Radiotopia Presents: Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative Radiotopia
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- Society & Culture
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What really happens when stories about people’s lives are collected, edited, and consumed? Radiotopia Presents: Shocking, Heartbreaking,Transformative is a four-part non-fiction series created by Jess Shane, about the nuts and bolts of documentary storytelling, the power dynamics between makers and subjects, and rewriting unwritten rules of the documentary and non-fiction content industry.Radiotopia Presents: Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative is written, hosted and produced by Jess Shane. Sara Nics is the story editor. Sound design, mix/mastering by Michelle Macklem. Production support from Mona Hassan. Cover art is by Justin Broadbent.Support for this project was provided in part by the International Women’s Media Foundation. Special thanks to Eleanor McDowall and Chioke I’Anson.For Radiotopia Presents, Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.Learn more about Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm.
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Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative 1 - Just a Girl with a Microphone
Jess used to think making documentaries was good for her subjects and good for the world. But she’s not so sure anymore. With this series, she's throwing out the old rules of documentary production and trying out some new ones.
Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative is written, hosted and produced by Jess Shane. Sara Nics is the story editor. Sound design, mix/mastering by Michelle Macklem. Production support from Mona Hassan. Cover art is by Justin Broadbent. Jess’s bibliography is available here.
Support for this project was provided in part by the International Women’s Media Foundation. Special thanks to Eleanor McDowall and Chioke I’Anson.
For Radiotopia Presents, Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.
Learn more about Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm. -
Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative 2 - The Grimy Stuff
Jess begins by documenting Ernesto, a 20-year-old, newly sober fashion model. The plan is to pay Ernesto and let him be in charge of the story he wants to tell in the documentary. Things go sideways when Jess and Ernesto grapple with what will need to be cut out of Ernesto's life to turn it into a viable media product.
More about Pooja Rangan’s book Immediations HERE.
Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative is written, hosted and produced by Jess Shane. Sara Nics is the story editor. Sound design, mix/mastering by Michelle Macklem. Production support from Mona Hassan. Cover art is by Justin Broadbent. Jess’s bibliography is available here.
Support for this project was provided in part by the International Women’s Media Foundation. Special thanks to Eleanor McDowall and Chioke I’Anson.
For Radiotopia Presents, Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.
Learn more about Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm. -
Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative 3 - Win-Win
Jess makes a deal with Judy, an unhoused senior. Judy will let Jess document her, and Jess will help Judy resolve some of her ongoing life problems. As Jess gets sucked into Judy's crises, the rest of the series starts to slip and Jess’ relationships with her other subjects get messy. Jess starts to doubt the premise of this entire undertaking.
Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative is written, hosted and produced by Jess Shane. Sara Nics is the story editor. Sound design, mix/mastering by Michelle Macklem. Production support from Mona Hassan. Cover art is by Justin Broadbent. Jess’s bibliography is available here.
This reporting was supported in part by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G.Buffett Fund for Women Journalists.
Special thanks to Eleanor McDowall and Chioke I’Anson.
For Radiotopia Presents, Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.
Learn more about Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm. -
Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative 4 - Feedback
With only a few months till launch, Jess plays a draft of the series for her subjects and gives them an opportunity to request major changes.
Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative is written, hosted and produced by Jess Shane. Sara Nics is the story editor. Sound design, mix/mastering by Michelle Macklem. Production support from Mona Hassan. Cover art is by Justin Broadbent. Jess’s bibliography is available here.
This reporting was supported in part by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G.Buffett Fund for Women Journalists.
Special thanks to Eleanor McDowall and Chioke I’Anson.
For Radiotopia Presents, Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.
Learn more about Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm. -
Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative 5 - Release
After Jess receives feedback that throws a major wrench into her production schedule, she has to make some tough decisions.
Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative is written, hosted and produced by Jess Shane. Sara Nics is the story editor. Sound design, mix/mastering by Michelle Macklem. Production support from Mona Hassan. Cover art is by Justin Broadbent. Jess’s bibliography is available here.
This reporting was supported in part by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G.Buffett Fund for Women Journalists.
Special thanks to Eleanor McDowall and Chioke I’Anson.
For Radiotopia Presents, Yooree Losordo is the managing producer. Audrey Mardavich is the Executive Producer. It’s a production of PRX’s Radiotopia and part of Radiotopia Presents, a podcast feed that debuts limited-run, artist-owned series from new and original voices.
Learn more about Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm.
We’d like to thank the extended Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative team, without whom you may not have heard about this project. For PRX marketing: Gretchen Borzi, David Cotrone, Sher Delva, Apu Goteh, and Maggie Gourville. For PRX sponsorship: Audrey Davidson, Melissa Garcia-Houle, Carolyn Willander, and Jeanne Yeh.
This series was possible thanks to Ernesto, Michael, and Judy, whose vibrant souls could never fit into the confines of any series.
Most of all, thank you for listening. -
Points of Egress from Love + Radio
Back in 2017, Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative host/producer Jess Shane made “Perfect Woman”, an episode of Love Me, the CBC podcast. In 2018, Nick van der Kolk made “Points of Egress” for his show, Love + Radio, inspired by “Perfect Woman”. Today, we come full circle to share “Points of Egress” with you. Listen to the end for Jess’s version of the credits.
Customer Reviews
A mixed bag, but always something new.
Season one was OK, but a bit generic.
Season two was a wild rollercoaster ride.
Season three was almost unlistenable (the accents here hard to understand and the storytelling style was not my style).
Season four was a lot of fun, especially in the first few episodes, and Al Letson is always a treat.
It’s hit and miss, but usually still worth a listen, and I’ll be coming back for each new season.
Shockingly, heartbreakingly, transformative
This season was a masterpiece. I can’t even begin to imagine the time and struggle that went into concocting all the arcs in these episodes. I almost missed it because I didn’t want to listen to a meta series. I worried it would be too navel-gazey and boring. But it was so the opposite of that. It really felt like a podcasters podcast, but also a podcast for people who love podcasts. Podcast podcast podcast. Thank you, Radiotopia, for taking chances and thank you, Jess Shane, for your groundbreaking work.
Love
Just found this podcast and started at season 13. An incredible docu-story, honest, full of perspective and reflection while also being well paced and entertaining. Highly recommend.