Kaitlin Schroeder is WYSO's deputy news director and digital editor.
In this WYSO Weekend excerpt, she discusses her role in managing the station's digital content while emphasizing the station's focus on community-based journalism.
Kaitlin Schroeder: Well, in a lot of ways I feel like my career has led up nicely to this point. I've been in local news about ten years. I worked in Maine, I worked in Dayton, I worked in a lot of different local outlets, and so in many ways it's kind of that traditional training rolled over. But there's also a lot of new stuff about public media that I feel like has been, you know, learning and catching on to. Radio is a lot of fun to do. It's new and exciting in public media. Just the idea of being member supported is just a different feel. I like it a lot.
Jerry Kenney: Yeah. I remember we met years and years ago out on a field assignment of some type that we were both at so it's great to have you on staff here at WYSO. Tell me a little bit about your work as digital editor.
Schroeder: Yeah, So with digital editor, I basically do all the digital production for the news that you hear on the FM dial. So I am editing stories for the web and for the app. I am creating our morning newsletter, which you should all subscribe to, by the way, hits your inbox every weekday 6 a.m., and I am doing our stories for social media, especially something that I've been trying to grow is there's a lot of folks who prefer to get their news on Instagram.
So I've been trying to put our news on social media in a way that is really easy to consume, soundbites from what you hear on the radio so you can get it however you want to. I mean, something that, you know, I think you and I have talked about before is that when you're investing in like a digital position like mine, what I think you're really investing in is access. And I like to think of my job that way, that there's a lot of different ways people can access and encounter the news. And the FM dial is one great way. There’s also podcasts, there's also Instagram, there's also newsletters. There’re all kinds of ways. And so I like to try to think, how can I make our stories so accessible? However you're trying to get your public media.
Kenney: And I think what's interesting to note there is that all of those avenues or media outlets, they're all click based. But we are actually trying to strike a balance between not necessarily just generating clickbait, but good honest reporting and interesting stories.
Schroeder: That's right. And that was kind of one of the things I was, I don't think I said very well, but I was kind of thinking in my head when you asked your first question about, you know, adjusting to the new role. So in public media, something I really love that's very specific about being a digital editor here, is we're not trying to convert clicks for advertisers. We're trying to convert loyalty for membership. I want you to engage in our stories, but I want you to feel loyal to WYSO. I want you to feel like we mean something to your life. And we can feel that way in a lot of different ways through the newsletter, through listening, through podcasts. But loyalty doesn't usually get cultivated from feeling like clicked and tricked. That doesn't make people feel like, connected and you're part of a community. And so community based public radio in the digital space, you really feel that different motivation.
Kenney: Yeah. So every morning we have a news meeting and quite often you have a son who likes to participate in our news meetings.
Schroeder: Yes, I have a two-year-old who he knows how to say WYSO. So his name's Jack. I and my husband, we. We live in Dayton, near Gem City Market and my toddler likes to pop in and just give his thoughts on public radio. You know, just he he's already a little audiophile. We have a very industrious baby gate in our house to try to hold him off from the record player. He's already very into it.
Kenney: He's awfully cute and adds a lot to our sometimes-repetitious news meetings where we all kind of like to just kind of say what we're working on and discuss issues of the day and what WYSO is going to cover and how it's going to cover it. Your personal thoughts on WYSO news coverage.
Schroeder: I really loved being a part of here. I am so enthusiastic, and I think that WYSO tries really hard to be a part of the community, tries really hard to have that belief that, there's no substitute to telling your own story, especially with our Community Voices. You listen to things like Veterans Voices, reentry stories. You know, you hear folks telling their own stories, their own words, even on the news team, I think in our reporting style, like especially Jerry, I think you have some great two -way interviews that shows us where you're asking questions, but you're just kind of guiding people to telling their own story. I love that WYSO is, we're a small station, right? Like we're in a small town and a small community, and I think we really hit above our weight. And I think the skill, like when I'm talking about, you know, you're interviewing, what Mike, the other host, in his interviews, the podcast that we do, the investigations, we do the unique beats and coverage we do, I think we really hit above our weight, honestly, and that's really fun, especially in journalism. You know, you and I, we both seen this, there's a lot of shrinking, a lot of struggling [of media], and I think WYSO feels like... It feels like a powerhouse, like you can really see the membership support reflected. And it's not just a line, like I really mean it and it's incredible to be a part of.
Kenney: Tell me a little bit about how the newsletter that you mentioned earlier is put together.
Schroeder: The process for the newsletter is that every day in the afternoon I start to it put together; I start out trying to do about two local stories created by our team, two statewide stories because we're in part of a really great collaborative network where we can pull in these stories that explain what's happening in the context around the state, and then we're also a part of NPR in the network of NPR, so I tried to look for it to and be our stories. And sometimes that balance is a little different. But I'm looking across all of our coverage to pull in that meaningful stuff. A lot of our audience are interested in some of our unique beats, we cover farming, I think extremely well, agriculture, the environment, and so I, especially when I'm looking at the statewide or national stories, I am looking for stuff that also fits that lens that we cover locally too really well, and that way, because I know we already have an audience that's really interested in that. So I'm pulling that all together and then every morning that's hitting your inbox at 6 a.m.
