Essential Salt: Maine Public’s New Podcast Brings Local Stories to Life
Every month, Liz Trice interviews a community member for The West End News. This month, she caught up with Brenna Farrell, producer, and Jess Miller, host, of Essential Salt, a new podcast from Maine Public in collaboration with the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies at Maine College of Art & Design. It’s a show about Maine stories told in Maine voices – and about the power of storytelling to build community.
Liz Trice: What inspired you to create Essential Salt?
Brenna Farrell: I’m fairly new to Maine Public, but storytelling has always been central to my life and work. I come from a background where storytelling shapes nearly every aspect of how I understand the world and myself. Partnering with Salt was right up my alley, because both Salt and Maine Public care deeply about the power of words, of immersing in Maine places, and listening to folks tell their stories.
Liz: Why did you choose Jess as the host?
Brenna: Jess is an amazing producer. She creates beautiful stories, and she actually went to Salt herself, so it felt like the perfect fit.
Jess Miller: Yes, I started my career as a student at the Salt Institute back in 2012, and it was life changing. I fell in love with Maine. After that, I produced radio in New York for a long time, working at WNYC. I made long-form narrative audio and did call-in shows, which I loved because you get to know your neighbors in such a real way.
When I joined Maine Public last year, I wanted to recreate some of that connection here – hearing stories from Mainers about how things are affecting their lives.
Liz: What kinds of stories can listeners expect from Essential Salt?
Brenna: The podcast is six episodes, with two stories per episode. All of them were made by Salt students, past and present. We worked with the Director of Salt, Isaac Kestenbaum, to choose the stories and put the show together.
One of my favorites is called “Red Paper Hearts.” Most people know about Portland’s Valentine’s Bandit, who anonymously decorated downtown with red hearts every February. This piece interviews his daughter and his wife. It’s really intimate and profound, and a really beautiful story about someone who touched so many lives anonymously, and what happens when his identity is revealed. It’s also a look at how traditions create meaning.
Jess: Another favorite is “Seven Characters”. It’s about a person in Midcoast Maine named Morgan Hunt who documents spicy license plates around the state. People love to customize them – some are funny, or shocking, or even vulgar in a fun way. Vanity of Maine documents all this. But when you sit with Morgan, you start to realize there’s something deeper going on. For him, license plates are about personal identity, and he has his own story about an identity the state was threatening to take away.
Liz: What do you hope listeners will take away from these stories?
Brenna: I really want to create stories that resonate with listeners and let them see the world in a new way. And I hope to do more – to collaborate with Salt and other organizations so that more and more local people can record and share their own stories. I’m a believer in the power of storytelling in all its forms. It gets us to hear people more deeply, and that helps build community.
Jess: Producers can work with someone who isn’t an experienced storytelling performer and make their story sound really cinematic. There are people you recognize and see every day, but you might not know meaningful things about them. Like the people playing chess at Market Basket – how do we connect in meaningful ways, and what formats allow that? How do we bring stories and storytelling into our daily lives? It’s in the process of how we tell a story, and what we choose to share, that gives it meaning.
Liz: Why is storytelling so important for Maine right now?
Jess: Stories allow us to hear real voices from across Maine and understand each other better. So that people in the West End can listen to someone making a life in Ellsworth – and vice versa. We can understand each other and hear what’s really interesting.
Brenna: Exactly. This is a show about connection, and the power of local stories. It’s about getting to know your neighbors – and seeing yourself a little differently along the way.
Liz: How can people listen, and how can they get involved?
Brenna: We’ve created a hub where people can listen to Essential Salt and find other great work from Maine Public: mainepublic.org/storytelling. We’d love feedback, and we’d love to hear from listeners with tips and ideas for future stories. You can subscribe to Essential Salt through any podcast platform, and we’ll be creating a broadcast version for Maine Public Radio that features a few of our very favorite pieces from the series.
More information: www.mainepublic.org/storytelling
This interview was edited for clarity and brevity.
