From multimedia journalism to branded podcasts to live events, storymaking is pushing the boundaries. Now more than ever before, independent producers are in demand. But in order to succeed in a quickly evolving and growing media space, independent radio producers need to do everything from editing to branding, live event planning to contract management, and fact-checking to sound design. Over the course of this week, you’ll learn skills from an interdisciplinary group of specialists that will help to position you for the bright and exciting future of radio.

Full Spectrum will expand your definition of what storytelling can be, while imparting concrete skills to add to your producer tool kit. Co-Lead by instructors Chiquita Paschal and Cher Vincent, who will draw from lessons learned from their work with various shows including Malcolm Gladwell’s new music history podcast, Broken Record, Gimlet Media’s Peabody Award-winning history show Uncivil,  Another Round from BuzzFeed,  and The Nod.

The week will be a combination of hands-on instruction, workshops, lectures, pitch sessions, experiments—and even an excursion or two. We’re looking for producers with the desire to expand their skills and their minds. Include an interdisciplinary group of accomplished specialists to take you on a journey from storytelling to interactive design to composing. Our instructors bring experience from WNYC, Gimlet Media, Latino USA, independent backgrounds, and beyond.

Chiquita Paschal is an award-winning journalist, editor and podcast consultant who specializes in developing and producing podcasts about art, culture and politics. Her production and editorial experience includes hard news, talk shows and highly-produced narrative storytelling.

She helped produce Gimlet Media’s Uncivil, which won a Peabody in 2018. Previously, she was a member of the “Pod Squad” at BuzzFeed where she produced a variety of shows, including Another Round and See Something Say Something. Chiquita became skilled in the rigor of production by reporting daily segments across public media, from NPR’s Morning Edition to PRI’s The World. She began her career as an arts reporter in New Mexico, and as editor for youth media organization Generation Justice at KUNM.

As a consultant and freelance editor, her recent projects include Essence’s celebrity pop culture interview podcast Yes Girl, politically engaging shows by women and people of color like Democracy in Color with Aimee Allison and Hysteria from Crooked Media. She has also developed independent shows about art and culture such as The Witch Wave and her own pilot about the creative process called Spark!

In addition to the art of podcasting, Chiquita loves to talk business. She was the founding Program Manager of PRX’s Podcast Garage, and a coordinating judge for Radiotopia’s 2016 Podquest competition, where she counseled the early development of the Peabody- nominated show Ear Hustle. In 2013 she served as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Executive Fellow, where she developed strategy, research and business models for the then-emerging podcast market.

Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Chiquita graduated Hamilton College in Clinton, NY in 2010 with a degree in art and philosophy. She currently lives in Brooklyn. You can connect with her on Twitter @ChiquitaPaschal, or by email at [email protected]

Cher Vincent is an audio producer and editor living in Brooklyn, New York. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she helped grow the Chicago podcasting community starting Postloudness, a collective of audio shows by people of color, women, and queer-identified hosts in 2016. She has gone on to develop and produce shows for One Illinois in Chicago, and produce for NPR, Gimlet Media, The New York Times, Pushkin Industries, Endeavor Audio, and the MLB in NYC. She is currently producing Slate’s Thirst Aid Kit.

Christopher Allen is a founder of UnionDocs and is currently the Artistic Director. After graduating from Columbia University and studying at Trinity College Dublin, Allen worked as a social entrepreneur, documentary director, and new media artist. His individual works and collaborative projects have been exhibited at the MoMA, Harvard’s Carpenter Center for Visual Arts, the Volksbühne Theatre, DirektorenHaus in Berlin, Independent Film Week, Sonár, DIVA, and Conflux Festivals, among many other venues. He directed the interactive documentary Capitol of Punk, which was part of “Design and the Elastic Mind” at the Museum of Modern Art, and he is currently in post-production on the feature Diamond Vehicle, shot in Tibet, China, Nepal, and India. Christopher was founding-partner of Counts Media, and played a leading role in the invention and execution of many art & entertainment concepts there, such as The Ride NY, a live theatrical and cinematic experience on the streets of the city, and Yellow Arrow, a place-based storytelling project exhibited online and in galleries and museums internationally.

Julia Alsop is an award-winning journalist and radio producer. Her work focuses on creating immersive worlds to tell intimate, narrative-driven stories. She’s helped produced and develop shows for NPR, PRX, Red Bull Radio, Refinery29 and TED.  She most recently helped sound design Spacebridge for PRX and is a long time collaborator of the Peabody-nominated Radiotopia podcast The Heart, a groundbreaking series exploring sex and power.

