PICS 2017: WLRN Radio. Allison Light, Class of 2018

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Martin Sutton
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1 PICS 2017: WLRN Radio Allison Light, Class of 2018

It actually fell during my first weekend.

2 Weekend One: PRNDI I was lucky enough to be in Miami while WLRN hosted the PRNDI (Public Radio News Directors, Inc) conference! It actually fell during my first weekend. I attended workshops, lectures, and panel discussions, for two days from some of the best in the biz, all at a beautiful ocean-side resort!

3 Learning the Ropes After PRNDI, I went out to report my first story at the US Conference of Mayors. Bill Diblasio was at the press conference!

4 Hitting the airwaves Soon after, I reported a story that I got to voice meaning rather than an anchor reading copy I wrote and playing the bytes I recorded, it was my voice on the air! My first taste of fame. The story was very cute, about the release of a sea turtle into the ocean.

5 Rise and shine! Every intern did a week of the morning shift, meaning I got to work at 5am and left at 1pm! It was so valuable to learn the demands of that schedule, and also strangely peaceful to drive the dark highways with no traffic and arrive to a huge empty office! During the morning shift I was a producer rather than a reporter, meaning I helped with the technical work required to prepare the morning anchor for his daily newscast. We d write short blurbs for breaking news that reporters hadn t gotten interviews yet, choose which stories to air, and cut promo bytes.

6 Three weeks in, I was at the beach one Saturday when I overheard a lifeguard mention to a friend that she had Lifesaving Regionals that week. My ears perked up, I asked her for her info, and I pitched the story to my editors! I drove an hour up to Delray Beach and reported on the competition, then turned it into my first feature story, meaning it was 4 minutes instead of 1. My first feature

That reporting life I definitely got into a groove for the second half of the internship. I would report daily stories during the week while working on a feature from the previous weekend.

7 That reporting life I definitely got into a groove for the second half of the internship. I would report daily stories during the week while working on a feature from the previous weekend. I had a feature air for my final four Fridays, which my supervisors say might be some kind of record! This story about Miami Curves+ Week was extra exciting because I got to write about women in comedy (that s what I do at school!) as well as fashion and body positivity. And it doesn t hurt getting free tickets to cool events!

8 Making it big! This feature story, about the World Series for Beep Baseball, which is a sport adapted for the visually impaired, actually got picked up by the national NPR midday show Here and Now! It will air sometime in the coming weeks for almost 5 million listeners.

Bienvenidos a Miami Part of the reason this internship was perfect is because Miami has such a large Spanish-speaking population, and I m a Spanish major!

9 Bienvenidos a Miami Part of the reason this internship was perfect is because Miami has such a large Spanish-speaking population, and I m a Spanish major! After spending the past two summers in Buenos Aires, I wanted to continue my exposure. I was able to do multiple stories that relied on using my Spanish to interview locals. Being able to access that entire population here and do my own radio translations was so valuable!

10 Going live I was the only intern this summer asked to anchor, which means I read the daily newscasts live from the studios, broadcasting to all of South Florida s NPR listeners. Here s a picture of me practicing to go live in the studio!

The biggest project of the summer was a collaborative 7-minute (that s the longest possible local radio slot) exploration of religious practices related to Biscayne Bay that I produced

11 The biggest project of the summer was a collaborative 7-minute (that s the longest possible local radio slot) exploration of religious practices related to Biscayne Bay that I produced alongside the three other summer interns (who all became my good friends). It was incredibly rewarding to come together on a bigger project, and I was honored to get to voice it for air! Intern Project

12 In conclusion My summer with WLRN was packed, challenging, enriching, educational, and FUN! I worked with a great team and great supervisors, and made lasting friendships with the other interns. I definitely recommend this internship for any Princetonians interested in radio and journalism (Spanish knowledge definitely helpful!) Thanks PICS for this amazing opportunity and all of the support during my stay in Miami.

Writing and Reporting News You Can Use

Writing and Reporting News You Can Use Writing and Reporting News You Can Use instructs students on how to produce news stories that are informative, interesting, educational and, most importantly, compelling.