It's DONE!

You are reading http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com

Ok, I got all the bits of sound put together. Before I mixed it down into an audio file, I had Renee come in and listen to it.

NEVER ask your news director to listen to a piece BEFORE you pee!

And the damn thing is nearly six minutes long! ugh!

So, she listened. Six minutes is a long time, especially for a hard news piece, especially one on weapons grade uranium, especially the terrorist and environmental implications of same.

So, I hopped from foot to foot outside the newsbooth as she listened. I saw no change in facial expression; she betrayed nothing that I could detect.

It was agony.

When it was done, she said,

"that's fine."

I said, "I need to adjust the sound levels on the phone interviews; they're too low."

"Yeah, and that one cut you mentioned while it was playing."

"So, what do you think?"

"I think it's good. How long is it?"

Now, I expected the Hammer to fall...it's damn near twice as long as normal.

"Five minutes, fifty eight seconds," I said, cringing.

"That's ok; it's a good piece. Edit the lead in and put it in Ready For Air."

Unless something dastardly happens between now and 5 pm Monday, she'll air it then.

I also made another copy, leaving off my sign-off of "for KUNM," to FTP to Pacifica.

I FTPed it; I emailed them with the title of the audio; I emailed them the lead in and my script.

That's all I can do, for now.

How satisfying! Such a complex, heavy, stressful, technical story! But I made it easy to hear and understand. And it's "ear-catching." I made sure to modulate my voice in a crisp, musical, warm but efficient audio file, so it's easier to hear. A spoon full of sugar and all.

Paul Ingles also listened to part of it and complimented my reading.

I hugged Tristan, for helping me with the editing.

Leslie Clark, a paid reporter, drove me home tonight.

She sat in my empty lot/garden with me and filled me in on some station history. I have a much more clear understanding of why certain people do what they do...or don't.

She, too, said I'm a good writer and good reporter. In fact, she wants me to help her edit something she's writing that's not news related!

Good lord!

I'm thinking of little presents I can get people if fsrn pays me. I want to thank people for their generosity, patience and support. Nothing fancy: just little gifts.

I'm buying Danny some beer! LOL.

But I'm not saying what else I'm getting, nor for whom. They might read this blog and ruin their surprise.

I think I know now who "ratted" on me yesterday. I suspected yesterday.

I'm letting it go. It really scared me and hurt me. But, if it's who I think it is, the person looks scared all the time. And not just with me, but with others.

I'll just pretend it didn't happen. Everybody who needs to knows how I feel.

I won't try to confront or befriend this person.

But, if I'm right, this isn't a person with whom I need or even WANT to work, anyway.

No big loss. But people do agree with me that going to the station manager, rather than the volunteer director, was shooting a gnat with an elephant gun. It's not done; it's bad form.

Next week, demolition of the station starts in earnest. I plan to be a scarce as possible, at least for awhile.

I want to learn to webmaster the KUNM.org news site. But I won't be producing major work right now. I can collect my interviews for the No Child Left Behind story.

But no sound editing, reporting, etc. next week.

I also need to go through the bull snot to get hired there.

That, and gardening and house cleaning, ought to keep me plenty busy!

The Hot House Flowers are all going to have their panties in a twist, anyway, with the hammering and wall-breaking and ladders and......

If I show up, the Hot House Flowers might just spontaneously combust!

So, I'll give them, and myself, a break from THAT stress!

There's not going to be a women's restroom for awhile!

The music department is moving into the old newsroom, while we "evacuate" to the conference room.

It's a HUGE mess. Sounds like they planned it well. But there will be construction noise on the air from time to time.

I'll try to bring plenty of good food, to comfort people.

But I'm not interested in taking up too much studio space; studios will be down, one at a time, for awhile and everybody will be desperate for recording equipment.

So, I'll stay out of the way.

I feel much better. Paul talked with me for a good long while today. And so did Leslie.

Shoot, I was so freaked out and snotty yesterday, Tom actually smiled at me and was gentle and kind! He's a bit...shall we say...brusque? at times. He's a good guy; he just makes me nervous sometimes.

So, everybody's getting presents.

Whether cooked, home made, store bought... they're all getting stuff.

I want to thank them.

This is the first time in a LONG time that I've felt like a human being.

And it's been WAY too long since I've felt like a reporter!

And I AM good!

In fact, it's the ONLY thing I'm good at, besides cat farming....

>^oo^<