Rumble Strip

Rumble Strip

Good conversation that takes its time, hosted by Erica Heilman.

Episodes

December 8, 2025 20 mins

This is a show about Thanksgiving, and what it sounds like. It is made entirely of your recordings. 

Thank you everyone for sending me recordings. We have made a show  that sounds like the whole damn country. Or a lot of it.

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A couple days ago I asked you to send me some recordings from Thanksgiving. I figured I'd give you a little better sense of what I'm looking for. 

Happy Thanksgiving all!

 

Erica

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November 25, 2025 2 mins

Let's make a show about Thanksgiving. I have always wanted to do this, and the time has come.

Anyone who is willing, I would love you to record a voice memo this week about your holiday. Stories, anecdotes, songs...I don't know. You don't have to speak in complete sentences. It doesn’t have to be organized. It doesn't have to be funny or important. 

If you're willing to record some of the holiday ambience, that would also be great. T...

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November 11, 2025 29 mins

Music for this show is by Brian Clark, who is awesome. 

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November 3, 2025 14 mins

Thank you Phil Edfors of Vermont Public for cleaning up the whale recordings. This was no small feat and I am grateful.

The whales were recorded for an oceanic soundscape project at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. 

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October 21, 2025 26 mins

Credits

Thanks to all the residents who talked with me, and the beautiful Arlene and Becky Wright, managers of the house.

My friend Kelly Green produced this show with me. She’s great at this PLUS she’s a great defense attorney! If you're in trouble, call Kelly.

Click here for more information on the Joslyn House

The song for this show is A Wave in the Air by The Imperfectionists, from their latest album, Universal Consent.

And my frick...

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October 8, 2025 11 mins

I stopped in to visit with Forrest Foster about his barn project. Here's our conversation.

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September 25, 2025 12 mins
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September 13, 2025 22 mins

A couple weeks ago my friend Susan Randall came to visit. She’s a private investigator and we’ve been friends for thirty years and every  now and then we get together and compare notes on our lives, and on what the hell is going on. Sometimes we talk about her work, sometimes our kids, once we made a show about a dead owl.

This has been a very difficult year for Susan. In this  conversation, we talk about her health...and the federa...

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Links:

Adopt a Station: Where you can donate to your local public radio station or find stations to support

Transom: The place where good radio begins

Recent New York Times interview with Bill Siemering about the fate of public radio

Information on Transom story trainings

Rumble Strip episode w Jay called Fishing with Jay

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July 28, 2025 17 mins

The women in this show are: Clare Dolan, Holly Rae Taylor, Alison Bechdel, Deb Fleischman, Annie Greensfelder, Rosana Vestuti and Tamar Cole. 

Thanks to all the kids and families and dogs and loons and crows that were there that day on the pond. And the trumpet guy.

Huge thanks to Chelsea Edgar for your edits. 

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July 18, 2025 8 mins

This is the last episode in season 6 of What Class are You?, a periodic series I make for Vermont Public.

Susan Ritz grew up in a wealthy family in Minnesota. For the past 36 years, she's lived in central Vermont, where she writes books and is an active philanthropist. In this episode of "What class are you?" we talk about the surprising complexities of having more than most.

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July 17, 2025 7 mins

Today, episode 4 of season SIX of What Class are You?, a periodic series I make for Vermont Public about living in the American class system. In today’s episode, we revisit Kytreana Patrick, who was a guest from the first class series back in 2022. Back then, Kytreana was working as a cashier at Olney’s general store in Orleans, Vermont. Since then, Kytreana’s gotten a job at a factory that manufactures combat helmets. She’s got a ...

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July 16, 2025 15 mins

Dan Sedon has been working as a criminal defense attorney in Vermont, where he works with poor people and rich people and all the people in between. In this latest episode of What Class are You?, reporter Erica Heilman talks with Dan about what this line of work has taught him about the American class system.

What Class are You? is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share this series...

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July 15, 2025 7 mins

What Class Are You? is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public about our lives in the American class system.

Sharon Plumb works for a statewide nonprofit in the outdoor recreation sector. She lives in East Montpelier with her husband and daughter.

In this conversation,  Sharon talks about the advantages she sees in the lives of people whose parents are able to help their kids financially all the way into adulthood.

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This is a series I make for  Vermont Public. Thank  you to Vermont Public for allowing me to run this series on Rumble Strip.

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June 2, 2025 13 mins

This is the fourth episode of What Now Sounds Like, a periodic series comprised entirely of your recordings from all over the world, in which we try to capture these strange times in audio. 

In this show you hear from Bryce in New York City, Stephanie in middle Appalachia, Tobin making eggs in Santa Rosa, California, George in New York City, Allison in Vermont, the Utah symphony warming up, gongs in Tacoma, Washington, a school meet...

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May 9, 2025 12 mins

This was the inaugural year of Hardwick State, a weekend long university in Hardwick, Vermont, organized by the Civic Standard, and designed to take place during the awfulest time of the year. People from around Hardwick become professors and students. Classes are free, and everyone’s welcome to teach at Hardwick State. Maybe you teach something you do in your regular job. Maybe it’s just something you’re good at. Maybe it’s someth...

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May 5, 2025 28 mins

Death in Venice is a story Larry Massett produced in the early 80s. Joe Frank narrates, and Larry wrote and performed all the music.

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