Blog Question #1- What did you learn from your first week at your internship? Did anything surprise you or make you excited? Were there any challenges? Did you make any connections with co-workers? Did you engage in any code switching?
The first week at my internship, I learned a lot of things, which makes sense since it was my first week. My supervisor, Dave, gave me a tour of the station. He showed me the studio, gave me a quick rundown of the mixer, and introduced me to Adobe Audition. I was slightly hesitant about using software that I’m not familiar with, but it turned out to be extremely simple in comparison with the software I normally use.
Dave and I also went over what my intern duties will be, which is something I’m excited about. For the most part, I’m going to be in charge of listening to past episodes of a show called Metro and write descriptions for the episodes that don’t have them. Additionally, we talked about filming Metro and editing it into 2-3 minute highlight spots in order to draw more attention to the show and the station. Finally, I will be able to produce my own content that will be aired on the station. One of the things I’ll produce is 3 minute spots about non-profits for a segment called “.org”. I will also be able to create my own 3 hour music programs to be played from midnight until 3, complete with mic breaks and the whole package.
KGNU has a huge amount of volunteers, and I met one of them whose name I forgot about 2 minutes after meeting him. In terms of code switching, I found the atmosphere to be extremely relaxed, and I was able to chat with Dave very comfortably.
Blog 2: Networking
Begin by interviewing 2-3 of your coworkers with the following 3 questions (about 10 minutes of their time). Time allowing: feel free to ask them more questions to get to know them better. Following the interviews answer the questions below for Blog 2.
Interview questions:
- Did you study art after high school? Art or traditional college? Internship or apprenticeship?
- After visiting a lot of small liberal arts colleges, Dave went to Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota and learned that he’d be able to have a show on the school’s radio station if he went there, so he decided to study there. There, he started a rap show called “The Beatdown Hour” that ran for all 4 years of his time in college.
- How did you get your first job in the creative industries?
- After college, Dave started a rap group and gained DJing experience through it. That led to him becoming a professional DJ, mostly for Bar Mitzvahs, and developed connections through there. He then got an internship at the UCD grad school program called the Center for New Direction, where he learned about grant writing, working with volunteers, and public management. This experience led to him becoming a volunteer at KGNU, where he consistently DJ’d late nights. He eventually got a paid gig with KGNU, which was selling books and records for a commission. He continued to do work with the community for KGNU, and eventually became a paid staff member and went on to become the director of the station.
- If you were in an intern in this field, where would you focus your learning during your internship? What is the most important learning one can do when beginning a career in this profession?
- Dave said he would focus on learning production skills. In terms of community driven radio, he said that learning about community outreach is incredibly important. He also said that although social media skills are important nowadays, he would focus more on in-person interactions and networking in the workplace since those skills are more universal, and ultimately more important.
- (Time allowing) Is there anything interesting about you that is non-work related that you would like to tell me about? Hobbies or interests?
- Dave skateboards and believes that it is a minor experience in time traveling. He’s confident that the time he’s spent on a skateboard has kept him younger.
Blog Question #3 How do your actions affect your workplace?
My actions affect my workplace in several ways. I think it’s easy, as an intern, to fall into the trap of thinking that you don’t have much of an influence on your workplace. However, I’ve had a lot more responsibilities than I thought I would (which is a good thing!) and I have realized that I have some significant responsibilities, such as the Metro show, archived shows, and making sure I’m always ready to film in case there is a guest.
Are you able to be mindful and bring a good attitude when you come to your internship?
Yes. I am always mindful of my attitude and I make sure that I bring focus and productivity rather than a negative attitude. The fact that I don’t have school on the days that I have my internship helps me because I’m less likely to be negatively influenced by random life events.
Do you feel like you have a good work ethic so far?
I feel like my work ethic is okay. I’ve always been a big procrastinator, and it’s kind of hard to get things done when I know I have a lot of time to do them, but I’ve gotten better at catching myself when I get distracted and making sure I get back on task.
How do your co-workers actions affect your internship?
Hosts have been late on a few occasions, which makes filming extra hard because setup time is minimized.
Are you beginning to develop any work place friendships?
Not really
Blog Question #4: Freestyle blog week. Write your own blog prompt about your internship, then answer it in 200-250 words
What is the most interesting thing that has happened at your internship?
