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UnFictional

English, Poems/Stories/Readings/Story telling, 4 seasons, 256 episodes, 5 days, 6 hours, 15 minutes
About
This season, unbelievably true stories of perception and what it’s like to experience the world the way someone else does. An experimental treatment that works all too well. A man selling get rich schemes until he unleashes a part of himself he...
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Music could be your whole life

KCRW’s Bob Carlson talks to some of Deirdre O’Donoghue’s friends and gets further inside her world away from the microphone.
11/4/202132 minutes, 3 seconds
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This is SNAP!

Bent By Nature Episode 1 introduces KCRW DJ Deirdre O’Donoghue, host of "SNAP!," a freeform alternative and independent music and culture program in Los Angeles in the '80s — and goes inside the community she cultivated, her passion for music, and the problems she had with KCRW’s management and staff.  Featuring archival live performances by Camper Van Beethoven, the Meat Puppets, Glass Eye, Jazz Butcher, the Dream Syndicate, and more.
10/28/202134 minutes, 17 seconds
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The Dream is Over

One man’s treasure is another man’s Olympic gold medal.
3/21/201934 minutes, 8 seconds
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Denial

It never occurred to Janey that he would put something in her drink. Never in a million years.
3/14/201930 minutes, 43 seconds
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Friends in Juggalo Places

Take a three-day bus trip across the country with a juggalo, and you’ll learn some things.
3/7/201930 minutes, 39 seconds
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1-800-KISS-MY-ASS

Aric Allen spent much of the early 2000s on the phone – selling get-rich-quick schemes and rapidly turning into a person he didn’t recognize.
2/28/201922 minutes, 31 seconds
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Vampire of Barcelona

Enriqueta Marti was a real-life monster who roamed the streets of 20th Century Barcelona  collecting bones and kidnapping children. Except, of course, she wasn’t.
2/21/201923 minutes, 36 seconds
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Strangers in a Good Way

One woman discovers that her childhood crush has grown up into someone she doesn’t recognize.
2/14/201929 minutes, 40 seconds
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Purple Rain

A romantic daytime drive becomes a nightmare when Mihai’s mind betrays him – and he turns on the person he loves.
2/7/201918 minutes, 46 seconds
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My Foolish Illusion

When John Elder Robison gets an experimental treatment for Asperger’s, he feels like he’s suddenly seeing the world in technicolor. But that doesn’t mean he likes what he sees.
1/31/201929 minutes, 2 seconds
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Stories of Perception

This season on UnFictional, we’re looking at how we come to know the unknown parts of ourselves. Get the first episode January 31st.
1/24/20192 minutes, 44 seconds
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Halloween 2018

It’s a bonus episode! We’ll be back in January, but we’ve got two spooky stories to tide you over – a Halloween classic, and a brand-new, never-before-heard story of a haunted house gone terribly wrong.
10/31/201823 minutes, 1 second
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Punk Jubilee

A girl gang goes on a rampage of sex, larceny and murder. But what happened when the cameras weren’t rolling? Go behind the scenes of a riotous ‘70s punk film.
3/29/201837 minutes, 42 seconds
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Haunted

Tara has always believed in ghosts, so she wasn’t surprised when a ghost starting haunting her Los Feliz apartment. That is, until she found out that the ghost was actually something far more frightening.
3/22/201819 minutes, 54 seconds
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Her Name is Ember

Ember has pretty much always known who she truly was. But it was a long, obstacle-ridden path to live that true life – as a woman.
3/15/201818 minutes, 4 seconds
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Big Sur: The Secret Road

A secret road leads to a marooned community and an ocean paradise – along the coast of California.
3/8/201830 minutes, 19 seconds
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Bay of Smokes: The Day Smog Showed Up In LA

When you think of Los Angeles, you think of smog. But have you ever heard about the day when smog just showed up in Los Angeles? An impressionistic trip the hazy history of the skies over Los Angeles.
3/1/201826 minutes, 26 seconds
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Man Choubam (I am good)

After years of living in the space between who she really is, and who her mother wants her to be, Sharon decides she’s finally going to confront her mother – on a cruise with a famous Iranian talk show psychiatrist.
2/22/201844 minutes, 12 seconds
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The Outsider

A young movie nerd from Los Angeles finds himself in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s redemption film, “The Outsiders,” thanks to a strange cosmic twist of fate (and a pair of mail-order shoes).
2/22/201839 minutes, 7 seconds
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UnFictional returns!

