Stay ConnectedWelcome to the new normal.
For so many of us around the globe, our lives have been forever changed by the coronavirus. And we will never be the same.
On Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays for the foreseeable future, Neon Hum’s Jonathan Hirsch will bring you stories of people who are far away…up close.
Stories of how each of us are learning to live through this pandemic.
Copyright: © 2020 Neon Hum Media
In early March, the Trump administration claimed that a million COVID tests were available, but nobody was keeping tabs on the results. Alexis Madrigal, Atlantic staff writer and co-founder of the Covid Tracking Project, talks about how he stumbled into leading the charge to track the virus, and what the lasting cultural impact of this virus will be.
Host & Executive Producer: Jonathan Hirsch
Managing Producer: John Asante
Producer: Tanner Robbins
Editors: Catherine Saint Louis, Vikram Patel
Engineer: Scott Somerville
Music by Matt McGinley & Blue Dot Sessions
Follow up on Twitter and Instagram: @neonhummedia. We want to stay connected with you during this unprecedented time in our history, so please don’t be shy. Share your stories with us. Our DMs are open. If you have a story of life in isolation because of the coronavirus that you want to share with us, email us at pitches@neonhum.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In Charleston, West Virginia, Kin Ship Goods is more than a shop — it’s an institution. In the middle of March, as Covid-19 came closer and closer, West Virginia still hadn’t reported its first case. But Kin Ship’s owners, Dan and Hillary, decided to do something few other businesses were doing: shut down. For a small business, closing shop was a risky move. Yet for Dan and Hillary, it was the right thing to do.
Host & Executive Producer: Jonathan Hirsch
Producer: Kate Mishkin
Editors: Catherine Saint Louis, Vikram Patel
Managing Producer: John Asante
Engineer: Mark Bush
Music by Matt McGinley & Blue Dot Sessions
Follow up on Twitter and Instagram @neonhummedia. We want to stay connected with you during this unprecedented time in our history, so please don’t be shy. Share your stories with us. Our DMs are open. If you have a story of life in isolation because of the coronavirus that you want to share with us, email us at pitches@neonhum.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dr. Anthony Lazzara dedicated his life to caring for destitute, sick children in a small village in Peru. But the coronavirus trapped him on the wrong continent, and now he is stuck, far away from the people who need him most. And it’s all he can do to keep things going from afar, until he’s finally allowed to return.
Host & Executive Producer Jonathan Hirsch
Editors: Catherine Saint Louis, Vikram Patel
Producers: Carla Green, Jonathan Hirsch
Managing Producer: John Asante
Engineer: Scott Somerville
Music by Matt McGinley & Blue Dot Sessions
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @neonhummedia. We want to stay connected with you during this unprecedented time in our history, so please don’t be shy. Share your stories with us. Our DMs are open. If you have a story of life in isolation because of the coronavirus that you want to share with us, email us at pitches@neonhum.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When Hue-Tam canceled her trip to Vietnam because of the coronavirus, she had no idea what she would miss.
Hue-Tam’s family is scattered around the globe, from Vietnam to France, and now California. But thanks to technology, it’s easier than ever to communicate with your loved ones far away. You just don’t feel as far as you really are. You’re just a flight away, you tell yourself. Until one day, someone you love is dying and you can’t be there.
Host & Executive Producer Jonathan Hirsch
Editors: Catherine Saint Louis, Jonathan Hirsch
Producers: Vikram Patel, Tanner Robbins
Engineer: Scott Somerville
Music by Matt McGinley & Blue Dot Sessions
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @neonhummedia. We want to stay connected with you during this unprecedented time in our history, so please don’t be shy. Share your stories with us. Our DMs are open. If you have a story of life in isolation because of the coronavirus that you want to share with us, email us at pitches@neonhum.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chris Garcia is a comedian and TV writer living in LA. Before COVID-19, he was performing standup in front of live audiences two to three nights a week. But now, he’s got to find more creative ways to test jokes -- like talking to strangers through his phone.
Host & Executive Producer Jonathan Hirsch
Editors: Catherine Saint Louis, Vikram Patel
Producers: Kate Mishkin, Jonathan Hirsch
Engineer: Scott Somerville
Music by Matt McGinley & Blue Dot Sessions
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @neonhummedia. We want to stay connected with you during this unprecedented time in our history, so please don’t be shy. Share your stories with us. Our DMs are open. If you have a story of life in isolation because of the coronavirus that you want to share with us, email us at pitches@neonhum.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Drew made a huge mistake, and he paid for that mistake. More than he'd ever imagined he would.
