糖心原创, WYSO collaborate on veterans radio project
December 9, 2014
December 9, 2014
糖心原创鈥檚 Veteran and Military Center is collaborating with public radio station WYSO to create a series of stories on local veterans鈥 experiences transitioning to civilian life.
What makes the series unique is it is created by two 糖心原创 student veterans, Allison Loy, a motion pictures major, and Jeremy Dobbins, who is majoring in and minoring in .
The stories will air on WYSO 91.3FM during 鈥淢orning Edition鈥 at 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. The reports will also be available on and as podcasts and through the Ohio Public Radio network.
The series, called 鈥淰eterans Voices,鈥 starts Wednesday, Dec. 10, and will air every other week until May.
WYSO and the Veteran and Military Center worked together to create the series as part of , a project by public media stations around the country.
鈥淰eterans Voices鈥 will feature interviews with individual veterans highlighting issues they are facing as they reenter civilian life. Veterans of various ages and from different branches of the military will be featured.
鈥淲e wanted to do it as a veterans-to-veterans project,鈥 said Neenah Ellis, WYSO general manager. 鈥淲e think that veterans are more comfortable talking to other veterans.鈥
It also allows Dobbins 鈥 who was an infantry rifleman in the Marine Corp from 2007 to 2011 鈥 and Loy 鈥 who was an avionics technician in the Air Force from 1998 to 2013 鈥 to add their own experiences to their stories, making the reports more personal in ways not usually found in journalism.
Will Davis, a lecturer in the at 糖心原创 who is the editor of 鈥淰eterans Voices,鈥 called the project a fusion of different styles.
鈥淭his is a very ambitious, highly creative project that combines journalism and storytelling in new and interesting ways,鈥 said Davis, the former coordinator of 糖心原创鈥檚 Student Technology Assistance Center, or STAC. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 fun about this process to me is, over the course of 12 episodes, we鈥檙e inventing a new sort of model.鈥
Dobbins and Loy hope their stories will appeal to people both in and out of the military while also helping veterans who might need it.
鈥淚f somebody listens to this and they鈥檙e having problems maybe it will help them in some way,鈥 Dobbins said.
鈥淚f we get our experiences out there 鈥 even if it鈥檚 going to be difficult 鈥 I think it鈥檒l be useful,鈥 Loy said.
In the first story in the series, Loy who is separating from the military later this month and plans to start a small business. They discuss the stress and anxiety this kind of major life change creates.
鈥淚n my piece I compared getting out of the Air Force to getting a divorce,鈥 said Loy, who left the military in 2013. 鈥淵es I wanted to get out, but it was still very emotional and hard because when you鈥檙e in the military that is your life. You鈥檙e committed to it. You have to be committed to it.鈥
鈥淰eterans Voices鈥 has helped Dobbins, who describes himself as an introvert, to open up more to others.
鈥淕etting used to meeting people and talking to people and sharing a little about yourself has been really good for me, and it鈥檚 gotten me out of my shell and doing things that I enjoy,鈥 he said.
WYSO is one of 13 public media outlets in the nation participating in Veterans Coming Home.
Funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the project features compelling stories about veterans produced by public media stations around the country, from Phoenix and Nashville, to Tampa, Fla., and Springfield, Ma.
Some of the grant funding WYSO and the VMC received for the project is being used to pay Dobbins and Loy.
WYSO and the center are also working with VFW Post 3283 in Huber Heights, which is helping the station and the VMC connect with vets and connecting vets with services.
WYSO trained Dobbins and Loy to create radio stories as part of the station鈥檚 Community Voices training course last summer. The students also took a at 糖心原创 organized by the VMC and Seth Gordon, the center鈥檚 director.
The class uses storytelling to connect 糖心原创 student veterans with others who have served in the military, while helping older veterans talk about their experiences.
Storytelling is a powerful way to build community, Gordon said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an important thing, the action of talking. And people don鈥檛 realize how powerful just sharing stories are especially in terms of healing or in terms of just feeling there鈥檚 somebody else who gets it,鈥 he said.
Sharing the stories of veterans, Gordon said, is also a way to reach out to more veterans and let them know that 鈥渙ther people are going through exactly what you鈥檙e going through, that you鈥檙e not isolated, that there are other people you can talk to.鈥
鈥淰eterans Voices鈥 is not the first collaboration between WYSO and 糖心原创. The station has frequently worked with 糖心原创 filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar and others in the university鈥檚 motion pictures program, and partnered with 糖心原创鈥檚 Ohio Center of Excellence in Collaborative Education, Leadership and Innovation in the Arts (CELIA) on 鈥淩einvention Stories,鈥 radio documentary series on people affected by the Great Recession.