Grad Featured on WVPE Radio

Michele Trubey, currently working toward her Masters in Communication, was accepted by the local public radio station WVPE 88.1 FM to present her latest radio essay, If I Were a Birder. Considering Trubey's plain-as-day declaration that she herself is "not a bird watcher" and that she "questions the sanity of people who bird watch," readers might like to have a listen anyway. The essay was broadcast Monday, May 14 at both 7:35 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

"The topic [of bird watching] came to mind when I was feeling totally void of ideas and asked my hubby if he had any ideas. He started rambling off things..." Trubey said, "and somehow it triggered thoughts, from my entire life, about birders and how it contrasted against my experience with the birds around my home. It was a fun adventure, as is the watching of birds at my home."

Trubey wrote If I Were a Birder to fulfill the requirements of her final assignment for COMM648 Writing for the Media, taught by Dr. Beverly Matiko, Associate Professor of English and Communication.

As part of the assignment, students were to choose a venue in which to broadcast their essays. Once Dr. Matiko read the essay, she encouraged Trubey to submit it to her selected venue, WVPE FM.

"I called WVPE to find out how to submit my essay," Trubey said. "It was simple actually -- I just emailed the document to Lee Burdorf at WVPE. He responded with, 'When would you like to come to the station to record?'"

Although the introduction and commentary to the piece were done live in-studio, the audio essay is available. So if you missed the broadcast, please download If I Were a Birder, below.

If I Were a Birder by Michele Trubey
Broadcast on WVPE 88.1 FM (Elkhart, IN) on May 14, 2012

(Download Quicktime)

By Ashleigh Burtnett