{"id":160,"date":"2019-03-15T11:32:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T18:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/?p=160"},"modified":"2021-10-01T10:34:15","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T17:34:15","slug":"a-week-of-learning-laughing-and-bagels-with-nextgen-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/a-week-of-learning-laughing-and-bagels-with-nextgen-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"A week of learning, laughing and bagels with NextGen Radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

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by Hafsa Fathima<\/em><\/p>\n

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I am notorious for over-sharing the story of how I silently broke down during my first radio class. We had a news feature due, and I couldn\u2019t figure out how to put the piece together. I was the only one who didn\u2019t submit the assignment, convinced that the world of radio was not mine.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long journey from that class to NPR\u2019s Next Generation Radio, but I stuck it out. \u00a0Like all generic romance plots, my once icy relationship with radio has blossomed into love — hopefully not unrequited.<\/p>\n

This week required multiple edits, writing, hair pulling and bagel-devouring. I traveled across the great Los Angeles County and back to our newsroom to interview my character – Charles Igawa – while having nightmares about waking up to find my audio corrupted. This week has pushed me beyond what I knew about audio journalism. I wouldn\u2019t have had it any other way.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, I learned to step back and let the story flow and breathe on its own. Producing a non-narrated story meant that I couldn\u2019t come in to the fill the gaps, pushing for more thorough, detailed reporting.<\/p>\n

There were challenges that we encountered, too. My mentor and I weren\u2019t able to go into Charles\u2019home because of renovations. It was difficult to find a quiet, outdoor space to interview him, and we refused to be bested by outside music, people on smoke breaks and other unneeded ambient noise. We were almost defeated by a U-Haul backing up, but persevered.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m grateful I had my mentor Maggie to keep me on a tight deadline, because I know I would\u2019ve have not come through as fast without her encouragement. Through her guidance, I realized all the edits I should have been making and the questions I should be asking.<\/p>\n

But the most significant part of this week was Charles himself, an incredible man whose story is funny, moving and rich. Charles\u2019 tales about the Japanese-American community here in Los Angeles were stories I had never heard before. He was eager to share them from the start, sending me pictures of his early days in the United States, patiently guiding me through the many phases of his travels from the Hiroshima Prefecture to Los Angeles and walking me through the history of Little Tokyo. \u00a0I am truly honoured he let me document a snippet of his life.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div> by Hafsa Fathima I am notorious for over-sharing the story of how I silently broke down during my first radio class. We had a news feature due, and I couldn\u2019t figure out how to put the piece together. I was the only one who didn\u2019t submit the assignment, convinced that the world of radio […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"

On my assignment this week, when I visited my story character\u2019s restaurant, I moved \u00a0around the kitchen taking photos, interviewing the staff while making sure I didn\u2019t forget to ask a question.<\/p>

It was a long, stressful but extremely fun week at Next Generation Radio. I didn\u2019t know what to expect but my basic journalism skills helped me survive the week. Having a mentor by my side throughout the whole process was an experience that I probably won\u2019t have again any time soon. My mentor guided throughout my reporting and helped me create a meaningful multimedia story. One thing that I realized is important in successfully meeting your deadlines is multitasking.<\/p>

Here are some tips on how to survive Next Gen Radio and meet your deadlines:<\/p>

  1. Pre-interview your subject so that you have a good sense of what your story is going to look and sound like.<\/li>
  2. When you\u2019re reporting make sure to take more photos and audio than you actually need. It makes the selection process easier.<\/li>
  3. Make sure to get all the logistical information from your character: names and how they\u2019re spelled and specific time frames of their story.<\/li>
  4. If you\u2019re waiting for an edit and have some \u201cfree time,\u201d use that time to work on another assignment (hint: social posts! They\u2019re easy and fun to do).<\/li>
  5. Make sure your files are organized in a folder. File management is crucial and makes it easier for you to find your work.<\/li>
  6. Ask a lot of questions! Your mentors are there for a reason. I would ask my mentor, Elizabeth Aguilera, everything\u2014down to what photos I should use, whether my text story sentences make sense, or how to accurately insert quotes into my text story.<\/li>
  7. Introduce yourself to the other mentees and mentors to make connections. The week can get so intense that you\u2019re focused on your story and feel like you don\u2019t have time to talk to everyone. If you do tip #3, you\u2019ll have time to network with everyone else.<\/li>
  8. Lastly, have fun! Although the week can get stressful, you\u2019re doing something that you love so you might as well enjoy the process. I know I did.<\/li><\/ol>

    This program helped me become a better journalist. The multimedia work that I produced are skills that I can take with me to any job, regardless of the platform.<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"coauthors":[4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usc2019.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}