The Story Behind The Story of Radio
An Invisible World. An Extraordinary Human Story.
Radio surrounds us.
It connects people across oceans, guides spacecraft through the solar system, reveals distant galaxies, supports modern medicine, and makes much of contemporary life possible.
Yet most of us rarely stop to consider the remarkable science behind these invisible connections.
The Story of Radio began with a simple realization: one of the most important technologies in human history is also one of the least understood.
The project explores the science, history, innovation, and human relationships that have shaped our wireless world.
It is also a celebration of curiosity—the impulse to experiment, discover, communicate, and reach beyond the boundaries of what we know.
A Story Worth Telling
From the First Experiments to the Wireless World
The history of radio is filled with extraordinary discoveries.
Scientists demonstrated that invisible electromagnetic waves could travel through space. Inventors developed ways to transmit information without wires. Engineers transformed these discoveries into technologies that changed transportation, medicine, communication, and scientific research.
Radio telescopes opened new windows into the universe. Wireless technologies connected billions of people. Amateur experimenters continued pushing the boundaries of what could be accomplished with modest equipment and imagination.
But The Story of Radio is not simply a history of invention.
It is a contemporary story about the invisible technology connecting our lives and the people who continue to explore its possibilities.
The Human Thread
Technology That Connects People
At the heart of this project is the belief that radio's most compelling stories are human.
An amateur radio operator establishes a friendship with someone thousands of miles away.
A volunteer provides communication when a disaster disrupts conventional infrastructure.
A scientist receives faint signals from a distant galaxy.
A student builds a simple receiver and discovers that invisible waves can carry information across extraordinary distances.
These moments reveal something fundamental about radio.
It is more than a technology.
It is a means of discovery, connection, collaboration, and understanding.
The documentary will explore these human experiences alongside the scientific achievements that make them possible.
A Multimedia Vision
One Story. Many Ways to Experience It.
The Story of Radio is being developed as an international multimedia initiative with four complementary components.
A one-hour public television documentary will explore the history, science, technology, and people behind radio.
A 30-minute immersive full-dome production will bring the electromagnetic spectrum to life for audiences in planetariums and science centers.
Digital stories will explore individual subjects, discoveries, and participants in greater depth.
K–16 educational resources will connect radio science with classroom learning, hands-on experimentation, and STEM education.
Together, these experiences will reveal the invisible world of radio through documentary filmmaking, immersive visualization, digital storytelling, and practical discovery.
The Production Team
Experience in Public Television, Immersive Cinema, and Science Education
The Story of Radio brings together an international team with extensive experience producing science documentaries, public television programming, immersive films, and educational media.
The project's leadership combines creative storytelling, public media experience, technical innovation, and longstanding relationships within the international planetarium and scientific communities.
Kris Koenig
Creator | Producer | Director
Kris Koenig is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, writer, producer, and director whose work has focused on science, history, technology, and the human experience.
His career encompasses public television documentaries, immersive full-dome productions, educational programming, and independent filmmaking.
Koenig served as Principal Investigator, Producer, and Director of 400 Years of the Telescope, an international science-media initiative supported by a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
He produced and directed Sight: The Story of Vision, a public television documentary exploring the science of human sight, visual perception, and the technologies that help us understand vision. The production secured more than $900,000 in public television underwriting.
His earlier work includes Astronomy: Observations and Theories, a ten-hour PBS educational series for which he received two Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards for writing and production.
Additional recognition includes numerous Telly Awards for production, cinematography, and writing, and an honorary doctoral degree awarded in connection with Sight: The Story of Vision.
His immersive science credits include Two Small Pieces of Glass, Seeing: A Photon's Journey Through Space and Mind, and University of Hawai‘i: A Living Laboratory.
Koenig's experience includes international field production, scientific research, collaboration with leading scientists and institutions, and the development of substantial corporate and foundation underwriting.
A Personal Connection to Radio
For Kris Koenig, radio has been a lifelong connection to communication, technology, and exploration.
His early experience as a United States Coast Guard quartermaster introduced him to the essential role radio plays in maritime navigation, safety, and communication. Today, as a licensed Amateur Extra radio operator, that interest has evolved into a passion for the science, experimentation, and remarkable community surrounding amateur radio.
An enthusiastic Morse code operator, Koenig enjoys low-power portable operation, Parks on the Air® (POTA), and building and experimenting with radio equipment and antennas. He also serves as President of the Golden Empire Amateur Radio Society (GEARS) in Chico, California, helping introduce others to the technical challenges, educational opportunities, and camaraderie of amateur radio.
Through these experiences, Koenig has discovered a community of people who share an extraordinary curiosity about how the world works—people who build, experiment, innovate, and communicate across borders, cultures, and generations.
That personal connection helped inspire The Story of Radio. What began as a fascination with amateur radio grew into a much larger realization: the same invisible electromagnetic forces that allow a five-watt transmitter to reach another continent also connect spacecraft, reveal distant galaxies, advance medicine, and underpin much of modern civilization.
For Koenig, The Story of Radio is an opportunity to share that sense of discovery and wonder with audiences around the world.
