Brian Eno, Meet Jimmy McNulty: How to Turn a Police Scanner into Sweet, Sweet Music

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PoliceScanner-0129.mp3

January 29, 2013

Several years ago, Eric Eberhardt stumbled upon the idea of mixing the squawk of a police scanner with a soothing, ambient soundtrack. The result was the website, “You Are Listening To…”

He started the first "You Are Listening To..." in Los Angeles. He got inspiration for the name of the site from the Soul Coughing song "Screenwriter's Blues". It repeats the line, "You are listening to Los Angeles..." The went viral and before long, Eberhardt started getting requests from people to build sites for other cities. About a year ago, he built a "You Are Listening To..." site for Baltimore. Listen to "You Are Listening To Baltimore".

Eric Eberhardt spoke with producer Matt Purdy about why he thinks "You Are Listening To..." holds our attention.

According to Eberhardt, Chicago has some of the most interesting chatter on the police scanner. Here's You Are Listening To Chicago. The Baltimore police scanner audio used in this segment is from the night the Ravens won the AFC championship. You might want to check out "You Are Listening To Baltimore" after the Super Bowl on Sunday, especially if the Ravens win.

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Web Extra: MICA Professor Jason Sloan on the allure of listening to police scanners.

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Web Extra: Sloan on why he regularly listens to police scanners.