This piece has its heart in the right place and the message is a good one. However, in between the interference and handling noise from the microphone, and the excess of interviews the piece loses its point and makes a majority of the piece sound redundant. The producers could have focused on the most interesting quotes, included the story of the women and her family who were caught in the bombing and finished with the final thoughts of people. But because the story ran for so long I found myself not listening to a majority of the interviews. I think this piece could have been more powerful with fewer people talking and the strongest interviews available.
This piece had a lot of good edits, especially for ambi sound. This piece was a nice little shout out to people to serve us our food drinks (and coffee) on a regular basis. I think it may have been more interesting to have gotten a hold of the actual woman she spoke to and had her talk about her experience at Dunkin Donuts -- and why/how she remembers the customers orders... was this girls the only one she remembered? Or were there others. Instead of giving a shout out it would have given a face to all the nameless people that service America's appetite around the country.
Very interesting piece which starts off as cute and funny delves into the belief systems of youth people today. I especially liked the girl who stopped believing in Santa Clause when she stopped believing in Jesus. When you start to consider what the person you're talking to or writing to may not be listening or responding back it can be a very jarring/awakening experience. The narrator lead the audience through each portion of the piece very well. The interviews were very candid, entertaining and enlightening. The piece as organized well, starting off light hearted with the interviews with the children and then getting into more serious points of view. Very well done.
This as a very interestingly produced piece. I liked how it opened with the singing and how instead of telling the story of a family going through tough times, and the parent having to sacrifice for her children. It was a interesting way of doing it, besides telling it purely as a story. I would have liked however to have heard from the family as well, from the mother especially. At least as a news piece it would have been very compelling. The narration was great though, I thought it really gave the listener an idea of what sort of life this family was living and what strides were taken to ensure that the children had food on their plate, despite their economic issues.
Well produced. Nice use of music. I especially enjoyed the "here comes the bride" song attached to it. However, I think the music could have been less of a focus of the piece. Granted, I realize you could have listened to the varying versions of that piece with or without music but at a first listen I think there could have been a lot more discussion after the music, leading into a lot of other topics regarding the issue at hand. The piece holds a lot of interesting points. However, I wish there had been more discussion from the narrator as well as the people interviewed. The piece brings a lot of different ideas to light, but leaves it in a way that it doesn't give the listener much to work with after the fact. I think the piece could have been improved with a lot more commentary from the narrator. Expanding more on the idea of the condom being a wedding ring and people who think it is or isn't true.
Overall, it was a great piece. But I wish there had been more.
Very interesting piece. The topic of this story is something I've never heard of. For the typical music lover, this genre of music is not necessarily mainstream but it certainly a interesting new type of music to become popular in recent years. The producers of this piece made something pretty popular (pop music) and took on a whole new different point of view. Though I can't imagine myself wanting to listen to 'noise' on a regular basis. It is pretty interesting to explore the non-main stream types of music that are being produced today.
The piece was very informative and explained a lot about something that many of us probably don't know about.
I liked how the piece used examples of pop music lyrics to illustrate their point. The interview track is also very good. The music creators explain their product in an interesting way. This piece makes someone who may not necessarily want to listen to noise -- curious enough to search for it on YouTube.
This is a very cleverly produced piece. First of all, the speaker does not force his words and speaks clearly and concisely. I liked the point of the piece, how gas has become the make or break in today's society. It is a very timely piece, because of today's economy, for especially young people today who rely on their automobiles to get around.
I enjoyed the use of music. I think that highlighted some of the good points of the story. I would have liked to have heard some of the interview being done when he was actually driving around in his car. It may have given the piece some more visual elements to idea driving and gasoline.
I think the phone interviewed helped give the piece more substance as well. Overall, great job. Really enjoyed it.
This was a very informative piece. The interviewees provide a lot of good information on the youth shelters. However, production wise the majority of the interview could have been condensed. It would have been very interesting to have some of the youth who attend the youth shelter speak on what it is like to be there, why they go there. The 'youth voice' would have been been the cherry atop of this piece and gave a face to the 'youth' of the shelter.
But I really like the amount of information the piece supplied, I just wish it was done in a way that was more spaced out and organized verses throwing the entire interview in without splicing it up.
