Podcast Details
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
265 episodes
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Sealab: A Home on the Ocean Floor
20:21 • Apr 23, 2026 -
Guest Spotlight: William Parker's War on Slave Catchers
38:41 • Apr 2, 2026 -
Detained: A Homecoming
16:14 • Mar 27, 2026 -
The Real Refugees of Casablanca
12:30 • Mar 19, 2026 -
Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier 3: The Trial
18:23 • Feb 26, 2026 -
Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier 2: Officer X
13:12 • Feb 19, 2026 -
Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier 1: The Bus Ride
12:19 • Feb 12, 2026 -
TRAILER: Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier
04:35 • Feb 9, 2026 -
Remembering Claudette Colvin
11:41 • Jan 14, 2026 -
The First Computer Dating Service: Operation Match
12:16 • Dec 18, 2025 -
This Short Life
16:19 • Nov 20, 2025 -
Detained: The Last Columbia Protester
11:42 • Nov 3, 2025 -
Identical Strangers
17:10 • Oct 23, 2025 -
The Gospel Ranger
16:38 • Oct 2, 2025 -
The Working Tapes, Revisited
16:41 • Sep 18, 2025 -
The Last Place
29:52 • Aug 7, 2025 -
The View from the 79th Floor
16:30 • Jul 28, 2025 -
Two Years in the Life of a Saudi Girl, Revisited
37:17 • Jul 17, 2025 -
The End of Smallpox
14:14 • Jun 30, 2025 -
The Detainees of Crystal City
16:16 • Jun 13, 2025 -
Prisoners of War
19:51 • May 1, 2025 -
March of the Bonus Army
16:18 • Apr 17, 2025 -
The Girls of the Leesburg Stockade
16:14 • Apr 3, 2025 -
Guest Spotlight: Signal Hill
37:20 • Mar 20, 2025 -
Making Waves: The Woman Who Warned The World
12:30 • Mar 6, 2025 -
Making Waves: The Original Angry Talker
12:32 • Feb 28, 2025 -
Making Waves: The Happy-Am-I Preacher
18:08 • Feb 20, 2025 -
Sealab: A Home on the Ocean Floor
20:41 • Jan 16, 2025 -
Guest Spotlight: The Memory Palace with Nate DiMeo
13:45 • Jan 9, 2025 -
Teen Contender
21:08 • Dec 23, 2024 -
Last Witness: The Kerner Commission
12:45 • Dec 5, 2024 -
A Guitar, A Cello and the Day that Changed Music
17:15 • Nov 21, 2024 -
The John Birch Society
15:18 • Oct 24, 2024 -
American Migrant
15:59 • Oct 10, 2024 -
The Longest Game
44:13 • Sep 19, 2024 -
When Borders Move
13:22 • Sep 5, 2024 -
Guest Spotlight: The Phantom of the World's Fair
23:52 • Aug 15, 2024 -
HOUR SPECIAL: Stories from the Unmarked Graveyard
53:42 • Jul 18, 2024 -
The Almost Astronaut (Revisited)
25:23 • Jun 20, 2024 -
The End of Smallpox
21:24 • Jun 7, 2024 -
Meet Miss Subways
10:57 • May 16, 2024 -
The Gospel Ranger
16:38 • May 2, 2024 -
Mandela's Election: 30 Years Later
17:40 • Apr 18, 2024 -
Working, Then and Now
57:38 • Apr 4, 2024 -
My Iron Lung (Revisited)
16:58 • Mar 21, 2024 -
My So-Called Lungs (Revisited)
30:22 • Mar 7, 2024 -
The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records
23:51 • Feb 15, 2024 -
Guest Spotlight: Parakeet Panic
42:41 • Feb 1, 2024 -
The Drum Also Waltzes
21:06 • Jan 10, 2024 -
The Unmarked Graveyard: Live at WNYC
61:24 • Dec 19, 2023 -
The Man on the President's Limo
12:07 • Nov 22, 2023 -
The Unmarked Graveyard: LaMont Dottin
15:16 • Nov 21, 2023 -
The Unmarked Graveyard: Hisako Hasegawa
12:45 • Nov 9, 2023 -
The Unmarked Graveyard: Cesar Irizarry
15:51 • Nov 2, 2023 -
The Unmarked Graveyard: Dawn Powell
16:54 • Oct 26, 2023 -
The Unmarked Graveyard: Documenting an Invisible Island
20:52 • Oct 19, 2023 -
The Unmarked Graveyard: Angel Garcia
20:38 • Oct 12, 2023 -
The Unmarked Graveyard: Noah Creshevsky
13:37 • Oct 5, 2023 -
The Unmarked Graveyard: Neil Harris Jr.
