1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,700 Okay, joining us in the spotlight today is Michelle Bash from WTOP. 2 00:00:05,700 --> 00:00:09,700 And Michelle and WTOP just launched a brand new podcast. 3 00:00:09,700 --> 00:00:11,920 First tell us what you do at WTOP. 4 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,860 I am a general assignment reporter. 5 00:00:14,860 --> 00:00:19,740 So I do everything from the breaking news day by day to feature stories. 6 00:00:19,740 --> 00:00:25,380 I love doing feature stories that are particularly interesting and unique and really catch your 7 00:00:25,380 --> 00:00:26,560 attention on the radio. 8 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:31,520 So I have to do a little bit of the breaking news and the nasty stuff to get to what I 9 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:36,120 consider is the really fun stuff that I think people enjoy. 10 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:43,260 Now tell us how long have you been with the radio station there? 11 00:00:43,260 --> 00:00:49,640 Did you start out in a different position or is this how you got hired at WTOP? 12 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:52,600 I've been with WTOP for 11 years. 13 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,200 I'm originally from Cleveland, Ohio. 14 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:57,680 I started out here. 15 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:04,060 I was working at a different station in the market as a reporter and an anchor and this 16 00:01:04,060 --> 00:01:07,320 station pursued me so I moved over. 17 00:01:07,320 --> 00:01:14,600 They have a very intense training system here at WTOP where you have to, most people do, 18 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:19,320 start out in one position and kind of move around the room to learn how the newsroom 19 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:23,140 functions and so that's kind of how I started out. 20 00:01:23,140 --> 00:01:27,840 Doing some writing first and some assistant editing, that kind of thing. 21 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:33,720 But it's very helpful to help you learn how it works here at WTOP and it is a wonderful, 22 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:35,560 unique place to work. 23 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:41,360 And for those that do not know, WTOP could probably be considered the best news station 24 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:46,440 in the country and it's certainly been the highest revenue producing station for many, 25 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:51,480 many years owned by Hubbard Broadcasting so that's not a bad place to work. 26 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:52,720 Oh, it's wonderful. 27 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:54,880 I feel blessed every day. 28 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:59,720 I'm a lucky person to have ended up here and it really is a pleasure. 29 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,560 So tell us how the idea for this podcast came about. 30 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:10,760 Well, I had heard about Tangier Island, Virginia just through other news outlets, kind of what 31 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:12,680 had been going on over there. 32 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:18,980 Then just over the summer, a new book came out written by a journalist. 33 00:02:18,980 --> 00:02:21,120 It's called Chesapeake Requiem. 34 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:27,380 The journalist is Earl Swift and basically he spent a year on the island really getting 35 00:02:27,380 --> 00:02:34,120 to know people there, getting to learn the island's story, what its problems are, what 36 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:35,120 it's facing. 37 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,800 It's facing an uncertain future. 38 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:42,560 And with the release of this book, both me and my bosses thought, well, gee, you know, 39 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:46,220 we shouldn't just report on this book and interview the author. 40 00:02:46,220 --> 00:02:51,640 We should get you out there and really see what he sees and go in depth. 41 00:02:51,640 --> 00:02:53,120 So talk about the research. 42 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:54,480 What did they have you do? 43 00:02:54,480 --> 00:03:01,220 Well, of course, I went to Tangier Island and that was an adventure in itself, just 44 00:03:01,220 --> 00:03:07,940 trying to get to this very isolated island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. 45 00:03:07,940 --> 00:03:09,320 It involved a drive. 46 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,060 It involved getting on a boat. 47 00:03:11,060 --> 00:03:13,160 You can only get there by boat or by plane. 48 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,920 I didn't have the plane, so I had to go the boat route. 49 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:26,000 And it can be a difficult trip to get there in terms of the roughness of the bay. 50 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:32,320 And I found that out firsthand on my trip back to my car aboard the boat. 51 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:36,000 Four to six foot waves on a small boat. 52 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,160 It was a pretty hairy situation. 53 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:44,840 So I can see why it's difficult to make the crossing even for tourists. 54 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,340 This island is mostly driven by the crab industry. 55 00:03:48,340 --> 00:03:52,080 It's a crabbing community, but they also rely on tourism. 56 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:58,080 People come in on ferry boats from both Maryland and Virginia to enjoy the place during the 57 00:03:58,080 --> 00:03:59,120 warmer months. 58 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,240 And so those are the two big driving forces for their economy. 59 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:05,880 So what is really the theme of the podcast? 60 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:11,400 The theme of the podcast has to do with the fact that this island is disappearing. 61 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:14,400 It's going under the waves of the Chesapeake Bay. 62 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,480 And many islands have done this over hundreds of years in the Chesapeake Bay. 63 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:19,620 We've lost them. 64 00:04:19,620 --> 00:04:24,860 But this island, it's quite a story because, as I said, it's a crabbing community. 65 00:04:24,860 --> 00:04:30,080 There are several hundred people, about 460 people that live there. 