Hunker Down Diaries

FAIN: GA-276355-20

Radio Diaries, Inc. (Brooklyn, NY 11201-8319)
Joe Kirk Richman (Project Director: May 2020 to January 2024)

Production of a series of radio programs documenting the historic COVID-19 pandemic through first-person storytelling.

Radio Diaries requests support for Hunker Down Diaries, a series documenting the historic COVID-19 pandemic through first-person storytelling. At Radio Diaries, we give people recorders and work with them to document their own lives and histories. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our work is more essential than ever. We are uniquely capable of producing intimate, first-hand accounts, even when in-person interviews are impossible. Our new series, Hunker Down Diaries, will tell the surprising stories of people thrown together by the pandemic. The series will help to humanize the facts, create a more nuanced understanding of the impact of the crisis, and document these stories for future generations. Hunker Down Diaries is broadcast on NPR’s All Things Considered and distributed on the Radio Diaries Podcast, a member of PRX’s Radiotopia.

Associated Products

The Final Frontline (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: The Final Frontline
Writer: Jessica Deahl
Director: Joe Richman
Producer: Jessica Deahl
Abstract: Patrick Kearns and Paul Kearns-Stanley are fourth generation funeral directors. They share their experience during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic from Queens, NY.
Date: 7/13/2020
Primary URL: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/13/888280295/new-york-funeral-director-pandemic-has-been-a-wave-that-knocks-you-over
Primary URL Description: NPR.org web article and broadcast story.
Secondary URL: https://www.radiodiaries.org/the-final-frontline/
Secondary URL Description: Link to the Radio Diaries Podcast.
Access Model: Open Access
Format: Radio
Format: Web

Quarantined in the Pizzeria (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Quarantined in the Pizzeria
Writer: Sarah Kate Kramer
Director: Joe Richman
Producer: Sarah Kate Kramer
Abstract: Paul Montanaro runs a pizza shop in the Bronx. That’s where his 11-year-old daughter Francesca has been spending her days since her school shut down in March. Both of Francesca’s parents are essential workers – her mom is an ICU nurse at a hospital in Manhattan. We asked Francesca to keep an audio diary as she finished up 5th grade in the pizza shop.
Date: 07/03/2020
Primary URL: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/03/886033575/when-your-dad-owns-a-pizzeria-the-pandemic-means-learning-to-make-the-perfect-pi
Primary URL Description: Link to broadcast story and NPR.org web article.
Secondary URL: https://www.radiodiaries.org/quarantined-in-the-pizzeria/
Secondary URL Description: Link to the Radio Diaries Podcast
Access Model: Open access
Format: Radio
Format: Digital File
Format: Web

Love from Six Feet Apart (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Love from Six Feet Apart
Writer: Sarah Kate Kramer
Director: Joe Richman
Producer: Sarah Kate Kramer
Abstract: Robert Jackson is 71 and had a kidney transplant four years ago. His immune system is severely compromised. His wife, Wendy Jackson, is a pediatric emergency room doctor. She runs the risk of being exposed to the coronavirus at work. So the couple made the difficult decision to live together…six feet apart.
Date: 04/29/2020
Primary URL: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/29/846495546/hes-immunocompromised-she-s-an-er-doctor-they-are-living-together-apart
Primary URL Description: Link to NPR.org for broadcast story and web article.
Secondary URL: https://www.radiodiaries.org/love-six-feet/
Secondary URL Description: Link to podcast episode.
Access Model: Open Access
Format: Radio
Format: Digital File
Format: Web

Lockdown in Lockup (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Lockdown in Lockup
Writer: Daniel Gross
Director: Joe Richman
Producer: Daniel Gross
Abstract: In a pandemic, prison is one of the worst places a person could be. Social distancing is almost impossible. Prisons are often overcrowded – bathrooms and public spaces are shared by hundreds of people. Guards are constantly going in and out. Robbie Pollock spent 8 years in New York state prisons. Recently, he spoke with his friend Moe Monsuri, who has been incarcerated since 2007. Moe is serving his time at Sing Sing, a maximum security prison in upstate New York, where four people have died of COVID-19. Robbie and Moe talked about what it’s like to experience a pandemic when you’re behind bars.
Date: 06/26/2020
Primary URL: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/26/883392409/lockdown-in-lockup-a-prisoner-at-sing-sing-on-life-during-the-covid-19-crisis
Primary URL Description: Link to broadcast story and accompanying web article.
Secondary URL: https://www.radiodiaries.org/lockdown-in-lockup/
Secondary URL Description: Link to podcast episode on Radio Diaries website.
Access Model: open access
Format: Radio
Format: Digital File
Format: Web

Home is Where You Park Your Minivan (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Home is Where You Park Your Minivan
Writer: Sarah Kate Kramer
Director: Joe Richman
Producer: Nellie Gilles
Abstract: Back in March, as the pandemic hit, many people across the country found themselves without a safety net. Naida Lavon was one of them. Naida is 67 and for the past few months, she’s been living in her car on the streets of Portland, Oregon.
Date: 06/23/2020
Primary URL: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/23/882080701/for-portland-woman-home-these-days-is-where-she-parks-her-minivan
Primary URL Description: Link to NPR.org with broadcast story and web article.
Secondary URL: https://www.radiodiaries.org/home-mini-van/
Secondary URL Description: Link to Radio Diaries podcast episode.
Access Model: open access
Format: Radio
Format: Digital File
Format: Web

Love at First Quarantine (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Love at First Quarantine
Writer: Joe Richman
Director: Joe Richman
Producer: Joe Richman
Abstract: The psychotherapist Esther Perel recently said that disasters operate like “relationship accelerators.” They cause both a spike in divorce and a spike in marriages and babies. Most of us are hunkering down with people we already have some sort of relationship with, but a few people have chosen to hunker down with practical strangers. Gali Beeri is 37 and works as an executive assistant. Joshua Boliver is 42 and does visual effects for movies. They both live in New York City. In March, as the city was preparing to lock down, they made the unlikely decision to quarantine together after their very first date.
Date: 05/28/2020
Primary URL: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/28/863964558/love-at-first-quarantine-after-a-single-date-couple-hunkers-down-together
Primary URL Description: Link to npr.org with broadcast story and web article.
Secondary URL: https://www.radiodiaries.org/love-first-quarantine/
Secondary URL Description: Link to podcast episode on radio diaries website.
Access Model: open access
Format: Radio
Format: Digital File
Format: Web

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