Harri Watson has been a television producer for 10 years and is now an Executive Producer for the Radio Wolfgang website which features “Great music. Great storytelling.”

The website has recently launched and includes live streaming music and several audio stories – including an audio documentary on ASMR produced by Harri.

She interviewed Heather Feather, Ilse Blansert (thewaterwhispers), Dmitri (massageASMR) and additional individuals whom create, experience and/or study ASMR.

In my interview with Harri she shared why she selected ASMR as a topic for the launch of Radio Wolfgang, what surprised her the most during production, the reception to her documentary, and more.

Below are my questions in bold, her replies in italics, and a link to her audio documentary about ASMR.

How did you become involved with Radio Wolfgang?

Harri, “I previously worked in television in the UK for 10 years and was approached by the co-founders of Radio Wolfgang about a new independent digital radio platform they were launching. I had a meeting and loved the remit of what they were trying to do: to create a mixed speech and music service, offering in-depth documentaries as well as comedy and factual programming, that informs and entertains but also inspires with its content. I signed up straight away.”

What do you think makes Wolfgang Radio special?

Harri, “Being an independent radio station means that we are free to curate our content without being restricted by broadcasters or political agendas, and it means we can play music we love, rather than be dictated to by the record industry.

I also really liked that the station is committed to shining a light on people who are making positive contributions to the world, whether on a small or a large scale. I think that radio as a medium and how we consume it is really changing – there are a lot of really great radio and podcast producers, especially coming out of the US that are pushing the boundaries of content making: I think it’s an exciting time in radio, there is a new generation of radio platforms which are creating really innovative programming.”

Do you experience ASMR? If so, please describe your triggers and sensations.

Harri, “No, I wish I did! Even listening over and over to all the different ASMR artists, sadly didn’t trigger anything. My partner does though, and its through him that I first discovered the ASMR community.”

Do you have a favorite online ASMR artist or ASMR video?

Harri, “I first came across Heather Feather actually when I started looking into it and I really like what she does, but as I said I don’t experience it on a personal level. So all I can really say is that it was great working with all the individual artists featured in the documentary, they were all very talented in their different approaches and I really respect them as content producers.”

Why was ASMR selected as one of the first audio documentary topics?

Harri, “I was a looking for a subject that would personally fascinate me, to explore in more depth, and one that perhaps other people might not know about.”

What can listeners expect to learn about ASMR from the documentary?

Harri, “Well hopefully they can learn whether they experience ASMR or not themselves first of all!

I wanted to explore ASMR purely from hearing from the voices of the people involved in this community. I didn’t want to focus on just one person as I think that everybody’s experience of ASMR is different, I wanted to explore the reason behind why the producers are creating content, and the effects it can have on the individual as well as its potential to be harnessed as a therapeutic tool in the future.

I also think that there is a preconception by a lot of people that ASMR is a sexualised experience and this is something that I wanted to address within the documentary.”

What challenges did you experience with producing the documentary?

Harri, “There are so many amazing ASMR artists making really innovative content that it was quite a challenge to limit myself to making just a 30 minute piece of radio – however, when it came to the edit I was quite glad not to have ASMR as I think it must be quite distracting to edit ASMR content if you were to be easily triggered when listening to it over and over again.”

What do you think a listener will find the most interesting or surprising in the documentary?

Harri, “I think lots of people will be surprised to finally put a name to the sensations they have been feeling all their life – I think they may also be surprised at how large the ASMR community already is.”

What was the most interesting or surprising thing that you learned about ASMR or ASMR artists during the production process?

Harri, “To be honest at first, the existence of the ASMR community at all was a big surprise, especially to someone who does not experience it.

I think listeners will relate to the doc in different ways – I think many might know they experience these sensations but have never known the name for it, others might assume that everyone experiences it, while there are people who don’t experience it who think it sounds completely weird.”

How has the reception to the documentary been so far?

Harri, “Overwhelmingly people want to share whether they have it or not. Others say “I think my Dad has that” or similar….the reaction has been very positive, most people are very curious about it and say that after listening they have immediately gone online to check out more content and see if they can work out their own triggers.”

Will Wolfgang Radio be broadcasting any more ASMR or ASMR-related content in the future?

Harri, “It’s an amazing community which is still growing and I think that there is definitely more interesting documentaries that could be made in this area – I also think that as a radio station and with our documentaries, we always want to achieve a really immersive and experiential sound for our listeners, so perhaps one of the things I learnt from making this documentary would be how to include the benefits of ASMR in our normal programming. E.g we have a strand called Stream of Consciousness on our station and it would be great to use what we know about ASMR in some of our mediation and relaxation content.”

What else is on the horizon for Wolfgang Radio?

Harri, “We soft launched last week and so we are busy preparing content ahead of our full website launch in the Autumn, along with our app. We want to be the home of content that is innovative and engaging, and first and foremost, just tell great stories.”

Click HERE to connect with Radio Wolfgang and listen to Harri’s documentary titled, “The lives of others: ASMR.”

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This post brought to you by ASMR University.  A site with the mission of increasing the awareness, understanding, and research of the Art and Science of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.