Tony Schwartz
(fredseibert/flickr)

The Listening Life

June 27, 2008

In his 84 years Tony Schwartz produced over 30,000 recordings, thousands of groundbreaking political ads, media theory books and Broadway sound design, invented the portable recorder, delivered hundreds of lectures and had full careers as an ad executive and a pioneering folklorist. And he did it all without leaving his zip code. Schwartz died in June and we offer a piece from the Kitchen Sisters, looking back at his life spent listening.


Listener Comments Leave a Comment | Refresh Comments
[1]
Posted by: Steve Howarth
June 28, 2008 - 04:16PM
Carlisle, England

Superb programme, superb. How about making some of Tony Scwartz's archive material as podcasts?

Steve Howarth

[2]
Posted by: Jeanne McIntyre
June 29, 2008 - 11:00AM
West berlin, VT

Great show today. Not only about the internet censoring, but also, the Kitchen Sisters documentary. What nostalgia!

[3]
Posted by: J Ricks
June 29, 2008 - 06:49PM
Brisbane, CA

An outstanding and richly informative program. Mostly known by the general public as the creator of the famous "Daisy Ad" in 1964 for presidential candidate Lyndon Johnson, your program today revealed the beautiful and creative tapestry of influence, innovation and constant reflection that was the life of Tony Schwartz. He has done for listening and hearing of sounds what Annie Leibovitz has done for the beauty and intimacy of portrait photography and what Annie Dillard’s writings have done for truly "seeing” the essence of nature. And that is to heighten our appreciation for that which often we do not ‘see’ or ‘hear,’ or otherwise take for granted. Thank you for a wonderful afternoon of listening.

[4]
Posted by: Hilary
June 29, 2008 - 07:08PM
St. Louis, MO

This was superb, in every way. Beautifully produced, super informative. I'd never heard of him before but what an amazing influence he had! I don't usually log in to post this kind of comment, but it was so excellent I felt compelled. Thank you.

[5]
Posted by: levinej
June 29, 2008 - 09:59PM

How invigorating: Just yesterday I was explaining to my child the cynical motivation for the original television programming (so that TV makers could more easily sell their products). It appears that Tony's recorders were born of the exact opposite motivation.

PS In agreement w your first poster, wouldn't it be lovely to bring back Tony's WNYC programs, 15 or 30 minutes per week, or via podcast.

[6]
Posted by: Darron
June 30, 2008 - 02:07AM
San Jose, CA

Excellent segment on Tony Schwartz - I had no idea someone was lugging around such a device doing street recording way back then. It was especially important to hear his own voice.

[7]
Posted by: Carol
July 01, 2008 - 02:48PM
Los Angeles

The Tony Schwartz piece was about the best I've ever heard. I agree with an above poster, please make more of his stuff available as podcasts!!

[8]
Posted by: Suzanne L. Baldwin
July 01, 2008 - 11:04PM
Sylvania, Ohio

I enjoyed this segment immensely! So much that I had to look it up to see if I could hear/read it again. It made Me feel wonderful, thinking back to the times when I heard some of these sounds. Forever Listener.

[9]
Posted by: eunice
July 03, 2008 - 09:58PM
DC

Tony Schwartz inspires me to record my own sounds. Thank you.

[10]
Posted by: Andreas Auwärter
July 29, 2008 - 11:54AM
Koblenz, Germany

Thank you for this episode. It shows - how much is possigble with mood, sound and inspiration.

Greetings Andreas Auwärter

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