Signal eNewsletter | June 2012

Vol. 5, No. 6: June 2012

Signal This Month on Morning Conversations

An Online Newsletter from WSIU Public Radio P o w e r e d b y Yo u ®

WSIU Summer Community Support Celebration

A phone volunteer takes a local pledge. Photo: Susan Patrick.

Jennifer Fuller. Photo: Monica Tichenor.

Tue, June 12 • SIU Chancellor Rita Cheng Wed, June 13 • Rex Budde, CEO of Southern Illinois Healthcare, will discuss Medicaid reforms that recently passed in the Illinois legislature.

Mon, June 25 • SIU President Glenn Poshard Tue, June 26 • Lt. Governor Sheila Simon will discuss the Spring 2012 legislative session (tentative).

ABOUT MORNING CONVERSATIONS Morning Conversations, hosted by WSIU morning news anchor and reporter Jennifer Fuller, airs at 8:30am on Tuesdays and other weekdays, as scheduled, and repeats at 5:30pm.

All Morning Conversations episodes are available online at www.wsiu.org/live. You can also find them on our podcast page and get a calender listing of upcoming events at www3.wsiu.org/radio morningconversation.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Share your comments and suggestions for Morning Conversations to mornings@wsiu.org.

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SIU Radio is celebrating the power of public radio to transform lives and communities, and you’re invited to participate in the process! Join us for our 2012 Summer Community Support Celebration, which begins June 22 and continues through June 29.

WSIU’s budget year ends on June 30. Your support at this time is critical because it helps us to finish paying for this year’s programs and gives us a head start on next year’s program budget. Every local gift of support helps WSIU to leverage additional federal grant dollars for the coming year.

Help keep this vital community resource strong. Call 800-745-9748 or make a secure online pledge at www. wsiu.org. WSIU is Powered by You!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

WSIU is always looking for enthusiastic volunteers, and our Summer Community Support Celebration is one way you can get involved at your favorite radio station and make a difference!

Help answer phones or record a testimonial about why WSIU Radio is important to you and your family. Contact Susan Patrick at (618) 453-6184 or Laura Cobin at (618) 453-4287 to learn more.

SIRIS Volunteer Jennifer O’Donnell Upon relocating to southern Illinois, O’Donnell moved her focus from teaching to volunteer work. “I have always wanted to volunteer, but it seemed to conflict with my work schedule,” she says. “Finding SIRIS was a dream come true.”

Jennifer O’Donnell.

Photo: Katie Tullis.

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ike many residents, Jennifer O’Donnell considers herself a true southern Illinoisan after only living in the area for a few years.

“I’m from a little bit of everywhere,” she shares, recounting her move to Murphysboro, Illinois. Prior to living in southern Illinois, O’Donnell resided in Kansas and Texas. Though she has developed a love for southern Illinois, she can’t help but to identify with her Texan roots. “I still claim Texas as a little bit of my home,” she adds.

Moving from state to state is nothing usual for O’Donnell whose father worked as a cattle ranch manager during her childhood. Though her family moved frequently, she enjoyed meeting new people. This trend continued when she married her spouse who works in higher education.

Before settling in Murphysboro, O’Donnell worked as a full-time substitute schoolteacher.

“Substitute teaching was a way of testing the waters,” she shares.

O’Donnell first became interested in SIRIS after a friend told her about a similar service. What she enjoys most about volunteering with SIRIS is the sense of fulfillment she gets from helping others.

“I am proud to provide a service to people who aren’t able to read the newspaper,” says O’Donnell. “Everyone has a right to know what is happening in his or her community.” O’Donnell recognizes that her work with SIRIS also aligns with her spiritual belief in being a Good Samaritan. “For me, I think (working at SIRIS) is part of my Christian calling to help others.”

Outside of her volunteer work for SIRIS, O’Donnell spends much of her free time helping the United Methodist Church of Murphysboro where she works with the church’s promotional and web development teams. In her spare time, she enjoys fishing, taking in the beautiful southern Illinois scenery, and traveling to South Carolina to see her brand new granddaughter.

