People
Judith Kampfner, Director of CIM
Judith Kampfner, director of CIM.
Born in Singapore, Kampfner has lived and worked in Australia, UK and America. She began her radio career in the drama department of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and then worked on contract at the BBC producing and presenting features and long form documentaries particularly for BBC World Service.
After moving to Chicago, she freelanced for all BBC networks as a producer, presenter and reporter and sports commentator. American clients followed: WBEZ. NPR and PRI shows such as Performance Today, The World and All Things Considered.
She moved to New York to a job as senior producer for the pilot phase of Studio 360 and then became arts producer for WNYC for six years hosting and producing regular segments for Morning Edition.
She was invited to establish an independent company to produce plays and documentaries for BBC radio – Corporation For Independent Media – CIM and returned to the UK to establish the company which now is based in New York.
CIM has an established niche at the BBC for authentic American shows as well as for international radio. Kampfner has recorded dramas in Sydney, New York, Chicago, London, and Manchester and made documentaries across America as well as Indonesia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Moscow, Czech Republic, Spain and India.
As a dramaturg and editor, Kampfner enjoys working closely with playwrights and guiding their writing for audio. She likes to work with actors through improvisation where they contribute lines, idioms and ideas from their native language and culture. In ‘Drone Pilots’ this was with a Pashtu community group, ‘In the Shadows’ had a cast of Spanish speakers and Moscow Prodigal, Circus Train and Target Audience had a repertory company of Russian actors.
As a writer she’s written radio dramas and adapted stage plays and novels for radio. Her play about Henry Darger has had readings with three companies in Chicago and New York and was workshopped by members of Lookingglass Theater. She is currently working on a new radio play and a libretto.
She is represented by International Performing Rights, Ltd.
Kampfner is on the Board of Directors of Composers Concordance and is a member of Audio UK, Radio Academy, and the League of Professional Theater Women.
Production Staff
Sarah Tombling
Sarah Tombling has worked extensively in radio drama and readings, initially in-house for both network and World Service drama. For the last 17 years she has been working in a freelance capacity across a range of output from Book at Bedtime and Book of the Week to drama varying in duration from 15’ to 10 hours and recorded both in studio and on location.
Gene Pritsker
Gene is a freelance composer who has written over six hundred compositions, including chamber operas, orchestral and chamber works, electro-acoustic music, and songs for hip-hop and rock ensembles. All of his compositions employ an eclectic spectrum of styles and are influenced by his studies of various musical cultures.
He is the founder and leader of the eclectic ensemble Sound Liberation, as well as being the co-director of Composers Concordance. Gene's music has been performed all over the world at various festivals and by many ensembles and performers.
Isabel Robertson
Isabel is an audio producer and researcher. She has worked as the curatorial coordinator for ACLU 100, helping to research and plan the ACLU's centennial exhibition project. She has also worked on National Public Radio's Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! and The Intercept’s Murderville, GA.
Sophia Steinert-Evoy
Sophia is a journalist, audio producer, and editor.. In addition to her work with CIM, she is the editor of the Unorthodox podcast from Tablet Magazine and interviews editor of Podcast Review from the LA Review of Books. Her work has appeared on the podcasts The Organist, Hi-Phi Nation, Citations Needed, and Mobituaries.
Sarah Kim
Sarah is an emerging multimedia journalist. She has assisted Kampfner on an audio documentary on Lou Reed. She received her masters from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she focused on multimedia storytelling and investigative reporting. Sarah's work has been featured in New York Gal, The Daily Beast, The Mighty, Huffington Post, and Teen Vogue.
Emily Rostek
Emily is a freelance audio producer and editor from San Francisco, CA. Since moving to New York, she’s interned at CBS Radio, has worked at the United Nations, and was a reporter for The Brooklyn Reader. In addition to researching and reporting with CIM, Emily is the production assistant for a new Narratively podcast and freelances for a variety of audio networks.
Sound Engineers
Steve Bond, www.steve-bond.com
Louis Mitchell, louisbasslinesrn@gmail.com
Lorenzo Wolff, https://www.restorationsoundstudio.com/blog
Jon Calver, joncalver@me.com
Peregrine Andrews, pez@moving-air.com
Charles De Montebello, CDM Studios
Allen Towbin, Maze Studios, allen@mazenyc.com
Some artists who have hosted or appeared in CIM shows:
Actors
Rosamund Pike, Alan Alda, Lindsay Duncan, Simon Russell Beale, Mike Daisey, Tracy Letts, Anthony Sher, Stephen Merchant, Amy Morton, Patrick Malahide, Robert Powell, Roger Moore, Rupert Graves, Jack Klaff, Josh Hamilton, David Rasche, Jennifer Van Dyck, Suzanne Bertish, Yasen Peyankov, Troy West, Marilyn Dodds Frank, Paul Lazar, Alan Arkin, Amy Warren.
Authors
John Berger, Michael Cunningham, Joyce Maynard, Alice Sebold, Simon Van Booy, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Adam Gopnik, Simon Winchester, Nathan Englander, Audrey Niffenegger, T.C Boyle, George Pelecanos, Ntozake Shange, Susan Orlean, Geoff Dyer, Alan Ayckbourn, Louis Nowra.
Musicians/Composers
Steve Reich, Margaret Leng Tan, Nigel Kennedy, Gavin Bryars
Artists
Rachel Whiteread, Anish Kapoor, Eduardo Paolozzi.
Directors
Peter Brook, Nick Hytner, Kwame Kwei Armah, Baz Luhrmann.
Radio Personalities
Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva (The Kitchen Sisters), Jad Abumrad, Robert Krulwich, Ira Glass.