kimmymoss

Disclaimer before I begin: I am not experienced in viewing any blogs other than those that either my classmates or myself produce from onmason.com.  With that said, I really had to search hard to find blogs that I thought would be credible enough to target towards my press release for the YMCA about fall swimming lessons.

1. Blonde Mom Blog: http://blondemomblog.com/

Assuming mothers with children read this, and those mothers and looking for something for their children to do to stay active this fall, viewers of this blog wouuld probably be interested in signing their kids or themself up for swimming lessons at the YMCA this fall.

2. Mat’s Swimming Blog: http://swimming.about.com/b/

Here, a blog about swimming would probably include adults with children who need swimming lessons.

3. D.C. Sports Bog Blog, by Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/

Assuming this news release would correspond to YMCAs in the Washington Metropolitan area, one of the biggest sports blogs in the area might attract interest in swimming lessons from adults with active children.

4.  DCBlogs: http://dcblogs.com/

Again, playing on proximity of D.C. adults to a YMCA in or nearby D.C., this blog would be a good idea to target.

5. South Riding, VA Real Estate Blog: http://south-riding.blogspot.com/

This blog would be benefitical to target the YMCA press release towards because as my hometown, a very family-oriented community, adults looking to buy a new home for their family are probably also interested in activities available nearby the community, such as swimming lessons.

Other note: Just being honest, this exercise was hard for me.  That might have to do with the fact that I have a mild concussion from my soccer game last Friday, but still… how does one successfully find credible blogs?

First off– I had planned to cover a story that my dad did on WTOP, since he’s one of the morning anchors there from 5 to 10 a.m. every weekday, but unfortunately, I didn’t really get to a radio in time for that this morning.  So I decided to go to wtopnews.com and go into the archives of audio clips to find a story I could use for this assignment.

I came across a story by Kristi King titled “April’s Hot Weather.”  Since I ran in the 90 degree heat this afternoon, it seemed the perfect topic for me to choose. It can be found here: http://wtopnews.com/?sid=628055&nid=524 

How it was told on the radio: King blended sound from a diner, presumably cooking scrambled eggs, to highlight how hot it was outside, while delivering a brief report on the hot April weather.  She also incorporated quotes from people about the weather, including those with positive and negative attitudes toward it. 

Aspects of aural writing I heard: Kept sentences short, emphasized the immediate and used creative attention getter (so hot eggs could burn outside). 

How it was different from how a print journalist would have written the story: It was very short and brief, and didn’t go into great depth.  It had sound from interviewees, which obviously a print journalist would not have been able to do.  Also, a print journalist would probably not have drawn a connection from the weather being so hot that you could scramble eggs outside.  But in radio, it’s catchy and interesting.