66 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:31,080 And they've been there. 67 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,600 Their relatives have been there for hundreds of years. 68 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:37,160 It was settled in the 1700s by white settlers. 69 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,240 Before that, there were Indian tribes on the island. 70 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:46,240 But it's sinking because of two reasons, both climate change, sea level rise. 71 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:53,800 And in the Chesapeake Bay, sea level rise has been accelerated because the land is sinking. 72 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,040 So the island is both sinking and drowning at the same time. 73 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:03,000 So the problem is, do we try to save this island of 460 people? 74 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:04,600 As I said, it's a crabbing community. 75 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:05,600 It's very important. 76 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:09,880 They catch a lot of crab on this island, the watermen that work there. 77 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,320 And they don't want to move. 78 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:16,660 Also interestingly, they don't believe the science behind what I just told you. 79 00:05:16,660 --> 00:05:21,960 They don't believe that man-made climate change has anything to do with the fact that the 80 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:22,960 island is disappearing. 81 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:29,160 I kept hearing over and over again that the islanders believe erosion is the reason why 82 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:32,580 they're losing their land, that the waves are just eating away. 83 00:05:32,580 --> 00:05:33,580 And they are. 84 00:05:33,580 --> 00:05:38,280 Waves are eating away at both the sides of the island and it's coming up in the center 85 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:39,280 of the island. 86 00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:45,060 So it's this islanders versus scientists back and forth. 87 00:05:45,060 --> 00:05:47,720 How could it be saved? 88 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:49,740 That is a good question. 89 00:05:49,740 --> 00:05:54,760 The islanders think it can be saved by building a wall all the way around it. 90 00:05:54,760 --> 00:06:00,400 And if that sounds like something familiar, like maybe for President Trump, interestingly, 91 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,580 most islanders support President Trump. 92 00:06:03,580 --> 00:06:08,520 And President Trump has reached out to the mayor of Tangier Island and told him that 93 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:09,920 he supports him. 94 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:15,280 And the mayor tells me that he's had some conversations with some federal folks in Washington, 95 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:16,280 D.C. 96 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:21,940 He believes because of President Trump's support of what they're trying to do. 97 00:06:21,940 --> 00:06:27,280 Building a wall around the island would, of course, cost a lot of money, millions of dollars, 98 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:29,320 maybe more than that. 99 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:35,280 But scientists I interviewed told me that a wall around the island would not be enough. 100 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:40,360 This island is so low, it's only four feet above sea level at its highest points. 101 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:41,700 The land is. 102 00:06:41,700 --> 00:06:45,960 So the whole island, I'm being told, would have to be raised up. 103 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:49,960 They would need to throw more land on there. 104 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:55,420 They would basically have to build up the land to build up the town on top of it again. 105 00:06:55,420 --> 00:06:57,400 It's almost like starting over. 106 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,200 So then you're adding more and more millions onto that. 107 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:05,660 And so far, there's no one come forward with a way to pay for all this. 108 00:07:05,660 --> 00:07:08,480 Did they say how much time they think the island has? 109 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:16,360 A paper that was published in 2015 by a scientist, a group of scientists, rather, predicted that 110 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:23,200 the island would be uninhabitable within as little as 25 years. 111 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:30,140 I have heard even worse scenarios since then by others. 112 00:07:30,140 --> 00:07:35,760 But that was the big forecast in 2015 was that they had possibly as few as 25 years 113 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:37,100 to leave. 114 00:07:37,100 --> 00:07:40,400 That doesn't mean the entire island would be underwater by then. 115 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:44,960 It just means that those folks that live there would have to leave because you have to understand 116 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:47,740 the situation they're in now. 117 00:07:47,740 --> 00:07:52,040 There are only three basically strips of ridges. 118 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,800 These are three ridges that are sticking out of the water that make up the island. 119 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:58,760 The habitable part of the island is these ridges. 120 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:00,840 And that's where the houses are built. 121 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:02,640 There's businesses on these ridges. 122 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:04,580 There's churches. 123 00:08:04,580 --> 00:08:06,160 And that's all that's left. 124 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,760 These buildings are literally clinging to the highland on this island. 125 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:14,600 Why a podcast and not a five-part series on the radio? 126 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,800 We want to branch out more than what we're doing already. 127 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:24,460 We already have some regularly produced podcasts that come out on a weekly basis, for instance. 128 00:08:24,460 --> 00:08:29,240 We wanted to try to do something a little bit different. 129 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:34,600 In this case, we did five podcasts that dropped all at once on one day so they could be binge 130 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:36,480 listened to. 131 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:38,160 It's something I haven't done before. 