We’re excited to share that work from Spring 2025 semester’s GEOG 126: Sonic Geographies course, taught by Joel Wanek, will be featured on local NPR affiliate KALW’s Bay Made program next week. The show airs Monday–Thursday from 11:30am–12:00pm and will highlight audio works created by students throughout the semester.
Using Bay Area creeks as navigational guides, students set out on weekly walks—sometimes along waterways visible above ground, other times tracing creeks routed underground through culverts and cityscapes. Along the way, they recorded sounds that captured the shifting sonic landscapes of residential neighborhoods, strip malls, parks, parking lots, schoolyards, and more.
The final works weave these recordings into continuous audio pieces—some structured as condensed “sonic maps” of each journey, others more free-form and poetic—revealing the layered relationships between people, the built environment, and the natural world. KALW will feature four of these creek-inspired projects—Bushy Dell Creek, Wildcat Creek, Alameda Creek, and Lobos Creek—across its Bay Made broadcasts.
This project was partially supported by the Berkeley Collegium Grant Program.