By Rona Akbari

Welcome to #FollowFriday: Public Radio Edition. On select Fridays, we’ll introduce you to rad young radio makers at NPR and from public radio stations across the country. They’ll share work they’re excited about, insights into how they got their start and who they are when they’re not on the mic.

Our next feature is of Nate Rott from NPR West in Culver City, California. A National Desk reporter, he brings the latest on stories like gun legislation to in-depth issues like the future of our national parks. 

Name: Nathan Rott

Age: 29

Hometown: Missoula, MT

Current City: Los Angeles, CA

Station: NPR

Role: Reporter, National Desk

Tell us a story that captures a piece of who you are. 

Hmmm… In a past life, I spent a cold night at a Turkish bus station baiting stray cats with potato chips, so that I could position them around me for warmth. Not my proudest moment.

How did you end up in radio?

I was lucky enough to receive a journalism fellowship that was created in memory of two incredible young men, Stone and Holt Weeks, who were tragically killed. The fellowship put me at The Washington Post and NPR and I managed to stick on at NPR in temporary producer and reporter positions. 

What is something you love to do that has nothing to do with your job?

I love to surf. I’m not great at it, being a landlubber from Montana, but I love it. It’s how I stay sane in the mayhem of LA. 

What are you listening to right now?  

NPR One. It’s short news stories, long features, podcasts – the best of all worlds.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve received?
Hakuna matata.

Where can people get in touch with you?
Twitter: @nathanrott

By Rona Akbari

Welcome to #FollowFriday: Public Radio Edition. On select Fridays, we’ll introduce you to rad young radio makers at NPR and from public radio stations across the country. They’ll share work they’re excited about, insights into how they got their start and who they are when they’re not on the mic. Our next feature is of Newsroom Intern Carla Javier from KPCC in Pasadena, California. 

Pictured above: Cokie Roberts (left) and Carla Javier (right). “That was the day she told me she loved one of my stories. AHHH!” - Carla

Name: Carla Javier

 Age: 23

Hometown: Knoxville, Tennessee

Current city: Los Angeles, California

Station: KPCC

Role: Newsroom Intern

Tell us a story that captures a piece of who you are.

When I was young, I was too shy to talk to anyone. When I was 3, my parents bought me my first tape recorder, and that’s when everything changed. I couldn’t stop recording myself and everyone around me – whether we were talking or singing. (Don’t believe me? Check out this gif). Even though that was 20 years ago, I’m still pretty introverted today – until you get me in front of a mic. 

How did you end up at your internship?

After a series of public radio internships (at NPR, APM, member station WLRN, and WNYC), I did a fellowship at the University of Southern California, where I got my masters in journalism and participated in the Next Generation Radio program. I applied for the KPCC newsroom internship through a USC – and I’m so glad I did! 

How does your background influence your work?

I grew up in a town in Tennessee where there weren’t a lot of immigrants at all, especially folks from my own background. So, I learned from a young age not to be afraid of people who were different than me – and that reflects in the work I do now. My parents have accents – so I don’t shy away from interviewing people with accents for my stories, the way some other reporters do. I grew up often having to ask my peers and teachers “what does that mean?” or “what is that?” so I don’t have any qualms about asking those same things while working on stories today.

Is diversity in media important to you? If so, why?

Diversity, especially in media, is so important to me. I remember listening to and watching the news as I grew up, and always feeling disappointed that there weren’t many reporters or stories about people who looked or sounded like me. I’ve tried to be cognizant of that when I booked guests and, now, in my reporting. I actively look for stories or segments that could feature a person of color as a subject or expert.

(If this is something that is important to you, follow #mediadiversity on Twitter and check out “Intentionally Accidental” by Doug Mitchell. He talks about how in a recent Next Generation Radio project at USC, a diverse roster of reporters led to a project that featured people of color as the subject of every produced piece. Super cool!)

What are you listening to right now?

