View All Students
Jon Francois
Jay and I began this week’s session by listening to the weather reports I produced last week and the segments I produced with my friend Laura over the following weekend. Jay liked the conversational style I put in the reports and noted that I shouldn’t adlib too much (maybe one or two per report). As for the segments, they were a game called “If I Were” and a discussion on this year’s Academy Awards. For the “If I Were” game, Jay gave me the following helpful notes: decrease the amount of words I use to introduce/explain the game, be aware of the kinds of words I use to introduce/explain, create better transitions between Laura playing the game and myself playing the game, and make the game more funny and challenging by making the contestant answer with one word as opposed to as many words as they want (“If I Were a Marshmallow, I Would….insert one word here). As for the Oscar discussion, I was stating my opinions a little too quickly, I could’ve been more clear with the visual descriptions I gave within said opinions, but he otherwise noticed a good amount of energy between me and Laura in the segment.
Later in the day, we worked on the textbook chapter centered around Interviewing. Jay was my interview subject and I created various questions focused on his experience in the business and his current role as a consultant. Shortly before recording, Jay took a far left to my approach by noting I should ask hard questions that pertain to what he contributes to radio as opposed to just a biography of his accomplishments. I asked him questions on the role of consultant in a radio station’s survival, the different cultural/musical tastes he encountered when working in cities like Detroit, the lasting impact of radio given all the surging digital platforms, and so forth. Jay warned me he was a rambler and, with all due respect, he was right. I only got through three or four questions because he gave such lengthy, thoughtful answers to each one (perhaps intentionally). My job at the end of the day was to take that 24-ish minute interview and edit it down to about four minutes with all of Jay’s key points clear and intact. He complimented the finished product, but did say I could’ve been a little easy/respectful on a certain question (Instead of “you’re an older guy, how do you know what young people are into these days?...maybe “as a veteran in this business, how do you keep up with current trends?”).
During my last hour, I interviewed fellow RC student Regina about her single person search for an apartment in NYC. Initially, I thought it was going to be easy and fun, but it was actually a bit nerve-wracking and uncomfortable since it was only the second time I met her. I quickly came up with the questions at the last minute and while it went ok, Jay thought I could’ve been more in depth with my questions (“How do you feel about looking for a place? Nervous?” isnt quite enough) and less formal (Instead of “moving on is quite a process”, maybe “moving in is quite an adventure”).
