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A reporter’s unlikely journey into discovering audio journalism

by Sofia Sierra | Aug 29, 2025 | Sofia Sierra, Uncategorized

“Intense,” yet “rewarding.” These are the two words that previous University of Texas at El Paso and NextGen alumni María Ramos Pacheco and Alyson Rodriguez used to describe this program. Seeing the application for NPR Next Generation Radio was intimidating, but I...

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The Next Generation Radio Project is a week-long digital journalism training project designed to give competitively selected participants, who are interested in radio and journalism, the skills and opportunity to report and produce their own multimedia story. Those chosen for the project are paired with a professional journalist who serves as their mentor for that week.

This #NPRNextGenRadio project was sponsored by The Texas Newsroom collaborative, which includes, KUT News in Austin; KERA News in Dallas; Houston Public Media in Houston; Texas Public Radio in San Antonio; and Texas Standard.

Our journalists/mentors for this project were:

  • Carlton Abernathy, Journalism Faculty, Houston Community College, Houston, TX
  • Seth Bodine, Econ Dev Reporter, Dallas Business Journal, Fort Worth, TX
  • Syeda Carrillo, Senior News Editor, KUT, Austin, TX
  • Maggie Freleng, Pulitzer-winning Journalist and Producer, Austin, TX
  • Mónica Ortiz Uribe, Freelance Journalist, El Paso, TX
  • Laura Rice, Managing Producer, Texas Standard, Austin, TX

Our staff:

  • Managing Editor – Erika Aguilar, Independent Journalism Leader, Hayward, CA
  • Digital Editors – Laura Isensee, Executive Producer, City Cast, Houston, TX; Laura Gonzalez, Adjunct Professor, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA; Gabby Muñoz, Managing Editor, Texas Standard, Austin, TX; Rachel Osier Lindley, Senior Editor, The Texas Newsroom, Dallas, TX
  • Audio Tech/Engineers – Tinu Thomas, Community Podcast Producer, Austin, TX; Juan Carlos Torrado, Audio Tech, Marketplace, Los Angeles, CA
  • Illustrators –  Sophie Barlow, Portland, OR; Lauren Ibañez, Houston, TX
  • Visual Editors –  Madeleine King, Newsletter Product Manager, Iowa Public Radio, Des Moines, IA; Patricia Lim, Multimedia Producer, KUT, Austin, TX
  • Copy Editor – Elaine Heinzman, Content Designer, Publicis Sapient, Washington, DC

NPR’s Next Generation Radio program is directed by its founder, Doug Mitchell, Consultant, NPR, Washington, D.C.