Listening Room 3

'These are pieces where the producer digs really deep into the ways their own life has been shaped by the bigger idea they’re trying to explore. By doing this deep reflection, they try to understand that idea better, for themselves and for the listener. I think this is a style of work that can lead to really insightful observations about topics like white supremacy and patriarchy, that wouldn’t come out in work that is more removed, or that tries to be objective. 

Making work like this often involves a personal sacrifice to some extent - because it means letting strangers hear something intimate and personal. They might not understand it, they might judge you for it, or they might want to retaliate against it. It also takes a lot of energy to explore complex ideas, at a systemic and personal level simultaneously, in a way that’s thoughtful and structured. But as well as involving some kind of sacrifice, making this type of work also has the potential to be healing for the producer (although there’s no way to know until you go through the process of making it). 

When these pieces work, they give the producer and the listener a tool to dig into complicated, nuanced, thought-provoking stuff about some of the biggest concepts that fundamentally shape our culture.'

Arlie Adlington

Arlie Adlington is an audio producer based in London, he's made things for BBC Radio 3 and 4, BBC Sounds, Tate, VICE, The Allusionist, Scottee and others. Arlie started out as an independent podcaster, teaching himself how to edit by making a show with a friend. Later he did an MA in radio and started working as a freelance producer in 2018.

His ambition is to always work on projects that make the world better somehow. “I think that can mean lots of different things, but that we all kind of know it when we see it. I also really want everyone who might benefit from creating work in audio to have the chance to do it (whether professionally or as a hobby), so I'm really into projects that involve helping other people learn how to make their own stuff.”

Arlie gets excited by audio made by people who don't normally get listened to, people doing creative things in a DIY way, and people using the medium to explore the ways they're being marginalised by society (plus how they use audio to push back against that marginalisation).

Featured in this room

The Road To Hell // Julia Freeman
They said 'you're going to go to Hell', so Julia did, by bike.

Audio recording: Julia Freeman
Editing: Jonathan Williams and Allysse Riordan

First heard: Queer Out Here

'Power' episode, from Divesting From People Pleasing series (Extract) // Nicole Kelly
As a Black girl (often the only one) navigating white people and white spaces, NK recalls how people-pleasing had become habitual - a habit only broken as her body began to assert itself in ways she couldn’t ignore.
First heard: The Heart

^{Written, performed, and sound designed by Nicole Kelly
Editor: Chiquita Paschal
Series host: Kaitlin Prest.
Design by Phoebe Unter
Music: Nature Shuffle by Ketsa; Ole by Em Hache; Heat by Derek Cleg; and Gamma Burst by Nathaniel Wyburn.}

Fucking Åmål (The Road to Hell 2) // Julia Freeman
First heard: Queer Out Here

^{Produced by Julia Freeman}

Diary Entry 8: Melissa M., 34 (Washington Heights, NY, 1997) // Melissa Madera
Melissa shares the story of her abortion and how it led her to create The Abortion Diary Podcast 16 years later.
First heard: The Abortion Diary

^{Produced by Melissa Madera}

Private Black Motherhood and Public White Protest // Stacia L Brown
An audio essay exploring what it means to be a Black woman trying to create a joyful life for her daughter in a culture that is hostile toward Black women and girls.
First heard: Hope Chest

^{Written and Produced by Stacia Brown}

Good intentions (The Road to Hell 3) // Julia Freeman
First heard: Queer Out Here

^{Produced by Julia Freeman}

The Toilets At Home Are All Gender Neutral // Arlie Adlington
The experience of using public bathrooms as a transgender person.
First heard: Produced as student work at Goldsmiths, University of London. Later aired on Short Cuts, BBC Radio 4

^{Produced: Arlie Adlington.
Additional music: 'Juliette' by Podington Bear; 'Open Your Eyes' by Sparrow}

Mardis Gras is a State of Mind // Mara Lazer
A story about the ritualised, drug-induced shape-shifting of Mardi Gras, and an attempt to shift via testosterone with a friend.
First heard: The Heart

^{Produced by Mara Lazer
Editors and catalysts: Ari Mejia, NK, and Phoebe Unter}

Been there, done that (The Road to Hell 4) // Julia Freeman
First heard: Queer Out Here

^{Produced by Julia Freeman}

Collage and animation by Nina Garthwaite with images courtesy of Arlie Adlington, Martha Bennett, Stacia Brown, Phoebe Unter, Sophia Saldanha, Jan Antonin Kolar, Amelie Niklas Ohlrogge.