I also think it would have been interesting to have spoken to some of the community who were opposed to having a youth shelter in their area. It would have given the story a two sided view of how the people who run the shelter view verses those who have a negative view of the shelter.
Overall, it was a interesting piece. It just needs a few tweaks here and there.
Polished, informative and very interesting. This piece was very well produced. I can imagine hearing it on the radio.
The piece is crafted with enough statistics and personal perspectives create well rounded news piece and leaves you wanting to hear more.
I liked how the first thing you hear is the sound of a child before you the narrator starts explaining about the concept of absent fathers. The interviews fit perfectly and were merged into the narrative story without seeming awkward or out of place.
The narrator provided a lot of useful information that personally I knew nothing about. You don't always think about things like this until your presented with the facts and numbers to back them up.
The piece stood on its own. It was well produced and well spoken. If you weren't familiar with this before hearing the piece, you are greatly more knowledgeable now than before.
This piece touched an interesting topic. Though, I personally don't think war is any way to deal with any situation, the producer got several interesting perspectives on whether war would be OK if it were to protect themselves, or to liberate others from a controlling power. All valid arguments.
However, the beginning of the piece was too abrupt. The intro should not have started off with someone speaking right away, or at least a pause in between the start and someone speaking to ease the listener into the piece.
The music in the piece was overused. It was a nice addition but in the beginning it ran for too long, and later in the piece the music seemed too loud next to the interviewees. The music should have been lowered, or taken out. The music made the piece interesting, but overusing it can take away the listeners focus from the piece as a whole.
Overall the producer collected good audio and quotes and provided a lot of different views on the issue.
The difficulty in creating journalist pieces (especially audio) is making them timely. The fact that this piece was created in 2002 and can still resonate in the year 2008 makes the piece as a whole even more engaging.
The use of poetry brings a fresh new perspective to the story. The choice of words, the speed of the poet made the story come alive.
The layers of an actual story of people in Oakland's concern about the violence and the Romeo and Juliet retelling gives the and unconventional method of story telling that isn't used a lot by main stream radio.
Producers did a very well in going back and forth in between the two parts of the story. There was no jarring awkward moments and the piece ran together very smoothly.
The only thing I would have done different is have had the poet read a little slower during certain parts, the poetry is so rich and detailed you want to be able to hear every word before he moves on to the next word/words. But that was only in a few cases during the piece.
As a young journalist who traveled to the Denver to cover the Democratic National Convention I was able to get a good sense of what young democrats thought about the election and the two competing parties. However, I was not able to attend the Republican National Convention and was quite disappointed to not get chance to speak to young Republicans. The fact that this piece gets the opinions of both parties doesn?t portray McCain as being an out of touch older white male who can?t connect to the youth vote, but it tackles both images of the candidates held by either party.
Very interesting quotes from McCain supporters. The narrative of the piece was good, however there were several lines I had to go back and replay because I didn?t quite understand what was being said the first time around. The interviews at the second half of the piece were a lot more interesting than the ones in the beginning, but overall good structure, very cohesive piece.
I can imagine this being a show like NPR sometime during the political coverage just because of the topic and at the time, stories similar to these were everywhere.
Comments by Eming Piansay
Comment for "Stop the War in Gaza: Pro-Palestine Protest Montage"
Eming Piansay
Posted on January 30, 2009 at 06:05 PM | Permalink
Review of "Stop th War in Gaze: Pro-Palestine Protest Montage"
This piece has its heart in the right place and the message is a good one. However, in between the interference and handling noise from the microphone, and the excess of interviews the piece loses its point and makes a majority of the piece sound redundant. The producers could have focused on the most interesting quotes, included the story of the women and her family who were caught in the bombing and finished with the final thoughts of people. But because the story ran for so long I found myself not listening to a majority of the interviews. I think this piece could have been more powerful with fewer people talking and the strongest interviews available.
Comment for "Thanks, Dunkin Donuts Lady"
Eming Piansay
Posted on January 18, 2009 at 12:56 PM | Permalink
Review of "Thanks, Dunkin Donut Lady"
This piece had a lot of good edits, especially for ambi sound. This piece was a nice little shout out to people to serve us our food drinks (and coffee) on a regular basis. I think it may have been more interesting to have gotten a hold of the actual woman she spoke to and had her talk about her experience at Dunkin Donuts -- and why/how she remembers the customers orders... was this girls the only one she remembered? Or were there others. Instead of giving a shout out it would have given a face to all the nameless people that service America's appetite around the country.
