Audio Journalism

Join Us

The Audio Journalism specialty emphasizes rigorous reporting, technical expertise, teamwork, creativity, innovation and developing strong narratives, whether for short news reports on live radio or for longform podcasts and documentary.


In our first-semester introductory course, Fundamentals of Audio Reporting, students learn the foundations of writing and reporting for the ear, as well as the basics of sound recording and editing in ProTools. Over the next two semesters, they can choose courses in Audio Documentary, Advanced Audio Reporting and Newswriting, Narrative Podcast Production, Audio News Magazine Production, Sound Design and Studio Skills, Podcast Pitching and Development, Vocal Performance for Radio and Podcast, The Art of the Audio Interview as well as Special Topics courses in emerging trends in audio journalism.

Our professors combine top-notch editorial and production skills with a passion for education and innovation. They are award-winning professionals at the top of their fields who report, produce, edit and write for top radio and podcast companies including Futuro Media, NPR, WNYC, Reveal and Pineapple Street Studios.

Stories produced in our classes have aired on Latino USA, WHYY’s The Pulse, WNYC News, Planet Money, Marketplace, BBC Radio, NPR News, Pacifica, and CBS Radio. Our in-house news magazine, AudioFiles, has won dozens of Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence awards and Associated Collegiate Press Awards since 2012. Our students’ narrative podcast and documentary work has been honored by the Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition and the Online News Association awards.

Our award-winning alumni now host, produce and report throughout the public radio system and podcast industry.

Our Faculty

maggieFreleng

Student and Alumni Work

Check out our students’ Audio Documentaries, Narrative Podcasts and AudioFiles, our live-to-tape radio news magazine. And follow us on SoundCloud to listen to more student work from audio courses.

Here are some highlights of recent work and achievements by our audio alumni and students:

  • Maggie Freleng, ’15, was awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting as host and producer of Suave, a podcast by Futuro Media. 
  • Lisa Hagen, ’11 was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting as co-host of the investigative podcast No Compromise
  • KalaLea, ’16, is a producer at WNYC and The New Yorker Radio Hour and she is the host of Blindspot: Tulsa Burning, a collaboration with the History Channel, WNYC Studios , KOSU and Focus Black Oklahoma. In 2022, KalaLea and the Tulsa Burning team were awarded a duPont Columbia Journalism Award, two Webbys for Best Series and Best Writing, as well as a NAACP Image Award. They were also nominated for a Peabody Award. 
  • Alana Casanova-Burgess ’10 is the host and producer of the bilingual (Spanish/English) narrative podcast series La Brega: Stories of the Puerto Rican Experience, a co-production from WNYC Studios and Futuro Studios.
  • Yessenia Moreno ’21 won first place for Radio: In-Depth Reporting at the SPJ regional Mark of Excellence Awards for her AudioFiles story Healthcare Proxies in the Time of Covid about a New York woman’s fight for the right to become her best friend’s health care proxy after he was hospitalized for COVID-19. 
  • Sean Carlson ’12 was named host of All Things Considered on WNYC in February 2021.
  • Suzannah Cavanaugh ’20 is the co-host and producer of Deconstruct, a podcast from The Real Deal. She was also nominated for Best New Artist by the 2021 Third Coast/RHDF Awards for a documentary she produced as a Newmark student about restaurant workers during covid lockdowns in the spring of 2020.

Right: Maggie Freleng ’15 (Photo: David Doobin)

Contact Us

Do you have a question about the Audio Journalism specialty? If so, please contact us.

Kalli Anderson
Director of Audio Journalism
kalli.anderson@journalism.cuny.edu