TOURS AND INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR STORYCORPS OPENING DAY IN AKRON ON AUGUST 27

Thursday August 20, 2009

WKSU will host a media open house to celebrate the beginning of the StoryCorps Mobile Unit’s residency in Akron on Thursday, Aug. 27 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Mobile Unit, housed in a customized Airstream trailer, will be located on S. Main St. in front of the Akron-Summit County Public Library from Aug. 27 through Sept. 19. Former Deputy Mayor Dorothy O. Jackson has been confirmed as one of the first interviews of StoryCorps’ stay in Akron. She will talk with Reverend Dr. Ronald J. Fowler. Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic is expected to attend the opening reception as well.

The StoryCorps staff, which includes trained facilitators, will be conducting approximately 120 interviews during their stay in Akron. As part of the open house, members of the media are invited to tour StoryCorps’ Airstream Mobile Unit and interview the facilitators. Although the original block of interview times in Akron have been filled, an additional group will be made available on Aug. 28 at 10 a.m. StoryCorps anticipates that these times will be taken within an hour.

The Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps is a wide-reaching oral history project that set out to gather personal stories from every state in America. Begun with a recording booth in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal in 2003, StoryCorps launched two mobile recording units in 2005, each covering half of the United States. In three years, they have traveled to more than 100 cities in 48 states, including a six-month tour of Alaska.

The project invites pairs of related people from all backgrounds to record conversations about a subject of their choosing with the idea that listening is an act of love. Participants in Akron will leave the mobile unit with a CD of their discussion, with an additional copy going to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Portions of some interviews are also used for StoryCorps’ regular segment on NPR’s “Morning Edition.” On Nov. 28, 2008, StoryCorps introduced the National Day of Listening, an event that encouraged everyone in the country to sit down and have a conversation.

WKSU’s presentation of StoryCorps in Akron is made possible with support from Gabrail Cancer Center, Kent State University Libraries, Kent State University Press and METRO Regional Transit Authority.

WKSU broadcasts NPR & Classical Music at 89.7 FM, and is a service of Kent State University. WKSU programming is also heard on WKRW 89.3 FM in Wooster, WKRJ 91.5 FM in Dover/New Philadelphia, WKSV 89.1 FM in Thompson, WNRK 90.7 in Norwalk, W298BA 107.5 FM in Boardman, and W239AZ 95.7 FM in Ashland. The station broadcasts three HD Radio channels – adding WKSU-2 Folk Alley and WKSU-3 The Classical Channel to the analog broadcast schedule. The Classical Channel can also be heard in Cleveland at 107.3 HD-3. The WKSU web site is www.wksu.org.

PR09.12                     ###                 8/20/09

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