Spectrum

By WOUB Public MediaNews

Spectrum episodes

June 05, 2019 Famous Astronomer Explains the Expanding Universe in Understandable Terms
Throughout his 31 years as an astronomer on the faculty at Harvard Dr. Robert Kirshner has been a leader in using supernovae to map the universe and chart the universe’s expansion over time.

Some of his discoveries gave him Science Magazine’s Breakthrough of the Year Award in 1998 and led to a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011.

He is one of the leaders in the concept that the universe is not only expanding but it is doing so today at an accelerated rate compared to years past. This expansion is thanks to “dark energy,” says his team of scientists.

Dr. Kirshner, however, has not been satisfied with just communicating to fellow-scientists about his discoveries. He wants the average person to understand the concepts of the expanding universe and the rolls of our solar system and galaxy in the much greater cosmos.

He has broken down his discoveries into understandable terms for the non-scientist in his popular book “The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Cosmos, published by Princeton Science Library and updated in 2016.

Dr. Kirshner has been a definite leader in his field. He has worked with both NASA and the National Science Foundation to influence a national strategy in astronomy and astrophysics.

From 2004-2006, he was president of the American Astronomical Society, the national society for professionals working in astronomy and astrophysics.

Currently, Dr. Kirshner serves as the Chief Program Officer for Science at the Gordan and Betty Moore Foundation. He works to distribute about $100 million per year for science projects funded by the foundation.
44 min
May 29, 2019 Live Weather Storytelling is the Domain of Weather Group’s Angela Massie
As storms, tornadoes and flooding ravage the Midwest and The Plains and as a new and scary hurricane season approaches, more and more people rely on The Weather Channel and the Weather Group to provide them live coverage of major weather events.

We count on up-to-the-minute, live weather storytelling to keep us abreast of the latest developments and whether we, or our friends and relatives, are in harm’s way.

Most of us who watch the Weather Channel during times of live weather coverage rely on a woman we never see on camera and don’t know – Angela Massie. She is the vice president of live storytelling at The Weather Channel in Atlanta and coordinates the network’s live coverage across the nation during times of weather peril.

She determines what mandates live coverage and how assets and talent are distributed to bring the best and broadest form of coverage.

She came to the Weather Channel in 2014 as an executive producer and then became a senior executive producer before being promoted to vice president.

Currently, the Weather Channel serves about 81 million American households every day and that number spikes higher during times of weather catastrophes.

Massie traces her career path for this week’s Spectrum Podcast. She talks about how difficult it is to produce “LIVE” programming or news or weather events. She has had extensive experience in producing all types of live television.

Before coming to the Weather Channel, Massie rose through the producing ranks at CNN Worldwide Headquarters in Atlanta. She gave us live programming on “CNN Newsroom,” “Live from…” and “Rick’s List.” She also was the executive producer of CNN Headline News’ “Evening Express.”

For CNN, she produced live coverage of: the last space shuttle launch, the royal wedding of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, and the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

Massie has already won the Dupont and Peabody broadcasting awards and has been nominated for a national Emmy for coverage of Hurricane Harvey.
34 min
May 22, 2019 Media Innovator Explains How Pulitzer Prize Winning ‘The Wall’ Was Created
“The Wall: Unknown stories. Unintended consequences.” is a Pulitzer Prize winning multimedia series from USA Today Network and Gannett that delves into life along the southern border of the United States – the same border where President Donald Trump proposes to build his wall.

“The explanatory report, led by then Arizona Republic’s vice president of news and editor Nicole Carroll, recently named editor in chief of USA TODAY, provides an in-depth look at the border through immersive technology, including aerial and 360-degree video, virtual reality, bots, drones, documentaries, photos, podcasts, and LiDAR data,” says USA Today promotional material.

When The Wall received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, the Pulitzer Committee said it won “for vivid and timely reporting that masterfully combined text, video, podcasts and virtual reality to examine, from multiple perspectives, the difficulties and unintended consequences of fulfilling President Trump's pledge to construct a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.”

Instrumental in the success of this project is Annette Meade, Senior Project Manager – Storytelling Studio USA TODAY Network and Innovation Director at Gannett Innovation Lab.

