By Daily Press staff
Residents can help put Santa Monica on the map by participating in a project to record an oral history of America.
StoryCorps, a national initiative to document everyday history and the unique stories of America, is coming to the Third Street Promenade to collect stories from Southern Californians as part of its tour across the country.
The StoryCorps MobileBooth, a state of the art recording studio housed inside a silver airstream trailer, will be located at Wilshire Boulevard and Third Street, at the north end of Promenade.
StoryCorps is partnering with KCRW-Santa Monica 89.9 FM to create special programming exclusively for the station, based on the stories collected here. Select segments from StoryCorps air nationally on Friday mornings, during national public radio’s morning edition — heard weekdays from 3 to 9 a.m. on KCRW.
At the StoryCorps MobileBooth sound studio, people participate in pairs and often friends or loved ones interview each other. A trained facilitator guides the participants through the interview process and handles the technical aspects of the recording. At the end of a 40-minute session, participants receive a CD of their interview. With their permission, a second copy is sent to the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress where it becomes part of a high-quality, digital archive that will eventually grow into an oral history of America.
StoryCorps was created by award-winning radio documentary producer and MacArthur Genius Award recipient Dave Isay. StoryCorps has been traveling across the country since May 2005 instructing and inspiring individuals to record one another’s stories.
“Over the past two years, we’ve seen the profound effect StoryCorps has had on the lives of those who have participated in the project, and we’ve seen the power that these stories have had on the millions who have heard them on NPR and on the web,” Isay said. “We believe that listening is an act of love.”
With more than 3,000 stories already recorded, StoryCorps, the largest storytelling project ever undertaken, will collect more than 250,000 interviews over the next 10 years. In Santa Monica, StoryCorps anticipates recording at least 150 stories. StoryCorps opened its first StoryBooth, a freestanding soundproof recording studio, in New York City’s grand central terminal in October 2003, and in June 2005 opened its second StoryBooth at the site of the world trade center in lower Manhattan. Over the course of the 10-year project, StoryCorps plans to open StoryBooths both mobile and stationary across the country.
“Everybody has a story. StoryCorps gives individuals the sense of affirming their life experience,” Ruth Seymour KCRW’s general manager said. “We re delighted to be able to bring StoryCorps to the Third Street Promenade, a place that celebrates the intermingling of people in a lively, vibrant way.”
The StoryCorps will be collecting stories from Jan. 9 through Feb. 5. The StoryCorps national tour is sponsored by NPR, the corporation for public broadcasting, and saturn corporation, the automobile company. SMC professors’ photography on display
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 22, 2005. Read the original PDF.