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Identifying your best tape!

2012-02-09T15:13:00.000-08:00

This American Life host Ira Glass with some helpful tips about pulling your choicest quotes: "When I'm in the field, I'll write a list of favorite quotes immediately after getting the tape. Usually it's just three or four things, but when I'm recording all day, I'll take an hour or so at the end of the day and list everything I remember as great and as good. I try to keep the two categories very clear in my head: here's the stuff I know that kills, here's the stuff that's possible. It's surprising how often the story is simply the stuff I thought was great- that that initial list is the story. With just a few things from the "good" list, to fill a point out here or there."

Use that semicolon!

2011-11-30T15:19:00.000-08:00

Get the scoop on how and when to properly use the semicolon!

Some words of wisdom from Ira Glass

2011-09-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

ATMI students got to meet Ira Glass of This American Life, when he was in Anchorage April, 2010. Though most of us look up to him and consider him someone who has the radio thing down pat, he talked about how everyday he's worried he'll make a mistake and how he's still working to be a good radio producer.

ATMI WITH IRA!

Note: Thank you Kate Consenstein of Alaska Geographic for inspiring this post.

The luck charms that help us make good radio :P

2011-08-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

Chris Brookes is known for making really good radio. And recently the website Transom.org featured his "Secret Ingredients to Great Features." We found his number two secret to ring true here at ATMI! He says that when he's producing he likes to have a talisman around. Talisman is basically an object that brings good luck.

"So my house is littered with 'feature talismans' – objects that once had power, but now are just meaningless objects. The features have the power now. Or perhaps it is just my ego that likes to flirt with this belief. It could be, as my wife says, that I just mess up the house with junk," Brookes wrote.

Is there something to it?! Maybe we owe the dogs, dinosaurs, Mickey Mouses and baby Buddahs of the ATMI studio a little credit?!

Give your project some perspective!

2011-04-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

Wally Wood was one of the founding cartoonists of Mad magazine in 1952. He is known for coming up with a way to inspire himself to mix things up and be efficient. He taped comics to his drawing table, each with a different scene layout or way of composing a scene! He used these for his comic strips but these days people use them for inspiration for art, photography, video, etc.

He would also tell himself:

"Never draw anything you can copy, never copy anything you can trace, never trace anything you can cut out and paste up."

Wood's ex-assistant Larry Hama, who became an editor at Marvel Comics, thought Wood's advice to himself was spot on. Hama pasted the tips up in the bullpen at Marvel Comics. A bullpen is a cubicle style office where artists, journalists, etc might not have a permanent space but work where ever they can find a space at the moment. This is kind of like the ATMI office!

WALLY WOOD's 22 PANELS

NOTE: Special thanks to former ATMI member Andrew Aquino for pointing us in the direction of these fun tips!

Radiolab tells stories through sound!

2011-04-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

THE SWEET SOUNDS OF SCIENCE
The New York Times has an interactive feature where you can explore the sounds WNYC's "Radiolab" has recorded/created to help them tell stories.

Here is an article to go with it! Be inspired!

Manual/Digital Photography

2011-04-07T21:56:00.000-07:00

Rosey's friend Natasha just posted a wonderful blog that includes some tips she learned on how to shoot manually on her digital camera. These tips are great for students who might want to move past the auto setting!

Like this!

2011-04-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some pages young Alaskan media producers might "like" on Facebook. We included websites as well. :)

ASMP ALASKA
American Society of Media Photographers (Alaska) hosts events each month in support of photographers who take photos for publications. This month Oscar Avellaneda shared photos of a bike trip he took from Washington State to Colombia.(ASMP website)

YOUTHCAST
alt.NPR: Youthcast from Generation PRX often features the work of Alaska's teens. Ishmael Streever's story on youth Iditarod Musher Seigi Takagi is one of the most recent features! (Youthcast website)

ALASKA PRESS CLUB
The Alaska Press Club provides continuing education, recognition and information to reporters across the state. The club hosts a three-day journalism conference and an awards banquet, held the final day of the conference. (APC website)

KTVA TV LAND
KTVA TV LAND gives you insight into what it is like to work in an Alaska TV newsroom. KTVA's Neil Torquiano posts tons of behind the scenes photos of reporters, photographers, hosts and producers on the job. (KTVA website)

'I want to be a youth radio producer'

2011-01-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

Anyone and everyone who has been, wants to be or has worked with youth radio producers should get a chuckle out of this. :P The teens from Radio Rookies in New York made it!

How to record audio for the Web

2011-01-03T21:35:00.000-08:00

J-Learning is a how-to site for community journalism and they offer a how-to guide to recording audio that isn't half bad!

This would benefit anyone who is going to record outside the studio. Remember to wear headphones!

MUSIC: A FORCE FOR GOOD (AND SOMETIMES EVIL)

2010-05-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here is something for all you radio and music geeks! Jad Abumrad of Radio Lab gave a workshop on using music when telling audio stories at Third Coast Audio Festival.

Roping the wind in Texas

2010-05-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

NACHO CORBELLA

Roping the wind in Texas from Powering a Nation on Vimeo.

When you watch this, think about the composition of this guy's video. It is very artistic and has the feel of still photography, which is very beautiful!

Win a trip to Chicago with the ShortDocs Challenge!

2010-05-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

In October, ATMI will be attending the Third Coast Audio Festival in Chicago!

For those of you who are excited about the trip but not the fundraising part that comes before, check out this option! The 2010 Third Coast ShortDocs Challenge is back! And the top four entries get an all expenses paid trip to Chicago!