The new season of UnFictional is right around the corner. Unbelievably true stories of chance encounters that changed everything. A pair of mail-order shoes that led to “The Outsiders.” A secret road to a California paradise. The day Los Angeles and smog first met. Stories that will stick in your head like a memory. Coming on February 22nd, hosted by Bob Carlson.
2/14/20182 minutes, 44 seconds
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The Past Can Hold a Terrible Power

The past can warp a person in mysterious ways. Sometimes we can figure out what's eating at us, but sometimes, we just have to push forward – into the darkness.
7/1/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Because It's There

A former mountaineer returns to the Himalayas for one last climb – to bury his long lost friend. A story from KCRW's newest podcast: The Document.
6/24/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Father's Day 2017

There comes a time in every child's life when they realize they can strike their own path. But often, that path leads straight back to their parents. This week, three stories of fathers and their children.
6/17/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Lost Bird

A bird and a cat are saved, and so – somehow – are their saviors.
6/6/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Sister Aimee

Sister Aimee combined faith and fame in 1920s Los Angeles. She was the most popular woman in the country. Then she disappeared. 
6/3/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Other Man

Stories of two men who meet by chance and emerge indelibly changed – or at least, one of them does.
5/27/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Enemy Within

Coming home from war can be messy, especially when the battle doesn't stay on the battlefield. This is the story of what it means to love and care for soldiers who have brought the war home with them.
5/6/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Barcelona: The View from the Streets

A tour through the life… of the tour guide.
4/29/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Joe Frank: Dreamers

A work by legendary radio storyteller Joe Frank.
4/22/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Green Goblins

A story of baseball, fatherhood and what it's like to be the black team. 
4/15/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Running Away

Perseverance is a funny thing. Some people are addicted to finishing the job, no matter the cost. Running away with an idea, no matter where it takes them. And sometimes, it turns out to be worth it.
4/1/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Thought I Was Dead

Death is a state of mind.
3/25/201729 minutes, 32 seconds
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Conspiracy, Not the Crime

When you're in trouble, do you fight or do you run? The story of a man who fled from the US government for 31 years.
3/18/201729 minutes, 31 seconds
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That Escalated Quickly

Life comes at you fast and sometimes – sideways. And, before you know it, things have gone totally off the rails.
3/11/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Liberace of Lucha Libre

Into the hyper-masculinized world of Mexican wrestling steps Cassandro, an unapologetically gay man whose 27-year-career exploded traditional ideas of what it means to be a lucha libre fighter.
3/4/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Road Warriors

When it comes to crazy, immoral and stupid decisions, nothing can match a teenager looking for a good time.
2/25/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Bait and Switch

It can be a masterful feat of salesmanship, or it can be a total mistake – an unhappy case of mistaken identification. This week on the show, Bait and Switch. Three stories from our live show at Riot LA.
2/18/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Last Chapter

A story about the last chapter of a man’s life, and how he asked for his best friend's help – to die.
2/11/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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You Want a Piece of Me?

There are times when it feels like everybody wants something from you, even when you have nothing left to give. This week, three stories of people who gave up a piece of themselves – or wanted a piece of somebody else.
2/4/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Big Day

A wedding, a bar mitzvah, and a day of innocence lost. (EXPLICIT LANGUAGE)
1/28/201729 minutes, 49 seconds
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Shoot First

There's a bloody war raging in the Philippines – a war that's being waged by the country's own government, against its own people. The story of Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, and the thousands of lives it has already claimed.
1/21/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Eyes Back on the Highway

Scooter Tramp Scotty has been drifting for twenty years, dipping in and out of people’s lives along the way. The road has become his home. As far as he's concerned, living life the way it should be lived.
1/14/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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Solo Man

When Erden Eruç set off to circumnavigate the globe, rowing alone across three oceans, he didn’t know just how much the trip would change him – and his relationships with his friends, family and wife. The story of an epic journey by bike, foot, and boat. And of what is, perhaps, the biggest challenge of all: coming home.
1/7/201729 minutes, 30 seconds
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What Jacob Heard

When Jacob was a kid, he was a devoted member of his local Pentecostal congregation. But as he got older, he realized that the church he loved so much might not love him back.
12/17/201629 minutes, 30 seconds
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Grace of the Sea

A story containing love, violence and a magic potato.Warning: This program contains explicit language and addresses adult topics and themes - including sex and drug use.
12/10/201629 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Bar Girls of Angeles

On November 8, 2013, the Philippines was ravaged by the strongest typhoon to make landfall in recorded history. This week, we're partnering with WGBH's GroundTruth to tell the story of the aftermath, from the place where climate change and sex trafficking meet: at a bar, in a town called Angeles.
12/3/201629 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Animal Inside

We live with them. We feed them. Sometimes, we even clothe them. And sometimes, it all comes back to bite us. This week, trying to care for the animals in our lives – and inside ourselves.
11/26/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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No Such Thing As Luck

Those with experience know that things happen for a reason -- or they don't happen at all.  (Repeat)
11/19/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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Bilal's Calling

There's a fine line between taking a principled stand and being stubborn. Follow Tyreek Bilal as he struggles with his mosque and with his own attempts to live a godly life in a harsh world.
11/12/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Graffiti Paint and Protest

They do it under the cover of darkness, on buildings and storefronts and the walls of alleyways. Can breaking one law help change another? This week, we hear from street artists about graffiti as political protest, as art, and as an addictive, inimitable high.
10/22/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Terri and Clifford

