The KALW Audio Academy Inaugural Class Powers Up and Students Share Their Goals

By Guest Bloggers Holly Kernan and Todd Whitney

Holly Kernan, News Director, KALW

We kicked off KALW’s first-ever Audio Academy on September 4, 2013, with an all-day orientation and news boot camp. Students were immediately immersed in the KALW culture and spent the day getting a sense of what they’d be learning and doing during the next 10 months. We asked them to reflect on what they hope to achieve during the two semesters and here is the first of those musings.

Todd Whitney, KALW Audio Academy Student

My first priority at KALW’s Audio Academy is finessing my chops as a radio producer and reporter. I didn’t grow up with the medium but I’m continually impressed with the intellectual and artistic potential the medium presents. I’d love for nothing more than to leave this year with the skills to add to the journalistic and storytelling traditions in radio. I see my growth in learning about radio as something that not only benefits me, but also will help me bring a new flavor to KALW.

My final goal is to understand more about radio as a business. It’s an art, but it’s an art that happens in the realm of business. Radio as a business is an understanding I would like to take away from my experience at KALW.

Who’s Todd?

Todd Whitney is an aspiring radio journalist born in Chicago and raised in the near South suburbs. After earning a Bachelor’s in International Studies and a Master’s in Afro-American Studies, he couldn’t be more enthused to begin a career that allows him to tell stories and investigate ideas in a creative way. He got his start in radio journalism as a summer 2012 intern at NPR’s Tell Me More. Todd views radio as a tool not only to explain communities, but to create them. If he’s not listening to hip-hop mix tapes, you can catch Todd playing basketball or soccer.