Comment for "Believing in Santa Claus"
Eming Piansay
Posted on January 18, 2009 at 12:48 PM | Permalink
Review of "Believing in the Hairy Guy"
Very interesting piece which starts off as cute and funny delves into the belief systems of youth people today. I especially liked the girl who stopped believing in Santa Clause when she stopped believing in Jesus. When you start to consider what the person you're talking to or writing to may not be listening or responding back it can be a very jarring/awakening experience. The narrator lead the audience through each portion of the piece very well. The interviews were very candid, entertaining and enlightening. The piece as organized well, starting off light hearted with the interviews with the children and then getting into more serious points of view. Very well done.
Comment for "My Plate Full, Yours Empty"
Eming Piansay
Posted on January 12, 2009 at 12:17 AM | Permalink
Review of "My Plate Full, Yours Empty
This as a very interestingly produced piece. I liked how it opened with the singing and how instead of telling the story of a family going through tough times, and the parent having to sacrifice for her children. It was a interesting way of doing it, besides telling it purely as a story. I would have liked however to have heard from the family as well, from the mother especially. At least as a news piece it would have been very compelling. The narration was great though, I thought it really gave the listener an idea of what sort of life this family was living and what strides were taken to ensure that the children had food on their plate, despite their economic issues.
Comment for "Sex Without Condoms is the New Engagement Ring"
Eming Piansay
Posted on December 24, 2008 at 08:12 PM | Permalink
Review of 'Sex Without Condoms is the New Engagement Ring'
Well produced. Nice use of music. I especially enjoyed the "here comes the bride" song attached to it. However, I think the music could have been less of a focus of the piece. Granted, I realize you could have listened to the varying versions of that piece with or without music but at a first listen I think there could have been a lot more discussion after the music, leading into a lot of other topics regarding the issue at hand. The piece holds a lot of interesting points. However, I wish there had been more discussion from the narrator as well as the people interviewed. The piece brings a lot of different ideas to light, but leaves it in a way that it doesn't give the listener much to work with after the fact. I think the piece could have been improved with a lot more commentary from the narrator. Expanding more on the idea of the condom being a wedding ring and people who think it is or isn't true.
Overall, it was a great piece. But I wish there had been more.
Comment for "Dissonance is the New Harmony"
Eming Piansay
Posted on December 18, 2008 at 07:55 PM | Permalink
Review of 'Dissonance is the New Harmony'
Very interesting piece. The topic of this story is something I've never heard of. For the typical music lover, this genre of music is not necessarily mainstream but it certainly a interesting new type of music to become popular in recent years. The producers of this piece made something pretty popular (pop music) and took on a whole new different point of view. Though I can't imagine myself wanting to listen to 'noise' on a regular basis. It is pretty interesting to explore the non-main stream types of music that are being produced today.
The piece was very informative and explained a lot about something that many of us probably don't know about.
I liked how the piece used examples of pop music lyrics to illustrate their point. The interview track is also very good. The music creators explain their product in an interesting way. This piece makes someone who may not necessarily want to listen to noise -- curious enough to search for it on YouTube.
Comment for "Gas Prices are the New Curfew"
Eming Piansay
Posted on December 12, 2008 at 03:00 PM | Permalink
Review of 'Gas Prices are the New Curfew'
This is a very cleverly produced piece. First of all, the speaker does not force his words and speaks clearly and concisely. I liked the point of the piece, how gas has become the make or break in today's society. It is a very timely piece, because of today's economy, for especially young people today who rely on their automobiles to get around.
I enjoyed the use of music. I think that highlighted some of the good points of the story. I would have liked to have heard some of the interview being done when he was actually driving around in his car. It may have given the piece some more visual elements to idea driving and gasoline.
I think the phone interviewed helped give the piece more substance as well. Overall, great job. Really enjoyed it.
Comment for "Youth Shelters"
Eming Piansay
Posted on December 02, 2008 at 06:30 PM | Permalink
Review of Youth Shelters
This was a very informative piece. The interviewees provide a lot of good information on the youth shelters. However, production wise the majority of the interview could have been condensed. It would have been very interesting to have some of the youth who attend the youth shelter speak on what it is like to be there, why they go there. The 'youth voice' would have been been the cherry atop of this piece and gave a face to the 'youth' of the shelter.
