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How one NCRA member rocked a radio interview

JCRiconBy Donna Cascio, RDR, CMRS

Currently my husband and I live in a rural setting about 70 miles away from downtown Pittsburgh, but I lived in the city as a reporting student and have always felt a part of that scene. One of the morning rituals in our home is waking up at 6 a.m. to the Morning Show with Randy Baumann on WDVE (known locally as DVE), a rock radio station.

On Sundays we still get up early because we attend a 7:30 a.m. church service, so we let the radio come on as per usual. DVE airs different programming on Sundays, and one show is called Pittsburgh Sunday Morning, with Sean McDowell. It airs at 7a.m. and is a public affairs program, often highlighting local charity events, such as runs or walks benefiting various organizations. Sean invites listeners to contact him if there is an upcoming event to highlight, and he emphasizes that the topic does not need to be related to a charity.

Because the Pennsylvania Court Reporters Association and NCRA did such a good job urging all of us in the court reporting world to highlight our professions to the community preceding National Court Reporting & Captioning Week in February, I immediately thought, why not?

I emailed Sean on Feb. 2, and he responded two days later. The rest, as they say, is history. Mary Beth Johnson, CRI, professor of court reporting at Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Amy Bowlen, RDR, CRR, CRC, Imperial, Pa., former head of captioner training at VITAC, were totally on board when I asked them to participate, and we snapped up the opportunity Sean gave us – the date of May 18, at noon, to record the interview. Although that was past Court Reporting & Captioning Week, we were thrilled to be able to talk about the profession we love.

As a prelude to this interview, I gathered material that NCRA had available on its website regarding our profession, asked a few questions, and even reached out to NCRA Past President Nancy Varallo, RDR, CRR, Worcester, Mass., about the connection between reporting and music. I also had pertinent information from a recent interview I had done with a local newspaper.

I sifted through all of it and sent Sean some interesting facts and figures. He really did the rest! He was so thorough in covering the topics, and we reporters added comments throughout. Sean did a marvelous job hitting high points and seemed truly fascinated by what we do.

Because the folks at this radio station are “celebrities” to us, we had a great time meeting some of them after the interview and touring the studios. All in all, it was a great experience.

Read the transcript of the radio show.