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Feb 19, 2022 at 11:00 am – Feb 26, 2022 at 5:30 pm
RADIO BOOT CAMP
Presented with Hindenburg
Do you love Ira, have a secret crush on Terry Gross, or wanna be Audie Cornish when you grow up? Come to Radio Boot Camp’s Fall session and learn how to produce a podcast story from start to finish. Class will cover the basics of writing for the ear (very different from print) and producing for radio. Learn interviewing and mic techniques by doing the real thing. Voicing will also be covered. Students will work on one story over the course of the weekend. We’ll discuss interviewing best practices for both in-person and online interviews, but in order to keep everyone safe, both students and interview subjects, unless students have access to boom poles, students will conduct interviews online.
We know this is a challenging time and when times are tough as these we like to turn to NPR’s mission statement, written by Bill Siemering in 1970. Here’s a favorite paragraph:
National Public Radio will serve the individual: it will promote personal growth; it will regard the individual differences among men with respect and joy rather than derision and hate; it will celebrate the human experience as infinitely varied rather than vacuous and banal; it will encourage a sense of active constructive participation, rather than apathetic helplessness.
We hope you’ll join us at Boot Camp to help us forward this mission.
Reflections from previous participants:
Boot Camp was a perfect way to jump in and have an intense (in a good way), sleeves-rolled up & hands-on exposure to the process of creating a podcast. I walked away with a great first layer of understanding and experience, and am excited to do more. Sally and Emily are excellent and generous teachers. It was a really fun, rewarding couple days. – Edelen McWilliams
For me, Boot Camp was inspiring and creatively stimulating. It was the perfect mix of instruction and hands on exercises, which allowed us to apply the knowledge and skills we acquired in class to produce our first audio story or podcast episode. My favorite part about the Boot Camp was learning from a seasoned professional in the industry. In addition to receiving high quality education, Sally gave us really helpful tips for pitching and provided us with additional resources that you wouldn’t necessarily receive in a traditional classroom setting. -Norah Tahiri
Thank you SO much for this experience. I wish WBUR/public radio stations could pay for EVERY employee to do this as part of on-boarding. I am starting my work week tomorrow with so much more confidence, and I just wish I had been able to go to a boot camp sooner! I’m excited to try tracking my piece, and I’m going to start using what I learned about recording and Hindenburg immediately. (In fact, I have a new Hindenburg session open right now!). -Grace Tatter
Details
Where ?
UnionDocs, 322 Union Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211
When?
Saturday, February 19th
10:00 am – 4:30 pm
Sunday, February 26th
10:00am – 6:00pm
Eligibility
Radio Boot Camp is designed for beginners, enthusiasts and newcomers to radio.
This workshop is being held in person. Adhering by City and State Guidelines as New York reopens, we are requiring all participants to be fully vaccinated in order to enter the UnionDocs screening room.
Costs
$325 for early registration by Saturday, February 12th at 6PM (ET).
$350 regular registration.
Technology Requirements
All the software and recording equipment for the weekend will be provided. We’re incredibly grateful to the generous folks at Hindenburg for sharing their amazing audio editing software with us! Shortly after you register, students will be able to download a version of Hindenburg which will be theirs to use for a couple of months. That way you can get your audio groove on early! We ask that students review a set of Hindenburg Tutorial videos on their own. However students will have plenty of time in-class to ask questions about Hindy. Please note: in order to keep costs down, this workshop is a b-y-o-l, bring your own laptop. Students must be FULLY PROFICIENT using and operating their computers. **Students will be using professional recording gear in class so laptops must either have a USB port to connect to recorders, or a slot to read SD memory cards.**
$325 for early registration by Saturday, February 12th at 6PM (ET). $350 regular registration afterwards.
To register for a workshop, students must pay in full. After the early registration deadline, course fees are non-refundable or transferable. Any withdrawals after the deadline will result in the full cost of the class being forfeited. There are no exceptions. To withdraw from the course please email [email protected].
