Transom

Transom is one of the oldest and most respected audio storytelling resources on the web, launched in early 2001 by Atlantic Public Media and the recipient of the first Peabody Award ever given exclusively to a website (2003). It's part workshop, part archive, part showcase, with deep articles on craft, microphone reviews, story structure essays, mixing handbooks, and interviews with master audio storytellers.

Free to read. Transom also runs paid in-person workshops, including a long-running residential program at Cape Cod and a 2026 Traveling Workshop in Bombay Beach, California in partnership with KDEZ. The Story Lab supports creators through residencies, retreats, accessible recording studios, and collaborations.

The monthly All Hear newsletter and Sound School podcast (with PRX) extend the platform further. The associated PRX podcast HowSound also goes behind the scenes of great audio stories. The aesthetic is public radio rather than business podcast — where producers from This American Life, Radiolab, and Snap Judgment learned and teach.

If you make narrative or documentary podcasts, this is essential. If you make interview shows, business podcasts, or video-first content, less directly relevant though the storytelling fundamentals still apply. Site design is dated but the editorial standard is unmatched in the medium.