By Kim Carpenter, Special to KIOS-FM
Omaha, NE – Do you remember your first crush? How about your favorite childhood toy? Can you recall your first disappointment? What has been special about your most enduring friendship?
You'll have the chance to share those memories and so much more when StoryCorps arrives in Omaha this May. StoryCorps is partnering with Omaha Public Radio station KIOS 91.5 FM to record stories -- ranging from touching and funny to sweet and sorrowful - as part of the organization's roving national history project. StoryBooth, an Airstream trailer outfitted with a recording studio, will be parked at the W. Dale Clark (Main) Public Library, 215 South 15th Street, May 10 through June 2. From 10:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. during those dates, ordinary people can share their extraordinary experiences and come away with a CD of their recording. KIOS will air several of the stories as well as create special programs around StoryCorps' Omaha project. NPR's Morning Edition will also air selected segments during upcoming broadcasts. StoryCorps is an incredibly exciting project, says KIOS Station Manager Keith Neisler. In an age where people communicate more and more with email, texting and instant messaging, StoryCorps reminds us just how powerful a real one-on-one, face-to-face conversation can be. People are going to find out so much about each other, and this experience will have a profound, positive affect on relationships for years to come. To set the stories in motion, Mayor Mike Fahey steps into the Mobile StoryBooth for the first StoryCorps recording during the Opening Day, on Thursday, May 10. A brief celebration takes place that morning at 10:00, and the public is warmly invited to attend this free gathering at the W. Dale Clark Library. StoryCorps will also visit several remote locations, which KIOS will announce at a later date.
The StoryCorps Process:
At the StoryCorps MobileBooth, participants record in pairs. Frequently, friends or loved ones engage in a conversation, while a trained facilitator guides the participants through the process and handles the technical aspects of the recording. At the end of the forty-minute session, participants receive a CD of their interview, which they can then share with others. With their permission, StoryCorps also sends a copy to the Omaha Public Library archives as well as to the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress, where it becomes part of a high quality digital archive. This collection will eventually grow into an oral history of America. KIOS invites all of Omaha to share their personal stories. Recording slots go quickly, however, and KIOS recommends that people make reservations in advance. The station began booking interview slots Thursday, April 26th; please visit www.kios.org for details or call 1-800-850-4406 to tell your story. Information about StoryCorps as well as oral history excerpts and sample interview questions can be found at www.storycorps.net.
About StoryCorps:
StoryCorps is a national initiative to document everyday history. Dave Isay, the award-winning documentary producer and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, created StoryCorps, which is the largest multi-year oral history project ever undertaken. The StoryCorps Mobile StoryBooth has traveled to big cities and small towns across the United States, including New Town, North Dakota and Whitesburg, Kentucky as well as Chicago and Atlanta, and StoryCorps has captured the extraordinary stories of ordinary Americans. StoryCorps opened its first StoryBooth, a freestanding soundproof recording studio, in New York City's Grand Central Terminal in October 2003 and its second StoryBooth in lower Manhattan in July 2005. Since it began this unique journey, StoryCorps has recorded 8,500 stories across the nation. As StoryCorps has traveled across the country, visiting 52 towns and cities in 37 states, we've seen the profound effect it has had not only on the lives of those who have participated in the project, but also on the millions who have heard them each week on NPR, says Isay. We are so proud to begin 2007 by continuing our mission to teach people to become better listeners, foster intergenerational communication among families and communities, and help Americans appreciate the strength in the stories of everyday people they find all around them. As StoryCorps continues to travel the highways and byways of America, this unprecedented project will continue to instruct and inspire individuals to record their stories in sound. For more information about StoryCorps and to listen to excerpts of some of the extraordinary stories told in the StoryBooths, visit www.storycorps.net.
StoryCorps is a project of Sound Portraits Productions, the nationally acclaimed New York City non-profit organization. For more than a decade, Sound Portraits has celebrated the lives and struggles of unheralded Americans who have quietly and courageously overcome adversity. These award-winning public radio documentaries have won every honor in broadcasting, including four Peabody Awards, and they have also been featured in books, CDs, museum exhibitions and web sites. To hear Sound Portraits past radio programs, visit www.soundportraits.org. Major funding for StoryCorps is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. NPR and the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress are partners in the project. WNYC is the New York City public radio partner for StoryCorps.
StoryCorps partners in Omaha are:
KIOS-FM
Omaha Public Schools
Omaha Public Library
Friends of the Omaha Public Library
Omaha Schools Foundation
Union Pacific Corporation
Embassy Suites