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Wed, 08 May 2013 10:09:14 -0400

What it's really like: Reporting breaking news for ATC

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:17:00 -0400

When I arrived at work on Friday morning, things seemed oddly calm. People were sitting at their computers, quietly typing. Two producers were standing and comparing morning commutes. You’d never guess that they, like me, had spent most of their early mornings poring over the latest updates in the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers – absentmindedly munching cereal or sipping coffee as our eyes scanned newsprint and computer screens.

All Things Considered’s morning editorial meeting, at which the staff proposes stories for the day’s show, was brief – more of a strategy meeting than a pitch session. The Executive Producer let us know that we’d be organizing special coverage of the manhunt throughout the day – picking up from Morning Edition at noon and then carrying through until … the story was resolved.

By the time we all returned to our desks, the atmosphere had changed. Now we were purposeful, even a little frenzied. ATC’s supervising producer Julia Buckley – who’d been crowned “Master Booker” for the day’s coverage – divied up assignments among the staff. She set up a big white board near the studio showing which staffers were seeking out which guests. My assignment was to find Watertown residents who had witnessed the shootout between the suspects and the police that had occurred there early Friday morning.

I quickly set to work, scanning endless twitter streams for people who had posted photos or firsthand accounts of the gunfight. I must have tweeted at twenty people before one called me back. This man had heard the gunfire 15 feet from his front door and had tweeted pictures of the violence. Now he was locked down inside his house, watching as SWAT teams scoured the neighborhood. Still on the phone, I shot my hand into the air and started waving it furiously at Julia. She came over, and I hurriedly whispered the guest’s story to her, covering the receiver with my ear as I spoke. “Lets have him on at 12:30,” Julia said. 12:30 was in five minutes.

My co-intern frantically typed up a card – a short document describing who the guest is for the director and the hosts – while I explained to my guest that he was going to be going live in five minutes. Then I transferred him to the studio, briefly turned up my radio to make sure he made it onto air and then returned my gaze to my computer screen.

That was pretty much how the rest of the day went. I made endless phone calls – after I’d exhausted Twitter, I began cold calling Watertown residents listed in White Pages. Some numbers were disconnected, many went to voicemail. Those who did answer often said they hadn’t seen anything, only heard the pops of gunfire and the booms of explosives. The eyewitnesses I did find all had amazing and terrifying stories to tell. I remember being floored by the courage of one young women who’d had bullets shot into her home. She was alone, except for her dog, but her voice was steady as she recounted her story to me.

The day raced on. My notes from my conversations with Watertown residents became more and more riddled with typos as the hours passed. At one point someone bought a chocolate cake and placed it at the front of the newsroom. My co-intern brought over two slices, and as the sugar flooded our bloodstreams we both remarked that we felt nauseous – whether from the cake or the adrenaline, we couldn’t tell.

Four p.m. rolled around – the start of ATC’s regular coverage. Normally, it’s an intern’s job to print scripts and run them into the studio for the hosts to read while they’re on air. Much of the program is pre-taped, but the intros you hear at the beginning of every piece are always read live. But Friday was totally different – during the six hours that Robert Siegel and Melissa Block were on air, nearly every word they said was live. Scripts were being written 30 seconds before they needed to be read, and even if there had been time for us to run them in, there weren’t enough breaks in the live feed for us to sneak in to the studio and deliver the scripts. So for six hours, the hosts read off computer screens, often finding out what they were going to talk about as they read the words. I am still astonished that they managed such a feat – I’d have cracked under the pressure after about 15 minutes.

The FBI press conference at around 6:30 – the one at which they announced that the one at-large suspect still had not been found, and the lockdown had been lifted – came as a welcome break. For a blissful 15 minutes, there was nothing to do but watch and listen.

But then came the announcement that the suspect had been found lying in a boat – in Watertown, no less. So I started up my phone calls again, seeking anyone nearby who could tell what they were seeing. One woman lived five doors down from the house with the boat, but she was on the ground floor and was afraid to go anywhere near a door or window with good reason. I stayed on the phone with her a long time while the various producers and editors in the studio figured out when the hosts would be able to talk to her. I asked my guest about the work she does, how long she’d lived in Watertown. I like to think her voice became a little calmer as we spoke.

