AIR | Producers Intensive 2003 Program Schedule

Because creating excellence is a universal public radio job description and our job is to ensure that what goes out over the airwaves is brilliant and indispensable, AIR invites you to attend:

Producers Intensive 2003: Saturday & Sunday, March 22-23, 2003

Cathedral Hills Hotel, San Francisco
Immediately following the 28th Annual Community Radio Conference.

AIR Producers Intensive will give you -- producers, directors, managers, and marketers -- twelve jam-packed hours of:

Master Classes
Professional Development Seminars
Critical Listening/Critical Language Sessions

Registration rates are:
$150 for AIR members and $200 for non-AIR members.

For information or to register, contact HB Associates by phone (727-937-3232), email (info@hbassociates.com) or visit their on-line Conference Registration / Exhibitor Registration.

Producers Intensive 2003 Program Schedule

Because many sessions will be limited in size and structured to offer attendees highly personalized attention, AIR will be contacting all INTENSIVE registrants over the next several weeks, asking you to tell us in advance what sessions you plan to attend. In order to tailor the sessions to meet individual needs, well be asking you to complete a form that will give us specific information about your skill level and your goals. In many instances, we will want you to bring samples of your work.

Program-related questions? Email us: Intensive2003@airmedia.org.

See you in San Francisco!

Saturday, March 22nd

12:00PM
Mezzanine
Registration Opens in Cathedral Hill Hotel Mezzanine

5:00-6:30PM
Venture Frogs, 1000 Van Ness Ave (a block away from Cathedral Hill Hotel)
Opening Reception
Complimentary Drinks and Light Appetizers!
Reception is open to Intensive registrants ONLY (badges will be checked at the door).

7:00-10:00PM
California Room
FREE Open Listening Forum: Meet and Greet NFCB Golden Reel Winners

Come join us for a festive Saturday night listening forum. Hear this years NFCB Golden Reel award winning programs played in their entirety. Share your responses with the makers, with fellow producers, listeners. We guarantee you three hours of great radio and stimulating conversation.

This event is being offered FREE to all who want to come. That's right, you dont need to be registered for the AIR Intensive to attend this "intensive listening" event!

Hosts: Steve Rowland, AIR President and 2002 Golden Reel Award Winner, "Tell Me How Long Trane's Been Gone" and KQED's Michael Johnson.

The following sessions are not OPEN to the public; to attend you must be officially Registered for the AIR Intensive.

7:00-10:00PM
Telegraph A + B
Stop the Tape (Disc), and Ask the Makers: Documentary
[ SESSION FULL ]

We listen to programs by Dmae Roberts, Joe Richman and Gina Allison. Participants at the ready, with the makers in the room, we roll tape (disc). At the first raised hand, we stop tape. The "maker" is asked to explain why they chose a specific piece of music, or chose to use sound at this moment, or why this style narrative, or why the music fades out, why hard cuts, or, or, or... The tape rolls again. The next raised hand...

Moderators: Susan Stone and Stephen Erickson.

7:00-10:00PM
El Dorado
Stop the Tape (Disc), and Ask the Makers: Drama
[ SESSION FULL ]

See Stop the Tape: Documentary above for details.

Makers: Tom Lopez, Erik Bauersfeld, Jim McKee and Vini Beachem.

Moderator: Norman Jayo.

Sunday, March 23rd

Morning Sessions

7:30-11:30AM
El Dorado
Critical Listening/Critical Discussion: Documentary

Critical Listening/Critical Discussion: Documentary

Join the discussion with Kathy McAnally, Gina Allison, Michael Johnson, and Youth Radio. Conducted in the style of the International Features Conference and the Prix Europa. As a group, we'll listen to and discuss selected works -- analyzing the program idea, it's radiophonic development, the use of the medium, the program¹s listenability, it's style, dramaturgy, etc. The program will include selections from independents in the US and from prominent documentary makers in Europe and Canada.

Moderators: Susan Stone and Stephen Erickson.

