Jonathan Mitchell has spent his career looking for new ways of using musical ideas in narratives, exploring the potential of the recording studio, and expanding the vocabulary of storytelling on the radio. He studied music composition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Mills College. He has been contributing to Studio 360 since 2001, and he was part of the team that produced the Peabody Award-winning program "American Icons: Moby-Dick."
Jonathan has also worked with and contributed to WNYC's Radiolab, All Things Considered, Marketplace, Living on Earth, Fair Game, Beyond Computers, and Loose Leaf Book Company. In 2004, he won a Golden Reel Award for Shades of Gray, an hourlong documentary about abortion. Jonathan composed the music and sound design for two episodes of PBS's Nova, "Astrospies” and “The Spy Factory.”
Jonathan Mitchell appears in the following:
Mickey Mouse Goes Public
Friday, January 19, 2024
As the copyright expires on the vintage version of the classic Disney character, we revisit The New Yorker’s 1931 profile of the mouse and his maker.
American Icons: The Wizard of Oz
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Kurt Andersen follows the yellow brick road through America’s favorite story and discovers places in the Land of Oz more wonderful, and weirder, than you ever imagined.
No Tell Motel
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Tuck yourself into our story about creepy, cinematic motels.
Spooky Scary Studio 360: She Sees Your Every Move
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Michele Iversen rides around at night photographing unsuspecting people through their windows. What happens when one of them spots her?
American Icons: The Lincoln Memorial
Thursday, October 20, 2016
The Lincoln Memorial is now one of the most treasured landmarks of Washington, D.C. But for decades people fought over every aspect of it — even whether it should have been built at all.
She Sees Your Every Move
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Michele Iversen rides around at night photographing unsuspecting people through their windows. What happens when one of them spots her?
American Icons: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Ken Kesey had worked in a mental hospital, but his first novel was really a parable of what happens when you stand up to the Man — a counterculture fable that doesn’t end well.
"Human Intelligence: A Holiday Tale"
Thursday, December 17, 2015
This is what Kurt Andersen considers a holiday tale ... melting ice caps and extraterrestrial spies? Kurt's story, "Human Intelligence," produced for the radio.
Smart Programs Read Shakespeare
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Researchers at MIT think the secret to artificial intelligence might not be processing power, but storytelling.
Opening Day Inspiration: Dennis Quaid Changed My Life
Friday, February 28, 2014
The Rookie is bigger than baseball. Hear the true story of a thespian's midlife turnaround, inspired by the springtime classic.
American Icons: The Wizard of Oz
Friday, November 29, 2013
It's been over seventy years since movie audiences first watched The Wizard of Oz. Meet the original man behind the curtain, L. Frank Baum, who had all the vision of Walt Disney, bu...
American Icons: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Friday, September 20, 2013
Ken Kesey had worked in a mental hospital, but his first novel was really a parable of what happens when you stand up to the Man — a counterculture fable that doesn’t end well.
Human Intelligence: A Holiday Tale
Friday, December 14, 2012
This is what Kurt Andersen considers a holiday tale ... melting ice caps and extraterrestrial spies? Kurt's story "Human Intelligence" first appeared in Stories: All New Tales, an ant...
They’re Made Out of Meat
Friday, August 31, 2012
We humans are pretty hot stuff — the most highly evolved species on the planet, or so we like to think. Terry Bisson’s science-fiction parable “They’re Made Out of Meat” suggests oth...
Becoming the Bionic Man
Friday, August 31, 2012
Hugh Herr is a leading bionics developer at MIT and a double amputee following a mountain-climbing accident. Herr has developed legs that allow him to climb better than he could pre...
Smart Programs Read Shakespeare
Friday, July 06, 2012
Patrick Winston is Principal Investigator at MIT's Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab. He believes that creating better artificial intelligence is not a matter of mor...
Constructal Law: A Theory of Everything
Friday, March 02, 2012
Over the last 16 years, the mechanical engineer Adrian Bejan, now a professor at Duke University, has been working on a theory for how the world works. It’s a theory of everything: ho...
American Icons: Moby-Dick
Friday, December 30, 2011
In this Peabody Award-winning show, Kurt Andersen sets sail in search of the great white whale.
"Human Intelligence: A Holiday Tale"
Friday, December 23, 2011
This is what Kurt Andersen considers a holiday tale ... melting ice caps and extraterrestrial spies? Kurt's story, "Human Intelligence," was produced for radio by Jonathan Mitchel...
Smart Programs Read Shakespeare
Friday, December 16, 2011
Patrick Winston is Principal Investigator at MIT's Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab. He believes that creating better artificial intelligence is not a matter of more ...
