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Behind the Scenes with Rob Rosenthal, director of the Salt Institute's Radio Program
Interview conducted by Johanna Zorn
> Give us a brief history of the Salt Institute. Is there anything else
like it in the country?
Salt was created more than 30 years ago by journalist Pamela H. Wood, who had
landed a job -- ever temporarily she imagined -- teaching a high school
folklore course in Kennebunk, Maine. Giving up the dated textbook that she and
her students were given, she instead asked her students to write their own.
Together they published a quarterly magazine called Salt which featured the
students' stories and pictures describing the world that surrounded them. Here
were young people talking to older people who knew something of fishing, of
farming and of just plain living in what was then small-town, rural Maine.
In the late seventies, the high school program outgrew its space and mission.
Salt moved from the school to a boatyard and added teaching trades -- boat
building and lumberjacking -- to its oral history curriculum. In the eighties,
Salt evolved further still, trading its high school roots for college and
graduate students and teaching documentary writing, photography, and now radio
during an intense 15-week semester.
To our knowledge, there is no other school like Salt. This is especially true
for the radio program. While many schools offer courses in radio production and
journalism, we know of no school that focuses on documentary radio and offers
such deep immersion in the medium. Salt, the magazine, is still published twice
a year. Pamela Wood left Salt last year after nearly 30 years as its director.
> Radio is a relatively recent addition to the curriculum. Why did you
add it?
The Radio Program started on an experimental basis in the Fall of 2000. It
became its own track at Salt a year later. Radio is a natural for Salt. Writing
students have been recording interviews with Maine people for many, many years.
We have thousands of hours of tape in our archives. These recordings, however,
have been used by writing students primarily for transcription purposes. It
only made sense that Salt would expand to include the use of audio recordings
to produce radio.
> Describe what the radio program offers students.
The curriculum is designed for folks just starting out. During the semester,
students develop skills in several areas: listening, field recording,
interviewing, sound studio basics, digital audio editing, narrative
development, and script writing. Over the course of the semester, students
produce a promo and a vox pop as means of getting their feet and ears wet. Soon
after, the real substance of the semester begins as students start their field
work and produce two, seven-minute features.
I teach the radio classes and guest speakers visit on a regular basis,
including radio and television journalist Lynn Kippax, WNYC's documentary
producer John Rudolph, audio engineer Jim Begley, NPR's Andrea Deleon, and
staff from Maine Public Radio.
> Often we're asked by people of all experience levels how to get a
start producing radio. In the past the options have been slim, find an
internship or do-it-yourself. Who do you think can benefit most from a semester
at the Salt Institute?
Anyone with little to no radio experience can benefit by a semester at Salt so
long as they have a passion for telling stories with sound. And, we emphasize
the word "passion." Salt is not for the weak-hearted, or those with a passing
fancy in radio documentary work.
> Is the coursework between writing, photography and radio integrated in
any way?
All students attend a weekly seminar on documentary studies. Ethics, entering
and exiting the field, professional development, history, theory, and much more
are discussed. In addition to the seminar, Salt students are required to
collaborate across tracks. Radio and writing students work with a photographer
to produce a collaborative project. Radio producers benefit in several ways
working with a photographer: students learn through contrast and comparison the
relative strengths and weaknesses of working with sound; working with a
photographer helps radio producers to think visually with their sound; an
informal editorial relationship develops; and radio producers are better
prepared to work in new media applications after leaving Salt.
> Do you instruct your students in a particular style of documentary
radio that you would like Salt to become known for?
The Radio Program is still young and is in the process of seeking its identity
and sound. We feel that we stand at the crossroads of narrative journalism,
oral history/documentary, and audio art with each discipline informing our
productions. That being said, it is possible that Salt will never have a
definitive sound since we encourage students to find their own voice and style.
Inevitably, our productions vary each semester.
> There's not much money to be made in producing radio stories and not
many job openings. What career advice do you give your students?
Salt is up front with students. Radio is not an easy field to break into, hence
the reason why we stress the need for passion. Not only will heartfelt passion
lead to better productions but it will also help to stay the course and
persevere when the going gets rough. Also, we encourage students to think
beyond radio. After fifteen weeks at Salt, students have a very strong
foundation for telling stories with sound; radio is only one location for
putting such creative skills to work. Other possibilities include the web, oral
history projects, walking tours for non-profits, classroom curriculum for young
people, archive work, advocacy work such as producing PSAs for organizations,
museum and gallery installations ... Storytelling is the content; sound is the
medium. The applications are limitless.
Bitten by the radio bug as a high school student in 1978, Rob Rosenthal has
been primarily involved with campus/community radio stations. He was Station
Manager for WWUH (University of Hartford), KUNV (University of Nevada Las
Vegas), and WMPG (University of Southern Maine). Tired of pushing papers, in
1999 Rob decided to actually "do radio" by starting his own production and
consulting business, Shunpike Audio. Most recently, Rob was Assistant Director
of the Blunt/Youth Radio Project at WMPG.
He has produced several radio programs including a series documenting immigrant
musicians (Your Neighbor's Radio, an NFCB Golden Reel Award winner). He also
works for Johns Hopkins University training young people on the Wind River
Reservation in Wyoming. And, he teaches radio at the Salt Institute for
Documentary Studies and the University of Southern Maine.
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