Lately, I’ve been enjoying Modern Love, 2 Dope Queens, and NPR’s Code Switch and Politics podcasts. I’m also trying to re-learn Italian, so when I’m at the gym, I try to listen to Italian podcasts, too.

What advice do you have for those who want to intern in radio?

Practice, practice, practice every skill you can. Use more “intern-y” tasks like transcribing as a chance to learn how other people conduct interviews. Get good at writing for web, and quickly. Jam as much sound as you can into your stories, even if they’re less than a minute long. If you prove yourself with the small stuff, then people will trust you with the bigger stuff.

Where can people get in touch with you?

I’m @ carlamjavier on Twitter, where I spend far too much of my time.

Welcome to #FollowFriday: Public Radio Edition. On select Fridays, we’ll introduce you to rad young radio makers at NPR and from public radio stations across the country. They’ll share work they’re excited about, insights into how they got their start, and who they are when they’re not on the mic.

Our first feature is Laine Kaplan-Levenson of WWNO in New Orleans. She founded the Big Easy’s local storytelling event, Bring Your Own, and is now producing and hosting WWNO’s first long-form podcast, TriPod. We caught up with her to get the scoop (and hope some of her contagious joy would rub off on us). 

Name: Laine Kaplan-Levenson
Age: 28
Hometown: Larchmont, NY
Current City: New Orleans
Station: WWNO
Role: Producer and Host of Documentary series ‘Tripod: New Orleans at 300’

Laine: Who are you? Tell us a story that captures you as a person.

I lived in Staten Island, NY until I was five, where most of my neighbors and the kids I went to nursery school with were Italian. I didn’t talk for the first two years of my life, or have any hair. My fellow toddlers thought I was an alien. So did my parents, who were actually slightly concerned. When I finally did start talking, still without any hairs on my head, I spoke with an Italian accent, saying my ABCs ‘Ay-uh, Bee-uh, Cee-uh, Dee-uh…’. My mom always tells me about this one time, I had just started saying a few words (mostly ‘I dunno’), and we had to take my older sister to ballet class. I was playing by myself, something I was very happy to do, undisturbed, all day long. My mom came and scooped me up into her arms, taking me from my Little Tikes kitchen set, and said ‘Laine, we have to take Sara to dance now!’. And her two year old daughter looked at her and said, ‘You’s-a-bad-a-mama’. I eventually lost the accent, but not the love for seafood fra diavolo and eggplant parm.

Tell us about your new podcast! 

Tripod: New Orleans at 300 launched in October of 2015, and we just released our 10th episode. The three-year project is WWNO’s first long-running podcast and will lead up to the city’s tricentennial (hence the name). What I love about the idea is that instead of doing a typical, PBS-style, one or two-hour documentary, we’ve designed a series to put out weekly episodes that tell the history of New Orleans, one story at a time. The episodes are made for broadcast, and air Thursday mornings, but are also available as a podcast on iTunes, which has been a great way to expand the reach of the audience.

We’re working with the Historical New Orleans Collection and the Midlo Center at the University of New Orleans, who are content advisors and liaisons; I have an editorial committee that has been amazing at helping brainstorm episode topics (there’s a lot to cover in 300 years of history) and connecting me to people who can speak on the stuff. They fact check my scripts, and then I do a traditional radio editor with my news director, Eve Troeh. 

The process has more steps than what I was used to, coming from producing and reporting news, but I am thrilled to be making documentaries now. It allows me to bring more of myself into the show’s voice, and be more creative in style and tone with story structure, mixing in music, etc. And to have support from a team of advisors, as well as from the station, has been invaluable in the experience so far. And making content like this is really gratifying when working in a smaller market- a podcast coming from a local station really lets listeners engage with the producers and staff, share thoughts, and contribute to the development of the product they consume. I look forward to discovering, along with the audience, what TriPod becomes.

Which episode would you recommend to newbies?

I’d say get started with this one.

How did you end up becoming a media maker and was the very first radio piece you made?