And then finally, finally, the announcement came that the suspect had been captured, and the tone of our phone calls changed. I called back one man who I’d spoken to earlier in the day. In our first conversation, he’d told me that his three large dogs weren’t coping well with the lockdown order. Now, he was jubilant. “I’m going to take my dogs for a walk!” he said. “That’s the first thing I’m going to do.”

By now it was about 9:30, half an hour from the end of ATC’s last regular feed (in normal circumstances, the show is fed from 4 to 6, 6 to 8 and then 8 to 10, with updates throughout the night as needed). It was decided that we would stay on air until the end of President Obama’s statement. When Robert and Melissa finally signed off for the night, everyone in the building began to clap. The applause continued as people began trickling out of the studio – the executive producer, the show manager, the director, and finally, the hosts. The newsroom slowly emptied as exhausted reporters and producers packed up and headed home.

As Robert Siegel said at the end of the show, “I think it’s fair to say the city of Boston and the nation have earned a weekend.”

-Sarah Kaplan, All Thing Considered intern

What it's really like: Keeping calm during breaking news

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:51:52 -0400

I’ve worked in major news rooms during breaking news events before. I, too, have been glued to a screen and tuned in to a police scanner, following a high-speed chase or waiting for source confirmation or watching as my Twitter feed solemnly tallies up the victims during a terrifying national crisis.

But I’ve never been at work within a news organization during a breaking news event quite like Monday’s horrific attack on the Boston Marathon. For one, it was my first day in the new NPR HQ, and everything that day felt shiny and new and wonderful.

And I’ve never been caught up in a news cycle that affected me so personally. Out there, among the more than 25,000 runners, was my older brother. When news of the bombings on Back Bay’s Boylston Street first tumbled through my Twitter feed, I couldn’t get a hold of him or his fiancée, who had been waiting for him to finish the race not far from where the two bombs went off.

It was dizzying and disorientating to sit through a flood of emails and tweets about the race, watching as the incredible NPR NewsOps team just one floor below me checked the facts, found sources and delivered a moving and informative All Things Considered show on the first day of operation in the new building.

In a way, it was reassuring to know that with every new development in the case, a ‘News-All Staff’ email would pop up in my NPR inbox, gently yet quickly informing me of what we as a news organization knew about the breaking news story at just that moment. The breaking news updates didn’t tell me that my brother was safe, or that my future sister-in-law had found shelter far away from the chaos and hurt of Boylston Street, but they did let me know that a world-class news organization like the one I’m so lucky to work at was out doing its job and asking all the right questions.

I’m a news guy. In a sense, working in media is the only thing I really know how to or want to do. I take comfort of watching news happen and hearing effective stories get told. Being surrounded by an engaged newsroom diligently working away at a terrible tragedy like this gave me a gentle kind of reassurance – I would find out what happened when and why and how, and eventually I would figure out where my loved ones were hiding in Boston.

My brother and his fiancée posted a relaxed note on Facebook a few hours after the bombing, reassuring us all that they were safe and out of harm’s way and searching for cell service in the crowded digital cloud of the city. When my brother finally called me as I walked home from work that night, I burst into tears.

Unfortunately, not everyone with loved ones near that finish line on Monday got the same good news that I did. A lot of people are still hurting and waiting to hear. But I’m proud to work in a place that tries to tell everyone’s stories as they happen, making intelligent connections and telling the real and verified facts as they happen.

-Nick Andersen, Digital Arts intern

What's it really like?: Producing a piece for broadcast

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:26:10 -0400

Working on an NPR show gives you the inside look at how things get on the air. Let’s be honest: how many people really think about what it takes to get something heard on All Things Considered? I didn’t. Once I started working with Weekend Edition, I learned a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that was surprising. (I can’t share them all: it’s something to be experienced!)

Like most show interns, my goal was to get something on air. Each show has a process for doing so, and it may vary a little.

At Weekend Edition, we have three meetings a week to determine content. In these meetings, producers pitch story ideas to the senior editors and the hosts. If they like the pitch, it gets on air.

Interns have a place at the table to pitch at most shows. I admit: I sucked at pitching at first. It can be intimidating to throw an idea out there with seasoned producers. After weeks of practicing and honing my pitching skills, I landed one: a California sea lion who could keep a beat, disproving a leading scientific theory.

Once the idea was off the ground, there’s a lot of legwork involved. I first had to determine whether the guest was a great talker, so I had to find him and conduct a “pre-interview.” I then coordinated logistics with various studios and Scott Simon’s schedule to arrange the interview.