26:01 • Sep 28, 2023 -
TRAILER: The Unmarked Graveyard
04:56 • Sep 21, 2023 -
The Longest Game
44:11 • Aug 25, 2023 -
The Girls of the Leesburg Stockade
16:12 • Jul 19, 2023 -
Busman's Holiday
20:11 • Jun 15, 2023 -
Guest Spotlight: Buffalo Extreme
43:41 • May 12, 2023 -
The Gospel Ranger
17:23 • Apr 25, 2023 -
The Longest Game
19:41 • Apr 17, 2023 -
Meet Miss Subways
10:56 • Mar 30, 2023 -
The Ski Troops of WWII
24:46 • Mar 16, 2023 -
Sofia's Choice: A Ukrainian Diary, One Year Later
12:54 • Mar 6, 2023 -
Living with Dying
14:15 • Feb 13, 2023 -
The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records
23:49 • Feb 3, 2023 -
The Real Refugees of Casablanca
12:50 • Jan 23, 2023 -
The History Of Now
31:10 • Dec 16, 2022 -
A Guitar, A Cello and the Day that Changed Music
17:13 • Nov 23, 2022 -
Banging on the Door: The Election of 1872
13:09 • Nov 4, 2022 -
The Square Deal
17:46 • Oct 20, 2022 -
The Massacre at Tlatelolco
25:17 • Oct 6, 2022 -
Guest Spotlight: Ear Hustle
32:04 • Sep 23, 2022 -
Working, Then And Now
15:06 • Sep 9, 2022 -
The Longest Game
19:04 • Aug 23, 2022 -
Rumble Strip: Finn and the Bell
36:28 • Jul 14, 2022 -
The Almost Astronaut
21:49 • Jun 29, 2022 -
The General Slocum
13:42 • Jun 3, 2022 -
The End of Smallpox
22:42 • May 19, 2022 -
The Story of Jane
14:42 • May 5, 2022 -
The Greatest Songwriter You've Never Heard Of
17:34 • Apr 19, 2022 -
Identical Strangers
18:44 • Apr 7, 2022 -
Sofia's Choice: A Ukrainian Diary
12:21 • Mar 30, 2022 -
The Forgotten Story of Clinton Melton
16:32 • Mar 10, 2022 -
Claudette Colvin: Making Trouble Then and Now
16:57 • Feb 24, 2022 -
A Voicemail Valentine
14:08 • Feb 10, 2022 -
Diary of a Saudi Girl: Then & Now
38:39 • Jan 21, 2022 -
A Museum of Sound
33:10 • Dec 22, 2021 -
A Real Life West Side Story
16:24 • Dec 8, 2021 -
A Guitar, A Cello, and the Day that Changed Music
18:10 • Nov 18, 2021 -
A Wrench in the Works
40:51 • Nov 4, 2021 -
My Iron Lung
15:24 • Oct 22, 2021 -
When Borders Move
14:26 • Oct 7, 2021 -
The Two Lives of Asa Carter
34:04 • Sep 23, 2021 -
When Ground Zero was Radio Row
17:18 • Sep 10, 2021 -
Last Witness: The Kerner Commission
12:21 • Aug 26, 2021 -
Prisoners of War
20:52 • Aug 12, 2021 -
The Gospel Ranger
21:53 • Jul 15, 2021 -
The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records
25:01 • Jun 25, 2021 -
From the Archive: Josh's Diary
17:21 • Jun 10, 2021 -
The Tulsa Race Massacre, 100 Years Later
17:39 • May 27, 2021 -
Juan, 25 Years Later
34:47 • May 13, 2021 -
25 Years of Radio Diaries
26:32 • Apr 30, 2021 -
Busman's Holiday
20:36 • Apr 15, 2021 -
The Last Place: Diary of a Retirement Home
