Audio Projects

The first project was for the dating radio show. I was trying to think of some questions that I could ask people that would elicit contradictory responses, depending on the person. And the "love at first sight" and "soul mates" debates are always interesting to hear, so I went with that. I went around and asked a couple people their thoughts, and then put it all together and added some music. And this is the result:

The second project I decided to do was a audio segment that showed what it's like to work at the Instructional Support Services (ISS) on campus. So I went into work and used one of our audio recorders that I set up by the loan desk. I recorded about an hour of footage and then sifted through it to find times where the employees were helping patrons, as well as some moments where they were just fooling around. A common theme I found was that a lot of people came in asking to use our collaboration rooms. This is how it turned out:

Overall, I enjoyed making both projects and didn't really have any trouble making either of them.

Response to "Living With Cancer"

Credit John Klein Wilson / Michigan Radio

I found this broadcast to be really interesting. I've had several family members diagnosed with cancer and most have turned out to be treatable, thankfully. I find the stories of people who live through cancer and beyond very inspiring. The story of the couple who decided to take a trip to try and do everything and they spent all their money -- I feel like that'd be what I would do. Try to make the most out of life while you still can. And though many healthy people can't just drop everything, I think this message of living in the moment, of experiencing life, is something that everyone could use more of.

I'm also inspired by the stories of support people receive during their treatment. A number of people in the broadcast mention that support from family and friends is so important to the healing process, almost in a spiritual sense. Knowing that you have someone who is there for you, who wants you to get better, must be a great feeling, and I'm sure it helps.

As inspiring as these stories are, not everyone who is diagnosed with cancer survives. There are many different kinds of cancer and some are much more difficult to treat than others. Hearing about kids getting cancer, even newborn babies, is horrible and is something that shouldn't happen. Parents should not be losing kids to disease like this, and the good news is that doctors are continuing to try their hardest to find better treatment options and a cure. It may still be a ways off, but we get closer to finding the answer every day.

Response to "Sound Reporting"

dsearls  under CC-BY-SA  licence

The first part of the reading was really selling radio, and it was doing a decent job until it started listing things to keep in mind. These were things like "A radio news magazine may not have readily identifiable 'sections'," "Radio listeners, unlike readers, can't skip a story or segment of a program,"and "People can't relisten to a story, the way they can reread a newspaper article." I understand that the section was trying to show creators why making great content is a must, but as a consumer it seemed as though I was just reading a list of why TV or Internet news was better than radio.

But "Sound Reporting" is right about radio persisting even in the face of new media journalism and programming. It may have diminished in importance, but it's definitely still around and it appears as though it will stay that way. So the next part of the reading I found very compelling. The writer discussed how to create great content for the radio, which will be very helpful when I make my own radio content here in the next couple of weeks.

The overall theme here is simplification. Whatever you do, make it easy for the average listener to understand, and make it entertaining so that you hold their attention. Speak as though you're talking to one person as opposed to many, and speak like you would in real life, minus all the "uh"s and "um"s.

I found the reading to be very informative, and I plan on using what I've learned for my upcoming projects.

My Plan for the Radio Show

EDIT: I had something here before I realized it was all completely wrong. I wasn't in class so I didn't know that the theme was "dating;" now I've got to slightly revise my previous idea.

Vox Pop: What Is Your Biggest Fear?

Listening In - Response

Image taken from the Flickr photostream of Sveeta Bogomolova and used under a Creative Commons Licence.

Reading this article, I was struck by how nostalgic I felt thinking about sitting around the radio at night with my family, listening in, or laying in bed late at night listening. But those things never happened; I was feeling nostalgic about something I never actually experienced.

That's not to say radio didn't have some effect on my life. As I've said in a previous post, when I was younger every morning in the car on the way to school my mom would have Mojo in the Morning on, and we would listen to things like the war of the roses segment or the prank calls. I remember always being sad that I couldn't finish the segments; it was a short drive to school.

As a kid, I also would make fake radio stations with my friend David. He had a karaoke machine, and we would talk like hosts into the microphone and play our CDs, while recording the whole thing onto casette tapes.

But I never went out for a drive late at night and listened to the radio, alone or with friends. Nowadays I always have my iPod with me, so I just listen to that if I'm out driving. Yet reading this article, I long to experience this type of listening. I think that's what the article has going for it, but I know that I only like the idea of radio; if I were to actually go back in time I'm fairly certain I would get bored.

There are commercials in radio! And people remember all of the great hosts and segments and music, but radio was on 24/7; it couldn't possibly be good all the time. I believe it's a romanticized memory. This isn't to say that there couldn't have been great content on the air, I'm sure there was, but there was also mediocre content, as with any medium, and I feel like I would get bored with radio.

Plus I have grown up in a fast paced world where people want what they want and they want it now. Today there's no time for bad content; if you're not creating something good and interesting I'm gonna tune it out. I have a short attention span and something needs to capture my attention in seconds or else I'll move on. This may not be true for everyone, and this isn't to say that I don't give things a chance, but I need to be hooked.

I'm not trying to say that radio today is bad or that watching TV or watching a movie is a better experience; in class I really liked the audio segments we listened to. Also, I didn't grow up in the era of radio so of course I'm going to have a different opinion of it. I'm sure older generations feel nostalgia for having actually experienced the things the article talks about. I know it was a very important cultural phenomenon.

One last thought. The radio talks about how people enjoyed radio so much because they were an active participant, because it stimulated their imagination. They could hear what was happening but needed to fill in the blanks. I think this idea of the "active participant"is really important in all mediums, but most important perhaps in radio. So in creating my own content, I need to keep this idea in mind.

Michigan Radio

The Michigan Radio website is a great source for news, both local and nationwide. The site is run by the University of Michigan and broadcasts over several FM channels located in Ann Arbor, Flint, and over in Western Michigan. However, you can also listen to the broadcast here. Throughout the day they broadcast several original news segments as well as NPR and BBC news.

On their website they post in article form the news that is discussed over the radio. Articles on the home page seem to be sorted by both most recent and most popular, but visitors to the site can also view articles by category. They also provide links to their Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages.