Discussion: Orienteering on Cincinnati WVXU (local NPR station)
in: Orienteering; General
Dec 11, 2013 8:42 PM
#
I just did an interview on WVXU 91.7FM in Cincinnati with host Mark Heyne and Kimberly Whitton of Hamilton County Parks. I did maybe four or five hours of preparation. I was nervous but not too much. It was over before I knew it started. Audio available here: http://wvxu.org/post/winters-walk-woods
Dec 11, 2013 11:24 PM
#
I did maybe four or five hours of preparation.
What sort of preparation did you do? And did it end up helping during the interview?
What sort of preparation did you do? And did it end up helping during the interview?
Dec 12, 2013 7:00 AM
#
What sort of preparation did you do? And did it end up helping during the interview?
A long time ago, I read two books that I think really helped me:
Making the News: A Guide for Activists and Nonprofits (available used for 1 cent plus shipping)
and
Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production
(I own both, so if anyone reasonably local wants to borrow them, just let me know. I read them from the library, then bought used because I wanted to own both.)
The first was much more practical to this situation, but being the NPR junkie that I am, there was at least one chapter in the second book that explained what makes for interesting radio. Also hearing Ira Glass talk about interesting radio during some stuff I've seen on twitter.
Okay. For the actual preparation, I had a few general goals. I did not want to drone on about one topic in detail. I've heard other people (on the radio) start talking about something, then in something like OCD just keep going on, becoming more and more arcane. I think of that as using a shovel to start digging a hole, and then to just keep digging it deeper and deeper. What I wanted to do was to start a hole, then step to the side and start another, then keep doing that. I wanted to hit a large number of topics, not drill down into any one of them.
I had some ideas for what I did not want to say. I didn't want to mention attendance numbers. He threw me a little when he asked for details about the club and specifically the number of members and I just answered his question the best I could. I didn't want to insult geocaching. And especially I didn't want to imply that the park's upcoming program would be using an inferior map. (Before we started, I told Kimberly that we had been trying to map Winton Woods for years but had always been denied. I also offered to at least attempt to create a proper orienteering map of a very small area that might be used for their programs. I also apologized for not know which parks are Hamilton Co Parks. Mike knows them by heart, but I don't trust my memory when I might make a real faux pas, so I try to rely on a written list, which I didn't have.
When we were emailing within the club about whom would do the interview, several people weren't available, and I emailed that I would love to do it, but that I would give dibs to two people. They both declined because of conflicts. I confirmed with the station before I found out that Mike also had wanted to do the interview, but the invitation was for one, and Mike deferred to me because I had already answered (for which I thank him).
Orunner sent me a text, "Call me tonight." This was two days before the interview. It turns out he has been interviewed many times for TV and radio, including a radio piece that was bumped up to Morning Edition (the national NPR morning show) in 1996. He had two pieces of advice: 1. Listen to the question and correct the premise if it is wrong. (This was experience talking---He'd been bitten hard before on this.) His second piece of advice was 2. Don't stop talking. Just take a deep breath, and steer the conversation where you want. If you accidentally make something up, just keep going.
That "just keep talking" part was difficult for me. I tend to answer questions and stop. So I walked around my office talking to friends about the interview, and I basically bored them with me trying to not stop talking. The day before the interview, I had to attend the Butler Co Parks event, and four people from the parks department stopped by Mike and me (separately, four different opportunities) to thank us, and I basically abused the conversation by practicing without telling them what I was doing. I talked about orienteering, trying to hit my short list of "high points" and avoid certain others. I also tried to listen to them and to just be conversational. I'm really glad I did all this.
Several people told me I should slow down my words. I tried, but I just can't. When I try to talk slowly, I'm thinking about my lips and my mouth and of trying to enunciate clearly, and I lose my train of thought. When I get on a roll, it's like I have to step aside, and I'm standing next to myself and I don't know what I'm going to say, but it sort of always comes out okay. (I was worrried about hearing my voice in the studio headphones, but it is set up so you can hear the other people, but not yourself. It was really disconcerting when I started talking and couldn't hear myself, though.) I remembered a recent comment by Kai Ryssdal (of APM's Marketplace) about how you have to "Just Talk". I was thinking about that when I made that really long stop in my first answer, and I was trying to let go of the nerves.
I wanted a typed list of talking points, but I'm working on relay courses and sportident prep for this weekend's A-Meet, so I just didn't have time. I had a page of engineering paper with some scrawled notes in pencil. Probably my best resource was just being a long-time attackpoint reader. The thread, Course setting: what makes a course an enjoyable experience? was probably the single best seed I had planted in my brain.
I probably hit about 1/3 of what I had prepared. I actually talked a lot more than I expected. I expected to have half of the 20-minute window (which was actually 16 minutes), so I knew I was just going to be able to just scratch the surface. About halfway through, I had relaxed, and I when I wasn't talking, I was just trying to look at the host and listen to his question.
I've listened to it twice by myself and once with several people at tonight's packet stuffing party. I was complimented on "really controlling the interview", and I accept that compliment, but it honestly didn't feel like I was controlling anything. I was a ping pong ball just bouncing all over the place trying to answer the questions, being enthusiastic rather than talking about details, and trying to cultivate a good relationship to any parks people who might be listening.
The prep helped me profoundly. I'm sure there are many of you who could walk into this cold and just kill it, but I am not one of you. My practice with different friends and coworkers and the Butler County people occasionally went down in flames. The biggest thing the preparation helped me with, though, was in not saying anything insulting about geocaching, Tough Mudders, Boy Scouts, hippies, local parks, other clubs, the host, etc. I feel like I successfully negotiated a mine field.
A long time ago, I read two books that I think really helped me:
Making the News: A Guide for Activists and Nonprofits (available used for 1 cent plus shipping)
and
Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production
(I own both, so if anyone reasonably local wants to borrow them, just let me know. I read them from the library, then bought used because I wanted to own both.)
The first was much more practical to this situation, but being the NPR junkie that I am, there was at least one chapter in the second book that explained what makes for interesting radio. Also hearing Ira Glass talk about interesting radio during some stuff I've seen on twitter.
Okay. For the actual preparation, I had a few general goals. I did not want to drone on about one topic in detail. I've heard other people (on the radio) start talking about something, then in something like OCD just keep going on, becoming more and more arcane. I think of that as using a shovel to start digging a hole, and then to just keep digging it deeper and deeper. What I wanted to do was to start a hole, then step to the side and start another, then keep doing that. I wanted to hit a large number of topics, not drill down into any one of them.
I had some ideas for what I did not want to say. I didn't want to mention attendance numbers. He threw me a little when he asked for details about the club and specifically the number of members and I just answered his question the best I could. I didn't want to insult geocaching. And especially I didn't want to imply that the park's upcoming program would be using an inferior map. (Before we started, I told Kimberly that we had been trying to map Winton Woods for years but had always been denied. I also offered to at least attempt to create a proper orienteering map of a very small area that might be used for their programs. I also apologized for not know which parks are Hamilton Co Parks. Mike knows them by heart, but I don't trust my memory when I might make a real faux pas, so I try to rely on a written list, which I didn't have.
When we were emailing within the club about whom would do the interview, several people weren't available, and I emailed that I would love to do it, but that I would give dibs to two people. They both declined because of conflicts. I confirmed with the station before I found out that Mike also had wanted to do the interview, but the invitation was for one, and Mike deferred to me because I had already answered (for which I thank him).
Orunner sent me a text, "Call me tonight." This was two days before the interview. It turns out he has been interviewed many times for TV and radio, including a radio piece that was bumped up to Morning Edition (the national NPR morning show) in 1996. He had two pieces of advice: 1. Listen to the question and correct the premise if it is wrong. (This was experience talking---He'd been bitten hard before on this.) His second piece of advice was 2. Don't stop talking. Just take a deep breath, and steer the conversation where you want. If you accidentally make something up, just keep going.
That "just keep talking" part was difficult for me. I tend to answer questions and stop. So I walked around my office talking to friends about the interview, and I basically bored them with me trying to not stop talking. The day before the interview, I had to attend the Butler Co Parks event, and four people from the parks department stopped by Mike and me (separately, four different opportunities) to thank us, and I basically abused the conversation by practicing without telling them what I was doing. I talked about orienteering, trying to hit my short list of "high points" and avoid certain others. I also tried to listen to them and to just be conversational. I'm really glad I did all this.
Several people told me I should slow down my words. I tried, but I just can't. When I try to talk slowly, I'm thinking about my lips and my mouth and of trying to enunciate clearly, and I lose my train of thought. When I get on a roll, it's like I have to step aside, and I'm standing next to myself and I don't know what I'm going to say, but it sort of always comes out okay. (I was worrried about hearing my voice in the studio headphones, but it is set up so you can hear the other people, but not yourself. It was really disconcerting when I started talking and couldn't hear myself, though.) I remembered a recent comment by Kai Ryssdal (of APM's Marketplace) about how you have to "Just Talk". I was thinking about that when I made that really long stop in my first answer, and I was trying to let go of the nerves.
I wanted a typed list of talking points, but I'm working on relay courses and sportident prep for this weekend's A-Meet, so I just didn't have time. I had a page of engineering paper with some scrawled notes in pencil. Probably my best resource was just being a long-time attackpoint reader. The thread, Course setting: what makes a course an enjoyable experience? was probably the single best seed I had planted in my brain.
I probably hit about 1/3 of what I had prepared. I actually talked a lot more than I expected. I expected to have half of the 20-minute window (which was actually 16 minutes), so I knew I was just going to be able to just scratch the surface. About halfway through, I had relaxed, and I when I wasn't talking, I was just trying to look at the host and listen to his question.
I've listened to it twice by myself and once with several people at tonight's packet stuffing party. I was complimented on "really controlling the interview", and I accept that compliment, but it honestly didn't feel like I was controlling anything. I was a ping pong ball just bouncing all over the place trying to answer the questions, being enthusiastic rather than talking about details, and trying to cultivate a good relationship to any parks people who might be listening.
The prep helped me profoundly. I'm sure there are many of you who could walk into this cold and just kill it, but I am not one of you. My practice with different friends and coworkers and the Butler County people occasionally went down in flames. The biggest thing the preparation helped me with, though, was in not saying anything insulting about geocaching, Tough Mudders, Boy Scouts, hippies, local parks, other clubs, the host, etc. I feel like I successfully negotiated a mine field.
Dec 12, 2013 2:33 PM
#
Very good job.. I would have totally insulted Geocaching and not even realize it until later. I think the interviewer did a good job too in knowing what to ask.
Dec 12, 2013 2:34 PM
#
Matthew impressed us all and did a great job of keeping it moving and interesting. For the NPR audience, Matthew was an excellent fit.
This discussion thread is closed.