Navigation

About Joe

Live Performances

Joe Frank was born in Strasbourg, France on August 19, 1938. After numerous setbacks following surgery in October 2017, Joe passed away on January 15, 2018. He is dearly missed.

Joe Frank · Meaning

An American radio icon, Joe is known best for his engaging, often philosophical, monologues and radio dramas. Joe’s radio programs are at times dark and frequently funny. Adding to the absurd atmosphere of his monologues and dramas are loops of percussive music over drones.

Joe Frank started his career at WBAI in New York, and later served as a co-anchor for the weekend edition of National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. In 1986, he moved to Santa Monica, California, to work at KCRW, where he wrote, produced and performed in weekly hour-long radio programs in the series, “Joe Frank: Work In Progress.”

Joe continued to work at KCRW until 2002. His shows evolved as evidenced by the diverse series he produced, starting with Work in Progress, then In The Dark , followed by Somewhere Out There, and finally The Other Side.

While at KCRW, Joe received many honors, including a Peabody Award, the most coveted and distinguished award in radio and television broadcasting. He also received an Emmy Award for public television’s broadcast of “Joe Frank: Storyteller.” He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Third Coast International Audio Festival. Joe is also a Guggenheim Fellow.

Joe Frank’s body of timeless work (over 230 hours) continues to be aired on many NPR stations in the United States.

Other:

Ira Glass and David Sedaris discuss Joe’s influence (Stream | Download)

Reviews of Joe’s Work

"You don't have to close your eyes to appreciate Joe Frank's dense audio universe cascading out of your radio. It helps, though, because there are so many layers - of sound, philosophy, of reality-coursing through his dramas... Come to think of it, after awhile, you won't want to close your eyes because in Frank's short stories for the radio, the tension and pathos are as enveloping as they are intriguing... "

The Washington Post

"Although commonly categorized as radio drama, Frank's work bears very little resemblance to the stagy artifice of plays performed over air. Frank wanders deeply into the unconscious, producing Dionysian stories with a fairy-tale intensity whose effect is often funny, disturbing and deeply memorable."

Salon

"Radio's Prince of Darkness Rules the Freeways. [Frank is] alternately dark, bizarre and very funny - but always hard to turn off."

The Wall Street Journal

"A strange, different, wondrously offbeat, frequently hilarious, altogether brilliant piece of work..There's never been anything quite like it...Joe Frank is an audio Fellini."

The Los Angeles Times

"[Joe Frank] is one of the great, original radio performers. He's created a sound and style for himself - a complete aesthetic that's entirely his own. I first heard him when I was 19 and it changed everything for me. His work demonstrated the intensity and emotion that the medium is capable of; ingenious…fantastic."

Ira Glass, This American Life

"Joe Frank is a singular voice in radio. What he has done is hypnotic, psychotic, neurotic, sad, terrifying, and some of the funniest stuff I have ever heard anywhere. I can't think of another radio performer who has come close to achieving this kind of alchemy."

Charlie Kaufman, filmmaker

"Joe Frank's often bizarre scenarios for the mind are decidedly offbeat radio fare...part surreal satire, part bizarre meditation, part fever dream."

Los Angeles Daily News

"Frank has created a series of dead-pan radio monologues so sharp and intelligent that during the quiet bits you can almost hear God taking notes."

The UK Guardian

"The perfect Joe Frank experience is driving down an unfamiliar highway alone at night. You turn on your radio and are greeted by a lush, resonant voice that lulls you into a seemingly simple tale of love: a man at an airport saying goodbye to his wife over the phone, which abruptly turns into a vision of betrayal, alienation and death - often from obscure disease - all brought about by some profound personal failing, which is redeemed at the last moment by a nearly transcendent moment of joy."

Salon

"To me, he's what radio is really for... his show makes me think he's getting to some great truth... so completely captivating and just unlike anything else."

David Sedaris, writer