Radio Program (the rundown): Science & Technology

This is a radio program produced by myself and my classmates Lamees Hazem and Mariam Maher for the JRMC460 class at the American University in Cairo (AUC).
The program is two parts: a roundtable discussion and an interview.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Host: Nada Badawi
Producers: Lamees Hazem and Mariam Maher
Guest interviewed: Egyptologist and AUC Prof. Salima Ikram
Music: Sleepless Nights (jamendo.com)
Topics covered in the roundtable: iPhone 5, Apple stores in Egypt and worldwide, dangers of technology, Facebook's new privacy policy and online advertising
Topic covered in the interview: The recently discovered cancer mummy known as M1

Behind the scenes...

Since this was the first time to produce a radio program with a group, I believe the overall result was not so bad. What went well the most was the research process and the interview. Being a host, I particularly enjoyed interviewing Egyptologist Salima Ikram. But because she was late for the interview and due to the fact that I had a class afterwards, I had to speed up a bit while interviewing her. However, I think it went smoothly and the questions were relevant to the topic discussed.

The roundtable discussion was nice. Me and the team were able to cover variety of topics and spoke about them in detail. We also mentioned experiences to share knowledge with the listeners, but the fact that there were only two mics was not helpful. I was using one mic the whole time. The producers also used one mic while recording the whole thing.

In general, I believe this was a good lesson and experience to learn from our mistakes for the upcoming news show.

Listening Journal #2: Vegas's Hidden Tunnels

Title: "Sucked Into The Tunnels Beneath Las Vegas"
Narrator and producer: Adam Burke, 2008
Presented by: NPR's Day to Day, USA, 2010
Sound bites in the audio: Matthew O'Brien and workers Steve and Brian
Edited by: Jacob Conrad for NPR's Day to Day.
Duration: 8:32

Briefly describe the audio

• The audio titled "Sucked Into The Tunnels Beneath Las Vegas," produced by the Third Coast International Audio Festival, is an 8 minute and a half piece where Adam Burke takes us to explore one of Vegas's hidden and unfamiliar tunnels and the people who have been living there. 
• He uses people's experiences to tell us nice, relatively compelling stories of when they lived inside the hidden tunnels of Vegas. 

Was it interesting or not?

• Although the topic itself is a little boring, Burke still manages to describe things so well. This is evident when he first introduces the topic and uses beautiful nat sounds of slot machines and coins that make the listener much more able to visualize the atmosphere and the scenes he talks about. He talks about things that we can't see such as the "tourists," "cocktail waitresses" and "tiny outfits" all of which he uses to paint a full picture to the listener. 
• In addition, he succeeds at interviewing people with good stories to tell, which help make his topic somewhat a little interesting, and this clearly shows when we start hearing about Matthew O'Brien, who happens to be an author and an expert about tunnels in Vegas. We also start hearing about two workers in the tunnel, Steve and Brian who also tell us interesting stories about their job experiences, the facilities they have access to and how they survive living in such conditions. 
• Plus, O'Brien's description of the tunnels, events, people and the general atmosphere of Vegas underground give us proper account of what's happening there. His description, along with that of Burke's, is very detailed and sometimes informative to the listener, which helps in making the audio sound a little interesting than the topic itself. 

                                      Photo by: Nada Badawi

Audio quality and use of nat sounds

• He uses nice nat sounds from Vegas's casinos at the beginning which make us imagine poker and blackjack tables, coins, slot machines and video games. He also uses words such as "gravel", "graffiti lettering" and "trickling water" which compliment his description of the place. 
• At the beginning, the nat sounds are powerful making us feel that we're at Vegas already. However, they are not as exciting as I have imagined them to be especially that Burke talks about an interesting, entertaining place like Vegas. In addition, the nat sounds become repetitive and a little boring toward the end as all we get to hear is the echo coming from the tunnel as O'Brien speaks, the water inside the tunnel and few objects like the bucket. 
• We also hear some nat sounds above the tunnels such as the nat sound of the parking area that Burke ends up talking about. 
• In general, the nat sounds aren't at all distracting or getting in the way of the audio, but they're just not diverse and powerful enough. The production of the audio is of good quality. All in all, the audio sound is not distorted, nat sounds are clear and the narration and the delivery are all free of errors.

Quality of narrator's voice?

• Burke's approach is interesting as he grabs the listener's attention to what he's talking about, especially when he says that there's an elevator that could "take you to more vice and excess upstairs." Generally interesting and a nicely descriptive documentary.
• His narration is very pure and natural. He tries to be conversational and there are peaks and valleys in his voice and tone. At the beginning, he excites us when he says that you could go beyond what's familiar and move beyond the kitchen closets and luxurious lounges and instead see the "hidden matrix of tunnels." 
• His narration is clean, clear and not distorted which is what matters at the end, because what he is saying is mainly what the listener is interested to know and hear about for the first time.

