For twelve years, National Public Radio (NPR) has offered workshops all over the country to college students interested in radio broadcasting and journalism. This past April was the first year CUNY students were invited to learn the tricks of the trade by some of the most respected people in the business. It is also the first year Bloomberg Media has partnered with NPR in hopes of encouraging future journalists to pursue financial reporting.
During the week-long training session, April 17th-21st, students teamed up with teacher-mentors. Together, they brainstormed and came up with story ideas, which the students then formed into focused statements. CUNY’s six student reporters then set out to “gather tape” (i.e. do the reporting). The last half of the seminar was devoted to writing and editing, narrating and sound engineering.
Our Student:
BMCC’s Joyce Vargas’s commentary piece focused on the farms and community gardens in East New York.
“I didn’t even know they existed when I was growing up,” Joyce explained. ”Now that I’ve seen these amazing places, it’s really changed my outlook on the neighborhood. I wanted to let other people, who usually think of East New York as a scary place, know about this whole other side.”
Joyce’s mentor was Anne Heppermann, an independent producer who also works at Brooklyn College’s fully equipped radio station. Joyce hopes to transfer to either City College or Brooklyn College, both of which have very strong audio programs.
“People have told me I don’t necessarily need a four-year degree to do what I want to do, which is work in the area of sound. But I think I want to get the degree anyway,” Joyce said. “This workshop has been really cool because I’ve met experienced people who’ve helped me improve so much in such a short amount of time.”
Our Teacher:
In addition to teaching sound production at BMCC, Laura Starecheski is an independent producer, whose segments have aired on NPR and WNYC. With four years of experience in pitching, reporting, editing and narrating documentary-style segments for radio, she’s been instrumental in developing “Radio Bootcamp” with National Public Radio (NPR), Bloomberg Media and CUNY broadcast educators.
“Most of the students who’ve taken my classes want to go into television or radio,” Laura explained. “There are only two sound classes offered at BMCC as of now, so this workshop will really give students going in that direction a taste of what radio is really all about. And Joyce has a real talent, so I’m glad she’s here.”
“I’m so glad BMCC and Laura did this,” Joyce said. “We’re really lucky to have her here. She’s so helpful to her students.”
Check It Out:
Keep checking NPR’s website at http://www.npr.org/about/nextgen/index.html to hear all of the CUNY students’ segments, including a story by BMCC’s Joyce Vargas. The students’ stories will also be aired on various CUNY radio stations, including Brooklyn College Radio, WHCR at City College, and WKRB at Kingsborough College, and WSIA at the College of Staten Island.
