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Delmarva Public Radio WSCL, WSDL

Features: Intern with the Challenger

+shley Martin
There should be a sign at the door of Delmarva Public Radio saying no comfort zones allowed, because once you walk in theyre certainly invalid. My racticum e! erience at DPR broke many of my comfort zones and showed me that " can do things that " didnt know " could do. The first thing was walking u and asking olitical #uestions to random eo le in $alisbury. Don Rush, my racticum su ervisor, still makes fun of me about it. My second week there, he asked to me to get about ten interviews and " came back with two. "nitially we both anicked because he was on a deadline with that s ecific story, and he de ended on me to get interviews and o inions from the community. %ow that " have gotten a lot better at field re orting since then, we &oke about how shy " used to be. Theres no such thing as a timid &ournalist, he still tells me. 'ield re orting was only art of my biggest challenge at DPR. Don sent me forty(five minutes away to )risfield, Maryland to s eak with business owners about the damage from *urricane $andy. %ot only did " have to s eak

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" had to use to my cell hone for directions because " tend to get a little nervous driving somewhere " havent been before. ,nce " was there " realized my hone battery was dying and " de ended on it to guide me back home. -ith &ust three interviews done, " called Don to tell him my dilemma. *e ushed me to kee going and insisted that the directions back were sim le enough without navigation. Des ite my nervousness, " continued on and got four more interviews before heading back to $alisbury. That e! erience was almost life changing. " have retty much overcome my fear of a roaching eo le for an interview. " also learned another valuable lesson( dont go anywhere unfamiliar with a low(battery hone. %ot everything at DPR was su er challenging. most of it was actually really fun. The day after my &ourney to )risfield, Don and " returned to get more interviews. *e drove this time, thankfully.

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Features: Intern with the Challenger

" was afforded the chance to watch him be the 0Don Rush1 as he a roached eo le with his micro hone and got them to talk about the damage the town took in from the storm. -e met some really interesting eo le and even had a laugh about how different our hones were. *e tried taking ictures on his fli hone of a construction crew working on the dock. " noticed a bit of a struggle to get a clear shot, so " ulled out my "( hone and took ictures as well. 0-ell &ust show off, why dont you,1 " remember Don saying when " showed him the ictures " took. The )risfield adventure was &ust one of our many bonding moments. -e had many olitical discussions during my time at DPR. $ince Don knew " as ire to become a s orts &ournalist, he com ared the s orts world to the world of olitics. *e e! lained to me that each had a their own game. *e e! lained to me what the strategy behind electing $arah Palin into the residential election. " was really amused by how it much that strategy backfired. -e talked about some of Palins interviews and the controversy behind details of her ersonal life. *e told me about a book called The 2ame )hange, which outlined the whole election. *e sur rised me a cou le weeks later by bringing in a co y of the book for me to read. %ot only have " learned skill sets of being a &ournalist from Don, he also taught me things " didnt know, s ecifically about the government and olitics. *e also taught me to be in tuned with the current news as much as ossible. 3ach time " came in, he was working on a different story. "t was im ortant for me to kee ace. 3ven though he and " kid about the stumbling blocks " had along the way, " learned a lot from them. Don taught me how to effective field re orting and also how to s eak and write for radio broadcast. "f " had the chance " would give a very sim le advice to his ne!t intern4 leave your shyness at the door, be re ared for daily talks about those folks in -ashington, and always have a full battery hone.

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