After that, I had to write up the script. This included the intro to the story and the questions Scott would ask our guest. There was a lot to think about when writing, like how do I catch a listener’s attention? I rewrote my script several times.

After the script goes through the edits and the host looks it over, it’s time for the actual interview. During the interview, I listened carefully and made a mental note of what edits I wanted to make and the things I wanted to keep in.

After that, it was more editing, listening and generally fiddling around to get the piece to sound how I wanted it to. Once an editor listened through it, the piece was ready for air.

The entire process can be challenging at times, but there’s nothing more rewarding than knowing that you made an impact on the show, even if no one knows who was behind the production. You don’t do it for the recognition.

It’s a very surreal experience to hear a piece of your own production on national airwaves. To be honest, I had goosebumps. It was an honor to help tell the story of a student’s work with sea lions and bring a little joy to listeners on a Saturday morning. I hope to do it again soon.

-Krystina Martinez, Weekend Edition intern

On Jefferson’s watch, Pink cherry blossoms reflectAt the...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:30:00 -0400

On Jefferson’s watch,
Pink cherry blossoms reflect
At the water’s edge
— Tim O’Malley

-Video by Lizzie Chen, multimedia intern

What's it really like: Washington Desk and a White House breifing

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:45:00 -0400

Working at the Washington Desk is nothing short of exciting. This past Wednesday, I had the opportunity to shadow one of the reporters, Scott Horsley, at the White House! It was a great day to go, not only because of the warm weather, but also because President Obama was expected to unveil his budget plan that morning.

After my security was cleared, I met up with Scott who led me to the press area in the basement of the White House. Each media network has its own tiny space where reporters and producers are busy reporting, typing, emailing back and forth and making phone calls. I was inches away from on-air news correspondents who I had only seen on television.

Shortly after Scott gave me a quick tour of the press area, the PA announced the ‘last call’ for the press to go up to the Rose Garden. I was super nervous standing among distinguished journalists from different networks, but I couldn’t wait to hear, and see for that matter, the President speak! After hooking up the Marantz recorder to the mult box and turning to a fresh new page in my handy-dandy reporter notepad, I waited for the President to show up.

After the President’s 10-15 minute speech on the fiscal plan, Scott and I went back to the NPR desk to start writing a script for All Things Considered. Scott was on a tight deadline: the story was going to be aired that afternoon at 5 p.m. The ‘shadowing’ experience was a chance for me to witness from beginning to end how a news story makes it on air. In this particular case, the process started with recording President Obama’s speech and uploading it onto the computer.

Using the audio, Scott wrote the script and use sound bites from the speech to make the story flow. Around noon, we were off to a news conference at the South Court Auditorium. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, along with a panel of the President’s economic and domestic policy advisers, discussed the Fiscal Year 2014 budget. After some Q&A, the news conference came to a close, and it was time for lunch.

The rest of the day consisted of Scott writing and recording various stories related to the budget for All Things Considered. Before the piece was ready for air, Scott had to communicate and do a read-through of the script with Washington Desk Senior Editor Beth Donovan. Taking note of her editing advice, Scott changed some words around and re-recorded the script before sending it over for final review. By 4:30, the piece was all set to air. With all the work that was put into it, Scott’s 4-minute piece finally went on a couple minutes after 5 p.m. I couldn’t help but squeak a little “Yay!”

It was such an incredible learning experience. After returning my red press badge to security, I walked out of the gates of the White House and headed on back to school; I had a great story of my own to tell.

My name is forever sharpie’d in the basement of the White House

-Mónica Pastores, Washington Desk intern

cherry blossom rainsound of a love song passeswith the traffic—...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:35:39 -0400

cherry blossom rain
sound of a love song passes
with the traffic
— Dawn Apanius

-Video by Gabriella Demczuk, multimedia intern

streetlamps in the haze …this morning the stone lionscatch...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:46:12 -0400

streetlamps in the haze …
this morning the stone lions
catch cherry blossoms
— Judy Totts

-Video by Marie McGrory, multimedia intern

Socially connected

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:35:55 -0400

You (obviously) follow us on Tumblr and probably (hopefully) on Twitter, but are you following us on Instagram? It’s curated by multimedia interns Dan Turner, Marie McGrory, Lizzie Chen, Gabriella Demczuk and Gabriella Garcia-Pardo (and really fantastic photographers, if I do say so myself).

