We’re looking for a Production Assistant/Assistant Producer to join Planet Money, one of the best and most popular podcasts around. We’re a highly-collaborative team where the best idea rises to the top and everyone pitches in when it’s needed. We make two podcasts each week, radio stories for Morning Edition and All Things Considered and work alongside our colleagues at The Indicator podcast on an additional five podcast episodes a week. It’s not easy. But you’ll have a team of smart, creative colleagues to help. You’ll have two other producers working with you and handle many tasks on a rotation leaving time leaving time to find stories to pitch.
You don’t need to be an economist, but you do need to show up ready to dive into the subject matter and come up to speed fast. You’ll doing lots of audio mixing and booking, and general audio news producing. Expect lots of talking about stories and structure and narrative too.
- Assist reporters as needed.
- Cut, edit and mix episodes of the show with guidance from producers and reporters.
- Gather field tape and “found sound” from online and other sources.
- Assist with live events.
- Book guests for interviews and conduct research on show topics.
- Produce content for digital media, including scheduling social media posts, writing web copy and newsletters if we ever get around to launching a new one.
- Contribute to the overall journalism of the team generally.
- Complete other tasks as needed.
- 1-3 years of experience in a news environment.
- Experience in podcasting and/or radio broadcasting.
- Ability to edit audio decisively, on deadline.
- Eagerness to nerd out about economics.
- Strong storytelling sensibilities and an ability to identify anecdotes that can bring a larger idea or research finding to life.
- Experience and demonstrated commitment to fact-checking.
- Thorough knowledge of research tools, including online databases.
- Demonstrated ability to work quickly and efficiently under deadline pressure.
- Ability to handle more than one assignment at a time; ability to prioritize, anticipate and communicate effectively.
- Ability and willingness to work varied shifts.
- Generally being a nice person who can get along with a talented team of journalists even in times of high stress.
- Proven ability to consistently work well with others, demonstrating, at all times, respect for the diverse constituencies at NPR and within the public radio system.
- Ability and willingness to relocate. In the future, NPR may choose to transfer employees to other geographic locations. Severance provisions of the AFTRA collective bargaining agreement will apply should you choose not to accept a transfer.
Preferred:
- Ability to use recording equipment to gather field sound.
- A natural interest in news.
- An economics background.
- A practiced instinct for social media.
- Ambition and interest in improving our web and social media presence.
- Digital media skills, including proficiency in social media as a newsgathering technique