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My Experience as a Journalist for CBC Radio

By: Meghan Roy
Westgate CVI
Thunder Bay, ON


Monday, February 21, 2000 was the day that Derek Kaemingk and I would learn what it takes to be a journalist.

At 9:00 a.m. Jaeny Baik from CBC Radio came to Westgate to pick up Derek and I. When we arrived at Lappe we set up some of the equipment. Around 10:00 a.m. at The Lappe Nordic Junior Ski Championship would be on the way with the first race of the day. I wanted to be the first to interview one of the first racers to come in, so I stood by the finish line to await the incoming racers. I was in for a really gross experience as the racers came in with slobber and goober on their face. Jaeny showed Derek and I how to use the microphones.

 

My job was to interview an exciting athlete. I found that I ran into difficulties with trying to find an exciting athlete. The racer I had planned on interviewing didn't speak english at all, so I had to go to plan B and find another athlete to interview.

Later that day luck was on my side when the winner of the Junior Girls'5k race was a real thrill to talk with. Sofie Manakin gave me an interview of a lifetime. She was excited and talked a lot (which is a good thing when it comes to interviewing). The hardest part about the day was editing and organizing my interview. I really enjoyed the day and the experience, but I must admit by the end of the day I was extremely tired.

Wednesday, February 23, 2000 was another day out at Lappe trying to find a perfect story. I was very excited today because the night before my interview with Sofie Manarin was on CBC radio. Check out Meghan Roy's Interview on CBC Radio, Thunder Bay.

Jaeny told me that I was in for a new challenge today. I had to find a story on an athlete who won one of their races. I interviewed a couple of winners only to find that they weren't very interesting. By the afternoon I realized that I had to find another story and quick. I saw one athlete crying and asked her what was wrong. She explained that she had came in dead last in her race because of her wax. Later I heard that more athletes were complaining about the wax. Because the wax wasn't right they had to drop out of their race. I figured that doing a story about wax would be appropriate for that day as the weather was so warm and the wax on the athlete's skiis had to be perfect. I interviewed a few athletes and a coach to get the inside story on waxing. By the end of the day Jny was editing and sending my story to CBC to be aired around 4:30 p.m.. Check out Meghan Roy's Interview on CBC Radio, Thunder Bay

All in all I learnt that it journalism isn't as easy as it looks, but is very cool to hear yourself on the radio. I also found out that my picture was on the Internet along with all the stories and interviews Derek Kaemingk and I had written. You can check out the web site at www.Lappenordic2000.com.



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