RJI public radio collaboration extends conversation across platforms as part of live remote news coverage

RJI Intersection host, Reuben Stern (right), engages in a panel discussion after the governor's State of the State address.

Immediately following a live broadcast of the Missouri governor’s annual State of the State address on Jan. 17, RJI's Futures Lab, in collaboration with the news staff at NPR-affiliate station KBIA/91.3 FM, engaged the mid-Missouri public radio audience in a live multi-platform discussion right from the rotunda at the State Capitol.

The half-hour panel discussion not only was broadcast as audio via the radio station, but also included a live video feed and online chat on the Web. Audience members were encouraged to go online, where they shared their reactions to the speech as well as their questions for the panelists. Their comments in the online chat room then steered the questions put to panelists on the program.

While live streaming video of an official speech has been done by many newsrooms, this was the first time radio station KBIA offered a piece of live original programming directly from the scene of a news event that also included a chance for the community to participate in the conversation and watch it as video via the Web.

“A lot of news comes from the State of the State address and the conversations surrounding it,” said KBIA News Director Janet Saidi. “So to be right there in the middle of the statehouse right while it was unfolding, and to be able to not only report on it but foster a conversation about it was really exciting."

The four invited panelists included two members of the state legislature, the deputy commissioner of the Department of Higher Education, and a longtime statehouse journalist.

The program was produced by KBIA’s Rehman Tungekar and moderated by RJI Futures Lab Editor Reuben Stern, who hosts a similar multi-platform discussion program for KBIA from RJI's studio each week.

RJI Futures Lab Studio Director Travis McMillen created the video feed using three separate cameras, two manned and one robotic. The cameras fed into a TriCaster portable production unit that switched, recorded and live-streamed the video to the Web while simultaneously feeding the audio to the KBIA studio 30 miles away.

To view the program on the KBIA Intersection website:
http://intersectkbia.weebly.com/1/post/2012/01/on-the-scene-state-of-the-state-address.html

Main KBIA website:
http://www.kbia.org