8:30-11:45AM
Cathedral Hill A
Julian Crandall Hollick
Making Documentary Features in Faraway Places:
Part 1. Documentary and Ethnology

Participants will learn who funds overseas radio work and the particular challenges, pressures and rewards a producer must face. Some are common to working in all non- English-speaking cultures (how and where to locate the producer, use of live interpretation, why transcription? Use of original language on-air etc. How to use stereotypes in the US to your advantage) and some are very particular to the society you choose to work in (is it politically/culturally OK to record publicly and privately? Do you have to register with the political authorities? Benefits and negatives of recording for US broadcast. The perils of recording poverty in Asia) The producer has to be very clear about goals and objectives.

Questions touched on include:
• What is ethnology?
• Why do I practice it?
• When is it suitable for my project?
• Theory: Locating the author within the context.
• Why this is necessary.
• How it differs from First Person Radio without a Narrator.
• Are there problems with this type of radio? If so, what?
• Is it the solution for you? Is it dishonest to ignore one's presence and impact?
• Does it, can it work on Public Radio?
• Examples from Apna Street "Mumbai" (NPR WESUN 1995, 2003), "Gamv" (1989) and "Monsoon" (BBC and NPR WESUN 1997, 1999)

8:30-11:45AM
Embarcadero
Celeste Wesson - MPR's Marketplace Productions
Savvy Up: The Business Angle on Public Radio

Marketplace and The Savvy Traveler are always looking for new voices, especially contributors with distinctive voices who 'get' the show. What makes an idea Marketplace-y? What is a "Savvy" story? Bring your pitches, yellow pads and laptops. Find out what clicks with national vehicle producers and helps you produce a successful feature. Also learn how to write for the shows and what production and performance style each is looking for.

We hope to work through at least one piece for each vehicle.

8:30-11:45AM
Pacific Heights
Jonathan Kern
Give and Take: A How-to Guide for Negotiating with an NPR News Magazine

This three-hour session will cover the nuts and bolts of selling a piece to an NPR news magazine. Jonathan Kern, former executive producer for All Things Considered, will cover such topics as pitching a story idea, negotiating a payment rate, adhering to NPR standards and practices, meeting the program's format and technical requirements, coming to terms for a contract, arranging publicity, and getting feedback from listeners. Participants should bring some specific story pitches and be ready to explain why their story belongs on one of NPR's flagship programs.

10:15-11:45AM
Sea Cliff
Jake Shapiro, Ex. Director & Jay Allison, co-Founders - Public Radio Exchange
Making Public Radio Exchange Work

The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is building a new online marketplace for radio content. Producers will be able to upload their work, create profile pages for marketing, contribute and receive peer-reviews from other PRX members. Stations will subscribe and be able to preview and download pieces for broadcast air. Producers are then paid for each download out of a payment pool created from station subscriptions and other PRX revenue. The result: a new model for marketing, distributing, and discussing creative work. At this session you will have the opportunity to learn more about PRX, see some of its features, and influence its final design with suggestions and ideas.

10:15 - 11:45AM
California
Peter Clowney & Kerrie Hillman -- PRI's Studio 360
What's the Idea?
In this session, Studio 360 Editor Peter Clowney and Senior Producer Kerrie Hillman examine what happens before the first interview -- how to develop the idea and the approach to a story for Studio 360. They'll share ways to find the focus for a story, to dive beneath the headlines and probe the power that art has on our thoughts and feelings. Participants should bring arts and culture story pitches to be workshopped with the group.

8:30-10:00AM
California
Dmae Roberts
The MD* (Marketing Doctor) is In: Getting Your Shows on the Air
[ SESSION FULL ]

Successful producers and marketers share the techniques they use to get their programs on the air, and provide guidelines for budgeting marketing costs. Bring your prospective projects and program pitches for professional advice and group imagination.

The Doctors will explore traditional, alternative and new methods of independently distributing and marketing work to stations and networks. How important are streaming web sites, direct mail and telemarketing to stations? What types of distribution and formatting appeals to programmers? What makes an effective demo and marketing packet? Participants will come up with a way to pitch their shows and a marketing strategy to get their work aired. Panel includes Heidi Schultz (PRI), Sheila Gertzhoff (marketing consultant) and Steve Rathe (Murray Street Productions).

8:30-11:45AM
Western Public Radio Main Room
Michael Johnson
Putting Together a Digital Studio
[ SESSION FULL ]

In this three hour intensive, we'll go over the basic steps on assembling your digital studio. Whether you have a few hundred dollars to spend or several thousand, you can put together a desktop audio workstation capable of recording and assembling broadcast quality productions.