31:50 • Apr 1, 2021 -
Fly Girls
26:59 • Mar 18, 2021 -
Burma '88: Buried History
16:51 • Mar 4, 2021 -
Living with Dying
14:03 • Feb 14, 2021 -
Teen Contender: Then & Now
31:13 • Feb 5, 2021 -
America Vs. America
25:43 • Jan 16, 2021 -
Love from Six Feet Apart (Revisited)
24:36 • Dec 17, 2020 -
Love at First Quarantine, The Sequel
28:05 • Dec 4, 2020 -
Centenarians (Still) in Lockdown
15:55 • Nov 20, 2020 -
How to Lose an Election: A History
19:03 • Nov 2, 2020 -
When Nazis Took Manhattan
20:13 • Oct 1, 2020 -
March of the Bonus Army
16:20 • Sep 10, 2020 -
The Forgotten Story of Clinton Melton
16:06 • Aug 27, 2020 -
The Infamous Words of George Wallace
12:53 • Aug 6, 2020 -
The Final Frontline
10:43 • Jul 13, 2020 -
Quarantined in the Pizzeria
10:32 • Jul 3, 2020 -
Lockdown in Lockup
09:43 • Jun 25, 2020 -
Home is Where You Park Your Mini Van
12:57 • Jun 16, 2020 -
The Words of Renault Robinson, Then and Now
10:24 • Jun 4, 2020 -
Love at First Quarantine
20:31 • May 15, 2020 -
Love from Six Feet Apart
20:37 • Apr 24, 2020 -
Centenarians in Lockdown
13:20 • Apr 10, 2020 -
Soul Sister
35:15 • Mar 11, 2020 -
The Long Haul: Busman's Holiday
22:59 • Mar 5, 2020 -
History Had Me Glued to the Seat
11:47 • Feb 20, 2020 -
Voicemail Valentine
14:33 • Feb 6, 2020 -
My So-Called Lungs
31:54 • Jan 16, 2020 -
The Teenage Diaries Revisited Hour Special
59:21 • Dec 19, 2019 -
Thembi's Diary, Revisited
32:05 • Dec 5, 2019 -
The Last Witness
10:04 • Nov 29, 2019 -
The Press is the Enemy
16:11 • Nov 13, 2019 -
The View from the 79th Floor
16:39 • Oct 17, 2019 -
The Dropped Wrench
41:50 • Oct 3, 2019 -
Prisoners of War
20:59 • Sep 19, 2019 -
The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel
59:29 • Sep 5, 2019 -
Stories from a Vanishing New York
24:21 • Aug 22, 2019 -
Shirley Chisholm: Unbought and Unbossed
16:33 • Jul 25, 2019 -
The Square Deal
17:17 • Jun 20, 2019 -
Amanda's Diary: Revisited
21:56 • Jun 6, 2019 -
Last Witness: Surviving the Tulsa Race Riot
09:57 • May 20, 2019 -
Juan's Diaries: Undocumented, Then and Now
34:25 • May 2, 2019 -
The Bonus Army
16:20 • Apr 18, 2019 -
The Working Tapes
25:35 • Apr 4, 2019 -
The Story of Jane
14:39 • Mar 21, 2019 -
The Ski Troops of WWII
25:27 • Mar 7, 2019 -
When Nazis Took Manhattan
21:08 • Feb 20, 2019 -
A Voicemail Valentine
14:04 • Feb 11, 2019 -
The Border Wall
18:01 • Jan 16, 2019 -
Thembi's Diary
33:10 • Dec 19, 2018 -
Bonus Episode: Hear the World Differently
05:33 • Dec 10, 2018 -
A Guitar, A Cello, and the Day that Changed Music
17:14 • Nov 15, 2018 -
The Song That Crossed Party Lines
13:31 • Nov 1, 2018 -
