Four AIC students are enrolled in a very unique class this semester. Ketirah Felder-Hogan, Nadezhda Ciubotaru, Keiyon Johnson and Kenneth Truden-Girardey are all taking an off-campus class at the New England Public Radio station.  

This is the first year that RADIO STORYTELLING (COM2700) is being provided at the NEPR station in Downtown Springfield. The class only accepts six students.  

Radio Storytelling is taught by NEPR’s executive director of programing John Voci.  

Voci has been with NEPR since 2014, and in 2016 Voci was the Executive Producer of Words in Transit, the station’s multi-platform series on immigration.  

The class meets on Tuesdays from 3:50 p.m. to 6:20 p.m. at the NEPR headquarters station located at 1525 Main Street.  

Students spend time in the state-of-the-art broadcast and recording studios, recording and gaining familiarity with the equipment.  

AIC Communication professor Marty Langford, Faculty Liaison for the NEPR class says, “this class is a tremendous opportunity for students interested in the spoken word. Whether it’s used to tell stories, inform, investigate, activate or just plain entertain. NEPR is a first rate station with advanced technology and professionally trained staff and talent. They have welcomed our students into their facility and are training them to be the next generation of storytellers.”  

In this class, the students learn how to tell stories, utilize sound, and all the techniques of radio production and reporting.  

Students learn topics like writing for radio, interviewing, field recording, narration and audio editing. In addition to production exercises, students have the chance to listen to and discuss work from leading producers from across the country.  

NEPR provides students with take home sound recorders that the students are able to use to record interviews, and use for other class projects.  

This class gives a first look at the fundamentals of radio reporting and on-air storytelling.  

They also gain hands on experience of what it takes to work in radio broadcasting. Learning all steps of the process from writing, recording, and editing the final product.  

Students are giving the new class high praise. 

“I really like the course that I’m taking, Radio Storytelling. It has opened up my mind and heart when discovering new things,” said Ketirah Felder-Hogan, a junior Communcation major. “I love the technology side of things about the course such as recording and editing but I also love hear other people’s stories. I love the station in all of its uniqueness. I really wish, that we could have more classes there, it’s a glorious experience that I would do over again!” 

NEPR through its partnership with NPR and other national and international public media organizations has been serving western New England since 1961. 

Its flagship signal, 88.5FM WFCR, presents news, jazz and classical music, while the NEPR News Network provides the region with a news, talk and cultural programming.  

Off-air, NEPR is involved in the community through vibrant public events that bring people together. Events like the Springfield Jazz and Roots festival and Mattoon Street Arts Festival.  

The station provides diverse, high-quality information and music programs that inform, educate and entertain the public through programming and outreach to the community.  

NEPR’s multi-million dollar production and operations facility at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets was originally built around 1887 — the Fuller Block in its earliest days housed stores, a bank and an express shipping company. Between the 1930s and the 1960s, the building was occupied by the Springfield National Bank and several retail businesses. In the 1970s, it was called the Valley Bank Building and housed the Valley Bank and Trust and commercial tenants. More recently, it was the site of the Peking Duck Restaurant and various retail businesses.