The USA Today Network explains Meade’s role as “…to bridge the space between digital development and content creation to help produce top-level and engaging story experiences.”

Meade recently talked with the Spectrum Podcast and explained how this major journalistic project was conceived and brought into reality. She also touts the virtues of multimedia and immersive storytelling as a way of putting the audience in the middle of the story being covered instead of being a passive reader or watcher on the periphery.

She believes the interactive and immersive storytelling are the wave of the future. No longer can major stories be told in just one manner but instead multiple media formats and innovations are required.
36 min
May 15, 2019 New “Defining Moments Podcast” Tells Stories of Living Well During Adversity
A new podcast will launch on Memorial Day – “Defining Moments Podcast: Conversations about Health and Healing.

The podcast is created by Dr. Lynn Harter and is produced by WOUB Public Media. Dr. Harter is a Communication Studies professor, Emmy-winning documentarian, storyteller and the co- founder of the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact in the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.

Her academic specialty is narrative theory and storytelling practice and she is an expert in the field of health communication.

The new podcast showcases stories about living well in the midst of vulnerability and hardship. Episodes feature an eclectic group of guests who share moments of uncertainty, innovation and resilience.

Dr. Harter draws on twenty years of experience in health contexts to spark conversations that move between personal anecdotes and societal health challenges.

In a new podcast feature, each episode will be accompanied by articles written for “Health Communication” published by the Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group and other online resources.

Dr. Harter talks with the Spectrum Podcast and previews episodes coming in Season 1 and describes the purpose and the genesis of this new podcast concept.

In addition to this conversation, she also has available a three minute preview of the podcast.

You can access that preview at https://woub.org/listen/
or at Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coming-soon-defining-moments-conversations-about-health/id1456643447?i=1000432224096.
The preview also is available on Stitcher https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/woub-public-media-2/defining-moments-conversations-about-health-and-healing?refid=stpr
and at Google Play https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/If73nhrtzc3j3mw6fvc4h7lsm6u
37 min
May 08, 2019 Al Letson: Podcaster, Poet, Writer & Actor Chats about Talking to One Another
Listening is the key to important and difficult conversations, according to Al Letson the current host of “Reveal,” the first hour-long public broadcasting show and podcast produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting and the Public Radio Exchange (PRX).

He claims with the explosion of social media and cable news shows that Americans have lost the ability to listen to each other. We talk past one another instead of with one another.

He also claims that sometimes the best way to deal with a confrontational conversation or hostile ideas being expressed is to just walk away. He feels that bitter arguments should not replace constructive conversation--but if they do—he does not engage. He does not give them space in his life.

Letson equates true listening to an “act of love.” He claims that sometimes the most powerful thing that a person can do is “shut up and listen.”

Letson has spent much of his career listening and talking, especially on his famous radio programs and podcasts. From 2008 to 2014, he was the host and executive producer of PRX’s State of the Re:Union podcast where Letson travelled across the country talking to a wide variety of people.

He helped launch “Reveal” in 2015.

Letson also has created and is co-host of his own podcast “Errthang” – a show that features storytelling, radio drama, and pop culture.

Besides his active life in radio, Letson is a performance poet, playwright, writer, and actor. Currently, Letson also is writing for DC comics and he has produced two graphic novels.

He recently visited Ohio University as part of the Challenging Dialogue Lecture Series created by President Dr. Duane Nellis.
21 min
May 01, 2019 Royal Society President Explains Ribosomes & Charts His Career for Podcast
Dr. Venki Ramakrishnan, a molecular biologist, is president of the Royal Society in Great Britain, the same organization formerly headed by Sir Isaac Newton and Ernest Rutherford.

He feels it is the duty and obligation of top scientists to explain, in understandable terms, their discoveries to the general population to extend understanding and knowledge.

Dr. Ramakrishnan, in this Spectrum Podcast, explains ribosomes. They exist in every living cell to synthesize proteins.

For his work in ribosomes, Dr. Ramakrishnan shared a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009. In this podcast, he uses approachable metaphors to explain the functioning of these highly complex cell components.