Writing quality of the narrator?

• Initially, he doesn't tell us what's so special about the tunnel except that it's hidden and that almost no one knows about it. 
• The only part where it gets interesting is the fact that there are some art galleries that O'Brien finds and talks about while he's touring us into the unknown, almost two minutes after he talks about the fact that there are tunnels and that there are storm rains. 
• But Burke's writing quality in this audio is very nicely detailed, descriptive and helps the reader to easily visualize Vegas and the hidden tunnels. 

Was the documentary too long or too short?

• The documentary wasn't too long or too short. The total length of the audio was OK. 
• But because the topic and the nat sounds used were a little boring, I felt uninterested and that the documentary is a bit too long especially that there was nothing exciting to expect.

Does documentary end and begin strongly? why? why not?

• It begins very strongly as Burke succeeds in painting a good colorful picture to the listener about Vegas and what is there and what to expect. 
• But he ends his documentary very poorly as he says that people at Vegas will always be more interested to see Vegas rather than what's happening at the tunnels.

PROMO: Revolutionary Music in Egypt and at AUC

This is a promo assignment for my JRMC460 class to advertise for my final audio documentary on music after the January uprising in Egypt.

Cairokee band singing at AUC new campus, Spring 2012

      Photo by: Randa Ali

Script: 

Audio Documentary Promo
Heading: Revolutionary Music in Egypt and at AUC

Presenter: Nada Badawi 
Interviewee: Ahmed Alaa Fayed, The American University in Cairo's (AUC) Student Union president
Duration: 30 seconds

Cairokee band's music (Oud music, FADE IN)

SOUND BITE of Ahmed Alaa Fayed: 
"Simply they are trying to see what the people want to listen and want to see on campus and they try to get these bands here. Now is a revolution time, so let’s all concentrate on the revolution in all terms even when it comes to entertainment, we should be entertained through revolution related issues." 

(Cairokee band's music, Oud music, FADE IN)

SOUND BITE of Nada Badawi: 

"Attend the listening session, at AUC's New Cairo campus on Sunday, May 14 and Wednesday May 16 at 10 a.m. each day in the BEC building, room 1060."

Cairokee band's music, Oud music (FADE OUT)


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cairokee music: http://tahrirmusic.france24.com/index-ar.html

Link to promo on blog: http://bit.ly/wEwoju 
Link to promo on Soundcloud:  http://bit.ly/yd0GlQ

Interview segment - with Ahmed Alaa Fayed:

This post is an interview segment which is part of my final audio documentary for AUC's radio production course for class of Spring 2012. My topic basically explores revolutionary music after the January uprising and how entertainment activities have been affected at AUC's campus.

In this post, I interview Ahmed Alaa Fayed, AUC's Student Union president who talks about the SU's entertainment activities after the emergence of several music bands since the January 25 Revolution in Egypt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interviewer and host: Nada Badawi

Interviewee: Ahmed Alaa Fayed, AUC's Student Union President 2011-2012 

Lead-in: Music has changed drastically after the January 25 Revolution in Egypt. In this interview segment, Student Union President, Ahmed Alaa Fayed, talks about how music and entertainment events at AUC have changed after the revolution. He also talks about how has it become easier for student organizations to host controversial, music artists on campus after the January's uprising.


Transcript: 


SOUNDBITE of Badawi:
"Throughout AUC’s history, there were regular entertainment events where student organizations hosted artists and singers like Mahmoud El-Esseily, Mohamed Hamaki, Amr Diab and many others. How have these entertainment events changed now after the January uprising? How has that changed?" (:31)

SOUNDBITE of Fayed:

Ahmed Alaa Fayed, AUC's Student Union president

"OK, I personally believe that after the revolution everyone is trying to adapt to what’s happening and trying to, as much as possible, to seek the maximum output and the maximum outreach any organization can reach. So simply they are trying to see what the people want to listen and want to see on campus and they try to get these bands here. For example, before the revolution, if anyone would have got like Eskenderella or any political band or whatever, no one would have showed up for the event, but now, everyone come and attend the event. On the other hand, in the past, when Esseily used to come, everyone used to come and see Esseily, but now when Esseily comes, no now it’s a revolution time. So that’s the point, now is a revolution time, so let’s all concentrate on the revolution in all terms even when it comes to entertainment, we should be entertained through revolution related issues. So,
that’s the issue right now and it’s something that’s happening throughout Egypt and it’s just reflecting on AUC on a very small scale. Now everyone is concerned with revolution, everyone is focusing more on the revolution, and how he, she or the organization itself can get the maximum output they can reach from the revolution and gain the maximum things they can reach out from the revolution and gain." (1:32)

