Moving from National Public Radio to KFAI radio.

Wright’s Journal and I are at a cross roads. Some new and old friends check Wright’s Journal as they would their old favorites. I wrote at the beginning of my internship at National Public Radio (NPR). That was in September. Upon arriving there, I worked and noticed the learning curve. I found that it was wiser to just keep my nose to the grindstone than to wonder whether a posting was going to jeopardize my time at NPR. There are rules and customs to web log journalism that I don’t understand yet; I haven’t found the real or proverbial manual yet.

I’ve returned home to Minneapolis. I will resume classes at the University of Minnesota; when I do so I plan to independently study at KFAI radio. I want to identify, report and file stories so I can continue to learn by doing. A part of this process will be me reflecting on what I’m doing and how well it is going at KFAI. I will write these reflections here. This, so that my advising instructor will have reliable updates.

I’ve noticed already that producing stories at KFAI will be very different than doing so at National Public Radio – Pro Tools is a pain to learn! NPR’s Dalet system wasn’t easy to learn, but I did have a bunch of great people whom I could ask for help. I don't relish changing sound editing software just when I had become competent with one!

I mentioned a cross roads; I see myself as a traditional “top down” story teller. I’m accustomed to sending queries to editors and following up with them to publish stories. I understand, however grudgingly, the attraction of having a web log.

I find it lazy and absurd to keep drilling the name of a web-based journal or column down to one syllable though. I suppose people think it’s cool and hip to dumb the name down.

Some people have a special or even unique journalistic voice and they can self-publish that for free and earn a following, credibility and a career. I’m happy for them. I have only recently had that light of realization go on in my head. A decisive question popped into my mind: what is the difference, time line-wise, in sending and following up on queries vs. simply writing well–informed and well-reported stories on a web journal? Either path can take just as much time when you’re building a resume, a reputation and a career.

I don’t know what my next step is.