Jay Allison

American journalist

Jay Allison is an American public radio producer and broadcast journalist. He's executive director of Atlantic Public Media (APM). Through APM, he created platforms for independent audio producers, including Public Radio Exchange (PRX) Through APM, he also founded the public radio stations WNAN and WCAI, serving the Cape Cod region of Massachusetts. Allison is the producer of The Moth Radio Hour. He also produces many audio documentaries and series that appear within other radio programs. These include Lost and Found Sound, The Miles Davis Radio Project,

Allison received a B. A. in English from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1973. After graduation, he studied children’s theater in Eastern and Western Europe on a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship.

Allison started his career in theater, as an actor. He began producing for radio in 1977, after a friend who worked at NPR loaned him a tape recorder. He taught himself to record, edit and mix audio. He became known, early on for integrating dramatic, theatrical sound design into stories. Over the years, he co produced many audio documentaries and features, including "Beyond Affliction: The Disability History Project" (1999) and "Lost and Found Sound" (1999 2001). The series incorporated original and archived interviews with Davis, alongside new, previously unreleased interviews. The series also put forward studio outtakes and rare recordings, including Davis's never before heard first recording with John Coltrane. Actor Danny Glover hosted the series. The project won a Peabody Award, and was viewed at the time as Davis's definitive audio biography. As of 2012, the stations had hundreds of these spots in rotation. In 2001, Allison launched Transom. org, a community website where new producers can take online classes, share their work and receive feedback. In 2005, Allison and his collaborator Dan Gediman revived Edward R. Murrow's 1950s radio program,This I Believe. The series collected short audio essays, told in the first person, in which people express a deeply held belief. The series premiered as a segment within the NPR shows All Things Considered and Morning Edition in 2005.

Allison has received six Peabody Awards. In 1985, Allison received the Peabody Award for the 3 part radio series on mental illness, "Breakdown and Back." In 1991, Allison received the Peabody Award for the radio biography, "The Miles Davis Radio Project." In 1999, Allison received the Peabody Award for the series "Lost & Found Sound," which appeared on the program All Things Considered. In 2002, Allison received the Peabody Award for the Sonic Memorial Project and the corresponding website, both serving as audio commemorations for the events of September 11, 2001. In 2003, Allison received the Peabody Award for the website Transom. org, the first free standing website to receive the award. In 2010, Allison received the Peabody Award for the podcast The Moth Radio Hour. Allison was the 1996 recipient of the CPB's Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding contributions to public radio,