By Josie Lenora
Little Rock Public Radio is wrapping up the first chapter of a big investigative project. Two Little Rock Public Radio Reporters, Josie Lenora and Maggie Ryan, are working to make an anthology news podcast for the station. This year, Josie received the first APW mini-grant, which is helping fund the show.
The podcast is called Track One. The first season is about libraries, while the second is a deep dive into Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, though they want to keep the exact details under wraps. Josie is the host, lead writer and showrunner on Track One, while Maggie serves as her executive producer and fact-checker. When she got the grant, Josie used the money to pay Maggie.
“You can’t really fact check your own work,” Josie said. “So, Maggie was doing a lot of free labor for me. Her contributions are brilliant, and she’s spent hours making sure each word is true. I am so happy I could pay her.”
Josie is the politics and government reporter at LRPR, while Maggie is the All Things Considered host. Both women attended Hendrix College, but not at the same time. Josie found Maggie after combing through names of graduating Hendrix students with journalism experience.
“That is not a decision I will ever regret,” Josie said. “She’s a public media natural.”
Josie has wanted to make a podcast for the station since she started as an intern, and wanted to make narrative radio since she first heard This American Life, as a child. The premise of Track One echoes the format of her favorite podcasts: Bear Brook from NHPR, Slate’s Slow Burn, the New Yorker’s In The Dark and WBUR’s Motive. These are shows with in-depth reporting, but also make for a good listening experience.
The best long-form podcasts take months if not years to make. Josie researches, writes and edits the final product, while Maggie checks for accuracy and gives feedback and edits. Every sentence and paragraph in the final product comes after careful kneading of both the audio and script.
Season One should be finished soon, while Season Two is in the deep research phase. Production on Season One has slowed because the story hasn’t fully wrapped. Josie is waiting for an event to happen, before she can stamp her approval on the final episode.
In the meantime, she and Maggie are excited to eventually share the investigative project with the public, and grateful to the Little Rock Public Radio team for their support.