Forty-two Minute Lessons

One indication of how nose-to-the-grindstone life has been for the last two weeks: I momentarily forgot I had a blog. My mind has been dialed exclusively to wordofmouthradio.org.

Producing forty-two minutes of live radio every day sans senior producer Andrew has been a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. For the record, our little triad (Avishay, Virginia and I) put eight pretty darn good shows on the air - miraculously and without a hitch.

There really is no teacher like pressure. As an intern, I cringed whenever Andrew asked me to write the minute-long show close: even if had an hour to write, I second-guessed every word (even if it was based on someone else's blog entry). In the past two weeks, though, I had little choice but to fill the minute with something air-worthy. I began to have fun with the writing and enjoy the pressure of the clock. I've also enjoyed the satisfaction seeing segments through, from initial pitch to live interview: geo-engineering, Oregon's proposed mileage tax, video games for teaching, safeguards for digital documents, Hugh Rienhoff and D.I.Y DNA - the list goes on.

I'm leaving NHPR with a newfound confidence in my voice as a writer and a producer, and am indebted to all the folks at 2 Pillsbury for leading me through this first chapter of my radio education.