Weight for It’s Ronald Young Jr.: Unlocking the Key to Storytelling Success
Some scientists say we think 70,000 thoughts a day. And a lot of those aren’t all that great. This episode is about how to make a narrative podcast about the thoughts we obsess about, and the thoughts that sometimes run our lives. Weight for It’s Ronald Young, Jr. shows us how to bring our inner lives to life in a way that makes for compelling, transformative storytelling, and that might call attention to the things we need to change in our outer world — in this case, how we, and society, feel about being fat. In this episode, you’ll learn how Ronald transforms ideas into compelling, propulsive narratives; about the roles rhythm and music play in writing and performance; and about the one thing Ronald believes makes the difference between failure and success in audio storytelling — and storytelling of any kind.
Sound Judgment · Kevin Kline, Elaine Appleton Grant, Ronald Young Jr., Audrey Nelson, Andrew Parella, Tina Bassir
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Show Notes
The episode discussed on today's Sound Judgment is Weight for It: Episode 2, Shame Spiral. It’s produced by ohitsbigron Studios and distributed by Radiotopia.
Ronald Young Jr. is a critically acclaimed audio producer, host, and storyteller, based in Alexandria, Va. He is an avid pop-culture enthusiast and the host of the television and film review podcast Leaving the Theater. He is also a regular contributor to NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour as a guest panelist. He has hosted shows such as Pushkin’s Solvable and HBO Docs Club, from Pineapple Street Studios. Selected as Vulture Magazine podcaster to watch, 2023 Ronald is currently developing new series, both scripted and narrative, that seek to unpack the human experience. His newest show, Weight For It, tells the vulnerable stories of fat folks and folks everywhere who think about their weight constantly.
Weight for It: Credits
Host/Producer: Ronald Young, Jr.
Story Editor: Sarah Dealy
Sound Design/Mixing: John Delore
Theme music is The Talk, composed by Jey Redd
Follow Ronald Young, Jr.:
www.ohitsbigron.com
Instagram and Facebook: ohitsbigron
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldyoungjr/
Twitter/X: ohitsbigron
Follow the hashtags #ohitsbigron and #ohitsbigronstudios
If you liked my conversation with Ronald Young, Jr., you’ll love:
Sound Judgment Season 1/Episode 2: The Host Defines the Brand with John Barth
Sound Judgment Season 3/Episode 1: Classy’s Jonathan Menjivar: The Fine, Awkward Art of the Personal Audio Documentary
Sound Judgment Season 2/Episode 9: Best of: Emotional Bravery with Last Day’s Stephanie Wittels Wachs
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The Sound Judgment team is:
Host & Producer: Elaine Appleton Grant
Production Assistant: Audrey Nelson
Audio engineer/sound designer: Kevin Kline
Podcast manager: Tina Bassir
Cover art by Sarah Edgell
Sound Judgment is a production of Podcast Allies, LLC
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Ronald Young, Jr’s takeaways
These are the takeaways from the end of the episode. For more takeaways from all of our guests, subscribe to the Sound Judgment newsletter and visit our blog.
- Learn to draw upon rhythm and music to improve your delivery on the mic. Ronald grew up with the musicality of the storytelling and the singing he heard in church, and that turned him into a storyteller who is enchanting to listen to. But we can all do this by feeling the rhythm and cadence of language: Where are the beats? Where are the breaths? It’s not just storyboarding that makes great stories; it’s how we deliver our stories.
- Don’t censor yourself. At the beginning of the scripting process, Ronald’s story editor, Sarah Deeley, had him write down all the ideas he had for each episode. Only then did they narrow those ideas down into a structured narrative.
- Build stories in layers. Think about context: what does the listener need to know, right now, to understand this episode? To tell a story about his college girlfriend, Ronald had to first explain some stuff about his childhood. What context do you need to offer to make your story land?
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Credits
Sound Judgment is a production of Podcast Allies, LLC.
Host: Elaine Appleton Grant
Podcast Manager: Tina Bassir
Production Manager: Andrew Parrella
Audio Engineer: Kevin Kline
Production Assistant: Audrey Nelson