132 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:42,340 I've done multiple parts series on the radio before, but not this. 133 00:08:42,340 --> 00:08:44,760 So I was game to try something new. 134 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:49,080 It was something suggested by my managers, and it's something I'd like to do again. 135 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:50,360 I really enjoyed it. 136 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:56,760 And I enjoyed the ability of being able to stretch the story out even further than we 137 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:58,680 normally would on the radio. 138 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:02,960 There's more that's gone into it that would have had to have been left on the cutting 139 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,080 room floor if we had put it just on the radio. 140 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:10,800 So take us through the experience of being a podcaster and creating a podcast. 141 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:16,720 From the beginning, of course, as I said, I've done news series before, but the gathering 142 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:21,800 of the sound is made that much more challenging by the fact that I knew I was walking into 143 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:26,720 a situation where I would have these long podcasts to produce. 144 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:31,600 I normally produce stories every day that are about 40 seconds long. 145 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:35,940 So I knew I would have to gather a lot of sound and try to get as many interviews as 146 00:09:35,940 --> 00:09:38,620 I could in a limited time frame. 147 00:09:38,620 --> 00:09:40,480 So that was challenge number one. 148 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:47,160 Do you enjoy that a little more than the radio, or is it nice to have the mix that you have 149 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:48,240 now doing both? 150 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:49,340 You know what? 151 00:09:49,340 --> 00:09:50,340 This is really exciting. 152 00:09:50,340 --> 00:09:53,200 I really enjoyed putting together the podcast. 153 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:54,560 As I said, I'm new to it. 154 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:58,320 I've listened to other podcasts and really enjoyed them. 155 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,920 And this was exciting and new. 156 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:08,480 And the ability to, as I said, add in things that normally I would just X out of my thinking 157 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:15,120 and just leave behind, I've now been able to add, for instance, a lot more of the personal 158 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:16,200 things that I went through. 159 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:21,000 I normally try not to involve myself at all in a story. 160 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:25,980 And in this case, I was part of the story because just getting there, getting home was 161 00:10:25,980 --> 00:10:28,280 an adventure. 162 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,280 Getting on the mayor's boat, the mayor is a waterman. 163 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:34,620 He allowed me to go out on his boat with him. 164 00:10:34,620 --> 00:10:40,840 And he took me to a part of Tangier that you can't get to by any other way than boat. 165 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:45,640 And it was a settlement that used to be there and is now washed away. 166 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:47,400 It was like an adventure. 167 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,000 Did it get you thinking right away? 168 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:54,500 Wow, I have these other ideas that I'd love to do as podcasts because it is different 169 00:10:54,500 --> 00:10:56,040 and it can be exciting. 170 00:10:56,040 --> 00:11:01,560 Or were you ready to just get right back into the newsroom and cover what's going on locally? 171 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:05,480 Oh, I absolutely have many other ideas. 172 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:10,280 And these have been some I have thought of for years that I've been thinking would make 173 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:12,720 good features on the radio. 174 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:20,180 But our features are normally no longer than maybe one minute if they're running in newscast. 175 00:11:20,180 --> 00:11:25,200 We do have holes where we normally put live interviews, which can be as long as maybe 176 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:26,600 three minutes long. 177 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:32,040 So I've had some ideas, but yes, this absolutely opened my mind to, boy, I'd love to do some 178 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:37,760 more stuff and look around at similar stories that have multiple angles and multiple facets 179 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:41,120 to them that lend themselves to podcasting. 180 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:45,520 And now you guys use a radio station, obviously, to promote the podcast. 181 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,000 So how has the response been? 182 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,880 Are you able to track whether people are moving over and listening to it? 183 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:58,600 I have not gotten an update on how many downloads we have had of the podcast. 184 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,840 I do know I've gotten a great response on social media. 185 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:04,000 People are very excited. 186 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,000 Some have heard about this place. 187 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,020 Some have visited this place. 188 00:12:08,020 --> 00:12:13,200 People that listen to us, others are hearing it for the first time and are going, wow, 189 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:19,080 I didn't know that was right in my backyard because it's a few hours away from Washington, 190 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:20,080 D.C. 191 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:23,840 So you think Chesapeake Bay, you think you know the Chesapeake Bay if you live in this 192 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:25,960 region and many people really don't. 193 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:28,600 They don't know the story of this tiny little island. 