JW Marriott Austin
JW Marriott Austin
The Big Family
Production Company: RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana
Produced for: RaiPlaySound
Executive Producer (Production Company):
Executive Producer (network/platform): Andrea Borgnino
Country or Territory where first released: Italy
Synopsis:
The Big Family was a radio show aired in New York for Italian Americans. The idea was simple and brilliant: in exchange for ten labels from Progresso canned tomatoes, a correspondent would record messages from relatives in Italy. From 1948 to 1961, over thirteen seasons, it became the only link to home for many. In a world without phones, families gathered around the radio to hear greetings, letters, and witty or emotional updates from across Italy. In 2022, Cristiano, a podcast author, discovered thousands of discs with original recordings, sent as souvenirs to the families. This sparked a journey to reconnect personal and collective memories through an extraordinary sound archive.
