration to buckle down and do something, I turn to this episode. Do not miss this one. 

As a producer, Radio Diaries has been my inspiration for what audio can be. It's profound, it's so deeply human, and it will make you look at your fellow man just a little differently after listening. 

If you want to be deeply moved and inspired by a podcast, subscribe to Radio Diaries.