Support
My professional experience at North Country Public Radio began in January 2025, shortly after the 2025 presidential inauguration. I, along with my fellow news interns, Nora Kenyon and Richard Haller (of SUNY Canton), began honing our skills in writing news stories for the radio, copy writing, audio editing, web design, interviewing, and photo journalism. Our advisors, David Sommerstein, Monica Sandrezscki and Catherine Wheeler, were quick to get us started writing stories that would be published for the radio. Our first task was a "vox pop," in which we, the interns, respectively met strangers and peers on our campuses asking an on-the-spot question: "How do you feel about the new Trump presidency?" From there, we gathered tape from the interviews, and picked out the most radio-worthy selections. After we picked out our clips, we came together to slice them into one cohesive story. All three of us quickly learned how to edit audio using Adobe Audition to edit our audio, and Google Pinpoint to create transcriptions of our recordings. Afterwards, we created a web build for our story using the NCPR signature template, which was then published and put out into the world.
This first story gave us everything that we needed to know for proper journalistic interviewing, writing and editing. One of the most important pieces to start an interview with is prepping unbiased yet engaging questions for our interviewees. Then, there is the proper interview techniques: keep the recorder close to the subject's voice, maintain eye contact, and show engagement. Next comes picking and editing the audio piece that will be aired; what are the most interesting quotes? What captures the entire story in just a few short sentences? Yet, in the end, that is what I learned most from my experience: how I, as the journalist, can capture the people I interview and the places I am trying to represent. The North Country has a vast array of opinions, experiences, demographics, hobbies, careers, etc. Each story is a new way to introduce this aspects of the North Country to the greater world, and hopefully, open up listeners' minds to new ideas of living.