Phil Meyer
Executive Producer | Southern Oregon PBS
Phil Meyer serves as Executive Producer of The Story of Radio and is CEO of Southern Oregon PBS (SOPBS), the project's public television presenting station.
Meyer brings public broadcasting leadership experience, having previously served as President and CEO of Valley PBS in Fresno, California, Station Manager at WTIU in Bloomington, Indiana, and in leadership roles at WCET-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the recipient of four Regional Emmy Awards.
His career has focused on public media management, institutional development, programming, and community engagement.
As Executive Producer, Meyer contributes public television leadership and experience in developing the institutional relationships necessary to bring educational programming to national audiences.
Southern Oregon PBS serves as the project's presenting station, providing underwriting administration, public media coordination, and national distribution support.
Mindy Gomes
Financial Administrator | Southern Oregon PBS
Mindy Gomes serves as Financial Administrator for The Story of Radio at Southern Oregon PBS (SOPBS).
Working with Executive Producer Phil Meyer and Producer/Director Kris Koenig, Gomes oversees the project's financial administration, including underwriting agreements, invoicing, and billing coordination.
Robin Sip
Immersive Film Producer | Founder and CEO, Mirage3D
Robin Sip is an internationally recognized immersive filmmaker and the founder and CEO of Mirage3D, a Netherlands-based production company specializing in full-dome cinema, scientific visualization, and large-format storytelling.
Since founding Mirage3D in 1999, Sip has helped advance the creative and technical possibilities of digital planetarium filmmaking.
His work combines cinematic storytelling, sophisticated computer animation, scientific visualization, and innovative imaging technologies to create immersive experiences for international audiences.
Sip's production experience includes Dawn of the Space Age, Origins of Life, Natural Selection, Dinosaurs at Dusk, and Mars 1001.
He and Kris Koenig previously collaborated on Seeing: A Photon's Journey Through Space and Mind, an immersive science film supported by ZEISS and developed for international planetarium audiences.
Their renewed collaboration on The Story of Radio brings together an established creative relationship and extensive experience in scientific storytelling.
As Producer of the project's 30-minute immersive film, Sip will help guide the creative development and cinematic realization of the invisible electromagnetic world.
Shawn Laatsch
Immersive Film Producer | Former President, International Planetarium Society
Shawn Laatsch is an internationally recognized planetarium professional, astronomy educator, and former President of the International Planetarium Society (IPS).
His career spans decades of planetarium programming, immersive science education, theater management, and international collaboration.
Laatsch has held leadership positions at planetariums and science centers in the United States and Europe, including the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i and the Infoversum immersive theater in the Netherlands.
He has served as Director of the Versant Power Astronomy Center and Jordan Planetarium at the University of Maine.
A longtime leader within the International Planetarium Society, Laatsch has served in senior organizational positions, including Treasurer and President, contributing to professional collaboration and educational programming across the international planetarium community.
His work emphasizes bringing astronomy and scientific discovery to audiences of all ages through engaging visual experiences.
As a Producer of The Story of Radio immersive film, Laatsch brings expertise in planetarium programming, science education, audience engagement, and the international full-dome exhibition community.
His participation will help shape an experience that is scientifically engaging, visually compelling, and relevant to planetarium audiences worldwide.
A Shared Creative Vision
Making the Invisible Visible
The production team brings together complementary experience in documentary filmmaking, public television, immersive visualization, and science education.
The one-hour documentary will explore radio through the people, discoveries, and technologies that have transformed civilization.
The immersive presentation will take audiences inside the electromagnetic world, revealing phenomena that cannot be seen with the human eye.
Digital storytelling will provide opportunities to explore individual discoveries and human experiences beyond the limits of the broadcast.
Educational initiatives will transform the subject into hands-on experiences that encourage students to experiment, question, and discover.
The objective is not simply to explain radio.
It is to reveal the extraordinary scientific and human story hidden within the invisible signals surrounding us.
Inspiring the Next Generation
Curiosity Is Where Discovery Begins
One of the project's central objectives is to inspire young people to explore science and technology.
Radio offers a remarkable educational gateway.
Students can build antennas, experiment with electronic circuits, decode Morse code, receive satellite signals, and discover how electromagnetic waves carry information.
A classroom can even launch a miniature radio-equipped balloon and track its journey across oceans and continents, connecting physics, mathematics, geography, meteorology, and engineering with a real-world scientific experiment.
These experiences demonstrate that scientific discovery is not limited to large laboratories or professional researchers.
It begins with curiosity, experimentation, and the willingness to ask questions.
Through its educational initiatives, The Story of Radio aims to encourage students to become the scientists, engineers, innovators, and explorers of tomorrow.
The Story Continues
Exploring the Invisible World Around Us
Radio's story is far from finished.
New wireless technologies continue to transform communication.
Radio astronomy reveals previously unseen aspects of the universe.
Medical researchers develop new applications of electromagnetic science.
Amateur experimenters explore innovative ways to communicate using increasingly sophisticated—and sometimes remarkably simple—equipment.
And around the world, people continue to discover that invisible signals can create meaningful human connections.
The Story of Radio is an invitation to explore this extraordinary world.
To understand the science.
To meet the people.
To experience the discoveries.
And to recognize the invisible forces that connect us all.
The world is filled with signals. Every signal has a story.