Podcasting in Spanish

By Dean’s Intern Cindy Choi at NBC4 Washington

I started working as a digital intern for NBC Washington in May after I graduated from the journalism graduate program at American University.

I was eager to work for the digital team to become a better writer and showcase my digital skill set. My responsibilities were to write and produce stories for online with a focus on video creation. I had opportunities to shoot video and write digital stories for various assignments, like honeybee sustainability and a burger eating contest.

The most interesting project I worked on was creating a podcast in Spanish for Telemundo 44. Prior to my graduate studies, I’ve worked as the sound engineer for season one of “Felonious Florida,” a true-crime podcast that explores notorious murders in the Sunshine State. My experience led me to help launch the podcast project on MS-13 threats in the District and complete three episodes.

For two weeks, I gathered reporter’s scripts, collected sound effects and music to recreate the broadcast packages. I learned how sound was different between TV and audio, so the reporter’s re-tracked their script in an audio booth.

The challenge was understanding the story and adding the right pause in the track for emphasis. Both teams at NBC Washington and Telemundo 44 were helpful and patient as I edited sound. The podcast has not been aired yet, but I hope I did a good job and look forward to hearing the episodes online.

Thanks to this amazing opportunity, I became a better multimedia journalist with strong content to show on my website.