In this enlightening radio story, producer Will Wright does a piece on DJ Hooker Jr. and his passion for chess.
The piece does a good job of letting this recently deemed national chess champion tell the story and history of chess. In this case, this technique is used especially well as the producer lets DJ tell his own story, rather than the producer telling DJ’s story. Doing this allows the audience to understand DJ better as they are listening to the high schooler. While chess may seem old school, DJ talks about how it improves life skills and the listener learns how he came back to win.
My favorite thing about this piece was the organization of the piece. Wright does a good job in using a variety of voices, while still focusing on DJ. Along the way, common myths and stereotypes are debunked and even a brief history of chess is told. I found this both fascinating and informative.
Things to improve would mainly be word choice. Instead of saying “youngsters”, “young people” would be better. Also some of the transitions could be improved by changing the word choice or re-phrasing.
Overall, this piece is informative and does a good job in not only letting the audience know about a chess champion, but of understanding the game itself. It makes me wonder if DJ from Minnesota will become the best chess player in the world someday?