Topics will include:
• What equipment to consider
• How to put the parts together
• What programs are available
• Audio capture devices
• What problems you can encounter with digital audio and how to get around them
• Moving digital audio across the screen or across the internet

8:30-11:45AM
Western Public Radio Board Room
Jeff Towne
Digital Basics -- Editing and Systems
[ SESSION FULL ]

Destructive editing? Bit Depth? Breakpoint Automation? If all the jargon has you a bit dizzy, this course will familiarize you with the core concepts that will help you get digital audio from your recorder into a computer, and out to a finished program with ease. If you've been looking over your engineer's shoulder thinking "I could do that," or you can't figure out why your system at home just won't behave, we'll walk through all stages of digital recording and editing, ranging from concepts common to all platforms, to crucial differences between editing models, interfaces and file types. This session is aimed toward producers who may know how to build a story but are not completely comfortable with how to run the gear, or those with some experience who are moving from simple editing to multi-layered productions, or are still a little amazed when their projects come out of the computer intact.

8:30-11:45AM
Cathedral Hill B
Frank Stasio - NPR and NATF
Sue Zizza - National Audio Theatre Festivals (NATF)
How to Make Work More Accessible to National Magazine Programs:
Part 1. Short Form Features
[ SESSION FULL ]

Frank Stasio and Sue Zizza of the National Audio Theatre Festivals take participants through the producing process for daily short form news-oriented features. Participants will be broken-up into teams to be introduced to a variety of skills including sound effects creation, gathering, reading, acting, budgeting, and more. We'll help participants evaluate how to include 'dramatic' elements in modular pieces for national news magazines. Everything from news delivery and script development to directing and production techniques will be covered. Part one will emphasize hard news. We'll look at ways to find the drama inherent in a news story and contrast that with "sensationalization."

8:30-11:45AM
Telegraph A & B
Joe Richman & Sue Johnson
Narrative Without Narration
[ SESSION FULL ]

Radio places a premium on the host and reporter. What happens when you take this authoritative guide out of the picture? How do you tell a story without a script? Over the years, many producers have been exploring narrative without narration to create exciting and groundbreaking radio documentaries. This hands-on workshop will take a look at different styles and forms - from audio diaries to historical documentaries to online projects. There are inherent challenges with telling stories purely through tape. How does a producer: use a diarist or subject as narrator, tailor your interviewing technique, make transitions between scenes, set-up background or character information, and structure for pace and clarity? In the second half of the workshop, participants will be asked to bring in samples of their own work or work-in-progress for critique and discussion.

Joe Richman runs Radio Diaries and has been producing documentaries for public radio for more than 10 years. Radio Diaries works with people to document their own lives. Recent productions include "Teenage Diaries," "Prison Diaries," "My So-Called Lungs," and "The WASPs: Women Pilots of World War ll." Sue Johnson (see "Telling Stories Online") will also be on-hand to discuss how these issues relate to storytelling on the web.

8:30-11:45AM
Twin Peaks
Tom Lopez
Advanced Writing with Sound
[ SESSION FULL ]

The art of using sound as language. Creating visual settings with sound. Using sound to compliment, or to replace the spoken word. Using sound as a character. Examples of both Tom Lopez's work and participants will be used.

Afternoon Sessions

1:00-2:30PM
Sea Cliff
Fredessa Hamilton - PRSS
Stephen Hill - Hearts of Space
Moving Sound Around: Digital Sound Files and the ContentDepot

Are your digital sound files ready for the new ContentDepot? Learn how to create, convert and transmit your files to the PRSS with MP2, MP3 and .wav via FTP. Take the first step towards a new way of collaborating and delivering your content for transmission. You'll also hear about the features and functions of the new ContentDepot Catalog.

1:00-2:30PM
California
Peter Clowney & Kerrie Hillman -- PRI's Studio 360
What's the Idea?
Repeat of Morning Session. Please see above for details.

1:00-4:15PM
Cathedral Hill A
Julian Crandall Hollick
Making Documentary Features in Faraway Places:
Part 2. Documentary versus Feature: Which Format is More Suitable For Your Subject Matter?