194 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:32,600 And when I say it's tiny, it's the square mile. 195 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:36,200 It's about one square mile, just a little bit one square mile. 196 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:42,320 That's how small this place is with 460 people living in homes on little ridges. 197 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:44,020 That's the way it goes for these folks. 198 00:12:44,020 --> 00:12:48,400 It's great to be able to work for a company like Hubbard where you're able to branch out 199 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:53,640 and do these different things and still get paid for it as part of your regular job. 200 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:59,080 What advice do you have for podcasters that are thinking about getting into it or they're 201 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:03,440 just starting or they're just launching and they really want to make a go at being an 202 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:04,720 independent podcaster? 203 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:09,480 I would say go for it and think outside the box. 204 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:10,480 It is difficult. 205 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:15,480 It was difficult for me at first to think outside my little box that I'm in. 206 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:21,440 Like I said, I think that there's things that I can't share on the radio and of course you 207 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:23,340 can when you podcast. 208 00:13:23,340 --> 00:13:25,920 You can share anything you'd like. 209 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:27,220 And the rules are different. 210 00:13:27,220 --> 00:13:30,160 You basically make your own rules. 211 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:34,960 Another aspect of this that was new to me was putting in some music that was created 212 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:41,880 here at WTOP for me, some musical interludes to take us from kind of one subject, one part 213 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:43,680 of the story to another. 214 00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:44,680 That was new to me. 215 00:13:44,680 --> 00:13:47,920 At first, frankly, I didn't like it. 216 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:52,760 It felt strange to have this kind of musical interlude where normally I would be talking 217 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:56,560 or have some great fantastic sound bite. 218 00:13:56,560 --> 00:14:01,400 I got used to it after a while and in listening to the completed podcasts, I really liked 219 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:02,400 it. 220 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:06,520 So it's fun to push yourself and say, okay, can I do this? 221 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:07,520 Maybe I can do this? 222 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:08,880 Well, give it a try. 223 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:12,760 This answer would be very helpful to podcasters too because when you flip on the mic at the 224 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:17,840 radio station, you know, especially at WTOP, there are so many listeners out there listening 225 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:19,360 to every word you say. 226 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:23,840 When you do a podcast, you're getting into a studio and putting it on a tape, you're 227 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:26,720 recording it, not knowing what's going to happen afterward. 228 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:31,400 Obviously, with WTOP, you know they're going to be listeners, but it's a big difference. 229 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:37,160 So take us through what people can learn from you about when they record and then they put 230 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:39,600 it out there for others to hopefully hear. 231 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:45,320 Well, one thing I learned is that you want to, of course, keep people listening. 232 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:49,280 We know that already, us folks in news broadcasting. 233 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:55,080 That's why we want to do it quick and use these great sound bites as quickly as we can, 234 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:57,540 use great natural sound. 235 00:14:57,540 --> 00:15:02,840 But in the case of a podcast, one of my pieces was about 20 minutes long. 236 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:07,400 So I knew that every few minutes, I needed to make sure there was something, you know, 237 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:12,960 at least something exciting to keep people listening beyond four minutes, five minutes. 238 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:14,360 You don't want people turning it off. 239 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:19,320 So you want to spread out the payoff, I guess is what I'm getting at. 240 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:27,400 I was, I initially disagreed with telling part of my story early on in part two of the 241 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:32,280 podcast instead of saving it for the end because I thought it was the ultimate payoff. 242 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:36,280 But my managers convinced me we should put it in part two. 243 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:41,960 It's about what we found, what I saw when I visited that part of the island I mentioned 244 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:47,120 that the mayor took me to that's now isolated and an island of its own. 245 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:50,840 I thought that was the most powerful part of my trip. 246 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:55,880 But again, it's all about trying things and rolling things out in a different way. 247 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:59,960 As long as you have other stuff to keep people listening. 248 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:01,820 And foreshadowing is great, too. 249 00:16:01,820 --> 00:16:07,120 That's something I had never done before that my some of my news directors suggested was, 250 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:11,160 you know, touching on a subject and then saying something like we'll get more more in depth 251 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:12,340 on that later. 252 00:16:12,340 --> 00:16:14,340 Never done that before. 