2020 has arrived, and we’re hitting the road again for the StoryCorps Mobile Tour! This year our MobileBooth will be traveling across the U.S. from January 5 to December 21, making stops all over the country to offer people the opportunity to record meaningful conversations about their lives.
Recording an interview in the StoryCorps MobileBooth couldn’t be easier: You invite a loved one, or anyone else you choose, to a StoryCorps recording site. There you’re met by a trained facilitator who explains the interview process, brings you into a quiet recording room and seats you across from your interview partner, each of you in front of a microphone. The facilitator hits “record,” and you share a 40-minute conversation. At the end of the session, you walk away with a copy of the interview, and a digital file will be preserved for posterity in the StoryCorps Archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
This is a special year for us: 2020 marks the 15th anniversary of the StoryCorps Mobile Tour. The tour was launched in 2005 with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and has since facilitated tens of thousands of conversations. For 15 years, we have listened to stories from towns and cities across the U.S., giving people far and wide the opportunity to have their own StoryCorps conversation.
From the start of its journey in Santa Monica, California, through the tour’s conclusion in Marfa, Texas, the Mobile Tour will travel thousands of miles through the U.S., visiting ten towns and cities. We’ll be working with the public radio stations in each of our tour stops to bring StoryCorps to their communities. Reservations, which are free and available to the public, become available here approximately two weeks before the tour’s arrival.
| Location | Partner | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Monica, CA | KCRW | January 5 – February 6, 2020 |
| San Joaquin Valley, CA | Valley Public Radio | February 12 – March 20, 2020 |
| Salt Lake City, UT | KUER | March 25 – April 24, 2020 |
| Boise, ID | Boise State Public Radio | April 29 – May 29, 2020 |
| Missoula, MT | Montana Public Radio | June 3 – July 3, 2020 |
| Lewiston, ID/Clarkston, WA | Northwest Public Broadcasting | July 8 – August 7, 2020 |
| Bay Area, CA | KQED | August 12 – September 11, 2020 |
| Las Vegas, NV | Nevada Public Radio | September 16 – October 23, 2020 |
| Amarillo, TX | High Plains Public Radio | October 28 – November 25, 2020 |
| Marfa, TX | Marfa Public Radio | December 2 – December 21, 2020 |
“By preserving the conversations of everyday Americans in towns and cities across the United States, we are working to create a culture of listening, and to remind the nation that everyone’s story matters.”
—Dave Isay, Founder and President of StoryCorps
This year, sign up for a StoryCorps interview to connect with someone you care about, and celebrate the dignity, power, and grace that can be heard in the stories we find all around us.
Major support for the StoryCorps Mobile Tour is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.