We have just three weeks left in our internships, so expect some crunch-time posting. We’ve accomplished a lot, but much more to come. And to those of you joining NPR in the summer, here’s a peek into #nprinternlife and what to look forward to.

-Lizzy Duffy, social media intern

“What am I doing today? Just hanging out in the NPR booth with Ari Shapiro at the White House.” -Letese Clark, Washington Desk intern

“And heading to our new offices! Day two of this special edition of the Tiny Desk Concert continues at 1111 N. Capitol!” -Lorie Liebig, All Songs Considered intern

Inside the Supreme Court

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:37:10 -0400

When I arrived at the Supreme Court press room on Tuesday morning around 9 a.m., the room was buzzing with excitement. There were local TV news anchors, national TV reporters, print journalists, web journalists, you name it. Many of the reporters only cover the Court during major hearings, so everyone was chit-chatting and excited about who’s at the oral argument. On Tuesday, I was in line for security behind Gavin Newsom, Lt. Governor of California and former San Francisco Mayor!

The staff had us line up according to our assigned seats and led us upstairs to the courtroom. The courtroom was packed to the ceiling. We waited in our seats until the clock struck 10, at which point the Justices came out and Chief Justice John Roberts called the Court to session.

As an intern, I sat with other press members in the corridor area behind those columns, on the left side of the courtroom. Most of us in the corridor see nothing — the only thing we can see are the big white columns. The seating was very cramped. I think they managed to pack around 70 reporters into the rather narrow hallway. It might have been a fire hazard, but no one complained.

After announcing its opinions, the Court entertained motions to admit lawyers into the Supreme Court bar.

This is a ceremony that happens almost every time the Court hears oral arguments. An existing member of the Supreme Court bar gets up, introduces the lawyer or lawyers that wish to join the Supreme Court bar, says the lawyer possesses the necessary qualifications to be admitted and the Chief grants the motion to admit. AP did a pretty interesting post on the subject of joining the Supreme Court bar.

The Chief called the first lawyer to the lectern. Everyone in the press section started taking notes furiously. For these two cases, because the Supreme Court was releasing same-day audio, I noted the time as the Justices and lawyers spoke as I wrote down what I could. The mood in the courtroom was serious, but you could feel an invisible level of energy in the room.

Once oral argument finished, Nina and I came downstairs, met up with producer Brakkton Booker and hurried into a reporting booth where Nina gave the NPR newscast team a quick lowdown of what happened in the courtroom.

Nina and I then came back to our NPR office to start working on a piece for All Things Considered. We compared notes on what was said during oral argument and she started picking out quotes that she wanted to use. While we were doing this, the transcript came in and we started getting more specific. Nina quickly started to write her script. She worked furiously with me and a producer to cut audio clips from the Court’s recording, and around 3:30 or 4 p.m., she was done with her script. She went in to record and her pieces were on the air in time for the second hour of All Things Considered! Listen here.

While she was recording the on-air pieces, I started editing the on-air scripts for the web. But work wasn’t done yet, since for both days, Nina had to do on air pieces for the morning show. We worked into the evening and eventually we got them done. Very long days, but once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I’m sure I won’t soon forget.

- Angela Chang, intern to Nina Totenberg

Outside the Supreme Court: Same-Sex Marriage Arguments

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:20:31 -0400

As NPR churned out coverage of the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage cases, NPR interns worked behind the scenes. Washington Desk intern Kara Brandeisky describes what it was like to cover the rallies outside.

Day 1: Proposition 8

When I arrived at the Supreme Court around 8:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning, the place was already packed and tense. Some people were waiting in line to see oral arguments, others were getting ready to rally in support of gay marriage and some were just mulling around, hoping to catch a piece of history. I was there to interview supporters of Proposition 8, preferably from California.

At first, opponents of same-sex marriage were hard to find. I only saw one small group from Rhode Island and another group from the Westboro Baptist Church. As I spoke with political correspondent Don Gonyea, an argument erupted between a same-sex marriage supporter and a Westboro member. I quickly pulled out my equipment to record their conversation. And I was lucky to be at the right place at the right time — within minutes, several reporters swarmed the scene.

Afterward, I caught up with Anthony Robledo one-on-one who challenged the Westboro member. He was part of a group that arrived two nights earlier to secure the main space in front of the Court for same-sex marriage supporters. But his group wasn’t the only early arrival.

