He walked around with a recorder in a little sidebag, recording the sounds of everything. Kids in the playground, a conversation with a taxi driver, personal life histories… the list goes on and on.? He also contacted other audio recorders in his day, people who had bought the same recorder, and would send them his audio by post… all over the world.
Tony Schwartz was a podcaster before there was internet.. before there was podcast.? He understood the value of everything, and dedicated his time and energy to capturing audio glimpses of everything around him, and sharing them with complete strangers or friends alike.
Up until a week ago, i didn’t know who Tony Schwartz was.? Now, I think of him as an audio idol, with a style and a mission that I can relate to and hope in some way to be emulating.? No I don’t record the sounds of everything, but Tony’s spirit and drive, I feel a lot of that with what I do here on this blog.
To hear about Tony Shwartz’s life and also hear his beautiful audio recordings, i recommend two podcasts this week:
1 – On the Media dedicates much of their latest program to his story. If you like what I do, I think you may love what he did.
2 – My friend Chris Lydon over at Radio Open Source, sat down with a documentary film maker who’s film Guerilla Media, is all about Tony. High recommended listening.
As for Tony Schwartz, my new audio idol, I’ll be shopping around for his work and soaking it in.? I may not have known him or known about him when he was alive, but I’ll sing his praises from now on whenever someone brings up the sounds of life.