Jessica Abel’s Out on the Wire is both a companion tour of classic radio shows and a working guide for authors, as a reminder that exceptional audio is created, not improvised. Her unadorned but sharp instruments impressed me. The XY Story Formula that gets to the point, the “focus challenge” that digs into what a story is really about, and the ruthless “keep or kill” editing method. These ideas will shape my next podcast episode. I will sharpen the pitch with XY, build tension and release instead of presenting information flatly, and edit with a commitment to story over excess tape. More than anything, Abel pushes me to move from reporting facts to creating experiences. Learning on sound, pacing, and emotion so listeners don’t just hear a story, they feel it.