Listen and discuss audio pieces NPR producer Bilal Qureshi reported and produced in Berlin while on a Bosch Foundation Fellowship.
Radio has a long and storied history in the transatlantic relationship. From the military dispatches delivered to American soldiers during World War II to the Cold War era politically sponsored messaging in West Germany that delivered Germans a new orientation in the world, American broadcasting has played a critical role in giving form to the modern German American relationship. At the very least, American broadcasts provided the smoky, jazzy soundtrack for the transatlantic love affair that rose from the ashes of war.
Berlin is a city with layers of history but it’s also a city in the constant process of evolving, a city that’s somehow always becoming. That process is reflected in the physical transformation of the city but it is also reflected in the individuals who are remixing and defining their lives here , in author Charles Isherwood’s words, they are “Berlin Stories.” In the tradition of radio as a space for dialogue and integration between German and American ideas, I spent my year as a Robert Bosch Transatlantic Fellow conceptualizing and producing a new English-language audio magazine inspired by Berlin’s multifaceted identity, a magazine filled with audio essays, field reporting and interviews from across the city. The show’s two hour-long episodes featured stories ranging from the fallout over Gunter Grass’ Israel poem to racism, food, and fashion in the Haupstadt.
It was eventually broadcast in Germany on NPR Berlin, a radio outpost of the American network that rose from the ashes of what was once a U.S. military radio network.
This is the story of Berlin Stories.
www.bilalq.com
Hosted by Bill Gilcher
Goethe-Institut Washington, 812 Seventh St. NW, Washington, DC 20001.
