Which topics do I instinctively pursue?
Politics and current events interest me. The arts have long interested me; particularly smart and independent films. Theater is also great, but I only feel like I can afford to go occasionally.
At one point, I studied film history. When I finally finished my degree, I decided that journalism was a compelling craft and challenge. Facts grab my attention more. Journalism is about accurate, reliable, verified, and well-composed information. That's often the best way to start or build a story.
I think my stories appeal to educated, open-minded, and critically thoughtful people. My stories attract people who enjoy listening to and learning about topics that rarely receive mainstream news headlines.
The hard, topical feature stories that I produce typically lie at the crossroads of these three elements...
Progressive politics. The Media Arts. Ethnicity.
What forms of stories do I feel called to make?
While spot news stories are useful, but they leave me hungry for detail. I know; duh. The feature pieces usually grab me. I prefer longer, nuanced, and artistic stories. Most of my experience is in filing stories that take 3:00-minutes or more. I want to know more about the context and the people | the drama.
Why are public radio or TV the best media for my ideas?
Public radio freed my imagination from the constraint of the commercial alternatives. I was raised on television | about four or five feet away from one. In my adult years, after I began listening to public radio, it became appointment listening. It provides the nuance and thoughtfulness that I covet.
I noticed that my mind had been affected by television so that it became routine to let TV tell me how to interpret its stories and images. Radio stories do that more rarely.
