These work samples highlight the quality and innovation of WLRN’s arts journalism and audience engagement. Not only do we employ transmedia storytelling, we convene diverse peoples and amplify their voices. This experience will be brought to bear on our proposed interactive music program, The Beat.
That’s So Miami: civic poetry project
In a month-long civic poetry project in April 2013, we asked residents to write a piece of poetry that started or ended with the phrase "That's So Miami." Poems were submitted through the Public Insight Network, on Twitter and Facebook, at a series of six outreach events and even through postcards. We also accepted photo submissions through Instagram. All submissions were posted to a dedicated Tumblr page (http://thatssomiami.tumblr.com/), which gained a considerable following, and the best of these poems were read on the radio by the poets themselves and at two poetry readings at the end of the month.
This project demonstrates WLRN's ability to engage our audience with artistic work and amplify the creative voices of our listeners, much as we will do with our proposed interactive music program, The Beat.
Platforms: online, social networks, radio, in-person
This video presents highlights from the project: poems read by their authors (all had been broadcast over radio as well) accompanied by photos submitted by our audience of what best captured Miami and by a professional photographer of our community outreach events. Date completed: April 30, 2013 Running time: 2 min. 59 sec. Credits: Danny Rivero, Elaine Chen, Arielle Castillo
This is an excerpt from one of the reading events on April 28, 2013. The readers are sharing their own original work, which was selected based on online voting as the best That's So Miami poem for one out of five categories. Those categories were best poem about Spanglish, traffic, food, Miami's flaws and a love for Miami. A total of about 30 first-time and experienced poets shared their work at this event. Date completed: April 30, 2013 Running time: 10 min. 51 sec. Credits: Elaine Chen, Alicia Zuckerman, Danny Rivero
This web post was one of many we had on our website throughout the month of April, national poetry month. It includes a selection of our favorite poems and photos, from the hundreds that were submitted every week. It also includes a video made at one of the several outreach events we held as part of the project. This event was at the Overtown Youth Center, which is located in a low-income mostly African-American neighborhood in the city of Miami. Date completed: April 16, 2013 Running time: N/A Credits: Danny Rivero
Remix the News Challenge
WLRN held a "Remix the News Challenge" on the debate whether public money should help fund renovations to Sun Life Stadium where the Miami Dolphins football team plays.
WLRN cut down hours of commission meetings, committee debates and press conferences into a set of key moments from major players in the Sun Life Stadium saga. The audio was shared on Soundcloud. We then asked for people to take that audio and remix it to make it their own.
Platforms: online, social networks, radio
This video is an example of the one of the best submissions we received. It is a remix made by Gabe Grabin, a radio producer in Maine. WLRN then set the remix to video. Date completed: April 29, 2013 Running time: 1 min. 56 sec. Credits: Gabe Grabin, Kenny Malone, Rebekah Monson
Miami Guitarist Aaron Lebos: Don’t Use the F Word
The arts are one of WLRN's primary coverage areas. Here is an example showcasing our journalistic approach: thoughtful reporting that captures the sense of place. We give NPR-quality treatment to our local musicians and tease out stories to give the listener insight into the creative process behind the music.
WLRN's proposed music program, The Beat, will build on the station's legacy of arts journalism and commitment to community engagement.
Platforms: online, radio
Our senior editor, Alicia Zuckerman, interviews Miami jazz/funk guitarist Aaron Lebos about his new album, his musical influences, and why calling your music “fusion” is taboo. Date completed: February 4, 2013 Running time: 4 min. 15 sec. Credit: Alicia Zuckerman
Town Hall Project on the State Legislative Session
Covering the state legislative session is always a challenge. It's a 60-day bonanza in our capital of Tallahassee hundreds of miles to the north. We took news a shared experience as our guide and began our coverage plan by first asking: What issues matter to our audience?
Two months before the first day of session, we put out a series of Public Insight Network queries asking our audience what they wanted to know more about. We received about 700 responses in the form of comments or questions. Before the legislature had even convened, we had several online events, radio interviews on what issues mattered to our audience with a short story on why and a town hall with state legislative leaders. And once the legislature convened, we used that audience feedback to shape our coverage.
The project demonstrates our commitment to audience engagement and our ability to use multiple platforms to interact with our listeners. These are skills we plan to apply in our proposed interactive music program, The Beat.
