Sights and sounds of Next Generation Radio from Kansas City

Last Updated on November 28, 2008 by askcbiorg

By Doug Mitchell

For the fifth time, CBI and NPR’s next generation radio co-sponsored a hands-on, radio training project at the National College Media Convention, Oct. 27-Nov. 2.  The idea is to give students interested in public radio journalism a chance to conceive, develop, report and produce their own stories under the guidance of a professional journalist.

With the growing demand for employees with multi-media skills today, we changed our approach this year from previous next gen training projects. The students were selected and teams created two weeks before we all met in Kansas City. That’s not the new part. But, before we all met, each team vetted their story concept through Google Documents.  No one was in the same location.  Google makes it easy to do real-time, shared editing (vetting). Our Managing Editor, Mike Marcotte, logged into each team’s

Google document and refined each idea.  You can click on each “buildout” below. Click here to download a copy of Mike’s greeting to workshop participants. By the time we all met Oct. 27, each team had very clear ideas on their story and what kind of slide show to think about as they are doing their audio piece.Each team did their audio piece and each learned the finer points of recording, written and audio editing and production from Next Gen Technical Advisor Tom Krymkowski.  Then, each team went back into their finished audio piece to decide what audio worked best with the visuals they accumulated while they were reporting their story.  With this work-flow, two versions of the same story for two platforms in the same amount of time.

Andrew Russell is a college senior at Texas State University. He’s currently rounding out a degree in History and English. His interests include broadcast journalism, radio, music and creative writing. Currently Andrew is a reporter and DJ for KTSW San Marcos, Texas.  His mentor on the project was Jesse Baker, Acting Senior Producer for the NPR program “The Takeaway” at WNYC in New York City.

Andrew’s  story: In Kansas City, Kansas voters are already casting their ballots for the next president. Just across the Missouri State line no one is early voting. That’s because Missouri only provides early ballots to absentee voters with a good excuse. Next Generation’s Andrew Russell has the story from both sides of the state line.

See Andrew’s Soundslides work here. You can find the story buildout here. To hear the audio version of Andrew’s work, click the button right below.

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Jenifer Jones

Jenifer is a senior at the University of South Dakota in Vermilion, South Dakota.  She’s a double major in Contemporary Media and Journalism with an emphasis in Electronic Media, and International Studies, plus a French minor. Whew! And, Jennifer is a news intern at South Dakota Public Broadcasting. Jenifer’s mentor on this project was Latoya Dennis, a reporter for Milwaukee Public Radio in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Latoya was once a student in this project.

Jenifer’s story:  Seventy thousand young adults are diagnosed with cancer each year. Cancers that affect 15-25 to year olds are typically more aggressive than those found in older patients. They face a variety of issues unique to their age group. Next Generation Radio’s Jenifer Jones has the story of one woman overcoming those problems.

See Jennifer’s Soundslides here. You can find the story buildout here. To hear the audio version of Jennifer’s work, click the button right below.

[audio:https://www.askcbi.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/jeniferjones_yacancer_final.mp3]

Soukprida Phetmisy, better known as Victoria, is currently a Junior at the Savannah College of Art and Design. student studying contemporary writing and storyboarding in the midst of Spanish moss and horse-drawn carriages. Involved in SCAD Radio and District at SCAD, she definitely has quite a thing for media. And she’s a bit on the quirky side, liking to keep herself inspired by experiencing new environments and mediums.  She hopes to one day be apart of the media world and to contribute something lasting to the bigger picture. Victoria’s mentor on this project was Martina Castro, a former NPR producer and now an independent journalist based in San Francisco.  Martina writes the Next Gen column “The Stitch.“

Victoria’s story:  An accent is a quick way to judge a person’s cultural origin. Next Generation Radio’s Victoria Phetmisy is a girl who lost her accent and worries that her cultural identity has faded with it.

See Victoria’s Soundslides here. You can find the story buildout here. To hear the audio version of Victoria’s work, click the button right below.

[audio:https://www.askcbi.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/victoriaphetmisy_accents_final.mp3]

Elana Gordon

Elana is the Health Reporter for NPR station KCUR in Kansas City MO.  While not a “student” officially, her mentor on the project was Laura Ziegler, who is a long time reporter for KCUR.  Why?  Elana and Laura spent the week working on one story, together, with all the ups and downs that go with reporting and then producing a story.  They got a chance to teach and learn and we can tell you that rarely happens in newsrooms.

Elana’s story:  In Missouri and around the country, health and law enforcement officials are seeing an increase in abuse and overdose from prescription painkillers, like Oxycontin and Vicotin.The Centers for Disease Control report the problem’s more than doubled in recent years. But local authorities say that many challenges stand in the way of solving the problem. Next generation radio’s Elana Gordon reports.

See Elana’s Soundslides here. You can find the story buildout here. To hear the audio version of Elana’s work, click the button right below.

[audio:https://www.askcbi.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/elanagordon_prescdrugs_final.mp3]

Kareem Estefan

Kareem Estefan lives in Washington, D.C., where he grew up watching The Weather Channel and hoping to be a meteorologist. Since then, Kareem’s written music reviews, poems, and critical essays for publications like SPIN, Stylus Magazine, Rain Taxi, President’s Choice, and Sustainable Aircraft. From 2007-2008, he hosted a WNYU radio show for contemporary avant-garde poetry, Ceptuetics, which is archived at the University of Pennsylvania’s PennSound. He graduated from New York University in 2008 with a B.A. in comparative literature. Kareem’s mentor on this project was Steve Lickteig, who is the executive producer for “The Bob Edwards Show” at Sirius-XM Satellite Radio. 

Kareem’s story: In the once-depressed River Market area of Kansas City, locals flock into a building known as Artspace. Sitting alongside the Missouri River, the structure houses the Kansas City Artists Coalition, a non-profit organization. For the last three decades, the coalition has given artists a reason to call Kansas City home. Next generation radio’s Kareem Estefan reports…

See Kareem’s Soundslides here. You can find the story buildout here. To hear teh audio version of Kareem’s work, click the button right below.

[audio:https://www.askcbi.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/kareemestefan_kcac_final.mp3]

Suzanne Hogan

Suzanne Hogan is a producer for NPR station KCUR in Kansas City. She and Marcio Sanchez, staff photographer and multi-media journalist for the Associated Press comprised the sixth team.  Suzanne is an amateur photographer and with Marcio, as her mentor,  shot most of the photos and then produced each of the slideshows.

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