Clifford Clinton lived a very public life in Los Angeles. He opened high-profile cafeterias – Clifton's among them – and launched a campaign to rid the city of corruption and other vices. BUT, he also lived a private life as a sexual pioneer who may have kick-started the swinging 60s.
10/15/201630 minutes, 1 second
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The Missileers

Go down into the silo with the "missileers." Their hands are on the nuclear keys, and they practice the end of the world over and over. (Repeat)
10/8/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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Looping Swans

In Soviet Russia, when the TV started playing Swan Lake, it meant something had hit the fan.
10/1/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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A Shock to the System

Sometimes, all we need is a good, hard push over the edge. This week, four stories of people who got a shock to the system – sometimes, literally.
9/24/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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Joe Frank: Thief

Another story from broadcasting legend Joe Frank. (Repeat)
9/17/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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Live Die Kill: Los Angeles

What do you live for? What would you die for? What would you kill for? (Repeat)
9/10/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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Love Me

The messiness of human connection.
9/3/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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24-hour Radio Race 2016

The winners of KCRW's fourth annual 24-hour radio race.
8/27/201629 minutes, 59 seconds
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Faster and Faster

"If everything seems under control…. you’re not going fast enough." - Mario Andretti
8/20/201630 minutes, 1 second
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We Are Not Alone

There's a place in the desert where people gather. They have different beliefs. But when they look into the night sky, they all share one idea.
8/13/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Hearing Hiroshima

What an atomic bomb leaves behind.
8/6/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Possession

I once saw a woman possessed right in front of me. Her eyes glazed over, she shook, and she wasn't there anymore… someone else was. (Repeat)
7/30/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Stockholm Syndrome

What happens in a bank vault doesn't always stay in a bank vault.
7/23/201629 minutes, 30 seconds
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Wake Up Baby

Do you know who's watching your baby?
7/16/201630 minutes, 1 second
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You’re a Mind Reader

With enough practice, you can know what anybody’s thinking – or can you?
7/9/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Cut Your Losses

Three stories about falling short, and having to move on anyway.
7/2/201630 minutes
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Homeless

One man's life is split between homeless shelters, rental apartments, and a home – his home – in the woods.
6/25/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Fathers' Day 2016

Sometimes fathers lift you up, sometimes they need a hand, but a lot of the time they just want to rock. 
6/18/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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Crack Up

All the best stories live on the brink of a breakdown.
6/11/201630 minutes, 1 second
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What Keeps Us Apart

Between meet-cute and final embrace, every love story has an obstacle keeping our lovers from a shared destiny. (Repeat)
6/4/201630 minutes, 1 second
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A Dancer Dies Twice

You leap in the air, but any landing might be the end of your career.
5/28/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Misdirection

The greatest magicians keep their best and most finely tuned skills... a secret.
5/21/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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Something Can't Be Everything

Spirituality, love, and magic in 60's Hollywood. 
5/14/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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Belle of the Ball

Stories of women who are the center of attention, for better or worse.
4/30/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Standing Over the Bed

The scariest nightmares are the ones that follow you into the daytime.
4/23/201630 minutes, 1 second
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The Pirate

A cigarette at his lips, parrot Bok-Bok on his shoulder, Johnny O spent 68 years on the San Pedro waterfront, he calls himself a pirate. (Repeat)
4/16/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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A Portrait of Horace Parlan

Denmark was once home to many expatriate American Jazz musicians. These days, Horace Parlan is one of the only ones left.
4/9/201630 minutes, 1 second
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The Hoax Artist

Some grifters are just in it for cash. Others are in it for something much more valuable. 
4/2/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Thinking of You

There are the people we think of when they're not there, and there is the hope that someone, somewhere is thinking of YOU. (Repeat)
3/26/201630 minutes, 1 second
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A Bump in the Road

What's it all about, the journey, the destination… or the potholes?
3/19/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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The Grace of Jeff Buckley

When Jeff Buckley began his day in London on March 18, 1994, he was virtually unknown. By that night, he was a legend. (Repeat)
3/12/201629 minutes, 30 seconds
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Out of the Air

Two stories of unexpected exits from the sky - one mysterious, the other terrifying.  
3/5/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Service Sector

Stories about those who are here to serve you… at least in theory.
2/27/201629 minutes, 59 seconds
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I Am Montgomery Clift

A psychic told Craig he is haunted by the ghost of actor Montgomery Clift. First he didn't believe it, but finally he couldn't deny it. (REPEAT)
2/20/201630 minutes
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Don’t Judge Me

Stories of bad decisions, dark sides, and guilty pleasures.
2/13/201630 minutes, 1 second
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My Life of Crime

All it takes is a sudden thought, a snap decision, that sends you down a road of lawlessness.
2/6/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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Where Nobody Knows Your Name