By the time the Proposition 8 supporters arrived with the March for Marriage, same-sex marriage supporters were lining both sides of the street, sandwiching the Proposition 8 supporters. Police on motorcycles kept riding through, sirens blaring, trying to clear a path. Protesters and supporters alike chanted at the same time their separate messages, in a strange kind of harmony: “What do we want? Equality! When do we want it? Now!” and “One man, one woman! One man, one woman!”

Reporters stood in the street between the two sides, recording and observing the interactions. Eventually the March for Marriage moved on to the National Mall. Don covered their rally for Morning Edition, and he used some of my tape in his story.

After the lawyers came out and spoke, I headed back to the office to help Carrie Johnson pull tape from the oral arguments. Here’s her story from All Things Considered on Tuesday. Then it was time to prepare for the next day.

- Kara Brandeisky, Washington Desk intern

Tiny Desk Concert featuring M R Shajarian

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:59:16 -0400

Photo by Lorie Liebig

Acclaimed Iranian vocalist M R Shajarian came in today in honor of the Persian New Year. It’s our Last Tiny Desk Concert in the old building before we’re shipped off to our new digs on North Capital.

What's it really like?: All Songs Considered and SXSW

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:11:00 -0400

Working in the NPR Music office is as cool as it sounds: I’m constantly surrounded by new and unreleased music, incredibly cool people and the Tiny Desk Concerts play out literally right in front of me. From my very first day in the office, I heard about the upcoming South By Southwest Music Festival, and how it would be an incredibly chaotic time for all of us music interns. This internship has flown by, and today I woke up with the first day of the festival waiting to be published about.

I got into the office before anyone else in the department, at 7 in the morning. The sun wasn’t even up yet; I fired up my computer and listened to the podcast that the All Songs Considered gang (Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton, Stephen Thompson and Ann Powers) had recorded from Austin just a couple of hours before.

Just as the sun was coming up on 7th and Mass Ave.

The next couple of hours was spent trying to work out the kinks. We had to wait for photographers to send us images for the post, we had to wait for the actual audio to be encoded, and work out what exactly we wanted to say in the post. South By Southwest is such a huge festival that it’s hard to remember sometimes that most average people don’t know exactly what it is, and that had to be conveyed in the copy. I wrote it up, went over it with my editor to smooth it out, and we made our 10 A.M. deadline with a few minutes to spare.

I spent the rest of the day relaying content sent from the guys on the ground to our social media feeds. I uploaded photos and video as quickly as I could so even the readers who weren’t in Austin, Texas could feel like they were part of the story. Although challenging and chaotic at times, the day went by in a flash and I knew what I was doing was making a big impact.

The amount of feedback we were receiving from just a few photos or video uploads was overwhelmingly positive and encouraging. I’ll be back in the office again early tomorrow morning to see the sunrise from the empty NPR Music offices, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

-Lorie Liebig, All Songs Considered intern

Meet the Winter/Spring 2013 Interns #NPRinternlife

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:47:02 -0400

Meet the Winter/Spring 2013 Interns #NPRinternlife

nprmusic: Watch the Lone Bellow sing beautiful, heartfelt,...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:09:27 -0500

nprmusic:

Watch the Lone Bellow sing beautiful, heartfelt, impeccably harmonized folk-pop songs at its Tiny Desk Concert.

Photo: Lizzie Chen/NPR

Fun fact: Lizzie Chen is a multimedia intern

Twitter chat #AskNPRIntern: March 6, 3 to 4 ET

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:49:00 -0500

So future NPR interns, you’re filling out the application for the NPR summer internship, but you’re not quite sure which one you should sign up for. Or you’re curious about the selection process. Or you need some housing information. Or you just want to know more about what we do.

We get it; there are a lot of nerves when filing out that application and sending it off. We’ve been there. That’s why we’ll be here to answer your questions, literally any question, you have about our internships. We’ll be hosting a live Twitter chat Wednesday, March 6, from 3 to 4 ET under the hashtag #AskNPRIntern.

But hey, if you have a burning question now, go ahead and tweet at @NPRInterns and include the hashtag; we’ll feature those questions at the beginning of the discussion to get things rolling.

-Lizzy Duffy, social media intern

NPR Interns: The start of something new

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:25:00 -0500

On our first day at NPR we sat through a long day of orientation, discussing our responsibilities and also the general order of things around the building. During open Q&A, someone asked about Intern Edition.

