Longwave Talks is an independent interview podcast about design, technology and craft — and the people who care about getting the details right.
Longwave Talks started in the spring of 2022 at a kitchen table, with two borrowed microphones and a shared frustration: most interviews with interesting people ended just as they were getting interesting.
Nora had spent years cutting radio documentaries down to fit tight schedules. Julian had spent years in design reviews where the real reasons behind a decision were never written down. We wanted a show where a conversation could run for an hour or more, follow tangents, and arrive somewhere neither side expected.
The name comes from longwave radio — signals that travel slowly, cover enormous distances and carry clearly through the night. That is roughly what we hope these conversations do.
Every guest gets a pre-interview and a research brief. We record in person whenever we can, and remotely with local recorders when we can't. Episodes are edited by ear for clarity, never for drama, and guests can review their episode before it goes out.
The show is listener-supported and carries a single, clearly marked sponsor message per episode at most. We never let sponsors choose guests or topics.
Nora spent twelve years as a radio producer for public broadcasters, making documentaries about architecture, food and work. She is the reason every episode is edited by ear rather than by algorithm.
Outside the show she teaches audio storytelling workshops and restores old valve radios, which is where the name Longwave came from.
Julian is a product designer who has worked in studios large and small, from early-stage startups to a national library's digital team. He prepares the research notes for each conversation.
He writes the show's newsletter, keeps a long reading list nobody asked for, and maintains this website by hand.
First episode recorded in a spare bedroom lined with moving blankets.
Episode 10. We move to a fortnightly schedule and start publishing chapters.
First in-person recordings outside our home city — Lisbon, Copenhagen and Montréal.
The show becomes listener-supported. Transcripts are added for every new episode.
Episode 48, and still recording at the kitchen table when we can.
Not sure where to begin? Most listeners start with “Small Software” or “Typefaces as Infrastructure”.