Thomas Miller | Jan. 27, 2011
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| Photo by Thomas Miller |
| Associate professor Mike Conway, left, talks with students on the air at WFHB about their fall projects. Their work is airing on the community radio station WFHB. |
She’s the news director at WIUX, an avid listener of NPR and one of the 13 students in last fall’s J460 Community Journalism class who created stories for WFHB, Bloomington’s community radio station.
And through Feb. 4, the students are hearing their work aired daily on WFHB’s daily newscasts. Tuesday, associate professor Mike Conway and three of the students, Rachel Cerrone, A. D. Quig and Eric Stearley, talked about the project on the WFHB program, Interchange.
Conway said the course was about giving students an opportunity to do some service learning and about examining different models of how journalism can work in a community. Each student chose a social issue as a topic, then went into the city to gather audio for their stories.
Conway said WFHB is a unique venue for these projects. Operated by three paid staffers and 200 volunteers, the nonprofit station focuses on local issues and people. Music and news programming feature volunteer hosts and reporters covering area topics.
“Thirty years ago, there wasn’t a good way to be a citizen journalist,” Conway said, but the station’s presence has made that possible.
In 2003, WFHB launched the Daily Local News to tell the stories about Bloomington that station leaders said other media outlets were missing. In 2009, the Daily Local News was awarded first and third place for local news spots by the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. That success was an inspiration to Conway’s class.
“One of the sessions we had was to have the students meet the volunteers,” Conway said. “These people are doing it because they want to.”
WFHB general manager Chad Carrothers, BAJ 99, said he was impressed with the consistent work from the class.
“They’re just a great bunch of kids,” Carrothers said. “They have to actually put in 12 hours of service to the station and they really seemed to be on the ball.”
Carrothers, who has been working and volunteering at WFHB since graduating from the School of Journalism, said WFHB gives students an opportunity to work from day one.
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| Photo by Thomas Miller |
| Conway hosted the Interchange show and students talked about their experiences reporting on community issues. WFHB is volunteer-powered and emphasizes local news programming. |
The students in J460 worked on stories that covered everything from teenage homelessness in Bloomington to the healthcare needs of the elderly. Junior Rachel Cerrone said working her story about funding cuts for fine arts programs in local schools made her realize how connected the community was.
“I was really impressed that the community really rallied together,” Cerrone said. “They raised back 90 percent of the money, which is huge.”
Listen the students’ work and other local news at WFHB, 91.3FM, or livestream at the station’s website.
About half the stories already have aired, but you can listen to older broadcasts. Here is the full schedule:
- Jan. 19: Health care costs by Clinton Lake
- Jan. 20: Long term care by A.D. Quig
- Jan. 21: GLBT health services by Andy Freudenberg
- Jan. 24: Monroe County schools' sustainability efforts by Bennett Fuson
- Jan. 25: Bloomington arts education funding by Rachel Cerrone
- Jan. 26: Future teachers by Kerri Richardson
- Jan. 26: Interchange program, 6 p.m., featuring Conway and some of the students talking about the projects
- Jan. 27: Arts education by Caitlin O’Hara
- Jan. 28: Pinnacle School and learning issues by Sara Baldwin
- Jan. 31: Criminal justice alternatives by Kenny Bruns
- Feb. 1: Affordable housing by Zach Shalk
- Feb. 2: Monroe County poverty by Dan Kolodziej
- Feb. 3: Teen homelessness by Eric Stearley
- Feb. 4: Winter homeless shelters by Andrew Olanoff
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