Radio News Reporting Project #2

Hi Bloggy Friends,

I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Did you have a chance to spend time with your father? Unfortunately, my dad is hundreds of miles away, so a simple phone conversation had to suffice. He was doing well, and seemed like he was enjoying his afternoon. He and my brother were on their way to get an ice cream cone when I talked to him last. I know he loved that. I hope Derek picked up the bill!

Our weekend was very enjoyable. Despite the heavy rain, Saturday was our busiest day. We spent the earlier portion with Jude seeing a play we all really enjoyed. It was great to catch up with her again. Later in the evening we met up with some of Alan's co-workers for dinner and drinks. We stayed up late into the night having a grand ol' time. They're a fun group of people that I don't see very often because they all live in the burbs.

Today I want to share with you the second project in my radio news reporting class. This was the first project that we had to go out and get an interview for. I did my report on a local bookstore that was going out of business. I mentioned it once before when Alan and I stocked up on books during their big closing sale. When I did a little research I discovered it was the oldest independent book seller in the city, so I thought it would be a very relevant story for the class - especially at a time when the damaged economy was monopolizing the news.

After a few calls and emails I finally finagled an interview with the owner, Larry Robins. I was scheduled to speak with him at the bookstore, but at the last minute he called and had to cancel. With only a few days away from the due date, I convinced him to at least let me ask him a few questions over the phone. I put him on speaker phone, and commenced to record the session with my digital voice recorder. The quality wasn't great, but I did get a good quote from him to use in my story. I was worried about what the teacher would say about a phone interview, but I didn't have a lot of time to go out and find another story.

The criticism wasn't too bad. She did recognize that it wasn't recorded live, but being a seasoned journalist, she understood my predicament. She got a good laugh when she realized the man in the story was actually the father of one of her old boyfriends. Listening to it now, I am more critical. I think I was a little too careful with the voice delivery. It seems like my enunciation came across a bit too harshly. I sound like I was trying to hard to sound "professional." With all that out of the way, however, I think it turned out fairly well.

Final Grade: A

I hope you have a great day. Thank you for stopping by to check out my latest project. I'll have more for you in the coming days. Goodbye for now.

Love, Josh