Sometimes you find yourself in an unfamiliar place.  A foreign country, jail, or maybe just the wrong smoky club... 
1/30/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Joe Frank: Downfall

Created in adversity, against all odds, and finished yesterday in the ICU of a major hospital. (Repeat)
1/23/201630 minutes, 2 seconds
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Career Change

Two stories about detours on the path of life.
1/16/201630 minutes, 1 second
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Last Chance to Evacuate Earth

A story of lost souls, close calls and web design.
1/9/201629 minutes, 47 seconds
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Skylarking

A meditation on the joys of laying back and looking up at a big blue sky.
12/29/201529 minutes, 47 seconds
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UnFictional Holiday Special 2015

A holiday broadcast presentation of UnFictional, featuring some of the show's best stories.
12/25/201559 minutes, 33 seconds
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Tough Guy

A couple of stories about badass dads who don’t care what you think. (Repeat)
12/5/201530 minutes, 15 seconds
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Friends and Basketball

When you're out on the basketball court, is a teammate the same thing as a friend?
11/21/201530 minutes, 2 seconds
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Intruder Alert

Three stories about people who aren't supposed to be here.
11/14/201529 minutes, 58 seconds
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The Séance 2015

On a summer night in the early 1990's, a small group of friends gather for a dinner party in Los Angeles. Just for fun, someone suggests having a little séance....
10/31/201529 minutes, 31 seconds
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Get Off the Couch

Sometimes the hardest thing is to find motivation to do anything at all. Just stand up and walk out the door… it may kill you, or it may change your life.
10/24/201529 minutes, 59 seconds
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Vanished Status

Howard Mechanic had been living under an assumed name for 28 years when he decided to run for his local city council. What was he hiding? 
10/10/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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Friends in High Places

As long as you’ve got connections you can get whatever you need; a job at the White House, some help on Shabbos, or a joint from an Amsterdam cafe.
10/3/201529 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Couple in 303

Boston Irish mob boss "Whitey" Bulger and his girlfriend spent 15 years hiding out in Santa Monica. Residents say the most wanted man in America was a good neighbor.
9/19/201529 minutes, 57 seconds
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The 24 Hour Radio Race 2015

The winners of our third annual whirlwind radio competition!
9/12/201529 minutes, 57 seconds
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An American Life

A barber is sent to war with little chance of survival. Despite the physical and emotional wounds he suffered, he came out of it a better man.
9/5/201529 minutes, 31 seconds
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Who Are You

Often it’s the people closest to us, who hold the darkest secrets.
8/22/201529 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Fishwives' Tale

Your husband was lost at sea, and you have no way to support your family. What do you do....? Start a band.
8/15/201529 minutes, 31 seconds
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A Long Way from Home

Fascinating documentary production and storytelling that covers the ground between the sophisticated and the profane. A half-hour of captivating stories of real life, created by the most talented producers from around the country, as well as stories from writers and performers based in Los Angeles.
8/8/201529 minutes, 59 seconds
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Collision Course

It's that shaky, full-body hangover you get after you realize how close you just came to oblivion…
7/11/201529 minutes, 57 seconds
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When It All Blows Up

Three stories with a bomb at the center of each. One is very real, another imaginary, and in one the bomb is human.
7/4/201529 minutes, 47 seconds
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Introducing 'Here Be Monsters'

Transport yourself into the unknown with two stories from KCRW's newest podcast, Here Be Monsters.
6/27/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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Advice from Dad

Live stories from Mike White, Ken Reid and Steven Yeun about getting advice (both good and bad) from their fathers.
6/20/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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A Need to Build

Stories of men who have a need to build, are compelled to build, obsessed, and healed by the act of creation. 
6/6/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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Joe Frank: The Poor Are Always with Us

Stories by radio artist and storyteller Joe Frank.
5/30/201529 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Wrong Man

A man in the wrong place at the wrong time, a man so right he’s wrong, and a boy becomes the wrong man.
5/23/201529 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Winter Camp

To the nomads of of the Tibetan Plateau, change is part of life and if you’ve got a yak, you’ve got everything you need.
5/16/201529 minutes, 31 seconds
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Mothers Day 2015

"God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers."- Rudyard Kipling
5/9/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Big Lie

You lie to manipulate, or to hide, or to seem more interesting, but mainly it's to save your own butt. (Repeat)
5/7/201529 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram

Against orders, Frederick Whitehurst kept the diary of a young North Vietnamese doctor. It took 30 years for her words to be heard. 
5/2/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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My Former Enemy

"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend."— William Blake (1757 - 1827)
4/25/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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Nature Boy

The story of a man so ahead of his time he was out of sync with the world.
4/18/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Fragile Brain

When you can't trust your own thoughts, it's a lonely world. Who decides when you're better, and how do you even know?
4/11/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Ballad of Dock Ellis

One of the most memorable characters to ever play baseball, Dock Ellis challenged the baseball establishment, pitched a no-hitter on acid, but always had impeccable style.
4/4/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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The New Me