If the workshop does not receive sufficient enrollment, it may be canceled. Students will be notified at least 48 hours prior to the start of a cancelled workshop and will be refunded within 5 business days. If we reschedule a workshop to another date, students are also entitled to a full refund. UnionDocs reserves the right to change instructors without prior notification, and to change class location and meeting times by up to an hour with 48 hours prior notice.
Q: I really like radio, but I don’t know anything about how to make it. Should I take this class?
A: Absolutely! This workshop is designed for beginners, enthusiasts and newcomers to radio.
Q: I really like radio – in fact I already work for a show/station! But I work at a talk show/in fundraising/listener relations. Should I take this class?
A: Absolutely! The focus of class is on making pre-produced radio a very different process than producing at a talk show or similar.
Q: How many students will be in class?
A: Class is limited to 12 students.
Q: Do we need any special software or equipment for camp?
A: Yes – in order to keep costs down you’ll need your laptop, but that’s it. All the software you need will be provided.
Q: What about lunch?
A: We’ll take an hour off each day for lunch.
Q: What’s UnionDocs?
A: UnionDocs is a nonprofit Center for Documentary Art. It presents over 100 events a year, runs workshops and produces original projects through its collaborative studio. We think it’s pretty great!
Q: What is Hindenburg?
A: In case you’re wondering, Hindenburg Systems’ audio production solutions are developed by, with and for radio professionals and podcasters. The unique, intuitive interface is designed specifically for story-telling, allowing journalists to focus on their story, while Hindenburg ensures consistent broadcast sound quality and levels. It’s all about the Story!
Q: Where will the ideas for the stories we’ll be working on come from?
A: There will be some flexibility in format, but the class will work on one assigned story. This allows students to see and learn from each other’s work. Pitching story ideas and professional practices will be discussed at the end of day 3, and we’re hoping to schedule a stand alone pitching workshop in the near future.
Q: I want to learn to make a podcast. Will you be covering that?
A: While we wish we had time to cover everything, we may touch on podcasting, but it’s not a set part of the curriculum.
Bios
Sally Herships is an award winning journalist who’s been making radio for over a decade. Currently reporting for American Public Media’s Marketplace she’s also produced or reported for the BBC, The New York Times, NPR, WNYC, Studio 360 and has put in many hours at Radiolab. A 2015 US-Japan Journalism Fellow with the Japan Center for International Exchange, Sally has reported from Japan and India currently teaches writing for radio at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and Sarah Lawrence College. Sally hosts the live storytelling event Stories You Can’t Tell on the Radio and when she’s not making radio or teaching it she enjoys sitting around, daydreaming, and drawing supermodels, robots and cats for sohosally.com.
Past Instructors
Elizabeth Brockway is a recent graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism where she worked on Uptown Radio. Prior to earning her master’s degree, she spent several years working as a writer and photographer in fashion and beauty at Vogue.com, Into The Gloss and i-D. You can listen to her radio work here.
Stephanie Coleman began making radio as an undergraduate studying at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies. She has since worked for StoryCorps, The Story with Dick Gordon, and she currently produces radio independently and for Twangbox Productions. Her work has aired on All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, The Story, WBEZ’s Re:Sound, and the Vox Tablet and Distillations podcasts. She is also an accomplished old-time fiddle player and has performed and taught throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia with the all-girl band Uncle Earl and other stringbandy configurations.
Adrian Ma is a journalist, audio producer, and former law clerk. Since making the switch from law to journalism, he’s reported on how football’s concussion crisis is making helmets more expensive, why interest in drone racing is taking off, and how New York’s helicopter tour industry is driving residents nuts. In 2016, he graduated with honors from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. His work has aired on WNYC, WBAI, and Marketplace. Recently, he worked on Codebreaker, a podcast from Marketplace Tech and Business Insider. Years ago, he was a cook in a ramen shop. Marylander by birth; New Yorker by necessity. Listen to samples of his work here.