Keisha “TK” Dutes is an independent audio producer and co-host of TK in The AM, recently celebrating 1000 episodes of live streaming morning radio on Bondfire Radio. With experience spanning terrestrial radio (WBAI-NY) , online, podcast (Buzzfeed’s “Thirst Aid Kit”) and audio drama, her life is in audio is all encompassing. TK’s production of audio drama The Weeksvile Project, a story about about a free Black community Brooklyn is her most recent pride and joy. She also spreads the gospel of radio and podcasting through workshops and mentorship, and was recently listed on Current.org’s “Black Talents in Public Media You Should Know.” Currently, she is an audio producer at Glitch, a technology company bringing back the open web; as well as working with Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan- Cottom as an Executive Producing Consultant on their podcast, Hear To Slay on Luminary. 

Alison S. M. Kobayashi is a visual artist working in video, performance, installation and drawing. She has exhibited and screened work widely in North America and overseas at venues such as Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Jakarta International Film Festival, The Power Plant Contemporary, Anthology Film Archives, Bilbao International Film Festival, and The Flaherty International Film Seminar. In 2012 she was commissioned by Les Subsistances (Lyon, France) to develop and stage her first live performance. Her most recent project is the extremely popular performance Say Something Bunny!, based on two audio spools hidden inside an obsolete wire recorder purchased at an estate sale. She was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario and is currently based in Brooklyn.

Stephanie Kuo is the co-host and producer of Racist Sandwich. She is an award-winning public radio journalist based in Brooklyn, New York. She currently works at PRX, helping make podcasts at public radio stations across the country. She was most recently a reporter at KERA, the NPR affiliate in North Texas, where she covered race, poverty and economic development. Her work has aired on national and regional programs, including NPR, WBUR’s Here & Now, Radiolab and the Texas Standard. She was also a food writer for Dallas-area media outlets, mostly begging people to stop eating “Asian Fusion.”

Stephanie received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Mark Pagán is an award-winning comedian, film and podcast producer, writer, and former b-boy. He currently produces and hosts the series and live show, Other Men Need Help.

Mark’s work and performances have been honored at over 50 festivals and shows worldwide including Slamdance Film Festival, PBS, Arizona International Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Rooftop Film Festival, FRIGID Festival, North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival, Gotham Storytelling Festival, Chicago Improv Festival, Cinder Block Comedy Festival, RISK!, The Moth, Story Collider, Philadelphia Improv Festival, and the Charleston Comedy Festival.

He’s currently the Google Podcasts Creator Program Manager for PRX.

Annie Russell is a comedian and editor. Most recently, she was an editor at WBEZ in Chicago. She is an experienced public radio editor, reporter and producer. She’s worked on a variety of comedy podcasts, news stories and public radio projects.

She was previously deputy news director at Vermont Public Radio and host of The Pub, a podcast about public media for Current.org. In past lives she’s worked as a freelance podcast producer, live sound engineer, music writer, social worker, music director, and video store clerk. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School. She was a recipient of AIR’s 2017 Better Edit Fellowship. She performs stand-up comedy all over the U.S. She’s opened for Marc Maron on the “Too Real Tour” and Al Madrigal at the University of Vermont.

She’s been featured in the Boston Comedy Festival, Women in Comedy Festival, North Carolina Comedy Festival, Floodwater Comedy Festival, Motor City Comedy Festival, Boston Comedy Arts Festival, Cream City Comedy Festival, Waking Windows Festival, Tower City Comedy Festival and the Green Mountain Comedy Festival. She was a 2015 and 2017 finalist for Seven Days’ ‘Best Stand-Up Comic,’ a reader’s choice award.

Veralyn Williams is a Peabody and Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist who has been tackling questions on identity, social norms, and community since she picked up her first microphone in 2004. As Producer of Radio Rookies, a youth journalism program embedded within New York Public Radio’s narrative unit, Williams teaches young people to report radio documentaries inspired by their own experiences. Previously, Williams was a member of Slate Magazine’s podcast team. While there she launched and produced Slate’s film and TV podcast, Represent, revamped Slate’s feminist podcast, The Waves (formerly Double X), and produced the inaugural season of Panoply’s Family Ghost. Williams has also worked as managing editor of Brooklyn Deep, a digital investigative news, analysis, and data website chronicling neighborhood change in Central Brooklyn. Through all of her endeavors, Williams aims to amplify perspectives often forgotten in the media.