Signal Hill (Signal Hill)

Signal Hill is a new audio magazine. The first issue comes out on February 17th. Find out more at signalhill.fm

The first transatlantic radio signal ever received hit an antenna attached to a kite attached to a wire attached to a tower on top of Signal Hill, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada on December 12th, 1901. It said ‘s’ in Morse Code (‘dot dot dot’).

We’re named after all the places in the world called Signal Hill. There are eighteen that we know of.

Every spring since 2020, people from all over LA have come to a windy downtown park to make and fly kites at The Community & Unity People's Kite Festival. 

Jackson Roach is co-editor-in-chief of Signal Hill. They live in Chicago.

Neena Pathak conquers her senses at hot yoga. Kind of. 

Neena Pathak is a writer and audio maker based in Los Angeles.

Desperado features Alex Laughlin, Lasha Madan, Salimah Mohamed, Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr., and Schuyler Swenson as yoga teachers. Yoga consult by Utkarsh Sanjanwala. Sanskrit consult by Vijaya Chitre.

Robin D. G. Kelley listens back to the oral histories that became his groundbreaking book Hammer and Hoe. Music in this piece is by Nathan Bowles.

Conor Gillies is the audio editor at Jacobin, where he makes shows such as Long Reads and People's History.

Hannah Sassoon went to southern France to work on a sheep farm. Then she learned about the military camp.

Hannah Sassoon is a writer living in New York.

An amateur documentarian, a neighborhood historian, and the story no one tells about San Francisco’s Sunset District. 

Ian Lewis is a filmmaker and radio producer living in Marfa, Texas. 

Red House, Blue House features Rob Weiner and Adrienne Humblet.

Annie’s mom, an esteemed entomologist, knows a lot about bugs. Her ten-year-old Japanese pen pal might know more. 

Annie Rosenthal is an editor at Signal Hill and the Virginia Spencer Davis fellow at High Country News.

Over four sticky months, Cheryl Rivera went to protests, and meetings, and hung out with her friends. She brought a microphone with her. 

Cheryl Rivera is an editor at Lux Magazine and culture worker organizing in Brooklyn.

We return to the goo goo ga ga psychobabble of our first selves.

Hannah Kingsley-Ma is a writer and audio producer living in Brooklyn.

Signal Hill is supported by the sun, the air, food, water, and your tax-deductible donations.

We depend on listeners to make Signal Hill possible. Sign up for a monthly membership or make a donation of any amount to help us continue this project. 

A Very Special and Real Offer was written and directed by Ian Lewis. 

Signal Hill is edited by Omar Etman, Jackson Roach, Annie Rosenthal, Lio Wong and Liza Yeager. Jackson and Liza are the editors in chief.

The stories in issue one were created by Conor Gillies, Hannah Kingsley-Ma, Ian Lewis, Neena Pathak, Cheryl Rivera, Jackson Roach, Annie Rosenthal, and Hannah Sassoon, with support from the editors, and also from their cohort of fellow contributors.

Fact checking on “Caterpillar Roadshow” and “A Porous Place” by Alan Dean.

As of Issue One, the Signal Hill music library has been stocked by Clara E. Brill, J. Mamana, Ethan Philbrick and Jackson Roach. The music in “Pie Down Here” was created by Nathan Bowles. Additional music in “Caterpillar Roadshow” and “On The Family Group Chat” is from Blue Dot Sessions.

The Issue One cover and story illustrations are by Molly Hastings.

Lindsey MacMillan is our web designer. Additional graphic design by Harrison Smith. Alex Hanesworth designed the Signal Hill Logo.

Ian Lewis wrote and produced our plea for financial support, and Lio Wong created the trailer.

The Signal Hill field recordings in our editors’ note were collected by Alec Lever, Austin Lever, Marykate Cardon, and Nicole Walen.

Signal Hill’s board of directors is Caroline Kanner, Emily Kennedy, and Alex Lewis.

Our administrative advisor is Eliza Dexter Cohen.

Special thanks to Suzanne Benz, Lisa Borst, Travis Bubenik, Elena Saavedra Buckley, Maya Goldberg-Safir, Brandi Howell, Matt Kielty, Alex Sujong Laughlin, Andrew Leland, Rachel Ossip, Amelia Schonbek, and Tamar Simon.