Charley the Spelling Whiz

From: Rene Gutel
Length: 03:20

a profile of a speller who competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee 2004 Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: Charley the Spelling Whiz
From: Rene Gutel

195_small This piece was first broadcast on June 1st, 2004 on NPR's Day to Day and on WITF-FM Harrisburg. It's a sound portrait of a 12-year-old boy who represented the Harrisburg Patriot-News in the 77th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC. This portrait of Charley was produced and broadcast prior to the competition. He got out in the second round.

Charley the Spelling Whiz | 03:20

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Piece Description

This piece was first broadcast on June 1st, 2004 on NPR's Day to Day and on WITF-FM Harrisburg. It's a sound portrait of a 12-year-old boy who represented the Harrisburg Patriot-News in the 77th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC. This portrait of Charley was produced and broadcast prior to the competition. He got out in the second round.

3 Comments

Adam Allington

Posted on June 28, 2004 at 06:19 PM | Permalink

Review of Charley the Spelling Whiz

Nice feature. Sound rich, smooth and focused. I don't think the producer was trying tto probe into the behind the scenes working of the National Spelling Bee--just one kid's story. Still, I wanted to hear more about actually being in a spellng bee--the pressure, the thrill, the fun?

This would make an interesting color sketch for any station or show to air on or during the national spelling bee.

Mary McGrath

Posted on June 28, 2004 at 05:19 PM | Permalink

Review of Charley the Spelling Whiz

This piece lacks the spell of the feature length documentary film but it's trying to achieve the same thing. At less than three and a half minutes there's not a full enough portrait of Charlie and cutting between spelling words and some quick biographical details doesn't seem to work so well either. This story doesn't seem to have an ending. How did Charlie do in the competition? Were we listening to the official Bee or a warm-up? Who won?