I always knew I wanted to be a ‘producer’ even though I didn’t know what that meant, because it means everything and nothing. I’d say the first piece of radio I made was during my senior year of high school. The year prior I became obsessed with Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ (‘how weary and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world’). And so a year later, my business-savvy friend and I decided if we made a study guide for the play, we could sell it to the juniors- like a hyperlocal cliff notes. I then realized that it would be way sexier to make a book on tape, because high schoolers don’t want to read, but if they could listen…so we came up with Hamlet: Book On Tape, also known as ‘H-BOT’. I held auditions, where members of my graduating class tried out for the various roles; the only ones that were already taken were Hamlet, played by me, obviously, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, both played by my business-savvy friend). We made our selections, and then actually recorded the play onto a cassette. I never made the next step of mass producing the audio, aka we made no money, but boy do I still have that tape.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into radio?

If you want to get into radio, I think the best thing is to avoid trying to figure out what ‘being good at radio’ means, and just focus on getting to know yourself, and being as comfortable in your own skin as possible. The more comfortable and relaxed you are, the more at ease your interviewee will be, which will lead to the type of conversation you want to have. You can’t make good radio without good tape, and you can’t get good tape without real, raw, expression. It sounds counterintuitive, but learning how to be natural is truly the most important skill in radio, both when engaging with someone else, and when you’re alone with your mic. This is fortunate, because this ‘professional advice’ will also make you a happier person!

What is something you love to do that has nothing to do with your job? 

Over the past year, I’ve been really into lying on the floor. I’ll use a yoga mat, but I don’t do yoga. I just lie on the floor. On my back. Sometimes I listen to music, or talk on the phone, or do nothing. But it’s the best. Better than lying in bed, if you can even imagine. I love it because it feels more restorative than anything else I can do for my body- I love running and swimming, too, but there’s a sense of calm and control when lowering yourself, seeing the dust under your dresser, and knowing there’s only so much one can expect you to do when in that position. It’s compromising and safe at the same time. Sometimes I do good thinking when I lie on the floor, and sometimes I go completely blank. Which is ideal.

What are you reading / listening to right now?

Right now I’m reading “How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America” by Kiese Laymon, an amazing collection of essays. I’ve been listening to a lot of Joey Bada$$, Hop Along, Eddie Kendricks, and ‘The Things I Say’ off Joanna Newsom’s new Divers.

Where can people get into contact with you?

Believe it or not, I have an email address! Feel free to use it: laine@wwno.org. I’m also on twitter: @lainekaplev. And I run a live storytelling event and podcast called Bring Your Own- you can get in touch at bringyourownstories@gmail.com

Photo by Claire Bangser

By Rona Akbari

Welcome to #FollowFriday: Public Radio Edition. On select Fridays, we’ll introduce you to rad young radio makers at NPR and from public radio stations across the country. They’ll share work they’re excited about, insights into how they got their start and who they are when they’re not on the mic. 

Our next feature is of Lindsey Kilbride from WJCT in Jacksonville, Florida. An education and local government reporter, she brings the latest news on topics like the Duval County school board, transgender bathroom policies in schools and everything in between. 

Name: Lindsey Kilbride

Age: 25

Hometown: Jacksonville, FL 

Current City: Jacksonville, FL 

Station: WJCT

Role: Education & Local Government Reporter & Everything Else

Tell us a story that captures a piece of who you are.

I’ve always been very sympathetic to and interested in bugs. One day my cat caught a little green lizard and split open it’s abdomen. I was horrified. I ran into my house carrying the little angel and dressed its wound with some Neosporin ointment and wrapped it up with the tiniest bandaid I could find. I sat with him for a few hours. I like to think he survived. This also happened about a year ago.  

How did you end up in radio?

I ended up in radio after interning at the local NPR affiliate in Jacksonville, where I grew up and went to college. A semester internship turned into two, which turned into me voluntarily doing stories for the station after I had graduated.  I wouldn’t leave. Then I completed a documentary radio program in Maine at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. When I returned home, I had a job at the station waiting for me.  

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into radio?