Platforms: online, social networks, radio, in-person
- http://wlrn.org/post/talk-us-florida-legislators-session-2013-sneak-peek-wlrn-miami-herald-town-hall
This is an excerpt from our February 25, 2013 Town Hall with state legislative leaders. A WLRN host moderated the discussion, but the topics were based on feedback we received through the Public Insight Networks and the questions were mostly drawn - and asked - by the audience. Date completed: February 28, 2013 Running time: 50 min. Credits: Elaine Chen, Phil Latzman, Danny Rivero, Alicia Zuckerman
We designed an online game called “Tallanasty” to make the conversation in the capitol about ethics reform more accessible to a broader audience – and to make it fun! The game was designed in consultation with state ethics experts. Date completed: February 24, 2013 Running time: N/A Credits: Elaine Chen, Lazaro Gamio, Danny Rivero
This story is an example of several we reported based on that audience feedback, here, about why some wanted to get rid of Florida's allowance for permanent alimony. Date completed: March 1, 2013 Running time: 3 min. 15 sec. Credits: Rick Stone, Terence Shepherd, Elaine Chen
Presidential Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco, a Miami Cuban-American
The arts are one of WLRN's primary coverage areas. Here is an example showcasing our journalistic approach: thoughtful reporting that captures the sense of place, even for a national event like the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
WLRN's proposed music program, The Beat, will build on the station's legacy of arts journalism and commitment to community engagement.
Presidential inaugural poet, Richard Blanco, who was raised in Miami, spoke with our senior editor, Alicia Zuckerman, about his many notions of home. Platforms: online, radio Date completed: February 22, 2013 Running time: 3 min. 51 sec. Credit: Alicia Zuckerman
Tweet Me A Story
Miami Book Fair International is America’s largest annual book fair. Aside from traditional preview coverage and author interviews, we wanted to engage our audience in the creative process. We challenged our audience to tell a story with us on Twitter. Visiting author Junot Díaz provided us an opening line, and we then asked our audience to finish out the story.
We built the story as it unfolded into aStorify on our site. As far as we can tell, it was the first time any media outlet had engaged their audience that way. We’ve since consulted other outlets on running similar projects. Platforms: online, social networks Date completed: November 12, 2012 Running time: N/A Credits: Danny Rivero, Sammy Mack
Remembering Andrew
Twenty years after the devastation of Hurricane Andrew, WLRN-Miami Herald News collected stories from more than 100 homeowners, government officials and journalists who lived through the storm. Months of shoe-leather reporting, combined with aggressive use of social media and the Public Insight Network allowed us to uncover never-before-told stories. The Public Insight Network allowed us to ask thousands of community members for their stories.
The Remembering Andrew project included a one-hour radio documentary, 15 radio features, and an audio presentation that played for several months at the Miami Science Museum planetarium as part of their Hurricane Andrew exhibit.
This work highlights WLRN's skill at transmedia storytelling and our dedication to audience engagement, qualities that will guide our production of our proposed music program, The Beat.
Platforms: online, social networks, radio
The documentary has won national awards including an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association, and awards from The Missouri Review and PRNDI for best radio documentary, as well as numerous Southeast Region and statewide awards. Date completed: August 24, 2012 Running time: 9 min. 3 sec. Credits: Kenny Malone, Alicia Zuckerman, Dan Grech and the WLRN newsroom
- http://storify.com/wlrnunderthesun/remembering-andrew
In addition to the radio components (15 features and a one-hour documentary), we created a Storify to present of photos and visuals to accompany the listening experience. Date completed: August 24, 2012 Running time: N/A Credits: WLRN newsroom
“Her Own Little Paris”: Ruth Greenfield, music teacher and maverick
The arts are one of WLRN’s primary coverage areas. Here is an example showcasing our approach to journalism: thoughtful reporting that captures the sense of place.
This story tells how Ruth Greenfield, a music teacher and maverick, integrated arts education in Miami long before desegregation. It was reported by our senior editor, Alicia Zuckerman, who won an Edward R. Murrow Award for this feature.
WLRN's proposed music program, The Beat, will build on the station's legacy of arts journalism and commitment to community engagement.
Platforms: online, radio
The video accompanying the radio story demonstrates our multimedia reporting skills. Using photos with audio of interviews with Ruth Greenfield and her students interwoven with their music, it gives a face to the people in the radio piece. Date completed: April 11, 2012 Running time: 9 min. 8 sec. Credits: Alicia Zuckerman, Trina Sargalski, Sammy Mack, Khrista Rypl
Miami Stories
Through a partnership with a local storytelling organization Lip Service, WLRN worked with audience members to produce a sold-out event at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables. The evening featured true stories about life in South Florida, told by the people who lived them. The sold-out event was recorded for broadcast and aired on WLRN 91.3 FM and WKWM 91.5 FM June 4 and June 5. Featuring touching personal journeys, the show was presented in multimedia online, broadcast on radio, and made available for purchase on CD.
Platforms: online, radio, in-person
This work highlights WLRN’s work in elevating audience voices and cultivating audience storytelling, skills we will apply in producing our proposed music program, The Beat. Date completed: June 5, 2011 Running time: various Credits: Alicia Zuckerman, Dan Grech and contributors
