The Empathy Machine: Joe Richman on Radio Diaries, Audio Storytelling, and Emotional Truth

Since 1996, Radio Diaries has been giving people tape recorders and working with them to report on their own lives and histories. That experiment, created by Joe Richman, became a groundbreaking audio documentary project that has redefined journalism as storytelling rooted in empathy. Richman’s work has aired on NPR, This American Life, and the BBC, winning multiple Peabody Awards while proving that every voice carries emotional truth.In this episode of Running to the Noise, Oberlin College President Carmen Twillie Ambar sits down with Richman, an Oberlin history alum, lifelong WOBC devotee, and proud Oberlin parent, to explore why audio remains our most powerful empathy machine. From personal diaries of everyday people to the story of Willie McGee and the traveling electric chair, Richman shares lessons from decades of listening deeply, curating stories with care, and teaching journalism as a set of life skills.This conversation is about more than journalism, it is a guide for living with curiosity, courage, and compassion. As Richman reminds us, “a microphone is a passport to places and people we might not otherwise meet.”What We Cover in This EpisodeThe origins of Radio Diaries and why handing over the microphone changed journalism.Why Richman calls radio “an empathy machine” and how sound carries emotional truth.Lessons for Oberlin students in his course “Journalism Skills as Life Skills.”Clarissa Shields’ journey from a Flint basement gym to Olympic gold and how her diary captured history in real time.The Willie McGee story and what it teaches us about justice, memory, and truth-telling across generations.Why talking to strangers and listening without agenda may be the most radical acts of our time.How Richman is returning to the diary form to document today’s contested truths.Episode LinksRadio DiariesGhetto Life 101This American LifeStuds Terkel's WorkingNPR’s All Things ConsideredClarissa Shields: The Fire Inside (documentary)Oberlin College WOBC RadioHow Joe Richman makes 'Radio Diaries'