From Election Coverage to Nipple Tattoos, KALW Crosscurrents is On It

By Guest Blogger Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW Public Radio and Shereen Adel, Audio Academy ‘16

Hello!  We had a crack team of reporters collaborate on some excellent, quick-turnaround election coverage, and members of the Audio Academy, past and present, played a big role. Angela Johnston (’14) and Liza Veal (’15) led our location reporting, each filing two stories Tuesday night. Shereen Adel (’16) and Ian Lewis (’16) helped out, in the field and the studio, giving us enough person-power to air three newscasts with up-to-the-minute results complete with field reports. We stayed up late into the night producing an eight-minute Crosscurrents Morning Report about the election for broadcast Wednesday morning at 6:50, including two scripted features, recapping everything that happened in the city. Really outstanding work!

This week, Hannah Kingsley-Ma (’15) made a really nice story about nipple tattoos, taking a great angle and getting great access to a process of healing for women that I had never heard before.

And one of our summer trainees, Tim Lou-Ly, engineered what was truly one of the best Storycorps pieces I’ve ever heard about how people’s lives changed after they were involved in a car accident. It’s a positive story with some real surprise twists. Listen!

I’d like to note, too, that the Sights & Sounds team of Jen Chien, Ted Muldoon (’15), and Chris Hambrick (’15) made another terrific edition, this week. It’s so fun to have a new product that’s so engaging, so representative of the Bay Area, and so well-produced.

It’s been a great couple of months to start this year’s Academy. And here are some thoughts from current Academy member Shereen Adel on her early experience in our newsroom:

By Shereen Adel, Audio Academy ‘16

Crosscurrents host Hana Baba spoke at a conference I attended earlier this year, and when she mentioned the Audio Academy at the end of her talk, my ears perked up. I was working on an audio project with some of my colleagues at the time, and I was eager to go from amateur to pro. This would be just the opportunity to do it!

I couldn’t have hoped for a more creative and nurturing environment. We’re involved in the day-to-day of the newsroom so we get to see the big picture of what goes in to making the show, and our weekly seminars cover the essentials in audio journalism. It’s clear that a lot of care has gone into making this a truly fulfilling educational experience. One of my favorite things we do during our seminars is listen to selected Crosscurrents archives. I have been totally blown away and inspired by the work that has come out KALW’s Crosscurrents team, and I am so excited to be a part of it. I can’t wait to share my own contributions across the airwaves!