253 00:16:14,340 --> 00:16:16,460 How much writing did you have to do? 254 00:16:16,460 --> 00:16:19,560 Initially this was a 10 part series. 255 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:20,880 So there was a lot of writing. 256 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:25,400 And it's funny, one of my managers literally said it's time to write your book. 257 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:32,280 So I sat and I wrote, I wrote and I wrote, and they helped me knock it down to five parts. 258 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:37,600 And they also looked at some of the sound and some of the adventures I went through 259 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:41,040 that I initially didn't write about, like I said, that I didn't think was worthy. 260 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,000 And they're like, oh, why are you leaving this out? 261 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:44,280 We should put this in. 262 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:49,760 And it's funny, there's even more that got left out that people might find interesting. 263 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,320 But maybe I can share in different ways. 264 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:58,040 We're doing, for instance, a listening party on Twitter on Wednesday. 265 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:01,960 And in that way, I can I can tell people, well, you know, when I was on the boat, this 266 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:04,800 happened and, you know, little things that were left out. 267 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:10,560 How difficult was it to kind of transition from being, you know, the the news person 268 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:16,240 with a limited amount of time to a storyteller where you had so much time to to to fill where 269 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:20,760 you you're trying to I imagine you're trying to say, okay, wait, this is going too long. 270 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:21,840 We never do things this long. 271 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:25,720 We're going to lose the listener to to letting it play out as a storyteller. 272 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:32,520 Honestly, I think the the hardest part for me was slowing my delivery down a little bit. 273 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:33,520 Okay. 274 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:36,600 That was was the toughest. 275 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:40,720 I tried it initially and and was told, you know, you really should slow down and think 276 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:42,480 more of this. 277 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:46,600 Think of people listening to this, you know, in their car more like an audiobook. 278 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,520 You know, take it a little slow. 279 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:51,320 Explain things a little bit more. 280 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:53,320 Let them breathe. 281 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:54,720 That was the hardest. 282 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:58,480 It wasn't about writing very long. 283 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:02,800 As I said, we we combined what was initially 10 parts into five. 284 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:06,080 So that eventually made sense to me. 285 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:08,640 And with the transitions, it's okay. 286 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:13,120 But it's the slowing down and giving people a chance to let it soak in a little bit before 287 00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:14,880 moving on to something else. 288 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:16,860 What do you feel like the biggest challenge was? 289 00:18:16,860 --> 00:18:18,480 It was the delivery. 290 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:24,480 I was worried initially that after I did part one that I did part two and it wouldn't match 291 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:27,520 up that the delivery might sound a little different. 292 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:28,520 And it didn't. 293 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:30,580 I got the cadence down. 294 00:18:30,580 --> 00:18:36,200 And once that was once I got into it, because I wasn't recording these all, you know, in 295 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,600 a row, it took days. 296 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:41,920 So I wanted things to sound consistent. 297 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:42,920 And we nailed it. 298 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:43,920 I believe we nailed it. 299 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:46,200 What was the most fun for you? 300 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:51,160 The most fun was going there after my trip. 301 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:55,420 That's when I came back and I interviewed a scientist. 302 00:18:55,420 --> 00:19:01,320 This is the lead author of the 2015 study that said the place could be uninhabitable 303 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:02,760 in 25 years. 304 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:07,840 He's the guy I interviewed when I got back and I was able to ask him some questions about 305 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:09,640 things I saw on the island. 306 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:11,840 This was a marine biologist. 307 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:15,840 And he was able to tell me things like, oh, you know, that's why you didn't see many trees 308 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:19,760 on the island was because there is saltwater intrusion coming up. 309 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:24,480 I mean, the saltwater is literally coming up through the center of the island and killing 310 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:25,680 their trees. 311 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:29,080 So that's why you go to this island and you don't see many big trees anymore. 312 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:30,420 The trees are dying. 313 00:19:30,420 --> 00:19:34,040 It's something I don't think the average person would think about when you tell them about 314 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,020 an island that's, you know, disappearing. 315 00:19:37,020 --> 00:19:39,720 You don't think of it happening from the inside out. 316 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:43,160 So that was interesting talking to him. 317 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:44,160 But go ahead. 