"Here's your chance to take part in an international audio project, whether you can produce radio in your sleep, or have always dreamed of uttering the words "Testing, 1, 2, 3. Testing" into a microphone. Book Odds are for everyone." -Third Coast Web site.

DEADLINE IS JULY 5, 2010.

SOME 2008 SHORTDOCS WINNERS:
Forest to Desert, by Sarah Boothroyd
The Searchers, by David P. Earle
Is That My Imagination?, by Meghan Vigeant

ATMI question of the month!

2010-04-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

ATMI's question this month is "Will you tell us a six word story?"

Check out this Web site for inspiration! (You don't have to be a teen to participate!) http://www.smithteens.com/

Click "call me," enter your info, and wait for Google to give you a call. Then, leave a message with your story. Do it right now! The show is this weekend!

Youth Radio!!

2010-02-11T18:42:00.000-08:00

The gang over at Youth Radio in Oakland continue to pump out quality work! The "What's the New What" series asks people to give their take on a particular topic! Take a look, enjoy, and see if you can come up something creative!

-Get ATMI

ATMI stories on the environment go national!

2010-01-12T14:20:00.000-08:00

From NHPR Web site: NHPR has teamed up with Generation PRX and the Terrascope Youth Radio group at MIT to produce a one-hour youth special for local and national distribution. "Fresh Greens" will tell the stories of how American youth think about their relationship to the environment and their daily impact on our planet.

Contributors include:

Terrascope Youth Radio – Cambridge, MA
Youth Radio – Oakland, CA
Youth Spin – Austin, TX
Blunt Youth Radio – Portland, ME
OutLoud Radio – San Francisco, CA
Alaska Teen Media Institute – Anchorage, AK

That's right! ATMI! Nikki Navio and Nithya Thiru's story on Shishmaref and Rebecca Barker's story on Dumpster Diving both made the cut. Take a listen!

Repost: How are you doing project

2009-08-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

An enterprising Young, Laura Mayer, has a very simple audio project where she publicizes a 1-800 number and asks people to call in and tell her how they are doing. It’s sort of like audio therapy and it’s fun number to call when you’re killing time, say waiting for a plane or standing at the bus stop. Or, it’s an “exercise in everyday empathy,” as the website says.

Listen in at HowAreYouDoingProject.com and also find the number so you can contribute! You can also check out an interview with Laura at Third Coast, where they just featured her work.

*Taken from youthcast.org.

Free Music!

2009-06-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

WFMU, a free-form radio station out of New Jersey, has set up "an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads." Free Music Archive might be a good spot to grab songs for DJ blocks and music beds!

Guide to recording phone calls!

2009-05-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

Transom.org has a guide for recording phone calls. This might help if you guys decide you need to interview someone over the phone.

ATMI story featured on Generation PRX

2009-05-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

One of the first ever ATMI stories by Hellen Fleming, titled "Teen Marriage" has been really popular throughout the years. In 2003, Hellen won an Alaska Press Club award for it and it has been downloaded by radio stations across the country. This month it is featured on the Generation PRX Web site. Take a listen!

Want to be a better interviewer?

2009-04-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

Here is an audio lecture by Marilyn Pitmann, a comic and radio talent trainer. You will want to have some time to sit down and listen to this because it is live and long.

RadioLingual

2009-04-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters conference in Portland and I have to show you guys this project I heard about there.

It is called RadioLingual, a Seattle-based multimedia project found in translation.

These two people from Seattle use a new tool that Google is coming out with called Google Voice , where you can record phone calls online.

What they do is they ask people a question, like, "What does it mean to open up a can of worms?" And then have people call in answers using the Internet. Last, they compile the answers into a radio piece.

Check it out!

"Echo" project out of Atlanta

2009-03-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

Today while browsing potential grant opportunities for ATMI, I came across a cool project out of Atlanta. Two journalists are working on making Atlanta a more walk and bike friendly place. They are in the beginning stages of the project but they have some really fun ideas. The project would allow you to hear stories about different places you might pass on a daily walk to school or work. I'll just let them explain, check out this video.

ECHO PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Introducing the Echo team from J-Lab on Vimeo.

Studying to heavy metal

2009-02-27T16:16:00.000-08:00

This is one of the first ATMI commentaries ever produced. Amanda Krysinski does an awesome job of using song to prove her point.

YOU DON'T LOVE NEW YORK...DO YOU?

2009-02-23T16:27:00.000-08:00

Photo by Katie Sokoler

A freelance photographer out of Brooklyn, Color Me Katie posted some photos she took after putting a heart-shaped, homemade filter over her camera lens. I'm inspired!

-Rosey

HOMELESS IN ANCHORAGE

2009-02-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

Rebecca Barker, a graduate of Steller, won an Alaska Press Club Award for her story on Homeless youth in Anchorage a few years back.

She was the winner of several awards during her time at ATMI. Most all of her stories had at least three interviews and she often included research she had done on the subject. She does a nice job of bringing you to the people she is interviewing using description and sound.

Enjoy!

-Rosey

THEMBI'S AIDS DIARY

2009-02-14T16:46:00.000-08:00

ATMI's Andrew Aquino is in South Africa for a while and in hope of inspiring him and the rest of us, I went searching for good audio from Africa. I found Thembi Ngubane.

THEMBI NGUBANE

South Africa has the largest number of people with HIV/AIDS in the world, Thembi is one of them. For more than a year, she carried a recorder and shares an account of her struggle with AIDS. She is so strong in her willingness to share her story.

-Rosey