Erica Heilman / Rumble Strip, Erica Heilman
359 episodes listed below
Slow, unhurried Vermont conversations on gender, class, and aging, hosted by Erica Heilman.
Rumble Strip is a patient documentary conversation show rooted in Vermont lives and listener voices. Recent episodes move from class shame and paycheck math to communal singing, Thanksgiving recordings, and the strange emotional weight of money.
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Rumble Strip is hosted, interviewed, and produced by Erica Heilman, who works largely solo as narrator and editor. The format mixes first-person interview with documentary framing: Heilman introduces her subjects, threads in her own observations between answers, and often closes with music from a neighbor or a friend's band. Guests are typically ordinary people rather than public figures — a transgender resident describing dissociation, freezer-ice grounding techniques, and hormone therapy; a private investigator recounting a mastectomy alongside a capital-defense funding crisis; founders and residents of a communal elder-housing project in Randolph, Vermont; an anonymous Norwegian-born investment manager discussing why money 'works better' for some people. Recurring themes include gender identity and transition, aging and elder care, money and class divides, criminal justice and public defense funding, and the health of public and community radio. Some episodes are single extended interviews; others revisit or extend earlier series, such as a recurring 'What Class Are You' thread built from listener responses. The tone favors patience and detail over tight editing, with long pauses left in and digressions allowed to run. Episodes generally run 20 to 35 minutes. The show is distributed through the Hub and Spoke Audio Collective and has aired segments produced in partnership with Vermont Public. It suits listeners looking for character-driven, place-specific documentary storytelling rooted in Vermont rather than news-cycle interviews.
Made for: Listeners who enjoy patient, character-driven audio documentary about ordinary people's lives in Vermont, including stories about identity, class, aging, and public institutions.
What sets it apart: Unlike news-hooked interview shows, Rumble Strip lets a single life story — a transition, a diagnosis, a communal elder home — unfold at length with narration and local music rather than a topical Q&A format.
Good conversation that takes its time, hosted by Erica Heilman.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Erica Heilman makes social systems tangible through intimate conversations, patient questions, and the distinctive sounds of lives being lived in Vermont.
Rumble Strip turns large social questions into close, place-conscious conversations. Erica Heilman moves between gender dysphoria, public radio funding, class anxiety, criminal defense work, aging, and communal living, usually beginning with a person whose experience makes the…
Erica Heilman lets Vermont rooms breathe until you hear the question polite conversation keeps dodging.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A sharp, humane conversation about class shame and why saving can stop feeling like safety.
Rumble Strip returns to its class series with a conversation about money, shame, and the old promise that work can be stored up as safety. Erica Heilman brings in EM, an unnamed investment manager in Scotland who has also lived and worked in the United States, to think through…
A tender house portrait about aging, loneliness, and the relief of living near other people.
Joslyn House Revisited returns to a Randolph, Vermont house where older people live independently together rather than in a nursing home or assisted living facility.
A close, weathered conversation about friendship, criminal defense work, and the hard limits of being useful.
In "Susan Randall. Hold the Line," Erica Heilman meets her longtime friend Susan Randall at a family camp on Lake Champlain, in the strange beauty of late fall.
A plainspoken defense of public radio as local connection, public memory, and neighborly care.
Rumble Strip treats the fight over public media funding as an emergency, but Erika Heilman keeps the conversation close to the ground. She calls Jay Allison, a producer, teacher, Transom founder, Moth Radio Hour producer, and founder of WCAI, to ask what disappears when public…
A quiet, physical account of recognizing transness after years of feeling absent from oneself.
Kasey Phipps's story is about spending years estranged from a body before having language that made the feeling legible. Erica Heilman keeps the conversation close, letting Kasey describe dissociation, the worsening discomfort that began around puberty, and the strange logic of…
Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal argue through media meltdowns, trans policy, and psychiatric skepticism.
Michael Buerk chairs a panel cross-examining witnesses on the week's contested moral question.
Authors Deesha Philyaw and Kiese Laymon interview writers and dissect essays like Toni Morrison's.
This episode features a listener's reaction to a previous story about economic shame, focusing on the marshmallow experiment as a metaphor for financial behavior.
Rumble Strip host Erica Heilman interviews an unnamed Scottish investment manager, EM, about inflation, debasement, class, and financial shame.
