WFHB broadcasts students’ work

It’s hard to imagine Bloomington as anything but a college town, but Assistant Journalism Professor Mike Conway challenged the students in his spring community journalism class to do just that. \nThe students were told to develop five- to eight-minute radio segments on issues concerning the Bloomington community. \n“We spent the seminar talking about the big picture of media and society and where journalism is going,” Conway said. “Then they had to go out and cover the story themselves. Very basic, important issues to a community.” \nAfter receiving a grant from Indiana Campus Compact and with the help of News Director Chad Carrothers, the students were able to develop their stories by using the studios of resident non-profit radio station, WFHB, which airs on 91.3 and 98.1 FM. \n“He (Carrothers) helped decide what stories and what areas the students would cover that were important to the listeners of WFHB,” Conway said. “I thought it would be good for students to see a different type of news model where people are mostly working because they want to, not because they’re getting paid to do it.” \nLast spring semester was the first time this type of class was offered, so it was difficult to predict the success of the final project. However, the project was so impressive that WFHB agreed to allow the students’ work to be broadcast. \nHowever, this summer, two students, seniors Erica Ballard and Eleanor Lissitzyn, combined the work of their fellow classmates into four 30-minute programs. \nThe radio segments, which will air each Thursday in August at 11 a.m. on 91.3 and 98.1 FM, are part of the “At the Mic: Bloomington Close Up” program. You can also listen to the complete broadcasts on the WFHB Web site. \n“I had no idea how much work was in store for me when I signed on to this project,” Lissitzyn said. “I honed my interviewing skills, my audio editing skills and my writing skills.” \nBallard was equally surprised by the workload.\n“It was a fair amount of time we put into this; we had to research before,” Ballard said. \nStudents had the choice of writing their stories on one of four different topics: , the justice system, outsourcing or health care. Both Ballard and Lissitzyn chose to do stories on correctional facilities. Ballard, who wrote her story on the treatment of mentally ill inmates, said it was insightful to see how jails and prisons worked. \nBoth students agree that they hope their listeners on WFHB gain awareness about issues affecting Bloomington. \n“They don’t get as much coverage as they should, and I hope that they (the listeners) really take away from the importance of the issues and how they affect our community,” Ballard said.