Black Gold Boom on The Story

In January, Black Gold Boom was featured on The Story, a public radio program that airs on hundreds of stations nationwide, including KPCC in Los Angeles, Minnesota Public Radio and WUNC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Host Dick Gordon interviewed Todd Melby, lead producer of the series, and Geoff Swenson, one of the oil workers featured in the series. The Story also aired several Black Gold Boom stories produced by Melby. To listen to Black Gold Boom on the story, go here.

Black Gold Boom on SoundCloud

We've aired more than 35 stories from the oil fields of North Dakota. Most were produced by Todd Melby. Other contributors include Diane Richard and Laura Candler. Click and listen to any of the stories from the series.

Black Gold Boom on Marketplace

Five stories from Black Gold Boom, my multimedia series on North Dakota's oil boom, have aired on Marketplace, including one about a mixed-martial arts match in Williston, North Dakota. One fan told me she really liked the violence at these events. "The fighting," she said. "The blood. The broken bones. There's a possibility there's broken bones." Three of the stories are posted below. And there's also a video of the mixed-martial arts match with great pics by Ben Garvin.

Black Gold Boom on NPR

NPR's All Things Considered aired this audio portrait from my Black Gold Boom series, which focuses on the frenetic rush to get access to North Dakota's oil.

Black Gold Boom: Video Highlights
For the past three months, I've been in western North Dakota reporting on the oil boom. In addition to my audio recording equipment, I brought along a Nikon 5100 Digital SLR with HD video capability. That purchase came in handy at a Cenex truck stop in New Town, North Dakota. I spent lots of time at the truck stop interviewing a couple of oil workers roping a dummy steer, recording sounds, video and shooting stills. In "Gotta Be An Eight," I shot the video and recorded and mixed the audio. My video editing isn't super yet — the mix was produced by Laura Candler, a recent graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies.

I've also had the opportunity to work with photographer Ben Garvin of Minneapolis. He shot the beautiful black and white stills we used in "Fight Night in Crude Country." I recorded and mixed the audio. The result is pretty stunning, I think.

For more on "Black Gold Boom: How Oil Changed North Dakota," check out the project website.

Black Gold Boom: How Oil Changed North Dakota

I'm lead producer and reporter of Black Gold Boom: How Oil Changed North Dakota during 2012 and early 2013. The public media project is a multimedia effort to show how the discovery and production of oil in western N.D. is changing the lives of the people who live and work there. That's why I'm living in Williston, a city that's doubled in size in recent years.

Radio stories are airing on Prairie Public, the statewide public media broadcaster in North Dakota. But there's a lot more going on here than just radio. The project will include a website, with geotagged audio, photos, video, oil well locations and other place-based data. All that good stuff will launch later this year. For now, you can track the project through Twitter, SoundCloud, Flickr and the project's website: Black Gold Boom.

Todd's Old, Dead Media Tour
I've recently uploaded several stories to Soundcloud, a newish audio sharing website. This series of stories, produced in 2011, focuses on media that most people would consider antiquated — typewriters, 78 record players, pipe organs, etc. Although I'm calling this "Todd's Old, Dead Media Tour," I'm hoping these cool old things stick around a while. Unless you're reading this on an iPad or iPhone, you should be able to simply click and listen. Enjoy.

Todd's Old, Dead Media Tour by toddmelby-2belowzero