Show overview
Sound School Podcast has been publishing since 2011, and across the 15 years since has built a catalogue of 392 episodes. That works out to roughly 150 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a fortnightly cadence.
Episodes typically run twenty to thirty-five minutes — most land between 16 min and 26 min — though episode length varies meaningfully from one episode to the next. It is catalogued as a EN-US-language Education show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 2 days ago, with 21 episodes already out so far this year. Published by Rob Rosenthal/PRX/Transom.org.
From the publisher
The Backstory to Great Audio Storytelling, hosted by Rob Rosenthal, for Transom and PRX.
Latest Episodes
View all 392 episodesOld School Sound School — "If" by Sherre DeLys
Old School Sound School – Concerning Breakfast
Old School Sound School – 9/11 and The Sonic Memorial Project
Coming Soon: Old School Sound School
Revisiting: Remember to Breathe
Sounds Cool!
Elizabeth Arnold — Have Mic, Will Travel
Meditating with Platypuses, Penguins, and Wombats
Deploy This One Tiny Maneuver to Improve Audio Essays
Witness to an Execution
Jad and FayFay Talk "Fela Kuti: Fear No Man"
Revisiting: Nausea and Forehead Mics - Reporting in Zero Gravity
Salman Khan’s March to “More Muslim”
Silence Is Worth Your Time
Revisiting: A Cow A Day
The first question I had to ask Pejk Malinovsky was "Why the hell did you think that would make for a good radio story?" Of course it was. Pejk followed a cow for eleven hours recording her every move and turned it into a 30-minute documentary. Naturally, Pejk answered saying "A cow a day keeps the boredom away." Find out what he means on this episode of Sound School.
Dialing In the Audio Flux Podcast
Julie Shapiro and John Delore made a pilot for the Audio Flux podcast. Okay, now what? How did they go from pilot in 2024 to podcast in late 2025? On this episode of Sound School, a deep dive comparing the Audio Flux pilot to the first episode of the podcast and the thinking behind Julie and John's production choices.
The Naked Pitch
Short Cuts said no. WNYC said no. Hell Gate said no. Even Transom said no. Finally, after about six months of pitching, Will Coley heard "Yes." Will regales us with his story of how he made it to "yes" with his pitch about public nudity on the latest Sound School.
Revisiting - Don't Write, Tell
Noel King says first things first. Before writing a story, take a friend to a bar and tell them the story. On this archive episode of Sound School, Noel says that's the approach she took back when she reported for Planet Money and it worked like a charm. Her writing was more like telling.
Reporting on Emotions in South Africa
Twenty-one year old reporter Kabir Jagram says young men in South Africa are stoic. Holding back emotions is a survival mechanism in a country wracked with youth unemployment and that can lead to serious mental health issues. So, how then, as a young man himself struggling with expressing feelings, did Kabir manage to produce a captivating radio documentary about emotions?
What If the Main Character Narrates?
We're starting the new year with an antidote to 2025 -- two episodes featuring inspiring early-career producers. On this episode, 28-year-old Anna Van Dine from Vermont who deployed an unusual storytelling maneuver that Rob hasn't heard in years.