Podcast

Did you know that there’s a FEHLER podcast too? Our audio series takes a deep dive into some of the best errors, faults, and flaws out there. Tune in to learn all about lost radio archives, painting with penicillium mold, and the error-ridden creative process.

Find our episodes on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. All features are also available for download and radio broadcast via PRX.

Episodes

When Doomsday Came Calling by Mistake
Photo: Timm Mossholder © Unsplash

Fears of a nuclear attack
 When Doomsday Came Calling by Mistake

Our producer Flawn Williams once got caught up in a sticky situation that triggered fears of a nuclear attack while working at a Chicago TV station. Listen to this feature to find out just how it happened!

Penicillin
Photo: © Alan Rockefeller (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Discovery of Penicillin
 Seeking and Blundering

This episode of the FEHLER podcast is an exploration of mistakes in science and their connection to art. Listen for more!

Denise Banks-Grasedyck
© Martin Bering

Five examples
 Bad Mistakes Make Good Stories

In this episode of the FEHLER podcast, Sylvia Cunningham, deputy editor at our partner radio station KCRW Berlin, compiles five stories that show just how entertaining mistakes can be – usually in hindsight, of course. 

The Art of Mistakes

Writing Wrongs
 The Art of Mistakes

If you’ve ever tried to work creatively, this one is for you – in this episode of the FEHLER podcast, Bilal Qureshi sits down with four professional writers to reflect on the mistakes they’ve made. Listen to this intimate radio portrait of the working writer as a fellow human.

Photo by Kevin Wenning on Unsplash
Photo by Kevin Wenning on Unsplash

Color vision deficiency
 When Fate Unleashes a Rainbow

Roses are red, violets are blue – except for the millions of people worldwide who experience color blindness, or color vision deficiency (CVD). But what if color vision could be corrected? Turns out it can, and the solution was discovered by mistake. Listen to this episode of the FEHLER podcast for the full story.

Julia on the microphone
Photo: © Courtesy of WYSO

Rediscovered Radio
 WYSO’s Lost Tapes

Listen to this story on how an act of benign neglect transformed Southwest Ohio-based WYSO from a small public radio station into a community.

A broken phone
Photo: Ashkan Forouzani / Unsplash

Impersonal technology
 Sorry, Wrong Number!

Who hasn’t inadvertently pocket dialed someone? Smartphones are ubiquitous, and so are the phone foibles of the digital age. Jocelyn Robinson tells personal stories about an impersonal technology – one that is rife with mistakes, yet one we can’t do without.

Freddy G
Photo: © Unsplash

Happy accidents
 The Unintentional Development of Plastic

The plastics we rely so heavily on today weren’t a single discovery. In fact, they weren’t even all discovered on purpose! Tune in to find out more.

Producers

Sylvia Cunningham © Sylvia Cunningham Sylvia Cunningham

is the deputy editor at KCRW Berlin 104.1 FM where she co-hosts Studio Berlin and produces the monthly storytelling show The Bear on KCRW Berlin. She moved to Berlin from New York City in 2017 and has been with KCRW Berlin ever since.
Sylvia’s contribution: Bad Mistakes Make Good Stories

Portrait of Katie Davis © Darrow Montgomery Katie Davis

is a writer and producer living in Washington, DC. Her work appears on NPR’s All Things Considered and on This American Life. Recently, she worked with community members in Anacostia, Washington, DC, helping them produce radio portraits of their neighbors for Anacostia Unmapped.
Katie’s contribution: Seeking and Blundering

​ Melissa Gerr © Melissa Gerr Melissa Gerr

is an award-winning content producer in audio, video, and print. Currently, she is a producer/contributor for On the Record, a broadcast radio program at National Public Radio affiliate station WYPR in Baltimore, Maryland.
Melissa’s contribution: When Fate Unleashes a Rainbow

Bilal Qureshi © Bilal Qureshi Bilal Qureshi 

is a radio journalist and culture writer whose essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Film Quarterly. He also contributes arts features to NPR’s broadcasts and podcasts, including Code Switch and Pop Culture Happy Hour.
Bilal’s contribution: The Art of Mistakes: Writing Wrongs

Jocelyn Robinson © Jocelyn Robinson Jocelyn Robinson

is an Ohio-based educator and independent media producer. Jocelyn is engaged with national radio preservation efforts and serves on the African American and Civil Rights Radio Caucus of the Radio Preservation Task Force, a project of the Library of Congress. 
Jocelyn’s contributions: Rediscovered Radio, Sorry, Wrong Number!

Flawn Williams © Victoria Moss Flawn Williams

spent decades making programs for NPR and taught audio journalism and music recording at Georgetown University. He was the Technical Director of the Goethe-Institut’s series The Big Pond. He lives in Maryland.
Flawn’s contribution: When Doomsday Came Calling by Mistake

Verónica Zaragovia © Verónica Zaragovia Verónica Zaragovia

moved to Germany from the US in 2016 with a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship. Since then, she’s been living in Berlin on and off. A Pulitzer Center grantee, Verónica tells multimedia stories around the globe, including in Colombia, her birth country.
Verónica’s contribution: The Unintentional Development of Plastic