If you’re looking for volunteer opportunities in the Carbondale area, contact SIRIS today at wsiu.org/siris or (618) 453-2808.

FM Student of the Year Award

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Saravanan Ramamoorthy (left) accepts his award from supervisor Lisa Morrisette (right), FM Operations Manager, and Greg Petrowich, WSIU Executive Director. Photo: Monica Tichenor.

tudents and staff crowded WSIU-TV Studio A on Friday, May 4 for a Cinco de Mayothemed Student Appreciation Dinner celebrating the contributions of WSIU’s talented student employees.

WSIU Executive Director, Greg Petrowich, led the awards ceremony during which this year’s WSIU Student Award winners were honored.

This year’s WSIU Radio Student of the Year is...

Saravanan Ramamoorthy, a PhD candidate at Southern Illinois University Carbondale studying Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Sarav” was presented with a framed certificate and cash gift and also had his name and award added to an engraved plaque on display at the WSIU’s business office.

Sarav has worked for WSIU Radio Operations since 2010. According to his supervisor, Lisa Morrisette, Sarav is extremely dependable and can be counted on to do professional-level work for the station. Sarav is responsible for many areas of radio operations including production, promotions, traffic, and the training and mentoring of other students and volunteers. He has excelled at every additional task given to him while working at WSIU. Congratulations, Sarav!

MORE WSIU STUDENT WINNERS FOR 2011-12 TV Students of the Year: Amber Polczynski, Radio-Television (B.A.), Du Bois, Ill., and Trent Vandeven, Radio-Television (B.A.), Marble Hill, Mo. Student Service Award Winner: Katie Tullis, Professional Media & Media Management Studies (M.S.), Elgin, Ill. Lee D. O’Brien Award: April Stanley, Radio-Television (B.A.), Elk Grove, Ill.

2012 Southern Illinois Music Festival Preview

Joe’s Big Idea: An NPR Science Desk Project

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he 8th Annual Southern Illinois Music Festival is coming – and WSIU is proud to be a major sponsor again this year. The 2012 Festival is entitled “Turn of the Century Masters: Strauss, Stravinsky, Puccini and Rachmaninov” and will run from June 8-24.

Over three-dozen performances are scheduled in venues from Sesser to Cairo to Murphysboro to Marion.

Ed Benyas. Photo: School of Music.

Musicians from North and South America, Europe, and Asia will perform orchestral and chamber music, opera, ballet, jazz, and new music in an informal and inviting atmosphere.

Casual dress is welcome!

Highlights of this year’s Festival include the Stravinsky ballets, Firebird and Petruchka (never before performed in Southern Illinois), the fully staged opera La Bohème, and two orchestral programs, “Symphonic Dances” and “Stars of Today and Tomorrow.” Be sure to attend the chamber music night, the Sunday night jazz series at area wineries, the “Klassics for Kids’ performance, and the “Jive with Jazz” events across the region. Most of the Festival performances are free.

Admission information for each event is located on the “Concerts” tab at www.sifest.com. Tickets for the festival are always available at each event and can be purchased at the following venues: the SIU School of Music, the Herrin Civic Center, the Marion Civic Center (and other venues throughout southern Illinois). We look forward to seeing you!

SI Music Festival Preview • Available Online Jennifer Fuller recently talked with Edward Benyas, Artistic Director for the Southern Illinois Music Festival and Director of Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra, in an hour-long radio preview. Benyas discusses all aspects of the Festival and plays musical excerpts.

Copy and paste the following link in your Internet browser (or click) to go directly to the interview on WSIU Radio online at news.wsiu.org/post/2012-si-music-festival-preview.

The 8th Annual Southern Illinois Music Festival is sponsored in part by Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

PR science correspondent Joe Palca presents an experiment to explore innovation in science and technology with Joe’s Big Idea.