My advice is get in a station and learn by making radio– intern, volunteer, stay late, transcribe for reporters. It’s the best way to get in and you’ll make valuable connections.  

What is something you love to do that has nothing to do with your job?

I love watching “The Price Is Right.” It’s my favorite television show and I think I would win the showdown if my record at home on my couch is any indication of how I’d perform on stage in California. I also already have a sweatshirt for the show that reads “The Purrrfect Pick” decorated with iron-on photos of my cats.

What are you listening to right now?

I’ve been listening to 99% Invisibilia, The Moth, 2 Dope Queens, Planet Money and I’m really liking More Perfect.  

Tell us about what education and local government looks like in Jacksonville.

Where to begin… one of the most passionate fights I’ve witnessed while reporting on city government is the struggle to pass a bill expanding the city’s human rights ordinance to protect LGBT people. That’s even despite Jacksonville being the city with the largest LGBT population in the state. Who knew? A bill to add the protections failed in 2012, and two dueling bills were withdrawn this year… but are expected the reemerge again this fall. The bills were dueling because one would have awarded protections via a city council vote, the other would put LGBT protections to a public vote, like what happened in Houston. I’ve witnessed transgender teenagers crying at the mic during public comment at meetings, begging for equal protections and I’ve witnessed bakers flown in from other states to speak on how their business was ruined because they refused to serve somebody gay. It’s a tough topic to cover.  And somehow covering the complicated world of education is almost more political than city government, even with a nonpartisan school board. From controversial charter schools, to the debate over Common Core curriculum, to transforming underutilized schools in the city’s Urban Core into magnets to attract kids from the suburbs, it is all happening in Jacksonville. 

Where can people get in touch with you?

lkilbride@wjct.org and twitter.com/Lindskilbride Don’t hesitate to reach out. =]

By Rona Akbari

Name: Sonari Glinton

Age: 42

Hometown: Chicago, IL

Current City: West Hollywood, CA

Station: NPR West

Role: NPR Business Desk, Correspondent for Planet Money and Resident Reporter at Youth Radio.

Tell us a story that captures a piece of who you are.

I’m a huge Sinatra fan and when I was in my 20′s I never really heard of public radio. A friend of mine from Maine, of course, heard This American Life’s Sinatra episode. It was one of the first and one of the best. He recorded and mailed it to me and that was how I got tuned into public radio. In December, I recently did a couple of stories for Sinatra’s 100th birthday. I pitched them directly to Ira [Glass], and I am an expert on Sinatra and I am a radio person, and they didn’t accept the stories which was funny. Because I got so tired of Sinatra working on the stories, I did not listen to any song of his until when I went to the Sinatra restaurant in Las Vegas. As I was leaving Vegas, my boyfriend was driving and I was tweeting with Tina Sinatra. I was like, that’s funny. That’s one of the great things about NPR is that no matter what my likes are, it’s brought me so much closer to them.

How did you end up in radio?

I started in finance, I worked for a large brokerage firm. September 11 happened, I got laid off. I went to an outplacement company and they gave me a Myers Briggs test and I came up with a dream board. It’s pretty funny. When you look at it, it’s so close to what ended up happening that it’s kind of freaky to me. I wrote it in 2002. I looked at these jobs and I was like well I’m not interested in marketing, don’t wanna be in advertising, I probably can’t be a performance artist. News producer? That seemed doable. 

It took me about 2 years before I got an internship, I applied to every job in Chicago. No one responded and then I ran into Richard Steele who’s a local DJ and public radio host. I recognized his voice and he gave me his business card at Quality First Dry Cleaners on 71st and Jeffrey. I will never forget it because I sent my resume to him and it was the first time I got a rejection letter. What I had realized is that he had taken me seriously. He was such a big star in my head, he was on WJPC which was Ebony Magazine’s radio station. He was all the stuff you’d wanna be. He took me seriously enough to take my resume from his desk and drop it off. I realized that [radio] was the place I wanted to be and I just applied, applied, applied. I got this sort of half-way program where you could be a radio rookie for a month.

