Charles Maynes - Moscow - Radio Producer

It turns out there’s a lot more to Russia than just Putin and election meddling. Sure, we talk about that, but independent radio producer Charles Maynes in Moscow tells us tales of Russian culture from the early Soviet era to present. While he may not always think of himself as a journalist, that may be what makes his journalism work so great. Also, in a first for the podcast, we hear a poetry reading. 

Publications featured: Voice of America, NPR, 99% Invisible, Radiotopia

Countries featured: Russia, USA

Charles discusses his affinity for the Midwest where he got his start as a musician and journalist (5:10), a visit to Moscow that turns into a whole lot more (11:30), back to the US and some good jobs, some bad jobs and some weird jobs (15:49), returning to Russia on a Fulbright to work with local radio stations (18:22), modern Russia under Putin and sticking a thumb in the eye of the U.S. (26:03), telling the story of an early Soviet composer who directed the sounds of the city (40:16), the lightning round (43:58), a long but entertaining tangent about Russian architecture, the Transiberian Railroad, Lake Baikal and Chinese tourism (49:43), the lightning round again (59:38), and how he views his career (1:14:00)

Here are links to some of the things we talked about:

Charles’ Spacebridge podcast on Radiotopia - http://apple.co/3nQBlwN

His piece on Symphony of Sirens on 99% Invisible - http://apple.co/3ijCiMN

Russian news website Meduza (in English) - http://bit.ly/35HaU6j

NPR’s radio drama version of Star Wars (English, not Russian) - http://bit.ly/3qhBuuS

Wind of Change podcast - http://apple.co/352Bg1y

William B. Williams bio - http://bit.ly/3nOnJlB

James Agee’s book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men - http://bit.ly/3stNPOh

The poem Radio of the Future by Velimir Khlebnikov - http://bit.ly/38N6qgq

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

From: freemusicarchive.org

CC BY NC