Participants will learn who funds overseas radio work and the particular challenges, pressures and rewards a producer must face. Some are common to working in all non- English-speaking cultures (How and where to locate the producer. Use of live interpretation. Why transcription? Use of original language on-air etc. How to use stereotypes in the US to your advantage) and some are very particular to the society you choose to work in (Is it politically/culturally OK to record publicly and privately? Do you have to register with the political authorities? Benefits and negatives of recording for US broadcast. The perils of recording poverty in Asia) The producer has to be very clear about goals and objectives.

The session involves extensive listening and participant critiques of their own and some Of Julian Crandall Hollick's NPR productions from India, Europe and the Arab worlds, including "Apna Street," "Monsoon," "Winnetou" and "Old Shatterhand," "World of Islam," "Letters From Jitvapur," and "Passages to India."

Questions touched on:
• When documentary? When feature?
• Structure, Shape, length and language -- what determines each?
• A structure for Documentary/Feature: the example of classical Music (Western and Indian): what the hell's he talking about?
• India versus Islam -- the vital difference. [examples: "Living Islam" (2003) versus "Passages to India" (1991) or "Letters from Jitvapur" (1993)] • The importance of theme music. ("Apna Street")
• NPR news magazines versus PRI or independent marketing of documentaries: the old days versus today's realities.
• Language: how much of a foreign language to play? And when? Why?
• Voice-overs versus live interpretation.

1:00-4:15PM
Embarcadero
Celeste Wesson - MPR's Marketplace Productions
Savvy Up: The Business Angle on Public Radio

See morning session above for more details.

1:00-5:00PM
El Dorado
Critical Listening/Critical Discussion: Drama

The group will also try to come to grips with the fundamental "vibe" of radio in the USA in the year 2003, and the implications for radio playwrights and drama producers, during a time when there is no ready-made audience for radio theater.

Moderator: Norman Jayo.

This is a four hour session in three discreet blocks. Registrants are welcome to attend one, two or all three. Separate sign up is required for each block. Descriptions are incomplete, but give you some idea what to expect.

Block 1, 1:00-2:10PM
Soap -- A very German comic commentary on everyday "hotel" bureaucracy. This program was the winner of the "Prix Europa 2000" Best Radio drama.

Hotel Europa (BBC, 2001) -- If, after the raising of the Iron Curtain, the European Union were hotel...

Dog Will Have His Day -- A great cops 'n robbers thriller from Finland with a very hip production style.

Block 2, 2:25-3:35PM
Hen Night -- A Danish socio-drama (what else from the frozen north?) produced with the feeling of a "DOGMA 95" film. This program was the Winner of the "Prix Europa 2001" Best Radio drama.

Block 3, 3:50-5:00PM
The Undead -- Written by Dennis Cooper and produced by Stephen Erickson A special commendation for best radio drama at the 1995 "Prix Futura".

Freefall (BBC, 2002) -- Life from the POV of a fosterkid who's been bounced from home to home. Hip-hop radio drama.

2:45-4:15PM
California
Dmae Roberts
The MD* (Marketing Doctor) is In: Getting Your Shows on the Air

See morning session above for more details. Panel includes Heidi Schultz (PRI), Kathy Gronau (marketing consultant) and Reese Erlich (independent producer).

2:45-4:15PM
Sea Cliff
Jake Shapiro - Public Radio Exchange
Making Public Radio Exchange Work

See morning session above for more details.

1:00-4:15 PM
Western Public Radio Main Room
Michael Johnson
Choosing and Using Digital Field Recording Gear
[ SESSION FULL ]

In this three hour intensive, we'll look at digital recorders & microphones, and what consideration you should keep in mind when you buy or rent.

Topics will include:
• Minidisc demystified/the ABC's of TOC (Table of Contents)
• Linear recording vs compression recording
• What mic to use & when to use it
• Environmental recording & Stealth recording
• Digital recorder demonstrations

1:00-4:15PM
Western Public Radio Board Room
Jeff Towne
Advanced Pro Tools Editing
[ SESSION FULL ]

Whether you're running ProTools Free, LE or HD, there are some under-utilized techniques and tricks that can speed-up and improve your workflow. This session is aimed at producers with some experience with ProTools, but who haven't yet tapped its full potential. We'll discuss using multiple busses and aux-channels, employing asymmetrical fades, plug-ins on tracks, busses and master faders, automation, bouncing, dithering, external controllers, interface options and more. One does not need to be an expert, but should have familiarity with the basic operation of ProTools, or have equivalent experience with another program.