318 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:45,160 No, go ahead. 319 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:46,520 I'm not going to go too much. 320 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:51,640 But like I said, the most interesting part was getting there, finding out things that 321 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:53,040 I had no idea about. 322 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:58,540 I didn't realize that going without a cell phone would be so difficult. 323 00:19:58,540 --> 00:20:01,740 There are no cell towers on the island. 324 00:20:01,740 --> 00:20:05,860 It's kind of a throwback because at several points I had people looking for me. 325 00:20:05,860 --> 00:20:07,680 It's a very small island. 326 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,440 And at one point, you know, someone came up to me and said, oh, so and so is looking for 327 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:12,440 you. 328 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:14,420 And then it happened again and it happened again. 329 00:20:14,420 --> 00:20:17,920 It's just the way things work on an island with no cell tower. 330 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:22,420 So when you sit down and you listen to all five episodes by yourself with the headphones 331 00:20:22,420 --> 00:20:27,040 on to see how the final product came out, what are you thinking to yourself as you're 332 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:29,560 listening to the different segments and what's going on? 333 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:33,440 Because you're the only person that can see the pictures from the interviews or see the 334 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:37,320 pictures that you went through to get there on the island and things like that. 335 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:39,960 So are you thinking we nailed it? 336 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:42,080 Are you are you self critical? 337 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:44,040 What's going through your mind when you're listening to them all? 338 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:45,760 I tend to be very self critical. 339 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:50,040 And you know, I think you have to be to try to do your best, of course. 340 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:57,440 So I wish in some ways that I could have gotten sound that was a little bit clearer. 341 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:02,040 It was a case where, as I said, I was out on a boat getting some fabulous interviews 342 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:07,880 with the mayor driving a boat and I'm interviewing him on a windy, rainy day. 343 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:10,220 So I've got a lot of wind sound. 344 00:21:10,220 --> 00:21:14,000 So I kind of wish I had a better microphone situation. 345 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:19,120 That's really my only disappointment with the sound overall. 346 00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:25,480 But since it's been put out and birthed to the world, I've had people tell me that, you 347 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:28,400 know, it kind of adds to the feeling that they're there. 348 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:29,560 You know, sure. 349 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:30,680 And I understand that. 350 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:32,160 That's great. 351 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:36,260 As long as it doesn't interfere with understanding the man, that's great. 352 00:21:36,260 --> 00:21:40,200 If they feel more like they're on the boat with us, that that's fantastic. 353 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:45,320 So it's great to get that feedback when I feel so critical myself of, darn it, why couldn't 354 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:47,800 I have gotten a little bit better sound out there? 355 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:53,440 What's your advice to other radio stations across the country that maybe don't do news 356 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:54,440 the way they used to? 357 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:58,760 It seems like it's almost a way where you can really extend, if you can afford it, I 358 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:04,880 guess, extend, you know, your news departments and do more of those in-depth study or stories 359 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:07,480 that radio doesn't seem to do anymore. 360 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:08,480 Oh, absolutely. 361 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:10,040 I mean, this, think about it. 362 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:15,620 This is kind of a throwback to the 1940s, 1930s or something. 363 00:22:15,620 --> 00:22:20,000 This is the way radio started to keep people listening for long periods of time. 364 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:27,280 I think it's pretty neat since we're in such a format here at WTOP where we're an all-news 365 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:28,280 format. 366 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:29,280 We're not talk. 367 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:31,400 It's all news and things move quickly. 368 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:36,120 Whereas a podcast, you're on one subject for quite a long time. 369 00:22:36,120 --> 00:22:40,800 And if you're at a station that's in a similar situation where you don't have quite the time 370 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:45,760 on the air, but you have a great story, you have something to tell or something you think 371 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:50,800 will keep people listening, something you want to share, try the podcast way. 372 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:52,800 It's really fun and interesting. 373 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:56,540 And like I said, in my case, I had all of the tape. 374 00:22:56,540 --> 00:22:57,920 You just need the time. 375 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:00,900 Put in the time and give it a listen. 376 00:23:00,900 --> 00:23:05,880 Let people listen to it in the studio, other people you work with and see what they think. 377 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:07,760 So where can people listen to the podcast? 378 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:09,440 You can listen through our website. 379 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,320 You can get to it at WTOP.com. 380 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:36,800 It's also available through Podcast One and it's on iTunes.