Good day readers and welcome back to KYW with Kaitlin, the column where I share the knowledge I gain during my four-week newstudies program at the Audacy headquarters! 

   My fourth week of the program began full of excitement, the adrenaline in my veins canceling out my lack of sleep as I got ready to head to the Audacy headquarters! I put on my collared pink shirt, sepia overcoat, and pink combat boots, and stopped at the nearby Wawa to grab the sustenance I would need for everything my hard work had led up to.

   The KYW Newstudies report.

   Our project over the last two weeks was to find a topic in our school or community, conduct interviews, and write a radio script for your story. My report was about Eastern’s DECA program, where I interviewed the advisor, two senior officers, as well as an award winning alumni. It was tough narrowing down my report, but I managed to cut it down to forty-one seconds. It was still six seconds over the length, but I figured with some revisions I could get it under the time limit.

   As I crossed from the Garden State into the City of Love, I couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. This broadcast was going to be heard by millions of people, and could help me make connections and kickstart my career in journalism. It had to be perfect.

   I entered the vast Audacy headquarters, my anxieties settling as I sat with my peers. I was comforted to hear that I wasn’t the only one over the time limit, with many people being around the forty—forty-five second mark.  With that in mind, I sat staring at the glowing concert videos above me, eagerly awaiting when I would be called.

   While I waited, I saw my friend Lauren walk in. She had the flu for a week and was unable to attend the last KYW session, and needed help revising her script and timing it. I was glad to help, and was able to get her report down to thirty six seconds. She was very thankful for my help, and I can’t wait to see how her report turns out!

   After what seemed like an eternity, I was finally called in by Dennis Edward, the Newsroom Operations Manager, I was ready to record my report! We sat down in the recording booth, where I took some photos looking extra reporter-y in front of the mic while he was out of the room. Then, we started recording!

   I was a bit nervous during the first run-through, so it didn’t sound as great as it could have. Dennis let me retake my recording a few times to decide which take I liked best. I chose the second take, but there was still one daunting problem.

   The report was forty-six seconds long, and the cap was thirty-five .

   I wasn’t sure how to cut down my report, since all of the info I had seemed like the skeleton of my story. But, with some help from Dennis as well as my own judgment, I was able to get the article down to thirty-three seconds. I was only able to use Tiana’s soundbyte, but the report was still able to showcase DECA and the influence it’s having on Eastern students.

   My KYW report will be airing this Sunday, November 19th, 2022 at 3:24 PM on 1060 AM and 103.9 FM! It’s also going to be on the KYW Newstudies website linked at the end of the article.

   Thank you all for reading about my time in the KYW Newstudies program! It’s been such an incredible journey, and if you’re an aspiring journalist, I would highly recommend joining the program next year! It teaches many valuable lessons, helps you make connections, and overall shows you what the world of journalism is like and how many different paths there are. 

   I’m so glad I was able to do this incredible program, and thank you so much to Mr. Bowne for recommending me! I’m looking forward to continuing on my journalistic career, and I can’t be more grateful for my experiences at the KYW Newstudies program.

   Thank you for tuning in to my last edition of KYW with Kaitlin!

KYW Newstudies Student Reports – Audacy