In recent years, Dr. Ramakrishnan has extended his work in ribosomes and has taken his discoveries to a higher level.

He notes that malfunctioning ribosomes can be instrumental in causing certain diseases. However, harnessing and directing the functioning of ribosomes can bring about cures for some diseases and human maladies.

For example, greater knowledge of ribosomes may lead to better antibiotics being developed against bacterial infections.

Dr. Ramakrishnan also traces his career from his native India to getting a doctorate in physics from Ohio University. He then went on to have a postdoctoral position in biology with Dr. Peter Moore’s lab at Yale and he worked at several other American labs before transferring his talents to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.

Just recently, Dr. Ramakrishnan has released a book he authored titled: “Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome.” In the book, he talks about his discoveries and his path to uncover this critical component of living cells.

In May, Dr. Ramakrishnan will receive an honorary doctorate from his alma mater Ohio University.
36 min
April 24, 2019 ‘Tank Man’ Photo: The Story Behind the Picture and How Jeff Widener Shot It
Despite covering major stories in over 100 countries, award winning photojournalist Jeff Widener is best known for his iconic photograph of a lone Chinese protester standing in front of a column of tanks during the Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing, China in 1989.

The ‘Tank Man’ photo won Widener worldwide acclaim. He was a Pulitzer Finalist and his photo was picked by America Online as one of the top 10 photos of all time.

More interesting than the photo, however, is the backstory of how Widener got the photo and his surreptitious way of getting the film back to the Associated Press office in China to distribute the picture worldwide.

On this edition of the “Spectrum Podcast,” hear the details from Widener himself…the twists and turns of what he had to do to get this amazing photograph.

Also, hear how this famous photojournalist got started taking pictures at age 7 and while in high school won the 1974 Kodak/Scholastic National Photography Scholarship beating out over 8000 competitors.

He then worked for several major newspapers until he was, at age 24, named to a position as foreign correspondent photographer for United Press International in Brussels, Belgium. In 1989 he was named the Associated Press Southeast Asia Picture Editor in Bangkok, Thailand. He has covered the Gulf War and ethnic battles in Sri Lanka.

Widener also was the first photojournalist to capture and file digital images from the South Pole.

Widener currently is a freelance photographer based in Hamburg, Germany. He also presents guest lectures at colleges and universities across the globe.

Recently, Widener was a featured speaker at the 2019 Schuneman Symposium on New Media and Photo Journalism in the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
38 min
April 17, 2019 Kashmir is a Pivotal Area of South Asia & its History & People are Complex
Kashmir is a region located high in the Himalayan Mountains between two historical adversaries: India and Pakistan. It was partitioned in the 1940’s at the end of British colonial rule but it remains a point of unrest even today.

Over the past decades, Kashmir has been a battleground for skirmishes and armed conflict between the two nuclear powers of India and Pakistan. It is part of the geo-political tug of war between these two powers.

However, many groups within Kashmir are pushing for independence from both countries.

Kashmir is the focus of research for Dr. Haley Duschinski, the Director and Graduate Director of the Center for Law, Justice, and Culture at Ohio University. She recently returned from Brussels and the European Parliament’s human rights subcommittee hearing on Kashmir.

She also attended the United Nation’s Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva and conducted a human rights visit to Northern Ireland.

Although India and Pakistan continue to fight over the Kashmir region, many Kashmir residents are seeking independence from both countries and to establish their own country. In fact, many groups within the region feel that Kashmir is an “occupied territory.”

Dr. Duschinski, an anthropologist, studies, researches and writes about the human rights of the Kashmir people and especially the women of the region.

Recently, she was one of the editors of critical Kashmir studies resource: “Women and Kashmir: Knowing in Our Own Ways.” It was published by the Review of Women’s Studies, Economic and Political Weekly.

She also has co-edited “Resisting Occupation in Kashmir” published in 2018 by the University of Pennsylvania Press.

She, likewise, co-edited “’Rebels of the Streets: Violence, Protest and Freedom in Kashmir,” in Resisting Occupation in Kashmir, also published in 2018 by the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Dr. Duschinski is an award-winning teacher and scholar. Among her specialties are the studies of Kashmir, India and South Asia.