In May of 2019, he was arrested for a DUI and for evading the police. He was sentenced to 180 days in the county jail. His lawyer told him he'd only serve a few days. But an unforgivable error gave Drew a sentence that was way more than he bargained for. When he returned from jail, it was March 12th, 2020 -- the day the country irrevocably changed.
Special thanks to Drew for sharing his story with us.
Host & Executive Producer Jonathan Hirsch
Editors: Catherine Saint Louis, Vikram Patel
Producers: Kate Mishkin & Jonathan Hirsch
Engineer: Scott Somerville
Music by Matt McGinley & Blue Dot Sessions
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @neonhummedia. We want to stay connected with you during this unprecedented time in our history, so please don’t be shy. Share your stories with us. Our DMs are open. If you have a story of life in isolation because of the coronavirus that you want to share with us, email us at pitches@neonhum.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After several years of working non-union gigs as a set dresser for TV shows, Thomas earns security and steady work after joining a union. But when coronavirus brings show production to a screeching halt, he and over 100,000 workers in the entertainment industry are out of work. Now, Thomas is trying to figure out his next steps in a time of great uncertainty.
Host & Executive Producer Jonathan Hirsch
Editors: Catherine Saint Louis, Vikram Patel, Jonathan Hirsch
Reporter & Producer: Tanner Robbins
Engineer: Scott Somerville
Music by Matt McGinley & Blue Dot Sessions
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @neonhummedia. We want to stay connected with you during this unprecedented time in our history, so please don’t be shy. Share your stories with us. Our DMs are open. If you have a story of life in isolation because of the coronavirus that you want to share with us, email us at pitches@neonhum.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dr. Alan Braid is an abortion doctor in San Antonio, Texas. His clinic is one of two that provides abortions in the city. Like all doctors these days during coronavirus, he has a new challenge. He doesn't have the resources and safety measures he needs to do his work. We caught up with Dr. Braid as some news was breaking in Texas.
Host & Executive Producer Jonathan Hirsch
Editors: Vikram Patel, Jonathan Hirsch
Producers: Shara Morris, Hayley Fager, Joanna Clay
Reporter: Catherine Saint Louis
Engineer: Mark Bush
Music by Matt McGinley & Blue Dot Sessions
Follow us on Twitter and instagram @neonhummedia. We want to stay connected with you during this unprecedented time in our history, so please don’t be shy. Share your stories with us. Our DMs are open. If you have a story of life in isolation because of the coronavirus that you want to share with us, email us at pitches@neonhum.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A local legend, the mysterious Pied Piper of Pasadena is a man who rocks out hard in his car, with the windows down, while playing songs on his recorder. He was a fixture in the lives of many Angelenos, inspiring countless Youtube videos and internet memes. But where is he now? Producer Mary Knauf went in search of answers.
Host & Executive Producer Jonathan Hirsch
Editors: Vikram Patel, Catherine Saint Louis
Producers: Mary Knauf, John Asante, Natalie Rinn
Reporter: Mary Knauf
Engineer: Scott Somerville
Music by Matt McGinley & Blue Dot Sessions
Follow us on Twitter and instagram @neonhummedia. We want to stay connected with you during this unprecedented time in our history, so please don’t be shy. Share your stories with us. Our DMs are open. If you have a story of life in isolation because of the coronavirus that you want to share with us, email us at pitches@neonhum.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After their residency was shut down because of coronavirus, a group of musicians found a clever way to still perform for an audience: they organized a "drive-in concert" in the parking lot of a Vons grocery store in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Thanks to Jeremiah Chiu and Celia Hollander for sharing their story.
Special thanks to Dublab for their support of the concert. You can find the full broadcast of their show here.
Watch the whole video fo the Italian piano player performing the theme song toTitanic here.
Host & Executive Producer Jonathan Hirsch
Editors: Vikram Patel, Catherine Saint Louis
Producers: Tanner Robbins, Kate Mishkin
Engineer: Scott Somerville
Music by Matt McGinley & Blue Dot Sessions.
Follow us on Twitter and instagram @neonhummedia. We want to stay connected with you during this unprecedented time in our history, so please don’t be shy. Share your stories with us. Our DMs are open. If you have a story of life in isolation because of the coronavirus that you want to share with us, email us at pitches@neonhum.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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