BEHIND THE SCENES with Sarah Neal-Estes
Let's start with the Brief History of ASR..
Like many journalism schools, Indiana University School of Journalism cut its audio program in the 1990's. But now, with audio audiences growing each year, we have the opportunity to rebuild. In the planning stages in 2011, Interim Dean Michael Evans and I decided to blend the benefits of student radio, classroom instruction and newsroom internships, "Why not combine them?" So, through two courses and a club, ASR students have editorial and creative freedom, course instruction, student internships with NPR affiliates and direct access to nationally acclaimed audio professionals (more on that key factor below)
We made it national for two reasons. A national publication gives our students a place to develop storytelling skills, to learn to identify information that would be equally valuable to anyone anywhere. It also allows us to invite students everywhere, of any age, living at any location. We now have almost 100 student members, many are not enrolled in the classes and about 20 attend other schools. We want to do this because we believe journalistic audio is not only a great way to relay information to busy people using mobile devices, it is also (and more interestingly) suited for relaying the type of information that makes people want to understand each other. We think that, the more young people are introduced to this and learn how to thoughtfully represent themselves and others through audio, the better the world will be
We are just over a year old now and still building the national program. This next year will focus on extending training resources to more students and networking with other journalism programs (we want to brag on and share everyone's great audio work)
How many shows are currently in production
Let's see... Stuff You Pretend to Know (where we hope to clean ourselves up for pleasant, intelligent dinner conversation), Sportsmanlike Conduct (our sports show), Local Nation (students travel and report on local music scenes in different cities - Nashville, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh...), WordShop (our feature show), The New Black (fashion meets the collegiate psyche and closet), Oh The Places We Go! (an audio blog about studying abroad) and three shorts series that tell stories about memories, tattoos and the things we love and hate to do... or just do ... so six feature /talk /reporting shows and three shorts series, so: nine
What do you think draws students to the program
They love great audio stories. And really, who doesn't? But before that, what gets them to enroll or become a member, is one of two things. First, many want to work for or design their own public radio show. In the last year, specifically, students have been obsessed with one of the following: TAL, Radiolab , Snap Judgment , State of the Re:Union , NPR news magazines in general, 99% Invisible , Love + Radio , The Moth , Story Corps and TED. Second, while most of the rest of the students also have warm feelings for certain public radio shows, they really start the program because they understand that audio is a great way to get information to busy people using mobile devices
Once in the class, they love production. But I think the biggest thing they enjoy, besides their own work, is the phenomenal instructional support we enjoy from truly amazing, award winning professionals. Nikki Silva, Peter Breslow, Soren Wheeler, Tamara Keith, Amy Mayer and Libby Casey have given audio production lessons by Skype, phone and in person since the very very beginning, when ASR was just one audio class. And each semester the list of very busy audio producers who are incredibly generous with their time grows, including Tina Antolini, Julie Shapiro, Robert Smith, Jay Allison and Ira Glass. Thank you all so much, your generosity makes all the difference
What's surprised you most about the stories students have produced with ASR, as Faculty Director
They are fearless and have endless enthusiasm. I'll list a few examples
Assignment: "Try this fun, Radiolab production style," and this is Robb Jacobson's FIRST audio piece, I don't think he'd even held a mic before
And then our newsiest show, Stuff You Pretend To Know , produced an episode on South Sudan... right? They live in Indiana. In this episode, which Daniel Kuol recounts his story as one of The Lost Boys of Sudan and NPR Africa Correspondent Gwen Tompkins and IU history professor Michelle Moyd help us understand the fight over resources that fueled the civil war.
A few students wanted to make a music show, and I'm all for any kind of music show, and what they came back with is more like State of the Re:Union meets All Songs Considered . They travel (on their own dime) to a different city each semester and report on one aspect of that music scene for about three days.
Every week - they record clear voice tracks under pillows, research their b*tts off, compose sound for things they can't record (like concussions), delve into hard topics like sexual assault, and teach people without equipment to record on their iphones. These kids are amazing
What are ASR's near and distant goals for the future
Near goals... A studio and more equipment? :) We want to host a Traveling Transom Workshop and work as much with Rob Rosenthal and Jay Allison, Jones at Generation PRX and everyone in the audio education community, as they will allow us to/have time for/will put up with
Distant goals... In the following years, I hope we will make ASR a go-to opportunity for a broad range of students interested in audio - those who want to dedicate their lives to it and those who want to pick up professional-level skills. Overall, we want to open up more audio opportunities (production and enjoyment) to more people. It is my belief that conscientious audio stories bolsterour community and that it helps everyone if more people know how to produce them
BEHIND THE SCENES with ASR students Lynn Beavin, Barton Girdwood, Lauren DelPlete, Rochelle LeBreck, Lauren Linder and Eddie Suarez
Describe your process for putting together a WordShop (WS) show. Who does what? How do you decide on which stories to include
Lauren DelPrete ( WordShop senior producer): The first step to creating a WS episode begins with searching in the ASR archives for unused features from past semesters. Next, WS staff meets and picks a word for the upcoming episode that relates to the archival pieces. Since the three features have very little to do with each other, it often takes some creative writing to make each piece fit together under one word
Once the word is chosen, staff pitches story ideas for the remaining pieces and distributes the stories to WordShop reporters. As senior producer, my job is to stay in contact with the reporters, and to assist them with any issues that come up along the way. Once all three stories have been reported, I do the final edits and mix them down into a final audio file. Then the ASR staff and I choose the order of the pieces, I write the script and then I choose the music for the episode
With only three weeks until it was set to air, WordShop #11: LOVE was composed of three archived pieces. Considering Valentines Day was just around the corner, and Rochelle Lebreck's ultimate story about love, the word for the episode was an obvious choice. Lauren Linder's piece, a compilation of personal accounts from all over the country about how the 9/11 tragedies affected them, was a bit of a challenge to fit under this word. But what made it work in the end was that through each person's reaction to that day, the story highlighted the patriotism and love that Americans felt for their country after such tragic events. Lastly, Lynn Beavin's good-humored, quirky story about her love for late night grocery shopping was the perfect addition to this episode, and definitely stretched the context for exploring "love"
How does their "audio-ness" impact these stories? Would you tell them differently, with visual aids
Lynn Beavin: This piece ( Brown Bag ) just seemed to fit perfectly as an audio story, capturing the trippy and fluorescent atmosphere of late-night grocery muzak, goofiness of the self-check machine's voice, or the occasional profound moment between fellow sleepy shoppers and stockers
Lauren DelPrete: What makes these three stories so special is that they were completely meant for audio. In print, the stories of grocery shopping, true love and 9/11 are just any other story, but when told in audio, the creative possibilities are endless. For example, Lynn's grocery store piece is neither newsy enough for print nor dramatic enough for television, but between her heartfelt description of Kroger at night, the Kroger employee's raspy voice, grocery carts slamming into each other and items being rung up and being placed into bags – this piece is audio gold
Rochelle's Blush is another perfect example of a story that was meant to be told in audio. The fragility and age within Rochelle's grandmother's voice, makes a quote like, "Never trust a boy who kisses you on the neck," make sense. Also, the way Rochelle incorporated clips from old movies and Sinatra songs brings the reader straight to the 1930's, where the story was set