I am on my first co-op right now with public radio station WYSO; the station is owned by
Antioch and is across the street from the college. The mission of WYSO is to serve the
community “with news, information, and entertainment to encourage dialog, understanding, and
engagement.” WYSO broadcasts NPR, BBC, and also has daily programming run by staff
members as well as volunteers. The station was originally created in 1959 by Antioch College
students and faculty. It first started broadcasting with only 19 watts of power, and now the station broadcasts at 50,000 watts, enough to cover the Miami Valley.
When I first came to WYSO I was asked by the station manager, Neenah Ellis, what I would like
to do and learn during my time with them. I said that I was interested in digital audio
editing and the production side of radio. Neenah has made sure that I am learning about my
interests during my co-op. My day-to-day duties change, but I am almost always working on
editing a piece of audio for broadcast or for the WYSO website. These past few weeks I have
been recording and editing promos for WYSO’s next fund-drive. Promos need to be exactly 29.4
seconds in length and learning how to edit recordings down to that timeframe has taught me a
lot. Not only about audio editing, but also script editing.
Since I started working at WYSO I have also learned a lot about journalism. I have taken up the
mantle of producing a monthly podcast called “The Antioch Word.” The podcast always has
something to do with Antioch, and is intended for the Antioch College community. My first podcast was about the maple trees tapped on campus in March. The project was spearheaded by local farm
Flying Mouse Farms. They, with student help, tapped the trees, transported the sap to their farm,
and boiled it down into syrup, which we got to enjoy in the Antioch Dining halls. I had to
interview several unfamiliar people for this podcast, and being a shy person this was quite an
intimidating task. This was my second foray in interviewing folks who I am not familiar with,
and now I am much more comfortable with interviewing, and talking to, people who I have never
seen before. Doing the podcast has also taught me about script-writing and voiceovers work.
Working at WYSO has been nothing but a positive experience for me and I am so glad that I’ve
had the opportunity to spend my co-op there.
