KALW Audio Academy Students Bring Shine to Community With Stories about Seniors with HIV, the Changing SF Community and The Town
By Holly Kernan, News Director, KALW
We are just entering the second semester of the first ever KALW Audio Academy and what a great experience this has been! It’s one of the most challenging and rewarding of my career. We are constantly soliciting feedback and tweaking the program to make it better, and the students are responding.
“I have loved being in the newsroom,” writes one fellow. “I have loved being mentored by people who seem to have unlimited time and passion to devote to me.”
Another fellow writes of the mentorship “It’s super helpful to have somebody that pushes you and makes you accountable. It’s one of my favorite parts of the program. ”
The white board notes get intense at an Audio Academy seminar.
Last week’s seminar was about depth audio production. The daily seminars are a highlight of the Audio Academy.
“When I tell people about this experience, I always include mention of the seminars,” says one participant. “I always learn something new and gain new perspective, and it strengthens relationships between fellows and editors and the entire news crew.”
This past week, we had three of our broadcast features produced by the fellows. We plan to see more banner weeks like this in the coming months. All of the fellows have created customized plans of study so they can meet individual goals in the community newsroom.
Take a listen to a two-part series on living with AIDS by fellows Jasmin Lopez and Liz Mak:
From AIDS to housing crises, they’ve seen it all: Castro’s long-time residents fight to stay
And then, fellow Todd Whitney produced this audio postcard about “Oaklandish” and how that company reflects a diverse and changing “Town”:
Todd Whitney shows off his Oaklandish tote bag designed by a Town artist.
Hella Oaklandish. Celebrating “The Town”
Looking forward to sharing more of the incredible work coming out of KALW’s Audio Academy!