Go ahead and try on a new identity and see if it fits.
3/28/201529 minutes, 31 seconds
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A Foot in the Door

Humiliation, fear, poverty, de-humanization, self-doubt and lies… welcome to show business.
3/21/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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Practices of Enfreakment

Freak, it means freakishly different. It’s an outrageous, rare difference. 
3/7/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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My Secret Shame

Everyone has a secret shame: A secret plan, a secret crush, an unwelcome secret intruder in your pants.
1/31/201529 minutes, 30 seconds
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How to Dig a Grave

There are many lessons to be learned six feet under the ground.
1/24/201529 minutes, 32 seconds
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An UnFictional Christmas Special

On this special holiday episode of UnFictional we share past stories of gifts, god and awkward family visits. 
12/25/201458 minutes, 31 seconds
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Dog Mountain

There's a mountain top in Vermont with hiking trails, wildflowers, a dog chapel and no leash law. It's a place called Dog Mountain.
12/20/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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UnFictional Live, Volume 2

From the line of fire... Three more stories from UnFictional Live, featuring Tig Notaro, Susan Orlean and Dave White.
12/13/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Most Dangerous Guy in Norway?

He took heroin, stole cars, robbed banks and kidnapped a policeman. They locked him up in prison, and that’s where he found a better life.
11/8/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Witch Hunt

Nineteen people were hanged as a result of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. The reasons may be very familiar to 21st century Americans.
11/1/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Joe Frank: Sunken Ship

A man’s experiences with women, beginning with his mother, create misery for everyone.
10/25/201429 minutes, 31 seconds
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Meet the Family

The family you’re born into, and ones you make, the family you know, and the strange and alien one you're forced into for love.
10/11/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Just Can't Handle It

Three stories, recorded live, about hitting your breaking point and dealing with the consequences.
10/4/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Lost Genius of Judee Sill

Judee Sill robbed stores at gunpoint, went to reform school, fell in love, got lost in drugs… and created some hauntingly beautiful songs.
9/27/201429 minutes, 31 seconds
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The 24 Hour Radio Race 2014

Presenting the winners of the second annual KCRW 24 Hour Radio Race!
8/23/201429 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Story of Orville Gibson

A farmer in a small New England village gets up early to milk his cows, and he’s never seen alive again.
8/2/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Falling

The story of an 11-year-old boy, the only survivor of a plane crash, who has to make his way down a mountain to find rescue.
6/28/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Women's Work

A woman arms herself before leaving for work; an 18 year old girl spends three months in an Alaskan cannery; and that woman on the phone is not who you think she is.
6/21/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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I Knew You Back Then

The kid you remember from school: a secret crush you still wonder about, the friend who drifted away, the kid who left his mark with a fist.
6/7/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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LA Work Day

Police dispatcher, stripper, waitress, nanny, mariachi, restroom attendant, guard:  just trying to earn a wage over the course of a day.
6/3/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Little Julian's Secret

Some call him the Chicano Bigfoot; Little Julian Herrera was a star of the 50s East LA music scene, until one day he just disappeared. Is he still out there somewhere?
5/24/201429 minutes, 31 seconds
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Ministry of Presence

Memories of the death house, from a man who sat with 95 condemned men on their last day on earth.
5/10/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Unreal Made Real

The unreal somehow takes form. An unseen hand cures illness, and a secret society of laundry dryer astronauts is created by accident.
4/29/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Robbers Cave

It's 1954, a group of boys arrive at summer camp, but they don't know they are actually part of an experiment to study prejudice. Step 1: Make the boys hate each other.
4/12/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Mark of a Man

While one guy tries make his mark as a man, another tries to erase the mark that represents a life of mistakes and regret, most of it spent in prison.
4/8/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Joe Frank: Isolation

A new program produced by veteran radio storyteller Joe Frank.
4/1/201429 minutes, 31 seconds
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Connie and Pedro; The Two Proms of Carlos Kotkin; The Lonely Funeral

This week, excerpts from three of our previous episodes. One is a personal story of a family's immigration experience. Another is about a different rite of passage and two proms, ten years apart. Yet another about two friends who attend funerals of people who died alone.
3/29/201419 minutes, 37 seconds
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The Cabinet of Animosities

There's a museum in Croatia that exhibits items left behind at the end of love affairs. Take the audio guide tour... 
3/15/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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My Reality

A reality television producer finds a line that she refuses to cross, while a man accidentally inflicts emotional scars on a first date.
2/25/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Cracking the Love Code

Meet a mother who could very accurately analyze her daughter's dates, after a short conversation. Then later, if love is the drug, this guy may have the disease. (Repeat)
2/15/201429 minutes, 31 seconds
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Preacher's Kid

Two boys raised as preacher's kids; one tries to follow a virtuous path, the other becomes a wanted fugitive.
2/4/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Southern Flight 242: Bringing My Father Home