The first person to call, interestingly enough, was Jason DeRose. I accidentally got switched to the switchboard and he had to explain to me what a CV was. He walked me through the process of applying. It turned out, I applied the last possible day I could. I got this fellowship and I did a story about homosexuality and the black church featuring Jeremiah Wright, a minister in Chicago who is accepting towards gays and lesbians. It was pretty powerful.  

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into radio?

Journalism is a trade - not a profession. The only way to be successful is by doing it. There are all these things that reporters and producers who have jobs don’t want to do. Logging, tape, mixing pieces, tape syncs and researching. Learn to do those things. It’s vital. In the beginning, don’t worry about your big ideas. No one cares about them yet - and I don’t mean that in a harsh way.

You need to prove that you can execute the small, everyday things. Did you move the ball forward everyday? Because there’s gonna come a moment where you’re the only person in the world who can do a story. You’re the perfect person for the perfect moment. There will be that moment for everyone. For me, it was when Michael Jackson died and I was the black man at All Things Considered. I was so deeply ready - and that’s probably why I became a reporter.

You’re in the montage phase of your superhero movie. Don’t worry about fighting the penguin until you’ve got all the things you need in your utiliity belt. You want to be sure you’re getting all the tools you need. If you focus on the little things, when the moment comes for you to fight the penguin, you’ll be ready.

As they say in comedy, you can never be seen too late but you can be seen too soon. Ambition is important but your time will come.

What is something you love to do that has nothing to do with your job?

I like to bake and cook. I don’t have a favorite thing to bake, but I like pies. I made a crust three days ago that’s in the freezer, maybe tonight I’ll make the filling and I don’t have to eat it. I can get the fun of cooking without eating it.

What do you do with the pies?

Bring it to the office, take it to a party, or give it to a friend.

What are you listening to right now?

Frannie Kelley does Mic Check and she told me I have to listen to Blood Orange. So I’ve been listening to that. I’ve been listening to a lot of gospel music like Albertina Walker. She’s the queen of gospel and she used to get her hair done, as kids we used to run around the salon and she would curse us out. She used to call us nappy-headed N-words. I listen to her now and I love her.

Where can people get in touch with you?

Not enough people follow me on Instagram. I’m a GOOD Instagrammer, my pictures are dope and it’s about actual shit. Some of it’s me, but people should follow me: https://www.instagram.com/sonari1/

Welcome to #FollowFriday: Public Radio Edition. On select Fridays, we’ll introduce you to rad young radio makers at NPR and from public radio stations across the country. They’ll share work they’re excited about, insights into how they got their start, and who they are when they’re not on the mic.

Photo credit: Zachariah Hughes

Our next feature is Rachel Waldholz of Alaska Public Media in Anchorage. An energy reporter, she’s part of NPR’s new Energy and Environment Team, a collaboration to develop more in-depth coverage on important energy issues. She was recommended by our last feature, Laine, for being a radio badass. She shares with us her journey into public radio, combining her love of the outdoors with talent for storytelling.

Name: Rachel Waldholz
Age: 31
Hometown: Montclair, NJ
Current City: Anchorage, AK
Station: Alaska Public Media
Role: Energy Reporter

Rachel: WHO ARE YOU? Tell us a story that captures a piece of who you are.

Let’s see. When I was 19, I left school and joined a trail crew. I worked for the California Conservation Corps in Kings Canyon National Park, and it’s still the best job I’ve ever had: working outside, in the mountains, living out of a tent. I ended up working for the National Park Service for about two years, and I loved it. But I was actually kind of a lousy trail worker – to this day, the chainsaw is not my friend. Eventually I decided to play to my strengths.  Now I work with words instead of rocks.

How did you end up in radio?

I lucked into radio. I was at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, and each year, Berkeley sends an intern to Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska. I had no radio background – I was actually studying documentary — but I just had a feeling this was the job for me. I’m still not sure why they hired me – maybe because I just kept calling. I remember I showed up and my boss said, wait, you have no radio experience?! But they gave me a mic and a Marantz and turned me loose. That was it — I knew radio was my thing.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into radio?

