Radio Diaries & Radiotopia · History

Radio Diaries

First-person diaries, sound portraits, and hidden chapters of history from Peabody Award-winning producer Joe Richman and the Radio Diaries team. From teenagers to octogenarians, prisoners to prison guards, bra saleswomen to lighthouse keepers. The extraordinary stories of ordinary life. Radio Diaries is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Learn more at radiotopia.fm

Episodes

Dorothy Thompson emerged as a formidable foreign correspondent and radio commentator who famously confronted the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. After interviewing Hitler in 1931 and dismissing him as "faceless" and "insecure," she became the first American journalist expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934. Her subsequent...

Making Waves: The Original Angry Talker

28 Feb 2025

12m

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Joe Pyne pioneered the aggressive, confrontational style of talk radio that defined the medium's evolution during the 1960s. Originally a mild-mannered disc jockey, Pyne transitioned to an all-talk format, utilizing hostility and provocation to engage audiences and challenge political opponents, particularly anti-war p...

Making Waves: The Happy-Am-I Preacher

20 Feb 2025

18m

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Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux, once known as the "Happy-Am-I Preacher," dominated the airwaves in the 1930s as a radio pioneer who reached millions of listeners with messages of racial harmony. By leveraging his immense popularity, he cultivated influential, often clandestine, relationships with U.S. presidents and F...