But I really like the amount of information the piece supplied, I just wish it was done in a way that was more spaced out and organized verses throwing the entire interview in without splicing it up.
I also think it would have been interesting to have spoken to some of the community who were opposed to having a youth shelter in their area. It would have given the story a two sided view of how the people who run the shelter view verses those who have a negative view of the shelter.
Overall, it was a interesting piece. It just needs a few tweaks here and there.
Comment for "Footing the Bill: Who Pays for Absent Fatherhood?"
Eming Piansay
Posted on November 27, 2008 at 12:34 PM | Permalink
Review of Footing the Bill: Who Pays for the Absent Fatherhood?
Polished, informative and very interesting. This piece was very well produced. I can imagine hearing it on the radio.
The piece is crafted with enough statistics and personal perspectives create well rounded news piece and leaves you wanting to hear more.
I liked how the first thing you hear is the sound of a child before you the narrator starts explaining about the concept of absent fathers. The interviews fit perfectly and were merged into the narrative story without seeming awkward or out of place.
The narrator provided a lot of useful information that personally I knew nothing about. You don't always think about things like this until your presented with the facts and numbers to back them up.
The piece stood on its own. It was well produced and well spoken. If you weren't familiar with this before hearing the piece, you are greatly more knowledgeable now than before.
Comment for "Are There Good Reasons For War?"
Eming Piansay
Posted on November 20, 2008 at 01:02 PM | Permalink
Review of Are There Good Reasons For War?
This piece touched an interesting topic. Though, I personally don't think war is any way to deal with any situation, the producer got several interesting perspectives on whether war would be OK if it were to protect themselves, or to liberate others from a controlling power. All valid arguments.
However, the beginning of the piece was too abrupt. The intro should not have started off with someone speaking right away, or at least a pause in between the start and someone speaking to ease the listener into the piece.
The music in the piece was overused. It was a nice addition but in the beginning it ran for too long, and later in the piece the music seemed too loud next to the interviewees. The music should have been lowered, or taken out. The music made the piece interesting, but overusing it can take away the listeners focus from the piece as a whole.
Overall the producer collected good audio and quotes and provided a lot of different views on the issue.
Comment for "Oakland Scenes: Snapshots of a Community"
Eming Piansay
Posted on November 14, 2008 at 07:34 AM | Permalink
Review of Oakland Scenes: Snapshots of a Community
The difficulty in creating journalist pieces (especially audio) is making them timely. The fact that this piece was created in 2002 and can still resonate in the year 2008 makes the piece as a whole even more engaging.
The use of poetry brings a fresh new perspective to the story. The choice of words, the speed of the poet made the story come alive.
The layers of an actual story of people in Oakland's concern about the violence and the Romeo and Juliet retelling gives the and unconventional method of story telling that isn't used a lot by main stream radio.
Producers did a very well in going back and forth in between the two parts of the story. There was no jarring awkward moments and the piece ran together very smoothly.
The only thing I would have done different is have had the poet read a little slower during certain parts, the poetry is so rich and detailed you want to be able to hear every word before he moves on to the next word/words. But that was only in a few cases during the piece.
As a whole, the piece stands well on its own.
Comment for "How does the Republican party appeal to young people?"
Eming Piansay
Posted on November 07, 2008 at 10:05 PM | Permalink
Review of How does the Republican party appeal to young people?
As a young journalist who traveled to the Denver to cover the Democratic National Convention I was able to get a good sense of what young democrats thought about the election and the two competing parties. However, I was not able to attend the Republican National Convention and was quite disappointed to not get chance to speak to young Republicans. The fact that this piece gets the opinions of both parties doesn?t portray McCain as being an out of touch older white male who can?t connect to the youth vote, but it tackles both images of the candidates held by either party.
Very interesting quotes from McCain supporters. The narrative of the piece was good, however there were several lines I had to go back and replay because I didn?t quite understand what was being said the first time around. The interviews at the second half of the piece were a lot more interesting than the ones in the beginning, but overall good structure, very cohesive piece.
I can imagine this being a show like NPR sometime during the political coverage just because of the topic and at the time, stories similar to these were everywhere.