An "Amazing" Experience at WSHU

Internship Reflection

Fall 2023

By: Madi Steddick

This semester, I had an amazing experience interning at WSHU Radio with JD Allen and Terry Sheridan.

 

I reached out to contacts for interviews, wrote all the questions, conducted the interview, and edited it myself. I had the opportunity to speak with many people from different professional fields and was able to interview them for my pieces. These professions range from professors, PR agents, researchers, hospital workers, and many more.

I felt that I was truly able to take control of my work and produce pieces that I was proud to create. Working with JD on more long-form style writing has also allowed me to get more creative with my writing and home in on my ability to get information across in a clear, concise, and engaging manner.

Being able to do research that interested me as well as assisted me in writing my pieces was incredibly rewarding compared to typical school essay style research.

 

Learning the proper way to speak and annunciate for radio was very cool and interesting as well. I think it has helped develop my radio speaking skills and also taught me how to speak more effectively and confidently in my day-to-day life as well.

Getting the hang of how to properly write scripts for radio was also a very rewarding process. It allowed me to learn how to pick out only the key details of a topic and how to present them in a clear and concise manner.

I’ve been very excited to see my work published online and I always make an effort to share it with everyone I know. It feels great to make works that I’m proud of and able to both share with family and friends as well as put into future portfolios and job applications. Seeing my name on the byline of a piece will never get old.

Another skill I’ve been able to hone through my experience at WSHU Radio is my ability to ask the right questions at the right times. Many of the people I had the honor of interviewing had very busy schedules and not much time to mess around without getting right to the core of the issue.

I’ve also gotten practice breaking down long-form video press releases. This has taught me how important it is to get to the bottom of an idea as within a 3-hour press conference, you have to pick out one outstanding quote.

I have grown both personally and journalistically from this internship as it was able to teach me many personal skills that are equally applicable to my future career in journalism. I have also gotten to practice working within a tight deadline as the four hours I have there should yield around three pieces by the time I leave.

This has allowed me to become a more efficient writer and listener. Being able to practice and develop my journalistic skills during this internship has been extremely beneficial and will assist me in whatever future I have in journalism.

 

Lastly, this internship has allowed me to have a whole lot of fun with writing, researching, and performing. I was able to have my own little community who I could rant to and learn from.

I feel that my time with WSHU Radio has been one of the best journalistic experiences I have had at Stony Brook University. It allowed me the perfect balance between having individual freedom to produce my own pieces that I am proud of but never feel like I’m on my own or lost without direction. This experience is something that I wouldn’t trade for anything.