Podcasting and Radio News

For my podcast I would like to focus on independent business around the New York City area. What inspired them to come up with the idea? When did they finally believe they were able to accomplish making their own business? What were the first few road blocks? How great was finally opening? What’s in the future?

I’ll be interviewing the owners of Ceremonia Bakeshop located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’s one of my favorite places to go to, new establishment and would be great a start for the independent business podcast.

I will be interviewing a photographer named Andrew Godreaux (@phaser on social media). After graduation high school, he decided that he wanted to focus on his passion for photography and turn that into his career. He has worked with Lil Nas X, photographing the behind the scenes of his music video for ‘Old Town Road’ as well as done street photography. He has twelve thousand followers on social media and I think it would be interesting to see his views on higher education art schools and why he decided to take a more risky route for a career than a standard career.

For my podcast, I will be interviewing a friend of mine named Tay-Shaun Lawrence about his experience being an African American male at a high level PWI(college) and how his experiences throughout private school in NY(middle school and high-school) helped prepare him.

For my podcast I would like to interview a street performer. When I thought about a podcast, I think about sounds that are pleasing to the ear and I stumbled upon a street performer who plays the saxophone. I would like to interview him to give readers the perspective of what its like to be a street performer. I plan to ask him about his journey as a saxophonist. I plan to ask how he got into street performing and what his goal are in the future. People may overlook street performers and might not se their potential. However I plan to give this saxophonist a voice to tell his story. Hopefully this can inspire other musicians and let passerbys think twice before ignoring or undermining their talent.

Class discussion:

We’ll listen to a handful of your practice exercises from last week, and address any problems that came up or lessons learned. (Issues with sound quality, for instance, or making sure you intentionally record both questions and answers so you have quality sound for both, sitting close to your subject, finding a place to rest your elbow so your arm doesn’t get tired and you don’t have to change hands, creating handling noise, etc.)

Upcoming dates:

• Class this coming Monday, Sept. 16, will be devoted to editing and production on your podcasts, recording your host intros and outros, equipment returns and checkouts, and/or time spent reporting, if that’s how it can best be used.
  (Note: We have a makeshift studio in a room on this floor that I can give you access to, where you can record directly onto the computer, which is set up with a mic. If you plan to record at home, make sure you’re recording in a location that is as soundproofed as possible, like under a blanket or in a closet, or at the very least a room with carpeting and the air conditioning switched off.)
• Completed podcast due by class time on Wednesday, Sept. 18.
• Pitches for Assignment #2, a 5-minute news radio feature (a “wrap”), will be due on Monday, Sept. 23. Pitches should be posted on the blog by class time.

A wrap is a scripted radio piece that weaves together natural sounds, interview clips (known as “actualities”), and reporter narration to tell a story. The trick is to choose your actualities carefully to get the most memorable, interesting, powerful, or colorful sound bites possible, leaving the bare facts and background info for your narration. In your narration, you’ll write in and out of the actualities and provide any context that is necessary to help the story make sense. The natural sounds evoke a sense of scene and place. It’s also the reporter’s responsibility to script an introduction for the host to read.

Examples of wraps:

Fusion restaurant in Brooklyn

Punk in Aceh

When brainstorming pitch ideas, ask yourself these questions:

Does this story have news value? (What makes a story newsworthy?)

Is there potential for scene-setting natural sounds? (If the whole thing takes place in an office, the sound will not be very compelling.)

Can I confirm that I will have access in order to do the story?

Here is a sample script for reference: Aceh Punks

For my podcast I would interview Aaron Taube who is a volunteer at the Queens DSA. I would interview him about the Tiffany Caban campaign. I want to talk about how organizations affect a political campaign