SOUNDBITE of Badawi:
"Alright. You mentioned something about before, if we used to get these bands, if it were in our hands to get these bands before the revolution, no one would have been interested. But also we have this issue at AUC where when students used to hold student activities or events or forums that would host controversial figures or public figures that would, you know, create problems at the university because we used to talk about politics openly sometimes. Has that changed now? Is the Office of Student Development still restricting student activities in terms of who they can host, what events they can host and what kind of events that they can host? Are there any restrictions anymore after the revolution or has that changed?" (:34)

SOUNDBITE of Fayed: "OK, in the past as we go on, there have been some popular situations like *MAL when they invited Mr. Ayman Nour and the OSD refused. When Mr. Hisham Shafick tried to unite all the student unions in Egypt and create Egyptian student union and he failed because of the OSD and the state security. So simply the OSD was reflecting on what the State Security wanted to do. So simply the OSD was just a tool. After the revolution, the case is different. We were able, under this union, to hold the first Egyptian student union in 30 years here on AUC grounds. Actually we were also to invite whoever we want. So simply we’re getting more freedom, but this is because of the revolution, not because the OSD changed its perception. Actually the osd throughout history didn’t have any problems but the OSD itself tried as much as possible to avoid problems with, especially, the state security. (1:10)

SOUNDBITE of Badawi: "OK. After the revolution, President Lisa Anderson imposed a new policy, a freedom of expression policy related to music, content photography on campus. Do you think that has in a way, contributed to, you know, free events, having events without any restrictions, having events without any red lines, having events without any problems as you said. Did that really help in promoting a better freedom of expression policy on campus after the revolution or has that not changed much?" (:27)

SOUNDBITE of Fayed: "OK, I think this new freedom of expression policy was a very clear message showing that AUC has regained its sovereignty over its campus, and that we can do whatever we want on our campus as long as its not conflicting with any of our values, our AUC values. So, I think that was a message to all AUC community to show them that this is our campus right now and we can do whatever we want." (:33) 

• Link to interview on blog: http://bit.ly/y2hruz
• Link to interview on Soundcloud: http://bit.ly/yFiEoN

Podcast #1: Girls of Riyadh

Book: Girls of Riyadh
Author: Rajaa Alsanea

Music1: Egyptian Mizmar at Wedding
Link - http://www.archive.org/details/EgyptianMizmarAtWedding
Music 2: Zaffet Al Arous, Salatin El Farab Orchestra  
Link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrM0X76r-Ds

                                                                     Fadi Gwanni

Excerpt:

One never knows who might be looking at the photos from the bride's or groom's side, and like any decent girl, Sadeem wouldn't want strange men to see her in an exposing evening dress and full makeup. She adjusted the veil on Gamrah's head and gave a tiny jiggle to the train after each step Gamrah took as her radar picked up fragments of conversation at nearby tables.

"Who's she?"
"Ma shaa Allah, * God willing, no envy touch her, she's so pretty!"
(*Ma shaa Allah is an Islamic phrase that one says in order not to jinx someone's luck.)
"The bride's sister?"
"They say she's an old friend." 
"She seems a good girl - since we arrived I've seen her running around taking care of all sorts of things - it looks like she's carrying the whole wedding on her shoulders."
"She's a good deal prettier than the bride. Can you believe it, I heard that Prophet Mohamed used to send up prayers for the unlovely ones!"
"God's blessings and peace be upon him. E wallah,* must be true, because I swear, the ugly ones seem to be in demand these days. Not us, what bad luck."
(*E wallah means swearing in God's name that something is true.)
"Is her blood pure? Her skin is so fair."
"Her father's mother was Syrian."
"Her name is Sadeem Al-Horaimli. Her mother's family is married into ours. If your son is serious, I can get you the details about her."


Sadeem had already been told that three ladies had asked about her since the wedding started. Now she heard numbers four and five with her own ears. Every time one of Gamrah's sisters came over to tell her that so-and-so had been asking questions, she murmured demurely, "May good health knock on her door."

It seemed to Sadeem as if Gamrah's marriage might indeed be "the first pearl to roll off the necklace," as Auntie Um Nuwayyir put it. Perhaps now the rest of the girls would be just as lucky. That is, if they followed the plan Auntie had concocted.

The strategy of yaaalla yaaalla, which means "get going, but just baaarely," is the most foolproof path to a quick marriage proposal in our conservative society. The idea is to be energetic and constrained at the same time, and after that you can be as foolish as you want.

Nat sound, AUC HUSS

Log:

Moving cleaning machine on campus

Utensils clinking at salad bar place on campus - Saladero.

Staff working at Omda To Go (restaurant on campus)
Sound of footsteps (walking heels)

Door opening and closing.

Water fountain.