A Unique Radio Experiment
What goes on at school all day? If you're the parent of a teen, the answer you'll receive to that question is likely: "Stuff."
WCAI wanted to open up the black box that is life-at-school, bringing listeners into classrooms, hallways, the band room and the cafeteria. So we decided to embed our Morning Edition show in a couple of our region's local schools, broadcasting live amid the ringing bells and busy stairwells.
This took a lot of advance work. We knew we wanted to focus on the voices of students, hearing directly about the school experience from those living it. In the days ahead of the live broadcast, our reporters roamed the hallways and recorded interviews with students (and some teachers), producing segments that we could drop into the live show. With these, we could highlight a place where so much is going on: sports, clubs, academics, and social life. And we mapped out a show structure that would use the recorded segments, while still providing opportunity for live interviews and spontaneity.
Our first broadcast, on January 9, took us to Monomoy Regional High School, with more than 700 students. We got a live golf lesson (in the school library) from varsity golfers, spoke with the media students who put together the daily “school announcements” video, and took an audio safari tour into the noisy cafeteria to find out the favorite menu item (mac’n’cheese).
For our second broadcast, on May 14, we went to a different kind of high school: a regional vocational school. Our reporters recorded in shop classrooms where students learn auto repair, cosmetology, veterinary sciences, plumbing, and more. And for part of the live broadcast, we set up in the school’s enormous kitchen, where culinary students were preparing the day’s school lunch.
Both schools were amazing collaborators in this experiment, essentially opening their doors to WCAI reporters and letting us roam at will. The result helped to raise awareness of local public media in the schools (no small benefit!) and gave the community a peak inside these vibrant worlds where our children spend so much of their time.
LISTEN TO OUR CONTEST AUDIO SUBMISSION HERE
WCAI School Comp 60 mins.mp3
Public Radio in Public Schools - 59 minute compilation
Our audio submission runs roughly 59 minutes and includes portions of both broadcasts.
The programs aired between 7am - 9am, with our local content woven into the regular NPR Morning Edition program. Each broadcast contained about 40 minutes of local-from-the-school content, delivered in two segments of ten minutes within each hour.
Links to the original web posts, with audio and photos documenting the full broadcasts, including web-only audio extras, are at the bottom of this page.
Additionally, to expand the reach of our engagement, WCAI promoted these live broadcasts on social media, including creating a number of Instagram video posts. These are linked here:
And here's a 4-minute preview we aired during our Friday Local News Roundup, to build interest and grow buy-in with listeners:
Monomoy High School Preview
The what and why of next Tuesday's special Morning Edition, with Steve Junker, Patrick Flanary, and Eve Zuckoff
