Specificity of radio journalism, genres of radio press, differences between a text written for a newspaper and a text for radio, steps for a radio broadcast, its format and mode of transmission, editing sounds, must-have skills to be a radio journalist, code of conduct – these are the themes learned by the SAJ students at the Radio Journalism course. For almost a month, the students were guided by Diana Railean, Liliana Barbăroşie and Tamara Grejdeanu, journalists at Radio Free Europe and SAJ graduates.

To discover the world of radio, the course was divided into several modules. To begin with, Liliana Barbăroşie initiated the students in the art of radio journalism: she presented practical information about how a radio news is structured, about the ephemerality of information, the secrets of capturing radio listeners’ attention, and the clear reporting of the subjects. Then, under the guidance of Tamara Grejdeanu, the future journalists learned about the technical possibilities of creating radio material and the things they need to keep in mind when producing a radio material: editing sound options through digital programs, editorial issues, field approach, ambience and proximity to potential interlocutors. Finally, Diana Railean talked about Audio Storytelling, teaching the students how to make good radio stories and putting into practice the technical skills already assimilated. The young people worked as storytellers, made sophisticated sound productions and realized that journalists had a hard word to say in changing mentalities.

This year’s students also benefited from a two-day training on podcasts – a useful and convenient consumer product that is becoming more and more popular. The module was provided by Ana Gherciu, editor-in-chief at the Moldova.org portal, who revealed to the students the secrets of the new media trend.

The course ended with the most complicated module – Radio Newsroom. The instructors Liliana Barbăroşie and Diana Răilean helped the students to work on a final project under the editorial conditions: on a complex radio talk show, with all the necessary “ingredients”: intro, news bulletin, vox, recording, montage. The trainers were pleased with the results of the young people and suggested that they continue to pursue a successful career in journalism. The next course at SAJ is TV Journalism.