Will's father died when he was seven years old, but it took him 35 years to bring him home.
1/28/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Unwanted

Stories of the unwanted: a teenager, unwanted by those closest to him, visits his troubled past. Plus, the people who take your burdensome possessions and blow them up.
1/18/201429 minutes, 31 seconds
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Mano a Mano

Cuts and bruises, pure good and pure evil, life and death…
1/14/201429 minutes, 30 seconds
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Joe Frank: A Hollywood True Story

Joe Frank returns with an improbable story that begins in Hollywood and inexplicably ends at Auschwitz.
12/31/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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An Afternoon of Stories from KCRW's Independent Producer Project

On Christmas Day, from noon to 2:30pm, we're sharing our favorite radio stories of 2013, all created by independent producers. Hear stories from UnFictional, Strangers, The Organist, and more! 
12/25/20132 hours, 18 minutes, 53 seconds
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Extended Family

There's a house in Oakland where dozens of people have lived for decades… even though most of them have been dead for years.
12/24/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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Family Justice

Two stories about crime hitting close to home. A man's evil plan takes an ironic turn and a Brooklyn dad launches an investigation into the case of his kid's stolen dog.
12/10/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Ghosts of Fire Island

Throughout the 20th century, Fire Island was a gay mecca for fun and freedom. In the 80's, a mysterious illness transformed the community.
12/3/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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One Moment Changes Everything

Often, the most life altering turns in our life, pivot on just one quick moment.
11/26/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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Skating in Darkness

Much like a radio listener, a blind person has to rely a lot on their sense of hearing. But once you learn to hear with your whole body...
11/16/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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Wandering Souls: Saigon

Vietnam is filled with angry ghosts. Killed violently, buried without ritual, spirits roam resentfully, visiting the living in their dreams.
11/12/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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Consequences

Melanie and Ed once had a landlord that they loved, even if they always feared for their life a little bit. Plus, the stories our scars tell. 
11/5/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Bones of a Damaged King

The answer to a 400 year old mystery is found in a parking lot.
10/19/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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Joe Frank: A Life Well Lived

A new episode featuring the work of Joe Frank.
10/5/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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UnFictional Live, Volume 1

Stories from the first ever UnFictional live show... sweet and hilarious tales of birth, family, and death.
10/1/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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The God of Chaos

What does an ancient African deity have to do with a Reese's cup? Meet Elegba, trickster spirit of chaos. Plus, Evan Kleiman on the spirit of chaos in restaurant kitchens.
9/21/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Womb 2013

In this updated edition of a 2011 episode, stories of the ocean, what it does to us and how it changes us...
9/14/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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24-Hour Radio Race 2013

What happens when a producer is given just a theme and a ridiculously short time-frame? It's a Radio Race! And the results were amazing.
9/10/201329 minutes, 29 seconds
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A Pack, a Flock, a Herd, a Murder

Five animal stories curated by Nate DiMeo of The Memory Palace. Plus, do you know the mind of an antelope?
8/27/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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Silence

Two stories of silence. A young woman's hearing gradually goes away, so she and her family weigh their options. A radio producer with chronic tinnitus can't stand silence.
8/3/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Wrath of Comic-Con

Three stories from the enormous tentacled beast known as Comic-Con: Romantic nerd dreams dashed, a 9-year old with a dangerous obsession and a hero among the superheroes.
7/23/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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Weddings and Unweddings

Does a breakup have to be full of aimless despair and lonely self pity? Why not mark the occasion with a ceremony and invite your friends? This is the story of one couple that did just that.
7/9/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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Joe Frank: Reality Check

Radio storyteller Joe Frank examines the very nature of reality... 
6/21/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Invisible Man

On today's episode, two stories about fathers lost and found...
6/15/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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Bloods

Being an African-American fighting in the jungles of Vietnam meant always getting the most dangerous missions, and sometimes having to save the lives of the very people who hated you.
5/28/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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Keep Them Guessing

A man delves into his grandparent's history as massively popular mind readers on the radio.
5/18/201329 minutes, 43 seconds
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Moms Gone Wild

In the 1970's, Minneapolis was Funky Town. One night, Joanna's mom met a disco guy with a body-sized freezer who took her on the worst date she ever had.
5/14/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Descent

Alex Chadwick's story of two men whose troubles and tragedies find respite in the raging rapids of Cataract Canyon.
5/4/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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Me and the Holy See

Imagine having all the power and moral authority of the Catholic Church focused on one person… you.
4/30/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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No Greater Love

Would you risk your own life to save the life of someone else?
4/23/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Man in the Road

The story of a chance meeting in the Nevada desert that lead to a series of court battles that lasted for over 30 years.
4/13/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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Nick's Story

A soldier returns from Afghanistan, happy to be back. He loves music and superhero Thor. But his parents see that he is haunted by something that happened in battle.
3/26/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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Rhapsody in Bohemia

What do you get when you take one of the greatest and strangest rock songs of all time and let fans and critics pull it apart, examine it, critique it and cover it?
3/16/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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My So-Called Guru

