Milano | CNYCA: Feet in Two Worlds: Challenges

Teaching a Polish Newspaper Reporter to Speak “Public Radio,” and other Challenges from the “Feet In Two Worlds” Project

by John Rudolph, producer, Feet in Two Worlds

I’m cleaning up my desk now that all the work has been done on “Feet in Two Worlds.” What I’ve discovered buried under piles of paper and stuffed into plastic bags are dozens of CDs with bits and pieces of the program in various stages from the very early versions to the final mixed program. The CD’s are labeled in black marker pen with names like “Arun’s Phat Cutz” and “Polish Pharm. long (7:12) and short (6:37).”

I must have at least eight different versions of the Polish Pharmacy piece by Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska. I know many more versions of that piece were produced over the course of the project. The same goes for the other stories in the program, all of which were continually reworked until everyone was satisfied that they were as good as they could possibly be. All those CD’s are a reminder of how much effort was involved in this project, and how much we were able to achieve in a relatively short period of time.

It was my idea to take a group of journalists from New York City’s ethnic press who had never before produced radio stories, and give them the skills, support and tools they needed to create sophisticated, meaningful and sound-rich audio pieces. This would be a fabulous opportunity to bring new voices to public radio and simultaneously give a small group of talented young journalists new skills that could help advance their careers.

A lot of my colleagues in public radio were skeptical. We only had five months to do the work. ‘How,’ they asked, ‘could you take raw recruits from the world of print journalism, and in less than half a year bring them to a level where they could produce radio stories worthy of national broadcast?’ How would we overcome potential language barriers and differences in editorial standards? I didn’t have many good answers to these questions. All I kept saying was, “I think it will work.”

Five months is a long time to hold your breath. Now, as I exhale, I’m happy to say that it did work. “Feet in Two Worlds,” is a beautiful hour of radio, with compelling stories, wonderful interviews and music, solid journalism and a unique style that sets it apart from typical radio documentaries, including a number of programs that I’ve produced. The program was broadcast on many public radio stations around the country, and was one of the highlights of the 2005 Public Radio Collaboration’s week of special coverage “Think Global.” More than that, the “Feet in Two Worlds” project has created a model for bringing print journalists into public radio, especially journalists from the ethnic press.

All of my partners in this project deserve credit for its success. They include WNYC, New York Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, the Center for New York City Affairs at the Milano Graduate School of The New School and three journalists from the city’s ethnic press – Macollvie Jean-François of the Haitian Times, Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska of the Polish Daily News, and Arun Venugopal of India Abroad.

The system we developed is based on a few simple concepts:

Each of the print journalists was assigned a mentor – an experienced public radio producer who worked closely with them through the entire project. The mentors served several roles. Sometimes they acted as field producers during field recording sessions. They helped develop story outlines and scripts. They frequently gave technical advice. They also helped the print journalists navigate the world of public radio.

After interviewing more than a dozen candidates from New York’s ethnic press we settled on three journalists. Although they came from very different backgrounds, what they had in common were – good story ideas, good writing skills, good English language skills, huge enthusiasm for the project and a willingness to be flexible with their schedules. Almost everyone involved with this project had a regular day job. Much of the work was done at night and on weekends.

From the outset we emphasized that the project would be extremely labor intensive and that it would involve a more rigorous editorial process than the journalists were accustomed to. We were equally emphatic about honoring the qualities that made each journalist and each story unique. Our aim was to create something new, not to force the journalists to conform to typical public radio reporting styles.

Finally, radio is a wonderful medium for story-telling. That’s one of its greatest strengths. Radio is less effective in conveying statistics and numbers, the kind of information that newspaper reporters often rely on to illustrate their stories. Making the transition from print to radio can be difficult for some journalists. We asked the three print journalists to build their pieces around strong, compelling characters, and allow the facts of their stories to emerge through the story-telling process.

The project began with a one-day intensive introduction to radio production. Arun, Ewa and Macollvie got to listen to and comment on several pieces representing different reporting and production styles. We drew diagrams for them to show the production flow of a typical radio story and the way sound elements – voice-tracks, actuality and ambiance – are mixed to create a piece. We described various approaches to building a story such as working from an outline or using a diagram where the essence of the story is at the center and the various characters and scenes are represented by “arms” branching out from the center. We showed them how to use a minidisc recorder. We gave them so much information that their heads began to spin.

Each reporter was given a kit consisting of a minidisc recorder, a mono microphone, headphones and a box of minidiscs.

The reporters followed different paths to develop their stories. Ewa was the first to submit a script. It looked a lot like a newspaper article with audio clips added. I was interested in a more natural approach to story telling. So Ewa agreed to sit in a studio and tell her story.

Facing a microphone for the first time, her inclination was to speak the way she thought a radio reporter should sound. Her presentation was very formal, not at all like her warm and friendly personality. The program’s editor, Karen Frillmann, then asked Ewa to tell her story they way she would tell a friend. With this idea in mind, Ewa began to describe the look and feel of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Greenpoint, and the Polish pharmacies in the community.

As she spoke, we transcribed what she said on a computer screen. Ewa then edited the transcript to make it flow more naturally to her ear. She then re-recorded the edited transcript. The result was a story told in a conversational and very personal style.

In the end, Ewa didn’t use the script from that first studio session. But the experience gave her confidence, and showed her what to aim for in creating a radio piece. It also demonstrated that she had a wonderful voice for radio.

Macollvie wanted to bring the sounds of the Haitian business district on Church Avenue in Brooklyn into her piece about Haitians who regularly send money back to Haiti. One cold winter evening she and I went to Church Avenue, and while I (her mentor) held the mic she did a stand-up – an unscripted description of the scene, as street vendors sold their wares and people stopped at store-front money transfer offices to send money back to Haiti on their way home from work. Again, the stand-up didn’t make it into the final version of the piece. But the experience helped Macollvie understand how evocative language and ambiance could draw in someone listening to her story.

Both Karen Frillmann and I spent many hours working with the reporters, sharpening their scripts and helping them choose and edit their audio clips. Frequently Karen or I would ask a reporter to describe the context of what they had written. This led to some great conversations in which we learned a lot about the lives of immigrants in New York. It often produced new language, or led us to previously-overlooked pieces of tape that more precisely and effectively revealed the emotions and facts of the story.

I’m always surprised by how much time it takes to produce good radio. This project was no exception. Everyone involved put in many more hours than they had anticipated. I’m absolutely convinced that it was worth the effort. We met our goals – to produce a compelling documentary about immigrants in New York, bring new voices to public radio and create a system to forge relationships between public radio and the ethnic press.