A few months back, I was contacted by a pair of radio producers from the UK to see if I’d be interested in contributing to an audio documentary about Wolfgang von Kempelen. They’d read and enjoyed Clockwork Game, so how could I say no? We spoke a few times over the phone, and they liked my passion (read as:nerdery) for the subject, so they asked me to record myself answering a few questions.

Over the summer I took to the audio booth at my job (working for an advertising agency definitely has its perks!) and recorded a pair of long audio tracks. Never having done this before, I fear that my contribution came out a little mannered (or what I refer to as “NPR-y”) in an effort to get my words to come out clearly and not all in a jumble. Still — they liked what I sent enough to include big portions of it, and you can now listen to the entire, 40-minute documentary here.

(I am a bit sad that they cut out what I had to say about the politics of the era, but documentary focuses on von Kempelen’s speaking machine, not the automaton, so it wasn’t directly relevant.)

The documentary is part of the launch of Radio Wolfgang — also named for von Kempelen —
Here’s some background on the radio station, from their site:

Radio Wolfgang is an independent online and app-based radio station offering members a live stream of music 24/7, plus on-demand documentary, talk and entertainment content.

It’s £3.99 a month to subscribe and get access to all our content (£1 of this goes to the Wolfgang Foundation, which donates the money raised by the end of the year to causes voted on by you).
There is also a free version of the app if you want a taster, but unlike the members’ version it will have ads.

I think the documentary came out really well, and I’m excited to share the stage with others whose lives have been touched by von Kempelen, like a scientist who researches electronic speech emulation, and Lost Voice Guy, a comedian who speaks with a voice synthesizer. Go have a listen!