West Virginia University - News and Information Services
WVU J-School radio project to be featured on statewide broadcast
The Monroe County Radio Project will be featured on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s television news magazine “Outlook” Thursday, Nov. 16 at 9 p.m. The program repeats Sunday (Nov. 19) at noon.
The project, a partnership between West Virginia University’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism and Monroe County Schools, was started in June to create regular news programming at WHFI-FM, a radio station licensed to the Monroe County School Board.
Journalism students and faculty are training Monroe County students and adult volunteer reporters to report and produce local news stories for a 15-minute daily newscast, monthly public affairs programming and a Web site with news and streaming audio.
The P.I. Reed School of Journalism received a New Voices grant from J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism to create a news operation at a rural Monroe County radio station.
“Monroe County is a rural community that doesn’t get a lot of local news coverage. This project will help Monroe County residents tell their own story and give them a voice in decisions that are made about their community,” said School of Journalism Dean Maryanne Reed. “In addition, our students are learning about community journalism which happens on the hyper-local level.”
The 10-minute television feature on “Outlook” was co-produced by the School of Journalism and West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
“Public Broadcasting feels it’s important to be involved in a project that grooms future journalists and also provides a public service to a community that wants its own citizens to be informed on local issues,” said Greg Collard, news director at West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting reporter Emily Corio was part of the WVU team that went to Monroe County to train students and adults in reporting the news.
The story on “Outlook” focuses on the experiences of both the WVU and Monroe County students and volunteers who are working together to create regular news programming. This feature is the first in an occasional series documenting the progress of the radio project.
School of Journalism
Office: (304) 293-3505, ext. 5403