The 10th Mountain

The 10th Mountain Division fought in World War Two for only four months, but it had one of the highest casualty rates of the war. The division started out as an experiment to train skiers and climbers to fight in the mountains. The men of the 10th went on to lead a series of daring assaults against the German army in the mountains of Italy. After they returned home, many of these soldiers helped to create the modern ski industry.

Special thanks to 10th Mountain solders Dan Kennerly, Bob Parker, Newc Eldredge, Al Waverek, along with Dick Wilson and Robert Nordhaus who both died this past year.

Produced with help from Deb George, Ben Shapiro, Anayansi Diaz-Cortes, and Sue Johnson.

You can listen to all Radio Diaries productions at www.radiodiaries.org

World AIDS Day Special Feature: Thembi's AIDS Diary

This World AIDS Day, Radio Diaries would like to feature Thembi's AIDS Diary: A Year in the Life of A South African Teenager.

In 2004, at the age of 19, Thembi Ngubane was given a tape recorder to keep an audio diary of her life with AIDS. Over the course of a year, Thembi recorded more than 50 hours of tape, which we edited into a half-hour documentary for broadcast on NPR's All Things Considered on April 19, 2006.

Thembi's story has become more than a radio documentary. Recently, Thembi came to the US for an AIDS Awareness tour. Her diary has become a powerful tool to help reduce the stigma of AIDS, highlight the need for antiretroviral drugs in Africa, and infuse young people with the information and inspiration to bolster existing AIDS awareness campaigns.

In this World AIDS Day special feature podcast, Thembi's AIDS Diary is hosted by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

This documentary was produced by Joe Richman/Radio Diaries with help from Ben Shapiro, Deborah George, Chris Turpin/ NPR, Anayansi Diaz-Cortes, Sue Johnson, Miyuki Jokiranta, Sean Cole, Britta Frahm, and Samantha Schongalla.

Length: 26 min
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Radio Diaries is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people document their own lives for public radio. To find out more and to hear all our stories, visit radiodiaries.org.

Identical Strangers

What is it that makes us who we really are? Our life experiences or our DNA? Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein were both born in New York City. Both women were adopted as infants and raised by loving families. They met for the first time when they were 35 years old and found they were "identical strangers".

Paula and Elyse then discovered the reason they had been separated as infants: a research study of identical twins designed to examine the question of nature versus nurture. This documentary includes the first tape ever broadcast of Dr. Peter Neubauer describing his secret experiment.

This piece originally aire on NPR's All Things Considered on October 25, 2007.

Paula and Elyse have written a book about their experience.

Produced by Joe Richman with help from Deb George, Ben Shapiro, and Anayansi Diaz-Cortes

To listen to all our stories, visit RadioDiaries.org

The Pygmy in the Zoo

One hundred years ago, on September 8th, 1906, the Bronx Zoo in New York unveiled a new exhibit that would attract thousands of visitors to come and marvel. Inside a cage, in the monkey house, was a man. His name was Ota Benga. He was 22 years old, a member of the Batwa people, pygmies who lived in what was then, the Belgian Congo.


This piece was originally broadcast on September 8th on NPR's All Things Considered.

Produced by Joe Richman/Radio Diaries

Length: 9:13 min


Learn more about the book, Ota Benga, by Phillips Verner Bradford, grandson of the explorer who brought Ota Benga to America.


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Radio Diaries is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people document their own lives for public radio. To find out more and to hear all our stories, visit radiodiaries.org.

Soweto 1976

In South Africa, on June 16th, 1976, a group of school children in the black township of Soweto decided to hold a protest. At the time, nobody thought their action would change the course of a nation.

Produced by Joe Richman and Ben Shapiro. 
This piece was originally broadcast on June 16th, 2006 for the 30th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising on NPR's All Things Considered.

Length: 13 min

Read the transcript

To find out more about South Africa and apartheid this Black History Month, check out Mandela: An Audio History

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Radio Diaries is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people document their own lives for public radio. To find out more and to hear all our stories, visit radiodiaries.org.

Walter's Diary: Seltzer Man

Back in 1919, Walter Backerman's grandfather delivered seltzer by horse and wagon on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Today, Walter continues to deliver seltzer around the streets of New York. Some customers, like Mildred Blitz, have been on the family route for more than 50 years. When Walter's grandfather drove his cart there were thousands of seltzer men in the city; today Walter is one of the last.


Walter's Diary: Seltzer Man was part of New York Works, a series whirch originally aired on WNYC's The Next Big Ting and NPR's All Things Considered. The series was produced by Radio Diaries/Joe Richman.

Length: 13 min
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Radio Diaries is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people document their own lives for public radio. To find out more and to hear all our stories, visit radiodiaries.org.

Thembi's AIDS Diary: A Year in the Life of A South African Teenager

In 2004, at the age of 19, Thembi Ngubane was given a tape recorder to keep an audio diary of her life with AIDS. Over the course of a year, Thembi recorded more than 50 hours of tape, which we edited into a half-hour documentary for broadcast on NPR's All Things Considered on April 19, 2006.

Thembi's story has become more than a radio documentary. Recently, Thembi came to the US for an AIDS Awareness tour. Her diary has become a powerful tool to help reduce the stigma of AIDS, highlight the need for antiretroviral drugs in Africa, and infuse young people with the information and inspiration to bolster existing AIDS awareness campaigns.

Thembi's AIDS Diary was produced by Radio Diaries/ Joe Richman

Length: 22 min
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Radio Diaries is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people document their own lives for public radio. To find out more and to hear all our stories, visit radiodiaries.org.