DNTO takes a listen to 'home recordings'

Originally aired March 21, 2015

This week, DNTO steps out of the studio and dives in to the world of home recordings and personal audio. 

Whether it's the voicemail you just can't bring yourself to delete, the pretend radio show you hosted as a kid, or the long-lost voice of a loved one that's passed on - our lives are full of audio treasures. 

On this week's show:

Sook-Yin digs out her old cassette deck from the basement and fires up an obsolete mini disc recorder to play you home recordings from her life. From an unforgettable convo with her dad at the kitchen table, to the ridiculous sounds of a first date, to an encounter with an outsider teen who grew up to play drums with one of Canada's biggest bands... all will be revealed.​

Andrew Chapman was having the best brunch of his life on a patio in Toronto when his phone rang. That phone call and message led to a ruined brunch, a new relationship with his step-father, and the best conversation ever with his mom. We'll play you the phone message that started it all. 

Alo White is a man who knows the power of the recorded voice. An elder from Naotkamegwanning First Nation in Northwestern Ontario, he and his late son Nathan would drive around town and record each other singing. Alo will play those precious recordings, and talk about how they kicked off his amazing Songs of My Elders project.

The first holiday without a loved one can be hard. But for Rick Bergh, a surprise audio recording reunited his family in an unexpected way.

There are few recordings that are more chilling or captivating than 911 calls. In 2002, 25 year-old Elizabeth Jordan was driving her Chevy Blazer along the Long Island Expressway. It was a drive she'd done hundreds of times before... but then something went wrong. Her car started speeding up and suddenly her brakes cut out. So Elizabeth did the only thing she could do - and called 911.

Alison S. M. Kobayashi is a Mississauga born, New York based artist. A large part of her art practice is devoted to taking found objects - such as letters or voicemail messages - and re-imagining their stories into art. She's currently working with a home recording of a family in Brooklyn from the early 50's. 

Ryan-Sang Lee had a rocky relationship with his dad, until he revealed a hidden musical side on a South Korean mountain. Ryan shares the recording that turned things around. Hear Ryan-Sang's documentary about his dad here.

When his father brought home a tape recorder in 1970, six-year-old Joe Mahoney wasted no time in making it his. Thanks to all the hours he taped at home on that machine, Joe ended up working in radio, first as a dj in Charlottetown, and then as a recording engineer for the CBC.

Josh Levy grew up hearing a lot about the man he was named after, his great-great-grandfather who had immigrated from Russia to Montreal in the early 1900s. Boris Kaplan's adventures were legendary within the family, including the story about how he met and wooed his future bride. Inspired by these tales, Josh tracked down a cassette so that he could finally hear his namesake for himself.

Like many dads, Jeff Cohen makes recordings of funny moments in his kids' lives. But unlike many dads, he records audio, not video. And one particular post-haircut recording went viral. Hear his full interview here (begins at 1:10).

When Carly Stasko was being treated for cancer, she had no idea that a phone message would be a key part of her cure.