KALW Audio Academy Celebrates the Old and New Year
By Guest Blogger Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW
Happy New Year!
Our news department took a two-week holiday to refresh ourselves and prepare for the year to come. While we were out, though, some enterprising Academy members stayed busy producing sound and stories for national broadcast.
Academy Fellow Jeremy Dalmas made a story for Marketplace about Oakland’s cat cafe – a place designed to promote animal adoption in a friendly environment. It’s his first national piece, and it aired on Christmas Day!
Would You Like a Cat with Your Cappuccino?
Just two days later, Current Academy fellow Alexis Luna-Torres provided key sound and information for a story reported by NPR‘s Shereen Marisol Meraji recapping a conflict in San Francisco’s Mission District between young soccer players and tech workers.
I also found out, this week, that Academy Fellow Todd Whitney is working with NPR’s Code Switch team to produce his story about black Americans’ interactions with nature, which he originally produced for KALW’s Crosscurrents.
While I thoroughly enjoyed my time away from the office – time I ultimately spent hiking, cooking, and hanging out with my family – it was incredibly energizing to return to KALW this week. The team is in great spirits, and the Academy is primed for getting work on the air with regularity at this point. Colin Peden and Jack Detsch completed entertaining stories this week about small business pitfalls in San Francisco. They’ll be on the air in the next couple days.
Stay tuned!