BYU broadcast is the home of BYUtv and BYU Radio and amongst the many radio shows is the Apple Seed, a story-telling show hosted by Sam Payne.
“The Apple Seed is a radio program and a podcast dedicated to performance storytelling,” Payne said. “It has been on the air since 2013. So, we’re just coming into a decade of production on the Apple Seed.”
The show works to bring all different types of tales into the homes of families in an effort to start important conversations and connect people.
“The important thing to do first of all is to find really great storytellers. And so, we look for the kind of performers who can really captivate an audience,” Apple Seed Senior Producer Brian Tanner said.
Once the performers are invited, they come into the studio for a live story telling session in front of an audience. The producers then look through the archives and choose two of those stories previously recorded, and ensure the stories are compatible and fit within the 28-minute episode. Then they write a script where the host will introduce those stories together.
“I in between all these things we’re putting in like intro music we have a little montage of clips that we play at the beginning,” Tanner said. “We have little bumpers that are just like little musical hits that last four to five seconds or so that go in between the segments to kind of like guide the listener into okay, we’re leaving the host content now we’re going into the performance.”
Once it’s all recorded a sound engineer works on connecting all the different parts together on a draft of what the final episode will sound like. When the host and the producers are happy with the result, the episode is ready for the final touches and to be uploaded into the system.
“We feel like telling stories designed to connect families in the act of storytelling together is sacred work. it feels a little bit holy to us,” Payne said.
The Apple Seed releases new episodes every Thursday.
