Matthew Shifrin

Matthew Shifrin is the host of Blind Guy Travels.

How did Blind Guy Travels come about?
I had wanted to make  a podcast for a few years now, but had no idea how to go about it.  I’m a big fan of Joe Richmond’s podcast  “Radio Diaries,” and I had tape of me traveling  that I’d recorded  over  the years, so I got in touch asking how to craft a cohesive narrative from all that Tape.  Joe introduced me to Julie Shapiro of Radiotopia, and that’s how Blind Guy Travels began.  

I like how each episode was focused on a different experience of being blind--building with LEGO, going to the movies. Were there any episodes you wanted to do that got left on the cutting room floor?
Initially, Blind Guy Travels was going to be a travel show, so I created a massive list of destinations all around the world that  I wanted to visit and people I wanted to interview there. But then COVID happened, so blind guy had to travel metaphorically, through different aspects of his life, as opposed to actually traveling. 

Can you tell us about LEGO for the Blind?
Lego For The Blind is a website my friend and I created where we uploaded text-based building instructions that we wrote  so blind kids can build Lego sets  independently. There’s a whole episode of Blind Guy Travels about it,  called “Brick By Brick,” so take a listen!  

Could LEGO for the Blind be a podcast?
Though the instructions are designed so that you can listen to them as you build,   I don’t think they  would make for a very interesting podcast, unless you like building in your head and figuring out  where imaginary Lego pieces go.  

How is podcasting different for someone who is blind?
Though recording software like ProTools or Reaper  is accessible for blind users, recording is a much lengthier process for me— things that take me  three hours to edit, take a sighted engineer three seconds to fix. Thankfully Ian Coss, Blind Guy Travels’ Producer and Sound-Designer, did all of the editing  and working with him was a blast! I could focus on interviewing people and getting the best takes while recording, and know that he’d be checking  our levels,  holding the mic at the right distance, and editing everything together.  

How can podcasters be more inclusive for blind listeners?
Podcasts are  a naturally inclusive medium; since the listeners can’t see what story-tellers are referring to, the hosts  have to be descriptive— they have no choice. The extra materials that educational podcasts, such as Coffee Break French offer, including  transcripts and  translations,  are fully readable by Screen Readers, (the programs that blind people use to access their computer.)  

What do you hope people (blind and not) get from Blind Guy Travels?
I hope that after hearing the podcast, listeners will think of their experiences from a different perspective, and be more curious about how others around them experience the world.

What have you learned making the show?
I had never created a podcast before, so through  Blind Guy Travels,  I learned how to write Podcast scripts,  and was able to hone my podcasting voice.

Why was doing the music for Blind Guy Travels important?
I’m a Counter-tenor, composer, and accordionist,  but I’d never scored anything before, so thought it would be cool to try.  Though some podccasts use music libraries for their scores to great effect,  I wanted to make sure that Blind Guy Travels had its own musical flavor.  Jeff Emtman, creator  of “Hear Be Monsters,” creates  minilistic  and evocative scores that don’t overshadow the story, but provide tension   in the background, keeping the listener focused and engaged.  I’m a big fan of his show,  and was inspired by his approach to scoring.  I also write musicals, so stick around till after the credits for some musical easter-eggs.  

What kinds of podcasts do you like the most?
Conversational ones, sound-rich experiences, things that teach lessons? It depends on what mood I’m in. Sometimes I’ll listen to a language-learning podcast, like Coffee Break French, or a linguistics show like  A Way With Words, other times, I’ll go for a sound-rich science show like Radiolab or the TED Radio Hour, or a story-telling show like The Moth. 

Can you name some podcasts that you enjoy?
I listen to science shows like Radiolab, 99 Percent Invisible, Invisibilia, TEDX Shorts, more abstract narrative shows like Here Be Monsters, and Love And Radio, single-narrator shows like Strangers,  S-Town, and Radio Diaries,  story-telling shows like Risk, The Moth, and Unfictional, how-to-podcast shows like HowSound,  music analysis shows like Meet The Composer, and All Songs Considered, and general culture shows like Studio 360. (It’s a pity that it ended.)  If you’d like to start your own podcast, I’d highly recommend NPR’s book, “Sound Reporting,” which gives an excellent outline of different kinds of radio stories, and how to craft them. It’s very thorough.  “So You Want To Start A Podcast?” Is also a great book, discussing podcasting resources and strategies  in a more humorous way.  

If you were going to start another podcast--don't worry about any of the logistics or whether or not anyone would like it--what would it be?
I’d make a version of Blind Guy Travels where I would actually be able to travel places.

What steps should podcast festivals (and other sorts of festivals) be taking to make sure blind people are included? Do they do a good job?
I’ve been to Third Coast, and found it very accessible, (the festival program was readable by my screen-reader, and the website was accessible.)  The hosts of the various panels were very thorough and described their slides, (though maybe that’s because I’d always ask to be seated as conspicuously as possible in the front row.) When attending festivals, I usually go with friends who can help me get around and describe things. If blind people are going to a  podcasting festival alone, it would be useful to have docents stationed at various strategic points, (lobbies, major hotel thoroughfares, etc) who could assist blind participants if they get lost. Alternatively, festivals could find volunteers who could act as guides and describers for blind attendees.   It would be great if film festivals could include Audio Description, (narration tracks describing what’s happening in a movie) that blind attendees could listen to via a headset or smartphone.  

Which episode was the most fun to make?
The Lego episode was lots of fun, since  I got to interview blind kids who were building with the text-based instructions that I’d convinced Lego to make. It was awesome to see the project come full circle. It was also fun to do the sound design, which basically consisted of me recording myself playing with Lego pieces and making various wacky sounds with them. 

Which episode are you most proud of?
The last episode, “Graduation,” was very daunting to make, since it’s about the gap between college/grad school and adulthood— an uncertain time period which  I’m only just entering now.    There was a vulnerability in that episode which had to be present, but I had to wrap it around a narrative for it to work emotionally. So, crafting that episode was a grueling process, but I’m glad we did it!  

Is there anything I didn't ask you that you want to talk about?
I’d like to thank the Radiotopia team for guiding me through this whole process— I started as a guy with an idea, a musician with no podcasting or scripting experience and I’ve come a long way— Blind Guy Travels  premiered at the Tribeca Film festival, and that was awesome! The Radiotopians have  been nurturing, patient, enthusiastic, and critical— exactly what producers should be. 

Thanks, Matthew!