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The journalism field is an open arena for experimentation. With the amount of storytelling mediums, there is always an opportunity to try something new and learn about different formats of stories, even when you are years into your journalism career.

Jacqueline Marino, professor in the School of Media and Journalism, used the time in her fall 2021 sabbatical to learn the techniques of audio storytelling. A sabbatical, or a faculty professional improvement leave, gives professors time to work on a personal project, typically seven years in their tenure. Normally, Marino would spend her time with written pieces, but she has been fascinated with audio for years.

“I wanted to see how I could apply the skills that I have to this new, for me, medium,” Marino said. “I wanted to see, ‘How can I find a story that I can tell in the audio format, how can I find characters and how can I make them come alive in the recording the way that I feel like I can make them come alive on paper?’”

Marino spent two days in Columbia County with a family physician to understand the current issues surrounding rural doctors in Northeast Ohio. She was able to work with 89.7 WKSU to get her story on the air and published on its .

“There are not enough healthcare providers in rural areas because the way the healthcare system is, it sort of favors more heavily populated areas,” Marino said. “So, we wanted to look at what was happening in rural areas where you don’t have the access to healthcare that you have in a Cleveland, or an Akron, or Cincinnati.”

Although this was her first time working on an audio story, it’s not the first time she has reported on healthcare in the area. In 2012, her book “White Coats: Three Journeys Through an American Medical School” was released. The book followed three Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine students studying to become doctors.

Marino has focused her on telling stories from the Rust Belt. She says she learned about a lot of things during this process: recorders, microphones and making people comfortable opening up.

“I didn’t want to do any kind of project where I wasn’t able to be immersed in an environment that I was covering…” Marino said.

“When we’re writing, we can interview people about what the environment was like for them. But with audio storytelling, you have to be there because you have to capture it.”

The skills she acquired during her sabbatical will be applied to the classes she teaches at Kent State. Her students in Advanced Magazine Writing this semester will be working to produce multimedia pieces on the resettlement of refugees in Akron.

“I just feel like when you’re listening, when you’re really listening, it helps your story so much,” Marino said. “I got a real education in listening. I thought I was a good observer before, but I really feel like I am a better observer now having done the story.”