Two stories about healers and teachers who DO NOT have the best interests of their students in mind.
3/12/201329 minutes, 30 seconds
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Welcome to the Metal

A DJ turned-mom's relationship with the inmates at a nearby state penitentiary. Also, a shocking event transforms the family of a strip club-owner's daughter. (Repeat)
2/5/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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Joe Frank: A Conversation

MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY: Joe Frank presents a sweeping philosophical inquiry into the nature of God, morality, love, human suffering and restaurant tipping.
1/29/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Sundance Experience

 A filmmaker takes his movie to Sundance for one last chance to save his stalled career. 
1/18/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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Don't Go Far

For two streetwise Irish boys who loved hopping on trains and ferries and discovering new faraway places, one adventure took them so far they become front page news.
1/12/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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After You Left

Mysteries, sudden appearances and unexpected disappearances. Two stories about searching for something that no longer exists, but then kind of finding it anyway.
1/1/201329 minutes, 31 seconds
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Holiday Visitors

Stories about unexpected holiday guests: "The King" pays a surprise visit to the Nixon White House, and a reluctant Mormon meets an un-earthly visitor...
12/25/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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Roller Girls

Rocking and rolling and slamming and jamming  with the ladies of the London Roller Girls.
12/15/201229 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Lucid Dreamers

This week, we go beyond the wall of sleep with "the lucid dreamers." (Repeat)
11/17/201229 minutes, 31 seconds
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Joe Frank: Old Man

A new program created for UnFictional by radio storyteller Joe Frank.
11/13/201229 minutes, 31 seconds
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A Bootful of Bass

Our car is shaking the floor and rattling the windows. It's 'A Bootful of Bass.'
11/3/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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Heel, Toe, Step Together

The story of an octogenarian dancer teaching a 28-year old how to waltz.
10/13/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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Self-Immolation Man

A young boy escapes to a foreign country by himself, on foot, with no money or passport. When he grows up, he sets himself on fire, and lives to tell the tale.
10/9/201229 minutes, 31 seconds
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Caught!

On this episode of UnFictional, three stories about getting nabbed red-handed... (Repeat)
9/11/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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Child of Ardoyne

An impressionistic portrait of conflict in Northern Ireland, from the perspective of children.
9/4/201229 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Angel of Death

Two stories about that key life moment many of us spend a lifetime dreading, one that none of us lives to tell about. The moment. It's all in the timing... (Rebroadcast)
8/28/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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Not the Olympics

Stories with thoughts of the Olympics in the background.
8/7/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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Ghosts of Srebrenica

A journey through eastern Bosnia finds the dead and missing from the infamous 1995 Srebrenica massacre as present in daily life as those they left behind.
7/14/201229 minutes
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American Dreamer: Sam's Story

A talented and articulate young jazz musician finds that for an "illegal," graduation marks a dead end. We follow his struggle to achieve his American dream.
6/16/201230 minutes
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Bring Your Game

This week, two stories about life, family and basketball... (Repeated from October 21, 2011)
6/5/201229 minutes, 31 seconds
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In the Family

In this episode, two personal stories from "Outfront," a 15 minute documentary series that ran on the CBC in Canada up until a few years ago.
5/12/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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Your Future in Sales

On this episode, three stories about young people let in on the secrets of selling, both good and bad... (Repeat)
5/1/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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Work in Progress

Gloria Lowe and a small army of dry-wallers, community gardeners, bakers, philosophers and other true-believers are working small miracles all over Detroit...
4/14/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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It's Always Now

Writers know: the best stories are built around a moment; a point of no return. Kent Pierce and Simon Lewis both survived car wrecks that became that moment...
4/10/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Best Laid Plans

Storytellers who think they know the plan of action, only to come face to face with someone with a conflicting agenda. (This program originally aired January 4, 2011.)
3/17/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Man Who Could Record Your Dreams

A verbal slip turns a UCLA neuroscience researcher's affirmation into a science fiction drama that threatens to devour years of serious research.
3/13/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Auctioneer

Today on the program, a trip to auctioneer school.
2/28/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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Why I Ride the Bus

Carl Kozlowski’s sometimes funny, sometimes torturous road from total denial that he suffered a sleep disorder to something resembling a cure...
2/18/201229 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Womb

In this episode, stories of the ocean; what it does to us and how it changes us... (This program originally aired on Tuesday, March 22, 2011.)
2/7/201229 minutes, 31 seconds
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Natural Disorder

On today's episode, three stories told in words and music, all produced by Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister...
1/14/201230 minutes, 1 second
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Strangers

We introduce you to the Strangers podcast, from KCRW's Independent Producer Project about the strangers we meet, the strangers we become and the strange places we go.
1/3/201229 minutes, 31 seconds
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Christmas 2011

In this episode, offbeat stories of Christmas' past, including an awkward tale told entirely through Facebook status entries.
12/24/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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Holiday Buffet

