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Stephanie Sandoval's Blog in 2016
Recording radio stories

Posted 03/02/2016: 

Recording my voice has always been a struggle for me. It takes me around 12 times to record a good sound bite. I just don't like my voice. When I'm hearing myself I always think 'I can do better' or 'I should have emphasized this word or said it in this tone of voice'. Needless to say, I still need to get better at recording radio pieces. I also have noticed that if I'm saying a lot of words that start with the letter 'S' it will sound like I have a lisp, which in broadcast you don't want that, so I have to really push myself to sound out each and every letter.

Some stories take longer to record than others. Once though, I did record a story in one take-- I was pretty proud of myself. Names have also been an issue. I have such a hard time pronouncing names correctly. I've had to rerecord once because I realized I've been saying a person's name wrong the entire time (and I was on the last story recording-- oh, the agony). Because I take long to record I usually end up staying in the newsroom longer than I probably should. But hopefully I'll get better at it. I'm always judging my voice and I should probably stop doing that. I remember when I first started recording radio stories that I would forget to turn the mic on and off again. Lesson learned.

Welcome to my first blog of the semester! Here's what I've learned so far.
Posted 02/24/2016: 

This week was a little bit depressing. I got assigned the Ameren and Noranda story, which I was excited about, but it didn't go as planned. I tried contacting sources that Phill recommended, but no one called me back or emailed me back. That was a reality check... you might have to call 30 people before one calls you back.

One big thing I've learned is just getting lawmakers to talk to you. There's a right way and then there's a wrong way. If you go to their office directly their secretary will probably end up telling you that their schedule is full, which is true they are busy people. It's better if you go seek them out on the house floor or senate floor. Most people will want to talk, but this week felt like no one wanted to talk. I feel like I should have talked to people from Ameren and then ask them which lawmakers they have reached out to and then try to seek those people out. Or I should probably start calling their office beforehand and request an interview. Maybe check the day folder and see what needs to be covered that day and set up interview times (does this seem like a good idea or no?).

Oh, then I got to sit in on a house meeting... there were some interesting bills that got passed.