A few interns had already been told in their interviews that the project had been canceled. Others thought it was only a rumor and the rest (including me) had no idea. But our internship coordinator confirmed that Intern Edition would not be a part of our semester at NPR.

There were a lot of whispers; many of my fellow interns had been looking forward to Intern Edition not only for our résumés, but also as a way to get to know one another and work on something independent from our daily intern tasks. However, no Intern Edition is not a deal breaker; NPR is a dream for so many of us and we’re happy to be here.

But we still wanted that creative outlet that many intern classes before us had. So we decided to create something a little different: NPR Interns.

We won’t have an entire project package, but we now have a space for all of our work to highlight all of the work of NPR Interns. This Tumblr will introduce you to the 2013 spring interns, our daily work and snap shots of our lives. You can also follow us on our Twitter, @NPRInterns.

While we’re sorry to see Intern Edition go, we’re ready to move forward; that’s what being a part of news organizations is all about.

So let me be the first to say, from NPR in Washington, these are the interns.

-Lizzy Duffy, social media intern

From NPR, this is Intern Edition.

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:42:00 -0400

I’m Lyndsey McKenna, I’m the Office of the Ombudsman...

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:24:00 -0400

I’m Lyndsey McKenna, I’m the Office of the Ombudsman intern, and I’ve been managing Intern Edition’s social media as the social media director for the summer. Thanks so much for following our summer at NPR, and thanks for all your support!

Best way to spend an evening in DC? An evening yoga class at Down Dog Yoga in Georgetown, followed by frozen yogurt as a reward for sweating profusely for an hour and a half, trivia at The Tombs with the NPR interns, and finally an episode of The West Wing with my roommates!

What was your reaction when you found out you were offered the NPR internship? I was in a taxi on my way to campus from the airport to begin spring quarter, and I think I maintained my composure during the phone call. But when I hung up, I’m pretty sure I started screaming and startled the cab driver.

Favorite thing about interning at NPR? Of course I love the Tiny Desk Concerts, but I’m also continuously shocked by how much interest the employees at NPR take in the internship program itself. It’s refreshing to know that people are invested in the work we’re creating.

What’s something that you always keep in your purse? Headphones, a pen, and a small notebook.

What’s your ringtone? My ringtone has been “Jesus, Etc.” by Wilco for four or five years now.

Favorite season? Until I moved to Chicago, the only season I had ever experienced was hurricane season. Now, I’m constantly looking forward to autumn.

Last good book you read? I’ve read quite a few books this summer, but the last book I read and couldn’t stop talking about is The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.

Best thing you did this year? I spent ten weeks at NPR. I also drove the band Cults around the city of Chicago when they played a concert with Neon Indian and Ludacris that I helped organize, but interning at NPR simply cannot be beat.

Favorite meal? Either the Absu burger at Kuma’s Corner in Chicago or the roasted pig face at Girl & the Goat, also in Chicago.

Favorite TV show? My favorite comedy is Parks & Recreation, and my favorite drama is Mad Men.

Meet Meg McCluskey! She’s the Programming intern...

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:50:53 -0400

Meet Meg McCluskey! She’s the Programming intern for Berlin, Worldwide, and Sirius XM and also the IE technical director!

Best way to spend an evening in DC? Grabbing a bite to eat, exploring new neighborhoods, checking out concerts, and doing anything to delay the hour-long commute through rush hour traffic.

What was your reaction when you found out you were offered the NPR internship? It was one of those, “wow, things sometimes really do fall into place” moments. Could not stop smiling the rest of the day, which happened to be the same day I took my senior portrait and bought my cap and gown for graduation.

Favorite thing about interning at NPR? It’s hard to narrow it down, but some top highlights include: Watching the beautiful orchestration between producers, audio engineers and hosts during live tapings, tracking and mixing a performance chat in the nicest studio at NPR, working with many talented people to make Intern Edition happen, attending, photographing and writing about concerts, and getting hands-on experience as part of the production process.

What’s something that you always keep in your purse? iPod.

What’s your ringtone? Favorite season? To celebrate being back in my hometown after finishing school at the University of Michigan, I had to make it “Welcome to DC” by Mambo Sauce. Favorite season: summer. Duh.

Last good book you read? Sound by T.M. Wolf. Really interesting book based on the compositional practices of Hip Hop.

Best thing you did this year? Spent 4 months living and working in Berlin while traveling all across Europe.

Favorite meal? Chocolate.

Favorite TV show? Lost and Breaking Bad.