Hello ladies and gentlemen, my name is Lauren Marie Paterson. You can call me Lauren, or even Lolo if you like.
I come most recently from the radio world, where I served a an on-air personality for ZFUN 106.1 with experience ranging from weekend nights, middays, live afternoon drive, off location remotes, and eventually as a co-host for a Top 40 morning show. I have an accumulated live broadcast time of over 1,800 hours, and was consistently involved in community events such as a judge for the Christmas Parade. During my time at the radio station I also served as a radio news reporter, and developed news content aired on nine regional stations for Inland Northwest News, as well as my own news program entitled Pulse of the Palouse. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot!
I joined this program as well as this class to further my knowledge of emerging media platforms, specifically those I am less familiar with. I have experience in radio, but want to learn more about photography, journalism, writing, communication, and multimedia production.
I consider the Internet the great equalizer, that is, a place where every person can have a voice. However, how does that apply when it comes to your work in media? What are the do’s and don’ts? How do you hone in on the movement, the moment, or the message without getting lost in cyberspace? Hopefully this course can answer some of those questions.
Lovely to meet you all!
Hello Lauren!
I agree! The internet does give everyone a voice. This presents great opportunities for those of us who work in the media, but it also, of course, presents challenges. First of all comes with question of accuracy – there is a great deal of innaccurate information on the internet. Of course, inaccuracies are prevalent in all media, but the accessibility cyber info makes it as readily available as the information that is accurate. (I’m avoiding the word “fact” following our orientation discussion on The Storytelling Animal). Is it just the flipside of the same coin? An increase in information equals a proportionate increase in misinformation?
Hi Lauren,
Your previous work experience sounds awesome! When I was young I wanted to work at a radio station. I know that it’s tough breaking into that industry (especially for women) so good for you; so very cool!
I see that there are a lot of radio stations that have embraces social media (twitter, Facebook, Flickr) as part of their brand. Is this something that you are looking for, too? Did you leave radio or are you still live?
Question: What do you think the future of radio is, and do you think that you can become part of the movement, moment or message? (I loved that part in your bio)
Yes I agree D, misinformation abounds! That is why I think the future education systems as a MUST should include a kind of ‘media literacy’ curriculum focused on teaching kids how to differentiate between a reliable source of information such as a peer-reviewed scholarly article, and a not-so necessarily trustful information source such as a personal blog. It’s important for us to know the difference as well, especially since we will probably be presenting the information to a mass of people in some form or another.
Thanks J! (Sorry, I can’t remember everyone’s full name yet…) I had a great time working in the radio industry, and as a woman I am particularly proud of myself because it is still very much a “boys club.” Co-workers would tell me stories about how when they were working at the station “back in the day,” they were only allowed to play so many female artists in one day! Luckily, times are changing for the better. While at the radio station I actually served as their Social Media Coordinator, and helped them get on board with Facebook and Twitter. They were great tools to use, especially on air, when you could tell a short story about something crazy Justin Bieber did and say “Let me know what you think! Head to our Facebook page at…”
Many people have asked me about the future of radio, and if it will ever “die,” but people have been saying that since the television was invented. The reason radio will continue on is that it’s a medium that doesn’t take your complete focus away from everything you are doing. For instance, if you’re working on a car or on your computer at work, you can still listen to the radio and continue what you are doing. A TV requires both your eyes and your ears, therefore, most of your attention. Will terrestrial radio stations die out? Yes, I think so, eventually. However, like so many mediums, radio will change and adapt, possibly going mostly online for streaming purposes in order to modernize and to reach a larger audience. Podcasts have never been bigger, and Pandora is a popular place people go to listen to music and tailor their own stations online. I would love to be a part of radio again, but not if they’re only going to pay me $9.25 an hour, even after three years of working, training staff, and modernizing their web presence, (on top of a B.S. in broadcast) which is what I ran into in Idaho. I am keeping my eyes out for a radio job here in Portland though!
Hi Lauren!
I was just thinking about the relevance of terrestrial radio with an actual DJ who is out there speaking to an audience and curating a playlist. I was driving in my car and the DJ was taking a music request from a caller. Even though that is something that has been a staple of radio forever it felt so strange in that moment that someone was sitting around listening to the radio, taking the time to call up and request a song when they could have easily gone to a streaming site and heard it instantaneously. Maybe that person didn’t have a computer or access to the internet so this is still the means by which they can hear a song they want to hear, or maybe they just enjoy doing it the old fashioned way. I appreciate that there are vestigial pieces that are still hanging on despite some many other ways to access music or information.
I am also working in radio at the moment though I am not on the air. I shoot live band performances for a few stations here in town at the Bing Lounge. They don’t pay much better here in Portland! Ha!
Yeah it is neat that we still do that, but I’m sure as you know from working in the industry, there are some new tricks – you always record the caller and chop the audio up, in order to get the reaction you need or want, whether it’s the station name or girls screaming for One Direction tickets. Then we usually play it back over the air after editing. Out of curiosity, which market do you work in? I was in Top 40 and didn’t get to choose or make a playlist at all, and I know that most stations usually have a very scientific and set rotation of songs. Some are more flexible than others when it comes to requests, but I know in the case of ours, if a listener “requested” a Katy Perry song, we wouldn’t necessarily drop it right in to the line-up. Most often we would wait until Katy shows up (which is usually soon enough in Top 40…) and then play the pre-recorded request over the air. I could talk about it all day though, excited to meet you and chat more about it on Saturday!
Lauren,
It is funny that as kid, I listened to the radio for music, hoping to hear my favorite songs. Now as an adult, I listen to the radio for information, interesting interviews, and commentary. I think I got hooked in by the local coverage that the sports stations take. Maybe I am just getting old and don’t want to play my mix tapes anymore. What kind of station is ZFUN 106.1?
Actually Derek that is part of the reason stations strive to keep up with news and sports and local updates, for adults who don’t have the time to seek out all of that information themselves. I’m sure you’re much busier now than you were as a kid! ZFUN 106 is a Top 40 station, playing around 60 songs in rotation, the majority of which would be considered the pop/dance genre.
Hey Lauren! Great interactions and some answers to questions I had. I really find the transition from radio to streaming formats such as Pandora and Spotify interesting. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said radio has been doomed since TV hit the scene – but it’s still here! Streaming audio puts the playlist at the listeners control, which is kind of like the classic call-in to request a song or jukebox mix in modern form. I hope though we never fully replace the DJ with an algorithm. There’s something about local radio that gives a sense of community and social interaction. I even miss making mixed tapes. Now we have iPods. I won’t be giving one of those to all my friends at Christmas.
As a radio guru, how do you listen to music?
I agree with Kevin. While I think applications like Pandora, Slacker, and Spotify are interesting, they never can approximate the interactivity or true randomness offered by a human DJ.
I do think the internet has done wonders for opening up radio to a more diverse audience. I subscribe to podcasts made in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, and regularly listen to an incredible music hour broadcast out of Istanbul. In addition, there are websites like http://www.transom.org that assist aspiring journalists in creating content and distributing to a wider audience.
Hey Lauren! I also worked before as news reporter but for T.V. not Radio, and i relied a lot on the footage and not words. How hard/different was it for it for you to write and deliver a news story without people seeing it? What would you say are the pros and cons of being radio news reporter?