Last week, I filmed the third episode of the Metro show. The interview was with a woman whose name I forgot, but she helps run Musicians 4 Freedom, the Colorado International Cannabis and Hemp Film Festival, the Colorado Activism Film Festival, and the Colorado International Flat Earth Film Festival. As it turns out, Musicians 4 Freedom has a lot more to do with the Flat Earth society than it does with musicians or freedom. Within 5 minutes of the beginning of the interview, she started talking about the flat earth, 9/11, the Parkland shooting, JFK, and every single conspiracy theory you can think of. She also made a watermelon joke, and it should be noted that she’s a white woman and the host is a black man. It should also be noted that the show is mainly about the African American experience. Overall, it was one of the wildest things I’ve witnessed and it was really hard to keep a straight face, just because of how absolutely ridiculous the situation was.
Blog Question #5 How do you feel like your internship is going so far? What are the highlights? What are the challenges? Do you feel like you are making connections with your co-workers? Are you using your internship inspired project as a creative connection between you and your supervisor? What can you do to improve your experience?
I feel like my internship is going really well. The highlight has been being able to sit in the studio while Metro happens, especially knowing that a lot of people are listening and that I’m just sitting there while a radio show is being broadcast. The main challenge has been putting together three 30-minute shows in a couple weeks, when in the past I’ve been able to spend months on a 10 minute project. I’m planning on using my internship inspired project as a connection between me and my supervisor, but I haven’t really gotten a chance to get started on it yet. As for improvement, I think something I personally can do is brainstorm ways to manage my time more efficiently.
Blog Question #6 End of the quarter check- in. OK to do 150 words this week. Please do an inventory of your hours completed up until now and make sure your electronic time card is updated coming into the end of the quarter. How are you doing so far on completing your hours? Do you have the amount of hours complete that you should have at this point in the internship? If you are behind on your hours, what is your plan to make up the hours you are missing? How are you doing with the challenge of maintaining your intern work schedule? Are you using your google calendar to keep track of your intern schedule and homework assignments? Is there any other challenge you feel the Internship Program Director should be aware of at the end of the first half of your internship?
Blog Question #7: What is your favorite part of working on personal art projects? What challenges do you face on personal art projects? What have you learned about working in a creative business? What is your favorite part of working in a creative business? What is the difference between working on personal art and working in a creative business? *(Please read below now in preparation for Blog 8)
No Blog Next Week- you will need to use the week to work on your Internship Inspired Project in preparation for blog 8. You cannot write blog 8 if you have not talked to your supervisor about your internship project. Make talking to your supervisor about the project #1 priority if that hasn’t happened.
Blog Question #8 :
How is your internship project going? Describe the progress of your project. How did the conversation about your project go with your sponsor? (If you haven’t discussed the project with your sponsor yet, how do you plan to do so?) Did they have good insights into how to improve or expand the project? How does your project bridge what you do at your internship and what you like to create for yourself? Has your relationship with your sponsor evolved as you have engaged in a creative dialogue about your project? Art there any challenges you are experiencing planning or doing your project?
Blog Question #9 What have you seen or experienced in your internship that has inspired you the most on your own artistic journey? Has this experience changed your artistic ambitions? How? Have you used this experience to diversify your skill set? What skills have you added?
Blog Question #10 : Has this experience been a rewarding one for you? Why or Why not (keep it positive, if you had negative experiences, focus on what you learned- make yourself look good!)? How has the reality of your internship matched or contrasted with your expectations? What is the most important learning you did during your internship?
This experience was very rewarding, but not in the way that I expected it to be. I have to say that I expected to get more experience out of it, but I think that having that initial expectation is what helped highlight the experiences I did get. I was mostly hoping to learn about how radio equipment works, broadcasting standards, and all the knowledge I could need to be a radio DJ / host / personality. However, as soon as it was revealed that I’m technologically savvy, I became the official KGNU video guy, and the majority of my time there was focused on working on the Metro TV series. At first, I was a little disappointed that my internship seemed to be more about me doing freelance work for free rather than learning about radio, but it taught me how to adapt to my supervisor’s expectations while simultaneously managing my time in order to be able to also learn about radio. Also, although Metro TV was a little tedious to put together, and it didn’t really allow for a whole lot of creative freedom, it’s cool knowing that I am somewhat the founder of the web series and that the people in charge of it after me will have to follow the guide I wrote and use the same fonts and formats and everything even though I completely made everything up. That was honestly my first time feeling like somewhat of a professional, and I realized that because I’m used to following directions, but this time I got to make up the directions and be completely on my own when it comes to deciding what the show would look like.
I think that going through the experience of doing more freelance work than learning taught me that sometimes, you have to do semi tedious work and disregard your expectations in order to complete your responsibilities, but that was an extremely valuable lesson and probably the most important thing I learned.