Making Our Way to the Airways

As we continue our attempt to successfully complete our Media Studies majors, Alesia and I took CMS 220 – Audio Production – this semester. Neither one of us are very into the production side of things, so needless to say, we were not looking forward to this class. However, as the semester draws to a close, I have to say (and I think I speak for both of us here) it wasn’t all that bad. Maybe even a little fun, too. Here’s a picture of almost all of us:

The class took place at WMPG – Portland’s Greater Community Radio Station (that’s at least what they call it). Our professor, Jessica Lockhart, is actually the host for ‘Big Talk’ on WMPG. Our lab group was pretty fun, too, and we got along quite well. We might even be planning a post-semester karaoke celebration.

But back to the academics. Our first project was to complete a 45-minute DJ show in which we played music of our choice. Our show had to have a theme, though. I chose to do a back-to-the 90s, which I was quite impressed with in the end. Alesia did a segment filled with relaxing music to ‘slow down’ to. You better believe I played some music from these guys:

Our second project was a public affairs 15-minute interview. I had no idea what to write about so I turned to my trusted standby – running. It wasn’t just any old thing running talk show, though. I talked to Elizabeth Trask about her journey to run 50 marathons in memory of her father. She is actually blogging about this awesome goal, so be check to read about it here. (Awesome side note: My friend Danielle recruited Elizabeth to run on our 2011 Reach the Beach Relay team!! I’m so excited about being able to run 200 miles with her. It should be a great time.) Here is Elizabeth before the Chicago Marathon – number two on her list.

Alesia interviewed LeeAnn Dodge, the self-proclaimed ‘crazy alcohol lady’ at USM. More formally, she is the school’s substance abuse counselor and had a great interview with Alesia. They talked all things alcohol and drugs, ways to overcome an addiction and how to get help.

To check out both our podcasts, click here. Mine is titled ‘Running Marathons’ and Alesia’s is ‘Drinking.’ There are a total of 10 podcasts up done by our classmates and they are all really great.

Currently, we are working on radio promotions for both the DJ and talk show. Not so sure how those are going to turn out, but keep your fingers crossed.

-- Andrea