Today, a special for the beginning of the holiday season…. a compilation of family stories from the first year of this program.
11/29/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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Domesticated

Three very funny stories told by L.A.-based storytellers. In all three tales, the human's life is significantly changed by the peculiar feelings we have about our pets.
11/22/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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Occupation in October

Alex Chadwick spent a weekend at Zuccotti Park with a few Occupy activists...
11/12/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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War and the Warriors

Two soldiers on the run in Vietnam take two drastically different paths, and a producer asks soldiers in Iraq, ''What's on your iPod?''
11/5/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Seance

On a summer night in the early 1990's, a small group of friends gather for a dinner party in Los Angeles. Just for fun, someone suggests having a little séance....
11/1/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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We Come to Someone's Worst Day

Stories of rescuers and the people they rescue....
10/15/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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Dizzy

A frustrating struggle to diagnose chronic and sometimes painful dizzy spells. Plus, a 13-year-old's eye-opening visit to Action Park and how it made him a man...
10/4/201129 minutes, 32 seconds
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Sunshine Skyway

This radio piece, created by independent producer Rich Halten, is the story of a man who threw himself off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida....
9/17/201129 minutes, 30 seconds
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Irv and Me

When Hank Rosenfeld met veteran comedy writer Irving Brecher, he knew he was in the presence of Hollywood history. Plus, what to say when someone asks how to write comedy...
8/27/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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And Then What Happened?

There's a quick and violent event, followed by the rippling aftermath. Plus, an independent journalist's stream-of-consciousness telling of a street mugging, his own.
8/23/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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Breaking Away

Luzer Twersky, who grew up within Hasidic communities in New York and London, decided to leave the community and make a new life in the secular world...
8/2/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Accidental Parent

In the first of two stories, 4-year-old Lexi takes on parenthood.  Then a professional musician's life takes an unexpected turn when he becomes a full-time father.
7/2/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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In Uniform

In this episode, two stories about the human beings inside a uniform....
6/4/201129 minutes, 30 seconds
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The Lonely Funeral

A soulful and moving Dutch documentary about a civil servant who works with a professional poet to plans funerals for people who have died alone, bodies that were never claimed from the morgue...
5/21/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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The Two Proms of Carlos Kotkin

Stories about a special rite of passage. Carlos Kotkin went to two high school proms, more than ten years apart. Plus, Curie Youth Radio's Will You Go to Prom with Me?
4/23/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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Miscellaneous

An episode about boxes and boxes and piles and bins of miscellaneous stuff...
3/2/201129 minutes, 32 seconds
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Stories about Dads

Mike Birbiglia on battling an online porn virus for his tech-challenged parents, Laura Silverman on bad marriage advice, and seeing the city on a stroll with a newborn's blind father, Ryan Knighton. (This program originally was broadcast on October 12, 2010.)
2/19/201129 minutes, 31 seconds
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Night on Earth

Stealing an idea from Jim Jarmusch, we drop down to five random locations and hear personal stories that all take place in the nighttime.
12/7/201029 minutes, 29 seconds
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Care

Two stories about looking after the welfare of others, one at the beginning of life and another near the end of life. 
11/23/201030 minutes
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Separated by Birth

Two stories about families who have been driven apart... David Ellis Dickerson’s mission to save his family from a faith he considers hypocritical and dangerous. Also, Carol Brobeck and Joel Woodruff recount the adoption and reunion that defines their relationship.
11/9/201029 minutes, 30 seconds
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Radio Diaries: Willie McGee and the Traveling Electric Chair

This week, we spotlight Radio Diaries. Joe Richman is the man behind Radio Diaries and he helps people document their own lives in their own voices. We listen to the most recent work from Richman along with co-producer Samara Freemark. Willie McGee and the Traveling Electric Chair: A Granddaughter's Search for the Truth just won an award at the Third Coast International Audio Festival in Chicago. Also on the program, Frank Schubert, Lighthouse Keeper.
11/2/201029 minutes, 30 seconds
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Hometowns

Roswell: LA Writer Dave White tells the story of growing up in Roswell, New Mexico. He's bothered by the fact that his own personal memories keep getting drowned out by a man-made image that gets foisted on the town by endless TV shows, movies and books.How Are You Who You Are?: Eric Winick recorded this documentary about a family he grew up with in Marblehead, Massachusetts. It's a story about the rarest and most profound kind of love, where you love someone regardless of what, or who they become. Plus, an online-only interview Bob Carlson did with Winick, co-producer of the documentary. (This program was originally broadcast on October 5, 2010.)
10/5/201030 minutes, 26 seconds
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Connie and Pedro

A personal story of crossing the border and protecting the border, a fascinating, funny and thoughtful lesson in family, culture and patriotism. Also, a heartbreaking tale of an Inuit Eskimo boy who finds himself in turn of the century New York City.
9/28/201029 minutes, 57 seconds