From field recordings to an expert interview, Radio Rookie Amina takes full advantage of all radio storytelling has to offer. And it sounds really good.

Amina's friends and schoolmates gossip all the time. They talk about people who aren't there, often casting them in a negative light. Amina sees similarities between her gossiping and the movie "Mean Girls." Who better to see if she's right than Rosalind Wiseman, author of a book that inspired the movie? She not only gets an interview with Wiseman, she plays back some gossip she's recorded as well.

Even Amina's parents are big gossips, and she's got them on tape to prove it. Speaking like an anthropologist, Amina argues that gossip is culturally significant and enforces social mores. She has an interesting prospective on this, as gossip keeps her behavior in line with her family's South Asian Islamic expectations.

Congratulations to Amina, producers Marianne McCune and Karen Michel and engineer Wayne Shulmister on a job well done. This eight-minute look at gossip should have a place in many youth radio shows. Stations may also appreciate the full transcript that is available.