Visit to WYSO

We met with Community Voices coordinator, Sarah Buckingham, to get some ideas on how to use the studio as a resource in our final project. Sarah gave us a tour of the new facility. The highlight by far--beside seeing our classmate, Jerry Kenney, irl while ON AIR-- was the Archives room. Wall to wall music. Every type of recording medium since 1958. Heavenly.


Each year from January to June WYSO offers a training course on Saturdays to teach the community how to produce radio stories. This year WYSO is running a pilot class for Antioch University students. If all goes well students from any campus can take the course for undergraduate credit. 

Sarah gave us a sort of flash-class in Vox Pop. Vox Pop is short for vox populi which is Latin for voice of the people. We discussed techniques and technicalities such as fair use, how to hold the mic, how background noise can make or break a production, and tips for writing for radio.

I recently went to Albuquerque, New Mexico for vacation. On my return flight my friend, Jessie and I began talking to the woman in the window seat of our row. Jessie has takeoff and landing anxiety, but the woman, a frequent flyer reassured her we wouldn’t die. Throughout the flight we made small talk with the woman. She had an issue of Essence magazine with a spread of Jada Pinkett Smith and her new website dontsellbodies.org. About mid flight the woman admits that she grew up with Jada and was on a tour of youth centers to speak about Human Trafficking--funded by Jada’s organization. I gave her a brief (and uncomplicated) history of Antioch and we exchanged emails.

At first I was convinced I’d pick a smaller local issue for my final project. Human Trafficking may be a global issue but it happens in our communities across the U.S.

Here’s a link to a piece about Human Trafficking by Sarah Buckingham.

Child Sex Trafficking: A Statewide Problem