She plans to return to the region this summer to further her research and to advance the causes of human rights.
39 min
April 10, 2019 Tania Rashid, Freelance Journalist, Targets Human Rights and Women’s Issues
Tania Rashid views storytelling focusing on human rights and women’s issues through her own personal lens of experiences.

Her life encounters have molded her into the journalist and filmmaker that she is – tracking down stories of the enslaved, the impoverished, and women who are abused, raped, trafficked and discounted by various societies.

As a young girl, Rashid grew up in Saudi Arabia where she witnessed her Bangladesh mother be deprived of even the most basic rights – such as the right to drive or the right to an education.

She then moved back to her ancestral home in Bangladesh where she found rampant governmental corruption, political instability and violence.

From there, her family moved to the United States and settled in Utah where she was the “only brown, Muslim girl in my class, in a community of Caucasian Mormons.”

Rashid learned first-hand what it felt like to be “different” and to be the target of racism, she says.

Her background in the Middle East and South Asia combined with her being the subject of racism in Utah, led her to a degree in history and global studies at UCLA in 2007. She also did an internship with ABC’s “Nightline.”

Upon graduation, she worked for Al Gore’s global “Current TV Network” for three years watching other female journalist role-models. She learned that she had a unique perspective but wanted to learn more about journalism and filmmaking.

With encouragement from other women journalists, Rashid enrolled at Columbia University. Although she felt that she had to go the extra mile to prove herself to her professors, she received her master’s degree in broadcast journalism and documentary filmmaking.

“I learned to shoot, edit, and produce my own stories,” she says. “I wanted to be a one-woman shop to tell stories the way I wanted them to be told.”

To date, she has covered major breaking news events globally plus has delved deeply into dark issues such as sex trafficking in Bangladesh and the plight of refugees.

Rashid’s work can often be seen on the PBS NewsHour, Al Jazeera English, CNN International and VICE News. She recently visited Ohio University for the Schuneman Symposium on New Media and Photojournalism.
33 min
April 03, 2019 Storytelling Can Build Community and Bridge Cultural and Religious Divides
Jennifer Rudick Zunikoff believes in the power of stories and storytelling to build communities and to bridge cultural and religious divides in our country.

Zunikoff is a storyteller, poet, educator, facilitator and coach and is the founder and director of The Golden Door: Storytelling for Social Justice.

“It is an organization that brings storytellers and facilitators to schools to coach teachers and to educate students and build safe, encouraging classroom communities,” says Zunikoff.

For almost 10 years she also co-taught Oral Histories of Holocaust Survivors at Goucher College and coached over 100 students in the genre of oral histories.

Zunikoff will be in Athens this weekend as part of a weekend collaborative “Community Building” workshop organized by the Appalachian Ohio Storytelling Project. The theme of the weekend is “A Welcoming America: Take Your Place at Our Table,” according to Thomas Burnett, director of the Storytelling Project.

Zunikoff will be the featured storyteller at a Saturday, April 6, concert at Christ Lutheran Church at 69 Mill Street, Athens, Ohio at 7:30pm. There is a suggested donation of $10.00.

Sunday's, April 7th, "Building Community in Athens" workshop is at The Athens Friends Meeting House 26 Birge Street in Chauncey, Ohio from 2 to 4pm . There is no charge for the workshop and it is open to the public.

Zunikoff told the Spectrum podcast about the power of storytelling. Although she is a strong force in telling the stories of Judaism, Zunikoff has spearheaded projects bringing Jewish and Muslim communities together through stories to bridge cultural and religious divides.

She is a believer that personal stories can lead to inclusiveness.

She was named a 2016 Baltimore Social Innovator by the Warnock Foundation. She also is a fellow with the Institute of Islamic, Christian and Jewish studies.

Zunikoff is a strong advocate of not only telling powerful stories but in “listening” to the voices of others. She says that the best storytellers are great listeners.
34 min

About Spectrum

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Spectrum features conversations with an eclectic group of fascinating people, some are famous and some are not, but they all have captivating stories.