Move to Alaska. No, really! If you want hands-on experience, there’s nothing like working for a small station that will let you host, report and produce. You’ll get to do things you never could in a larger market. And if you’re looking for a fabulous community radio stations, epic landscapes and stories on top of stories on top of stories – Alaska, people. You can’t beat it.

Also, people say this all the time, but it’s true: work begets work. Just keep putting things out there. You never know which story will open the door for you.

Plus, what Laine said. Wise words.

What is something you love to do that has nothing to do with your job?

I just moved to Anchorage, and I’m learning to cross-country ski. I’m pretty excited about it. It is definitely the thing to do here. But we need some snow! Anchorage is having a very warm winter.

What are you listening to right now?

These days I’m listening to Planet Money and Marketplace on constant repeat. I’m trying to learn to do what they do: tell wonky stories about money and policy in a way that makes you turn up the radio and laugh. I report on a lot of so-called “boring” stuff: oil taxes, the natural gas market, how the grid works. But this stuff is so important! Especially in an energy state. People need to understand it.

Tell us about the new NPR Energy and Environment team.

It’s a new collaboration between NPR and member stations, aimed at developing more in-depth coverage of energy and environmental issues. It’s been a gift to connect with reporters all over the country who are covering the same stories I am. And it lets us draw connections between different places, like the impact of falling oil prices in Alaska and Oklahoma, or how Georgia and California are dealing with solar power. Public radio has this tremendous, under-utilized strength: all of these local reporters working in just about every community in the country. I’m excited NPR is starting to tap those resources.

Where can people get in touch with you?

You can find me on Twitter – it’s kind of a new thing for me: @waldholz. Or feel free to shoot me an email: rwaldholz@alaskapublic.org.

By Joanna Pawlowska

Girls and women of all ages and backgrounds came to together to listen to powerful stories about the lives of 15 girls around the world, followed by a conversation led by NPR’s All Things Considered co-host, Kelly McEvers.

The #15Girls project is an NPR editorial series that aired across NPR shows and digital platforms in October 2015.  Generation Listen collaborated with the NPR Global Health Team to host a series of accompanying listening parties in DC and LA.

Last night we collaborated with our friends at KCRW and 826LA for a very special evening in West LA: to gather around the “radio” (or in this case, an audio player and some plants) to explore the lives of girls around the world with an #NPRListeningParty.  

The evening included 30 girls and women from different backgrounds, multiple countries and various walks of life. We began the evening reflecting on what bound us together as women, and each shared a story about a woman who has influenced our lives in a profound way. 

NPR Host Kelly McEvers then introduced the series and featured stories: #15Girls: Teens Taking Control and Changing Their Fate, that would transport us to El Salvador and Zambia as seen through the eyes of fifteen-year-old girls.

The first story was riveting and intense, and we were glad to be able to reflect on it together. Kelly was the lead reporter on the story and she told us what it was like to travel to El Salvador and uncover what was happening. We discussed which of the girls we most related to - the one that retreated or the one that fought - and explored the difference between truly living and merely surviving. We agreed that life is often about what we choose to do with what comes our way - which in our case, sitting together in Los Angeles felt like a lot of goodness.

The second, more uplifting story about a young girl in Zambia using Harvard Business School negotiation tactics to raise money to attend school, had us smiling at her upbeat tenacity. It prompted us to reflect on the value of an education and the powerful idea of a woman asking for what she wants.

Our lively conversation drew to an end with a thoughtful sentiment from one of the teens in the room: “You know, so many people I go to school with complain about how much it sucks. Sure, it sucks sometimes, but I want them to listen to this story and hear about how hard this girl is working just to get to go to school in the first place.”

That felt like the perfect way to end a powerful evening. Can stories change how we view the world? Looks like it. Even more so when we listen to them together. Check out pics from the evening below and host your own. We make an informative and engaging evening like this super simple for hosts with our newly launched NPR Listening Party Kit.