Campaigning While Female
28:43 • Oct 18, 2018 -
Serving Time 9 to 5: Diaries from Prison Guards
24:17 • Oct 4, 2018 -
Matthew and the Judge
21:18 • Sep 20, 2018 -
Prisoners of War
22:01 • Aug 29, 2018 -
Last Witness: Mission to Hiroshima
15:41 • Aug 6, 2018 -
Nelson Mandela at 100
62:26 • Jul 17, 2018 -
Busman’s Holiday
21:54 • Jun 21, 2018 -
Last Witness: The General Slocum
19:03 • Jun 14, 2018 -
Last Witness: Surviving the Tulsa Race Riot
22:01 • May 31, 2018 -
Fly Girls
25:47 • May 3, 2018 -
Strange Fruit, Revisited
18:00 • Apr 19, 2018 -
Crime Pays
23:19 • Apr 6, 2018 -
The Green Book
20:40 • Mar 22, 2018 -
Deported: Weasel’s Diary
33:31 • Mar 8, 2018 -
Nine Months Before Rosa Parks
11:45 • Feb 28, 2018 -
A Voicemail Valentine
14:26 • Feb 14, 2018 -
The Story of Jane
14:28 • Jan 19, 2018 -
The Dropped Wrench
40:31 • Dec 23, 2017 -
Majd’s Diary: Two Years in the Life of a Saudi Girl
34:18 • Nov 21, 2017 -
Under the Radar
15:46 • Nov 2, 2017 -
Juan’s Story, Live at the Moth
30:09 • Oct 23, 2017 -
The Two Lives of Asa Carter
33:02 • Oct 5, 2017 -
The Last Place
30:31 • Sep 21, 2017 -
The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel (Hour Special)
58:26 • Sep 3, 2017 -
Willie McGee and The Traveling Electric Chair
30:40 • Aug 17, 2017 -
Miss Subways
10:54 • Jul 27, 2017 -
Mexico ’68 and the Tlatelolco Massacre
26:04 • Jun 27, 2017 -
The Rubber Room
31:39 • Jun 2, 2017 -
The Oddest Town in America
11:30 • May 19, 2017 -
Radio Diaries Live at the Moth
25:45 • May 4, 2017 -
The Gospel Ranger
17:17 • Apr 13, 2017 -
Remembering Robben Island
11:29 • Mar 31, 2017 -
The Vietnam Tapes of Michael A. Baronowski
24:46 • Mar 16, 2017 -
Weasel’s Diary, Revisited
34:06 • Mar 2, 2017 -
The Last Civil War Widows
13:43 • Feb 13, 2017 -
The Border Wall (Updated)
16:37 • Feb 2, 2017 -
Strange Fruit (Updated)
18:13 • Jan 19, 2017 -
Busman’s Holiday
20:26 • Dec 20, 2016 -
The Working Tapes – Part 4
12:13 • Dec 6, 2016 -
March of the Bonus Army
16:54 • Nov 22, 2016 -
The Song that Crossed Party Lines
15:36 • Nov 4, 2016 -
The Working Tapes – Part 3
18:18 • Oct 25, 2016 -
The Working Tapes – Part 2
18:53 • Oct 12, 2016 -
The Working Tapes – Part 1
17:39 • Sep 30, 2016 -
The Working Tapes – A Preview
12:43 • Sep 24, 2016 -
From Flint to Rio
26:14 • Jul 27, 2016 -
Contenders: The Veep
11:21 • Jul 14, 2016 -
Contenders: Say it Like You Mean it
20:14 • Jul 7, 2016 -
Contenders: Women Who Fought for the White House
28:04 • Jun 24, 2016 -
Majd’s Diary: Two Years in the Life of a Saudi Girl
33:15 • Jun 1, 2016 -
A Mother, Then and Now
41:51 • Apr 28, 2016 -
Radio Diaries Turns 20!
