Sammy Mack

TEACHING

In the spring of 2013, Florida International University partnered with the WLRN to offer a course on telling public radio stories in a multiplatform newsroom. The class is designed around a working newsroom. Sammy Mack was the anchor professor, and almost every class included topical guest lectures from reporters and editors at WLRN, the Miami Herald, NPR or other member stations.

Students spent the first few weeks of the class in a radio boot camp—learning field recording, audio editing and public radio sensibilities. Assignments were then structured to reinforce those lessons and were aligned with some of the main coverage areas within the newsroom: education, politics, arts and culture. The student-professor relationship became a reporter-editor relationship as the semester progressed. The most successful student pieces were broadcast on WLRN or published on WLRN.org.

Alumni of the class have gone on to intern at WLRN and NPR in Washington, DC. And they've found jobs with WLRN and other public radio stations. 

You can read more about the class and hear student pieces here: Radio storytelling in the digital age.

For information about custom radio training, contact sammy[at]sammymack[dot]info.