1:00-4:15PM
Cathedral Hill B
Frank Stasio - NPR and NATF
Sue Zizza - National Audio Theatre Festivals (NATF)
How to Make Work More Accessible to National Magazine Programs:
Part 2. Long-Form Feature and Documentary
[ SESSION FULL ]

Frank Stasio and Sue Zizza of the National Audio Theatre Festivals take participants through the producing process for long-form features and documentaries. Participant teams will learn sound effects creation, gathering, reading, acting, budgeting, and more; how to include 'dramatic' elements in documentaries for national news magazines. Everything from news delivery and script development to directing and production techniques will be covered. Part 2 will focus on ongoing issues and topics in the news, as apposed to day-by-day hard news. By focusing on issues, independents can examine more angles than one could in a hard news story.

1:00-4:15PM
Telegraph A & B
Joe Richman & Sue Johnson
Telling Stories Online: When Radio and the Web Work Together
[ SESSION FULL ]

Multimedia producer Sue Johnson, leads this workshop on producing audio for the web and creating immersive storytelling environments. The first half will be a presentation of Picture Projects' work along with other sites that are using audio in interesting and innovative techniques. Part of the presentation will also include radio producer, Joe Richman, whose radio series Prison Diaries was a collaboration with Picture Projects' 360degrees.org. In the second half of the workshop, participants will be asked to share their own sites and works-in-progress. As a group, we will discuss the nitty-gritty, such as how to organize a project, work with a production team, audio compression techniques, and how to promote your site within the public radio system or on your own. The main goal of the conversation, however, is to encourage producers to think outside of the box, from the paper napkin sketch and field work to the launch of your site.

Johnson is a founding partner of Picture Projects, a new media production team that has collaborated with radio producers, photographers, and writers to create online documentaries for the past eight years. Recent work includes the award-winning sites, 360degrees.org-Perspectives on the US Criminal Justice System (with Joe Richman) and SonicMemorial.org (with the Kitchen Sisters).

1:00-4:15PM
Pacific Heights
Jay Allison - Transom.org
Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson (The Kitchen Sisters) - Lost & Found Sound
Jonathan Kern - NPR
Peggy Girshman - NPR
Playing at the Margins: Views from Inside & Outside
[ SESSION FULL ]

Working within the daily boundaries of style and content is vital steady work, but it's not where the excitement is. The hard decisions come, for both producer and acquirer, when we approach the edges. This session will bring together NPR editors with outside producers to talk about where those edges are, how to push them... and each other. Please bring samples of your most provocative work for discussion.

1:00-4:15PM
Twin Peaks
Tom Lopez, with Barrett Golding and Scott Carrier
Innovative Techniques for Radio Documentary and Drama
[ SESSION FULL ]

The secret of radio is pictures. Radio Fiction/Audio Theatre and Radio Documentary/Sound-Portraits can be a gloriously visual feast of words and sounds. A number of technique have developed over the years, some quite recently with new audio technology, for drama and documentary storytelling. We will play brief examples of our and others' works. We will survey the hard and soft wares available to expand our and the listener's imagination. Since radio is a visual medium, we'll emphasize the physical juxtaposition of images and people (in the mix) and the mental placement (in the mind) of the voices, musics, sounds and stories.

In drama, we'll examine: shifting the point of view, such as cutting back and forth in a telephone conversation, or mobile p.ov.'s on cellphones and in cars; using a microphone as a camera, moving from close ups to long shots, in and out on a voice or sound, without disorienting the listener; and, stretching and shrinking time, that is, playing with the illusion of time.

In documentary, we'll talk about: Vox Pop; gathering tape; telling stories within stories; solving storytelling puzzles; and, taking complex experimental risks while realizing the best solution often lies in finding the elegant simplicity in a piece.

You will hear how dramatic techniques work in documentary, and vice versa.