The series uses on on-air and online segments, and a variety of other media to capture what Joe Palca. Photo: 2006 NPR scientists are doing in their

by Steve Barrett. fields. It also examines how scientists innovate and experiment, explores what they love about their work, and reveals what it takes to go from an idea to a new product or process.

As part of this project, NPR will sponsor a video contest for listeners ages 13 to 25, asking them to share a video pitching their “Big Idea” on YouTube (hashtag #joesbigidea). The contest launches June 11, and the winner will have a chance to work with scientists to develop their big idea.

The series will air occasionally throughout the summer on Morning Edition. Learn more at www.npr.org/ sections/science.

BOOK CLUB: pg-13

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PR Books and All Things Considered have teamed up for PG-13, an exploration of the books we read as young adults…the ones that introduced mind-blowing ideas, ushered us into adulthood, and made us think about the world and our place in it.

PG-13 will air occasionally this summer on All Things Considered. Listeners will have an opportunity to share their favorite “reads” on npr.org during the week of July 9. Here are some our the participating authors: Alan Shapiro – A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti Ben Marcus – I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier Tahereh Mafi – Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra Myla Goldberg – On the Beach by Nevil Shute Jodi Picoult – Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell Emily Danforth – The Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Lois Lowry – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith Nick Lake – A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

NPR’s Back-Seat Book Club: June Reading List

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osted by Michele Norris (left), NPR’s Back-Seat Book Club, presented by All Things Considered (ATC), is a special segment aimed at young people ages 9 to 14.

Each month, ATC chooses a special book and asks kids to read it and submit questions or comments for the author by email at backseatbookclub@ npr.org.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the first in a growing series by Jeff Kinney. The book, which documents a year of the tragicomic life of the book’s protagonist – Greg Heffley – is presented in journal form.

Celtic Connections host, Bryan Kelso Crow: Photo: Suzanne Milano.

Saturdays at 7pm • Sundays at 6pm

The book is driven forward not by an unfolding plot line per se, but rather by its sequential format. A hand-written type face, printed on lined paper (as in a journal), is mixed with illustrative cartoons on each page.

June 2 | New Releases

Head to the Back-Seat Book Club website at www.npr.org/ series/141728003/nprs-back-seat-book-club to read an excerpt, listen to previous ATC Back-Seat Book Club features, and more.

This week’s program shines the spotlight on six bands and solo performers of interest, highlighting their newest recordings.

Thank You, Underwriters!

Please join us in thanking the underwriters who recently began, renewed, or expanded their partnerships to make public radio possible:

Eye Care Specialists LLC Southeast Missouri, Carbondale/Marion IL, & Paducah KY Gator Automotive of Carbondale Jackson County Health Department of Carbondale Kemper CPA Group LLP Marion Shawnee Health Services Southern Illinois Department of Theater, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL University Museum, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL Southern Gas Company Carbondale, IL For a complete list of WSIU sponsors and information about sponsoring WSIU programming, visit us online wsiu.org or call (618) 453-4286.

Join host Bryan Kelso Crow for his roundup of some of the best new vocal and instrumental tracks in Celtic music.

June 9 | Six in the Spotlight

June 16 | Old Favorites Recordings from the past five decades are pulled out for this week’s Celtic kaleidoscope.

June 23 | Summer Festival Preview We travel back three decades to 1982 for a nostalgic look at the best new releases in Celtic music of that year.

June 30 | Civil War Music Our annual tradition around the 4th of July is to focus on music of the American Civil War, with a nod to America’s first popular composer of songs, Stephen Foster, born on the 4th of July.

Share Your WSIU Story!

Tell us why you love WSIU Radio, and we’ll share your story on the air, online, or in print!

Online • www.wsiu.org/you Email • you@wsiu.org W S I U i s P o w e r e d b y Yo u ® WSIU Public Radio Communications Building 1003 - MC 6602 Southern Illinois University Carbondale 1100 Lincoln Drive Carbondale IL 62901 • 618/453-6101 • www.wsiu.org • wsiuradio@wsiu.org