Orlando de Guzman's Bio

Orlando's introduction to radio production was as a sound recordist at live author readings at the Elliot Bay Book Company in Seattle in 1993. He learned how to set recording levels, and cut and splice tape while being introduced for the first time to the literary voices of storytellers such as Barry Lopez and John McPhee.

When he was 18 years old Orlando immigrated to Seattle from the Philippines, where he was born and spent much of his life. Radio has always been an important part of Philippine life. It's a place where political commentary, gossip, and the news of one coup attempt or another is spread across the archipelago of 7,000 islands. In the Philippines Orlando grew up with artists parents in the tribal, mountainous north of Luzon island.

After finishing his degree in Southeast Asian studies at the University of Washington, Orlando bought a one-way Greyhound ticket to Pullman, Washington to take a part-time job at KWSU-FM. The small radio network in the wheat fields of eastern Washington allowed him to do everything, from reading the news to producing feature stories.

Orlando then joined NPR's Diversity Initiative and later interned as a tape cutter for All Things Considered. During his off hours, he would sneak down to NPR's tape library and pull out independent productions by Sandy Tolan (the Vanishing Homelands series), as well as other independent documentaries, and copy and listen to them. Being introduced to these works was one of the biggest perks of the job.

After the stint in Washington, Orlando moved back to Seattle and worked as a freelance reporter for KUOW. He would later work as a producer in WBEZ-Chicago for a public affairs program where he says he had the honor of taping and producing Studs Terkel's interviews. The experience of meeting Studs made Orlando an instant fan.

In 2000, Orlando moved to Bangkok with his wife Anna, who worked for Planned Parenthood's international division. Living in Bangkok was chance for Orlando to fulfill a long-held goal of working as a freelance correspondent around Southeast Asia.

Orlando has traveled extensively around Southeast Asia, picking up assignments for Radio Television Hong Kong, Deutsche Welle and WGBH/PRI's The World. He has also contributed regularly to the BBC World Service. Orlando has strived to report the stories that are often below the radar screen of regular, (and often fiercely territorial) network correspondents. As an independent, Orlando has resisted the lure of big 'news' stories for more in-depth human interest features in far away regions. In Indonesia, Orlando covered the under-reported yet brutal separatist conflict in the breakaway province of Aceh. There, he was first to break a story of East Timor-style Indonesian army abuses at a massacre at a remote village. He also reported the complicity of Exxon-Mobil's guns-for-hire in human rights abuses in the gas rich province. In the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, Orlando covered the long-running Muslim separatist movement, eventually producing a TV documentary for PBS's Frontline/World program. He has also reported from Burma, Cambodia and India. Last year, Orlando covered the emerging insurgency against the occupation in Iraq for WGBH's The World. He recently helped produce a BBC Channel 4 documentary focusing on the lives of 16 soldiers and guerillas fighting in various frontlines around the world. Orlando is keen to work on more documentary projects, in both film and radio.

Orlando is currently on paternity leave, enjoying precious time with his newborn boy Carlos and relishing the simple pleasures of cooking, reading and gardening. In August he plans to return to journalism with a renewed and rejuvinated vision. His first assignment will be a series of stories from Japan for The World.

Audio
  Aceh Story [Segment] (07.57.0). Download: MP3 [3.7mb]
  Cambodian Dance [Segment] (06.11.0). Download: MP3 [2.9mb]