Sonic Memory

For the fifth anniversary of 9/11, American Radioworks will offer arebroadcast of the beautifully haunting documentary from the Sonic Memorial
project. In the weeks and months after 9/11, NPR’s Lost and Found Sound and the public broadcasting community collected audio traces of the World Trade Center, its neighborhood and the events of September 11, 2001. Listen to this surprisingly intimate portrait produced from voicemails, archival tape, on-site recordings, oral histories, remembrances and stories.



Airs September 11th at Noon on WKMS.

Learn more about the Sonic Memorial Project at http://www.sonicmemorial.org.

I visited the Sonic Memorial Project while working on a story about the broadcast, and haunting doesn't begin to describe it. My first thoughts went straight to the tech-geek end of the pool. "Oh, an interactive flash interface being used artistically!" but as I hunted the clickable lines that dance across the long, narrow window of the Sonic Browser, the ambient noise stirred my memory. Capturing each line hushes the chaotic sound of confused voices, equipment, and warning signals. By holding the line, that particular clip plays its small voice. You can listen to the whole thing or let the line go and watch as it floats away, threadlike, back into the chaos.

http://www.sonicmemorial.org. Worth a look. Or, in this case, a listen.  ¶   0 comments