Students of KALW Audio Academy Pitch For the Whole Crosscurrents Show
By Guest Blogger Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW Public Radio
Hannah Kingsley-Ma (’15), Angela Johnston, Ninna Gaensler-Debs, Jen Chien, and Raja Shah (’15) show their stripes in the news department.
This was the week the Audio Academy had been preparing for. This was the week their experiences listening to stories, fact-checking shows, discussing the various big pictures of what’s going on in the Bay Area, pitching stories, and reporting news and culture features would come together in one document: the whole show pitch.
Every student gets an entire half-hour Crosscurrents show to fill. They can follow our usual format, with a newsy feature followed by a related interview and a third piece. They can center the show around a conversation and create support features that the interview responds to. They can create a documentary-style program. It’s up to them, and we’ll help them achieve their vision.
I was especially happy with the topics our students are looking to take on:
– the future of renewable energy
– collective bargaining in the gig economy
– immigration and identity
– empowering at-risk black boys and young men
– different types of healing in the Bay Area
– living with sex offenders in the Bay Area
– the state of transgender acceptance
– the future of Bay Area public transportation
We’ll be honing the pitches over the next couple of weeks, and we plan to start airing them before graduation in June.
Meanwhile, we’ve started receiving applicants for the 2016-2017 Academy. Last year, we received 82 applications for eight slots. Click here to read about what we’re looking for. The application period is open until the end of March.
Before I go, I’d like to highlight the KALW stories reported this week by people who have been part of the Audio Academy:
Hearing Highlights Tension Between SFPD and the Public – Jeremy Dalmas (’14)
Can Factory-Built Homes Curb the Housing Crisis? – Liza Veale (’15)
Oakland Negotiates With Developers and Community Members to Sell Public Land – Liza Veale (’15)
Audiograph’s Sound of the Week – Aunt Charlie’s Lounge – Hannah Kingsley-Ma (’15)
Shereen Adel (’16) files a public records request with the Oakland Police Department as Ian Lewis (’16) observes during a class on investigative journalism.
And here’s the first voiced story from Shereen Adel, class of 2016: