About

Curious Broadcast began as a temporary licenced community radio station in 2009. Ten years later, we have changed, evolved and thrived. But at its core, we have remained curious and passionate about the hidden stories that speak of lost knowledge, shared passions, and the personal fights for a more just world. 

We have produced audio and visual content for NGOs and arts organisations, ran conferences on sound art and radio and produced a series of licenced community stations, working collaboratively with the arts, the broader community, and the third sector. Each project we undertook aimed to be engaging, but also to challenge the prevailing narrative, explore new ideas and generate curiosity in the local setting. 

As time went on within Curious Broadcast, I became more interested in the art of storytelling on radio and began to produce radio documentaries. I have had the pleasure of producing scores of documentaries, funded through the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, the majority of which have been broadcast on Newstalk. The work has received critical acclaim, and thematically the documentaries have spanned history, social and cultural issues and the environment. 

My documentaries have brought me on audio journeys with fascinating people and histories. I have had the privilege of sharing stories that spanned many subjects, including radio rebellions, Steamboat Ladies, and the destruction of 800 years of Irish history. Some stories tell of ordinary things, like our native Irish Apples, these everyday fruits, have a rich account which talks of the preciousness of our biodiversity. I have attempted complex stories that brought together the civil war and the Northern Irish Troubles in an attempt to explore the uncertainty of history, the unresolved stories of our past, and the many versions of one story that can be told. The stories I convey in a modest way bring awareness on issues that are of their nature personal but also public and political. Some have focused on the individual narrative, such as Returning Home, which tells the story of six returning missionary nuns, women in their 70s and 80s who had left Ireland in the 1950s and are now returning home. Their voices, un-interrupted, tell of extraordinary lives lived. These women challenge our perception of a nun and old age.

My background is the arts, I studied sculpture and later went on to do an MA In Contemporary Art practices. I am privileged that my work as a documentary maker provides a space for me to be creative, to craft audio stories. Each story I tell has been gifted from another. The people I have met through my documentaries have shared with me their passions, knowledge, insights and intellect. Each time I have made a documentary, I have also been given another story, a small nugget that has got me curious. The older I get, the more I believe, that staying curious is the best thing we can do for our minds, so thank you for all those that have allowed me to stay curious.

Patricia Baker
Curious Broadcast