21:30 • Apr 8, 2016 -
The Man in the Zoo
12:51 • Mar 25, 2016 -
Claudette Colvin: “A Teenage Rosa Parks”
11:45 • Mar 2, 2016 -
Identical Strangers
17:35 • Feb 18, 2016 -
Frankie’s Second Chance (Updated)
30:34 • Feb 5, 2016 -
Friday Night Lights
18:44 • Jan 22, 2016 -
The Ski Troops of WWII
24:14 • Jan 7, 2016 -
From Prison to President
20:04 • Dec 24, 2015 -
The Last Place
30:31 • Dec 3, 2015 -
A Guitar, A Cello, And The Day That Changed Music
17:10 • Nov 19, 2015 -
The Story of ‘Ballad for Americans’
13:09 • Nov 5, 2015 -
Serving 9-5: Diaries from Prison Guards
24:03 • Oct 22, 2015 -
The Man Who Put the ‘P’ in NPR
21:46 • Oct 8, 2015 -
Crime Pays
22:10 • Sep 11, 2015 -
Strange Fruit
17:05 • Aug 6, 2015 -
Mandela’s Prison Years
17:51 • Jul 9, 2015 -
A Visit to the Memory Palace
11:50 • Jun 18, 2015 -
Matthew and the Judge
20:05 • Jun 5, 2015 -
Seeing the Forrest Through the Little Trees
33:02 • May 22, 2015 -
The Traveling Electric Chair
30:40 • May 7, 2015 -
From Bullets to Balance Sheets
10:55 • Apr 25, 2015 -
The Square Deal
18:38 • Apr 2, 2015 -
Fly Girls
25:09 • Mar 19, 2015 -
Claudette Colvin – A “Teenage Rosa Parks”
11:45 • Mar 5, 2015 -
First Kiss
20:39 • Feb 12, 2015 -
The Greatest Songwriter You’ve Never Heard Of
17:20 • Feb 3, 2015 -
George Wallace and the Legacy of a Sentence
12:52 • Jan 23, 2015 -
The View from the 79th Floor
16:39 • Jan 8, 2015 -
Miss Subways
10:56 • Dec 22, 2014 -
Last Man on the Mountain – Updated
16:23 • Dec 11, 2014 -
Busman’s Holiday
20:07 • Nov 13, 2014 -
Weasel’s Diary, Revisited
34:12 • Nov 7, 2014 -
When Ground Zero was Radio Row
16:24 • Oct 17, 2014 -
When Borders Move
15:55 • Oct 6, 2014 -
Working, Then and Now
14:42 • Sep 1, 2014 -
Strange Fruit – Voices of a Lynching
17:05 • Aug 25, 2014 -
The Gospel Ranger
17:11 • Jul 17, 2014 -
“Halfrican” Revisited
21:32 • Jun 23, 2014 -
Walter the Seltzerman – It’s Not Easy Being Last
14:57 • Jun 2, 2014 -
The Long Shadow of Forrest Carter
18:19 • May 12, 2014 -
The Day Nelson Mandela Became Nelson Mandela
19:50 • Apr 20, 2014 -
Frankie’s Teenage Diary, Revisited
32:21 • Mar 20, 2014 -
Willie McGee and the Traveling Electric Chair
30:40 • Feb 18, 2014 -
Teenage Diaries Revisited 1-Hour Special
58:48 • Jan 13, 2014 -
A Guitar, A Cello, and the Day that Changed Music
17:10 • Dec 20, 2013 -
Mandela: An Audio History
61:05 • Dec 5, 2013 -
The Last Man on the Mountain
17:15 • Nov 14, 2013 -
The View From the 79th Floor
16:39 • Oct 16, 2013 -
Teenage Diaries Revisited: Juan
31:39 • Aug 19, 2013 -
Burma ’88: Buried History
15:43 • Aug 8, 2013 -
Teenage Diaries Revisited: Melissa
42:16 • Jun 12, 2013 -
Teenage Diaries Revisited: Josh
42:38 • May 30, 2013 -
Teenage Diaries Revisited: Amanda
19:55 • May 17, 2013
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