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That Fresh Spring AIR

         Looking to freshen up your home for the spring? Decorating with a lovely commemorative trophy, plaque or medal can help bring more of nature's colorful, happy, growing energy into your home. Try any of these lively decorating tips brought to you by recent AIR award winners.

"I wanted to give my Peabody a personal touch," says Barrett Golding, "so I crafted a border of suede fringe around the medallion. That way the bronze can brighten up the room without detracting from the den's rustic Montana feel."

Todd Melby had this to share: "Nothing is as romantically invigorating as a Sigma Delta Chi Award from the SPJ. I knew that was going in the bedroom, no second thoughts about it."

Laura Ziegler came up with this creative approach: " At first I wasn't sure what to do with all three Murrow Awards. They were bulky and the wood frames looked out of place in my modern apartment. But then I realized I could construct a simple wind chime and hang the plaques on my balcony. Problem solved."

         To find out how other members have been decorating, visit the updated AIR Award Winners page. Or, if you would like to do some decorating of your own, go to AIR's Awards directory.

AIR Member Spotlight: John Ryan

Recipient of a 2007 RTNDA Regional Murrow Award
As the Sound Churns, KUOW Seattle
First Place for Best News Documentary in
Region 1: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington

          Lucky accidents seem to follow me. Seven years ago my cheap microcassette recorder fell out of my pocket in an Indonesian taxi. A generous BBC stringer lent me his professional gear, and I caught the radio bug. After pointing a mic at rare jungle songbirds and gong-playing grandmothers for my first story, there was no turning back.
          I've been freelancing since then, producing mostly environmental stories for Living on Earth, Marketplace, NPR News, and The World. The most fun was producing last October's KUOW-Seattle documentary series on the currents of the Puget Sound, As the Sound Churns. I got paid to ride ferries, oil tankers and kayaks. Capsizing the kayak in a whirlpool and destroying my minidisc wasn't part of the plan, but it sure made some great sound. (You can't blame this accident on clumsiness. The double-ziplock bag with silicone sealant just didn't do the trick.)
          I just started my first full-time gig. I'm a general-assignment reporter at KTOO in Juneau, Alaska, the state capital and North America's biggest potential urban-avalanche disaster. What fun!
          Listen to Swirls of Deception, episode three of As the Sound Churns, by John Ryan. Made possible by a grant from the KUOW Program Venture Fund; originally aired on KUOW Seattle. If you would like to listen to the entire documentary, follow this KUOW link.

AIR Goodies: Enhance and expand your radio skills

 

AIR and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University are working together to help YOU attend the CDS Summer Audio Institutes!

AIR is proud to announce ten subsidies of $300 each to be awarded to AIR members accepted into Summer 2007 Audio Institutes.
Hearing Is Believing I (June 17-23)
Hearing Is Believing II: Making It Sing (August 13-18)
Plus ALL AIR members accepted will receive a $100 discount! Complete course and registration details available at http://www.airmedia.org or http://www.learnmore.duke.edu.

AIR Member Live Chat with Stasia DeMarco

Wednesday, May 3; 8-10 p.m. Eastern Time.

Stasia DeMarco manages to keep her public radio sensibilities sharp and current even as she works regularly with a commercial station and tries her hand at various web-based productions. From producing commercial station KYW's on-demand podcast to creating audio stories for the web-based magazine Dragonfire, Stasia demonstrates how audio skills can mesh with the media of the present and, likely, the future. Based in Philadelphia, Stasia got her radio start at KBOO in Portland, Oregon while in grad school. To meet Stasia, go to http://interact.airmedia.org Wednesday at 8:00 p.m.

Spring AIRspace Online!
"A User's Guide to AIRmedia.org," with Guest Editor Samantha Schongalla.

Because we want you to take full advantage of all the wonderful e-resources AIR provides the producer community, the Spring issue of AIRspace is completely focused on teaching you to work the myriad new bells and whistles on our handsomely redesigned website, www.airmedia.org. Everyone can access and reference the guide in PDF form online

AIRspace is AIR's quarterly online journal.

Send comments, questions or creative decorating ideas to

airblast@airmedia.org

Funding for AIR comes from our members and the generous support of The New York State Council on the Arts, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

 
 

click for audio             AIRblast Audio

This Year's AIR Member
Peabody-Award-Winning Audio

Crossing East
Produced by Dmae Roberts,
MediaRites Productions

"Crossing East was my decade-long dream to provide public radio with its first series on Asian American history. The 8 hour long series involved more than 50 producers, scholars and artists and aired on 210 stations. Millions of listeners now know a neglected part of American history and more Asian Americans are connected to public radio." - Dmae Roberts

Listen to Strength and Resistance, an audio excerpt from program three of Crossing East, produced by Robynn Takayama and Dmae Roberts. You can hear all of the series here, on PRX.

Crossing Borders
Produced by Barrett Golding, HearingVoices.com

The nighttime desert seems to have a voice of its own in Crossing Borders. It's a vivid audio chronicle of illegal immigrants from Mexico, the dangers their journeys entail and why they still take the risk.


Listen to And I Walked . . . Stories from the Border, an audio excerpt from Crossing Borders, produced by Ann Heppermann and Kara Oehler. This story was originally produced as a short doc for the Third Coast Festival. For the complete Crossing Borders Special, click here.

AIRblast Audio Archive

 

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What is this I'm reading?
I'm glad you asked. This is AIRblast, the monthly e-bulletin from the Association of Independents in Radio. It's a service we've added to provide both members and non-members with a quick and easy way to stay informed about AIR-related news and events. To check out past issues, click here.


Special AIR Member deal!

Subscribe or renew your subscription to Current by June 30th and you'll pay just $35 for the year, a 50% discount. Make sure to take advantage of this deal at


Fellowship and Grant Deadlines

From the AIR Fellowships and Grants Directory

 

RTNDF Minority Fellowships

May 7

N.S. Bienstock Fellowship: A $2,500 award recognizing a promising minority journalist in radio or television news.
Michele Clark Fellowship: A $1,000 award for young, promising minority professionals in television or radio news.

RTNDF Beat Reporting Fellowships

May 7

Vada and Col. Barney Oldfield National Security Reporting Fellowship: A $1,000 award given annually to help a reporter or producer in radio or television news cover national defense and security issues.
Jacque Minnotte Health Reporting Fellowship: This $2,000 award recognizes excellence in health or medical television and radio reporting.

Paul Robeson Fund For Independent Media

May 15

To support media activism and grassroots organizing by funding the pre-production and distribution of social issue film and video projects and the production and distribution of radio projects made by local, state, national or international organizations and individual media producers.