Bio

Xander Adams is an award winning radio producer, sound designer, and public health reporter based in Louisiana. She is currently freelancing for TransLash Media. Their reporting focuses on privacy, HIV, Hep C, prison healthcare and conditions, and policing.

Xander created the sound-art podcast Smash/Cut and has worked with The Verge, Scalawag Magazine, 70 Million, MIT’s Undark, Night Vale Presents, Netflix, CBC, BBC, WHYY, and WWNO.

Résumé available here - pre-2022 bylines read “Alexander Charles Adams”


Current Work

The Anti-Trans Hate Machine - Season 2 for TransLash Media // Sound Designer & Engineer (Present)

The TransLash Podcast for TransLash Media // Editor (Spring 2021 - Present)

Recent Work

Founder Stories for Lola Media // Producer & Sound Designer (Spring 2022 - Summer 2022)

Decoder with Nilay Patel for Vox Media’s The Verge // Associate Producer (Spring 2021 - Winter 2021)

The Anti-Trans Hate Machine - Season 1 for TransLash Media // Sound Designer & Engineer (Summer 2021 - Fall 2021)

Radio

original radio feature Production

“bear” - self-published // Creator & Producer (Spring 2021)

Where Hep C Remains Untreated for Those in Custody for 70Million // Reporter/Producer (Spring 2020 - Fall 2020)

Has Louisiana Cracked The Code to Treating Hepatitis C? for WWNO & WRKF’s Commute Hour // Feature Producer (Fall 2019)

The Struggle to Change an HIV Narrative for Undark Magazine from MIT // Producer/Reporter (Fall 2019)

The Gut Show for WHYY’s The Pulse // Segment Producer/Reporter (Summer 2019)

New Orleans: The Big Hard for Netflix’s Tales of Your City // Producer/Reporter (Summer 2019)

Getting on PrEP is Harder Than You Think for WHYY's The Pulse // Producer/Reporter (Spring 2019)

Baton Rouge Clinic Pilots New HIV Treatment Model for WWNO’s All Things Considered // Feature Producer (Winter 2019)

It's a Commitment for UC Davis's Department of Theatre and Dance // Producer (Winter 2019)

My Whitney for CBC's Love Me // Producer/Reporter (Fall 2018)

Rags for Long Live the New Sound // Producer (Fall 2018)

“Deborah” (censored) for WWNO’s All Things New Orleans // Feature Producer (Summer 2018)

Unnatural Selection for WHYY’s The Pulse // Sound Designer & Engineer (Summer 2018)

Podcast series Production

The Coronavirus Vaccine Race for Tumble, a Science Podcast for Kids // Editor & Engineer (Fall 2020)

A Ride with Lu Up the Mountain for Where the World Begins: Songs of Sonoma // Co-Producer/Editor/Sound Designer (Summer 2020)

Hyper-Thetical from Transmitter Media on Luminary // Sound Designer for Eps 3, 6, & 7 (Summer 2019)

Dreamboy for Night Vale Presents // Editor (Fall 2018 - Winter 2019)

Smash/Cut on the Two Guys and Rogue Podcast Network // Creator & Producer (Nov 2015 - Spring 2019)

Awards

Second Place // Society for Features Journalism, Features Podcasts (Fall 2021)

Honorable Mention // Society for Features Journalism, Features Podcasts (Winter 2021)

3rd Prize // KCRW 5th Annual Radio Race (Fall 2017)

Shortlisted // Hearsay 2017 Best Audio Fiction Prize (Fall 2017)

Print

Reporting

HIV Test Sites Challenged by COVID-19 Restrictions in Baton Rouge for Scalawag Magazine // Reporter (Summer 2020)

Bad medicine in Louisiana prisons for Scalawag Magazine // Reporter (Spring 2021)

op-eds

Before meeting a potential landlord, I take a look in the mirror for Louisiana Illuminator // Writer (Spring 2021)

Langiappe

Sound Installations

The Barbershop Experiment [Co-Producer: Cristal Duhaime] // Hearsay International Audio Festival (Fall 2017)

Silent Treatment [for GLRY] // OUTBurst Queer Arts Festival (Fall 2016)

The Question Hole [for GLRY] // OUTBurst Queer Arts Festival (Fall 2016)

Artistic Residencies

Ragdale Radio Residency // Third Coast International Audio Festival (Spring 2018)

  • A Week-long residency with the Ragdale Foundation bringing together underrepresented voices in radio supporting their projects. Here I created the complete storyboard and shot list for the Glass Men project.

Create Residency // Hearsay International Audio Festival (Fall 2017)

  • A two-week residency to create a local-voiced installation for the 2017 Hearsay Festival with CBC’s Cristal Duhaime

Flight/Risk Development Residency in Belfast, NI, UK // The Accidental Theatre Company (Fall 2016)

  • Developed a piece of theatre within 30 days under the festival concept “theatre that welcomes risk and seeks to tell new stories”

  • Supported other artists in the festival with sound and dramaturgical aid

Emerging Queer Artist Residency in Belfast, NI, UK // OUTBurst Queer Arts Festival (Fall 2016)

  • Dramaturg on multiple projects in the festival, act as sound technician for housing theatre, TheatreofplucK, and to devise a new queer performance piece for the festival. This birthed Hi, I'm Mattie.

Speaking

Story Rhythm for the Audio Drama Track @ Podcast Movement // Solo Speaker (Summer 2019)

Sounds of Skin and Body // Voxnest Livestage @ Podcast Movement (Summer 2019)

HIV in Radio: More Than Trauma Narratives // The Audio Chocolate Box Series @ Hearsay International Audio Festival (Fall 2017)

Education

Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies (Dramaturgy and Sound) // Louisiana State University (Spring 2017)