Photos by Araceli Castillo.

Nothing captures the spirit of summer quite like a road trip with great friends. That sense of adventure and possibility makes you feel alive as you explore the world around you and see things through fresh eyes.

We were lucky enough to kick off our summer this year with a 3,000-mile road trip from NPR West in LA to NPR HQ in Washington DC. We’re excited to share some of our favorite scenes from our nine-city Listening Tour — and introduce you to the amazing people we met at NPR Member Stations and cites across the American South. 

We were, and continue to be, moved by the stories we heard — and inspired by the power of really, truly listening to other people.

To everyone we met along the way: We can’t thank you enough for following along as we went city to city, coming to our Listening Parties with open minds and hearts, hosting us in your homes, and showing us your cities. You changed us, and we can only hope we changed you a little bit, too.

Our mission to spread the power of listening doesn’t end here. We hope you pick a story and grab some friends to host your own Listening Party. Here’s how. And make sure to tag your posts and grams #whylisten #listeningparty so we can find you and so we can all feel a little more connected through great storytelling. We’ll repost our favorites every Why Listen Wednesday.

We’re off to keep scheming our next adventure. More on that soon. ;)

—————————–

Directed by: Hadas

Edited by: Patrick Fogarty

Music by: Magic Giant

by Joanna Pawlowska 

Dr. Kevin Olival from EcoHealth Alliance (left) and NPR’s science correspondent Michaeleen Doucleff lead our NYC discussion on pandemics.

Over 30 listeners filled a rooftop terrace blocks from Central Park to listen to reporting from Goats & Soda. 

As the sun started to set, our group walked over to Central Park to observe some local bats. 

Dr. Olival brought two bat detectors that allowed us to listen to, record, and even identify bat species by their echolocation calls. 

Success! We found bats right as we entered Central Park. 

We detected multiple bat species using the echolocation app. 

We walked over to the bridge near W. 77th, which is known for bats. 

The Manhattan skyline lit up the sky as Central Park grew dark and we wrapped our immersive experience. 

photos: @hopeleigh

Did you know there are bats living in Central Park?!  Neither did we, until Dr. Kevin Olival from the EcoHealth Alliance mentioned NYC as a cool place for an immersive Listening Party a few months back when we started designing this project. 

You may recognize his name from Michaeleen Doucleff’s reporting on pandemics from Borneo. He’s the voice of the virus hunter who guides her and senior producer Jane Greenhalgh through the rainforest, where he and his team work to identify new viruses in bats. 

Yesterday, he joined us on a rooftop terrace on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, just a few blocks from an area of Central Park known for bats. Our group of 30 has gathered for a listening session and discussion around two of Michaeleen’s stories: one about the rainforest in Borneo and one about the Gomantong Cave, also in Borneo, which is full of bats. 

The group was engaged and curious, full of questions about the practical applications of Olival’s research and ideas about future pandemic prevention. 

When the sun started to drop over the horizon, it was time to go look for bats. As we entered Central Park, Olival pulls two bat detection tools from his backpack: one that attaches to his cellphone and one that stands alone. He turns them on and BAM - immediately we pick up the sounds of bats! The device connected to his phone has the ability to record and identity the bat calls. We hear and see big brown bats as well as hoary bats. And we’re not even at the bridge at W. 77th known for bat sightings yet!

Olival guided us through the park to the lake, where he answered people’s bat questions and busted bat myths (they are NOT blind, they actually have great vision). We wrapped the evening with a newfound awe for bats and a continued curiosity around the ways humans interact with the animals all around us. 

Budding bat enthusiasts, follow Kevin Olival at @nycbat on twitter for the latest on bats in NYC and beyond. 

For more science stories from NPR, follow @NPRGoatsandSoda.

Thanks for joining our #listeningonlocation adventures across the country! Look out for a little video recap coming soon. 

Find all of NPR’s reporting about pandemics here. Check out our other immersive event locations with #listeningonlocation.