This episode explores how a song written for a community bonfire after a teenager's suicide in Vermont has become a global anthem of solidarity and healing.
This episode features a conversation with siblings Arwa and Habib about how race and class impact their lives as teenagers in Vermont, discussing their family's financial struggles and perceptions of wealth.
A conversation with Kay Phipps about how limited income makes her feel like a child long into adulthood, illustrated through childhood memories of receiving government bonds as gifts.
Erica Heilman interviews Jules Gilmette, who grew up on a family farm in Vermont and now works as an electrician, exploring themes of class identity, financial insecurity, and the burden of land ownership.
Trudy Richmond discusses her experience living in subsidized senior housing and navigating class identity as an educated but low-income older person.
This episode features personal recordings and reflections from Thanksgiving, including a family's snowy travel and preparations for a smaller holiday gathering with a vegetarian dish.
The host shares a sampler of recordings from friends and listeners about their Thanksgiving experiences, blending personal anecdotes and reflections on the holiday.
Host Erica Heilman asks listeners to record voice memos about their Thanksgiving experiences for a collaborative show.
Host Erica Heilman interviews Vietnam veteran Vaughn Hood about his life and experiences, starting with his decision to become a barber.
Host Erica Heilman attends a friend's birthday party but retreats to a guest room, asking attendees to record their experiences.
Jocelyn House in Randolph, Vermont is a privately run shared home where up to 20 older adults live independently together for $1,980 a month, with three meals a day and no medical services.
Erica Heilman interviews Vermont farmer Forrest Foster about building a new barn after selling his cows due to drought and inspection issues.
Host Erica Heilman visits friend Ralph Rockwell to discuss his lifelong passion for restoring and competing with antique tractors.
Private investigator Susan Randall visits host Erica Heilman at her mother's Vermont lakehouse and discusses a year that included her father's death, a second breast cancer diagnosis, and a mastectomy that removed cancer found in 8 of 18 tissue slices.
A naturalist describes his discovery of parasitic worms that take over snail eye stalks, turning them into pulsing appendages.
Host Erika Heilman calls Jay Allison — a public radio producer with six Peabody Awards and founder of Cape Cod station WCAI — to discuss the Congressional rescission bill that eliminates $1.1 billion in Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding.
A reflective conversation about the tension between resentment of household chores and finding beauty in mundane moments.
A conversation with a criminal defense attorney about how the American class system shapes identity and perspective.
Host Erica Heilman introduces a narrative piece called 'Death in Venice' produced by Larry, featuring music and storytelling set on a Florida beach.
A tribute episode featuring a story about Larry Massett's unexpected extended stay at Mount Shasta during a road trip.
The host reflects on the show's direction while discussing snow load on a roof with a friend, then transitions to ambient sounds of lyrebirds.
Host Erica Heilman reflects on a frustrating call with her health insurance company and invites listeners to submit audio capturing the sound of diffuse despair in failing systems.
Erica Heilman shares a ride with Forrest in his newly purchased dump truck, discussing its condition and his life.
A conversation with a Vermont farmer who is selling his cows due to lack of farm insurance, reflecting on the end of an era.
A personal narrative about the devastating flood that destroyed the Heartbreak Hotel in Plainfield, Vermont, and the survivors' stories.
A personal narrative exploring the experience of active opiate addiction through an interview with a man named Mark.
Host Erica Heilman introduces a rerun of a profile about Mark Utter, a man with autism who communicates through supported typing, and shares his story as he enters hospice.
This episode explores the Aphasia Choir of Vermont, a group for stroke survivors with aphasia who use singing to regain communication and combat isolation.
A mother reflects on her son's suicide and the homemade memorial built by his friends in a Vermont pine forest.
This episode revisits a story about Will Staats, a wildlife biologist and passionate hunter who shares his deep knowledge of Vermont's remote Victory Bog and surrounding forests.
Host Erica Heilman shares personal updates and introduces a conversation with a local resident about daily life.
The host reflects on turning 50 and her lifelong love for Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart', connecting it to a personal renewal or 'phoenix moment'.
Rumble Strip’s "Kasey is Figuring it Out" follows Casey Phipps through the search for words, from a childhood in "extremely queerphobic" Virginia to moving to Vermont and naming gender dysphoria.