The Lisbon Memory Broadcast

The Lisbon Memory Broadcast is a site-specific audio drama that only exists when you walk Lisbon. Episodes are geolocked to seven distinct neighborhoods (Alfama, Bairro Alto, Belém, etc.), each containing a fragment of a larger mystery: a lost 1974 recording of a fado singer who predicted the Carnation Revolution but was erased from history. Listeners start by picking up a hand-drawn map from a bookshop in Chiado (real locations, real partnerships). At each trigger point — a miradouro, a tram stop, a tiled façade — a QR code unlocks an 8-12 minute episode. These aren’t just narration; they’re layered soundscapes of fado, street vendors, tram bells, and voices from the past. The story adapts to the listener’s route: choose Alfama first, you get the fado singer’s childhood; start at Belém, you learn about the political cover-up. The entire narrative has five possible entry points and three endings, stitched together by a central audio feed that updates as you unlock chapters. It’s a love letter to Lisbon — its light, its melancholy, its hidden corners — and could literally not work anywhere else.

Most narrative podcasts are consumed passively at home or on a commute, divorced from place. Lisbon’s identity is deeply physical — its hills separate classes, its trams carry memory, its azulejos tell stories — but no existing audio project forces you to inhabit that geography as part of the story. Audio guides exist, but they’re dry, non-narrative. This scratches the itch of wanting to live inside a story, not just hear it.

• Produce 7 high-fidelity audio episodes (8-12 min each) in Portuguese and English
• Partner with 7 local businesses (bookshop, café, fado house, etc.) to host starting points and maps
• Design a low-tech geolocking system using QR codes and a simple mobile web app (no app store submission)
• Create a narrative that branches across 5 entry points, 3 endings, with all paths coherent
• Record authentic fado and field recordings in each location (liberdade de captação locally)
• Distribute 2000 physical maps through tourism offices and partner venues in first season

• Not a gamified scavenger hunt with points or leaderboards
• Not designed for non-Lisbon audiences; no remote listening capability
• Not a walking tour of facts — fiction, not history lesson
• No app store app; lightweight PWA only
• Not a commercial product; free, arts-funded

Field recorder (Zoom H6), binaural microphones (3Dio FS), DAW (Reaper), fado session recording with local musicians, QR code generator, static site hosted on Netlify with geolocation API (browser-based, requesting permission), hand-drawn maps printed via risograph, waterproof paper. All audio mixed in stereo with spatial cues (e.g., left ear = tram direction).

The project is structured as a branching narrative tree with 7 nodes (neighborhoods), each node containing an episode file and a set of unlock conditions tied to a listener’s route. When a listener scans a QR at a location, the PWA uses browser geolocation to verify proximity (within 200m) and logs the episode as unlocked. The PWA tracks which paths have been taken and serves the appropriate next episode hint (e.g., “Now head to the miradouro where the singer used to meet her lover”). The central narrative thread is held together by a ‘Memory Broadcast’ — a weekly audio feed that updates the story’s meta-narrative (like a podcast within the podcast) only after at least 3 episodes are unlocked. The architecture is deliberately simple: no server-side persistence, local storage only. The map and QR codes are physical delivery; the digital layer is minimalist.

• Weather: rainy days kill foot traffic and vibe. Solution: indoor start points with covered paths.
• Device dependency: some visitors lack data roaming. Solution: downloadable map + offline-capable PWA (cache audio).
• Narrative coherence: listeners taking wildly different routes get confused. Solution: central feed that recaps and contextualizes.
• Permission fatigue: venues may drop out. Solution: no exclusivity, always have backups.
• Fado licensing: recording original fado requires clearance. Solution: commission new compositions specifically for the project.

• Should the audio be in Portuguese with English subtitles (on phone), or fully bilingual editions? Split tracks?
• How to handle listeners who start at multiple triggers simultaneously — do we lock them out of paths? Or allow all?
• Is there a ‘true’ ending? Or do we embrace the ambiguity of multiple truths?
• Should we sell the maps or give them away? Pricing vs accessibility.
• How to preserve the project after the physical run — archive as a linear podcast?

I got deep into planning — recorded test binaural audio at Miradouro da Graça, sketched the narrative tree, even talked to two fado houses in Alfama — but then a full-time job + move to Berlin derailed the momentum. The project required being physically in Lisbon for months, and I couldn’t justify the time without a grant. The plan is still on a shelf, waiting for a sabbatical or residency.

The fado singer at the core is fictional but inspired by Maria Severa (19th century) and Amália Rodrigues. The 1974 recording is a MacGuffin. One key location: the Elevador da Glória — the tram itself carries a chapter. Sound design trick: each episode’s ambient noise changes subtly based on the time of day the listener scans (using browser time), so a morning walk sounds different from dusk.