Signal to Noise

Short Cuts

BBC

Personal Journals, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 788 Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about finding meaning amid the noise.

The poet and audio producer Ross Sutherland seeks to understand the strange echoes in his hearing, a remnant from a house fire is transformed into music and the radio-maker Liza Yeager finds magic in a series of encounters.

Hallucinations Featuring Dr Theresa Marschall and Lizzy Dening Produced by Ross Sutherland

The Right Colour Candle Featuring Annegret Curtis, Ed Dadey and Jan Gehmlich Produced by Liza Yeager

Stovepipe Wind Harp Summons the Frogs Produced by Fil Corbitt

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:05.4	Hello, welcome to the podcast of Shortcuts. I'm Jocely Long, and today's episode is about trying to cling on to meaningful things when you are faced with an absolute cacophony of overwhelming distraction and confusion.
0:21.2	And I think I'm the right person to present it because my whole life is spent being hounded
0:26.4	by the noise of two children and then a deep part of my animal brain trying to work out
0:32.6	whether it's just exuberance and banging or whether it is something that requires immediate intervention.
0:38.7	And then if you add on to that, the allure of the portable telephone, it's a wonder I get
0:42.7	anything done at all.
0:46.4	Time is something you can deal with out here.
0:50.8	You know, you make your own time.
0:53.1	This is shortcuts.
0:55.2	The birds and the sun and all that is what you create space from and time from.
1:05.6	Brief encounters, true stories, radio adventures and found sound.
1:11.6	Today, signal to noise.
1:16.6	A poem, even one that you don't understand, it's not such a bad place to hang out.
1:24.6	You just have to slow down and let yourself dream a little.
1:34.3	At the heart of this episode lies a ratio, the signal to noise ratio.
1:42.3	Now if, like me, you have a strong background in science and engineering,
1:48.0	by which I mean I took three science GCSEs under duress
1:54.0	and with great resentment, you will know that the signal to noise ratio
2:00.0	compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise.
2:08.7	And I feel like this is something which describes my daily life, desperately trying to cling on to meaningful action and important uses of my time,
2:20.3	whilst swarms and plagues of distractions, attack me like midges close to a stagnant pool.
	...

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