Colorado College students Eli Jaynes ’24 and Will Taylor ’23 have spent the last nine weeks interning with KRCC.

Jaynes, a political science major, took a radio journalism class last fall with Peter Breslow, a Griffis Journalist-in-Residence and former Weekend Edition senior producer for NPR. This class is where Jaynes discovered his love for radio journalism and is what inspired him to apply for the KRCC internship.

“I really like going out with a recorder and talking to people, especially just citizens, normal people on the street, as opposed to experts,” Jaynes says. “I just like hearing from everyday people.”

Taylor, a sociology major, and Jaynes had the opportunity to tour the Colorado Public Radio station in Denver and talk to CPR staff members, which was a cool experience, Taylor says.

KRCC is operated by CPR and the internship is technically a CPR program, but Jaynes and Taylor were hired by the KRCC team and work primarily with KRCC staff.

Each day is different, but a typical day consists of reading press releases, pitching story ideas, editing sounds, writing, talking to sources, and recording interviews in the studio.

Recently, Taylor and Jaynes stood outside grocery stores and talked to shoppers about inflation. “It varies day by day, which is fun, because no two days are the same,” Taylor says.

Jaynes and Taylor co-authored a story on a neighborhood’s opposition to turning Platte Avenue into a one-way street. The two journalism minors attended a community meeting to talk to sources for the story.

Taylor has learned a lot about the day-to-day process of journalism, and a lot about sound editing, but says one of the biggest lessons he’s learned is about the importance of making sure everything he writes is correct. He understands how important phrasing a sentence can be, because using one word as opposed to a different word can change the meaning of a sentence.

For Jaynes, one of the biggest lessons he has learned is to talk to as many people as possible for a story.

CC’s journalism minor requires an independent study, which consists of a practicum in journalism and a journalism capstone. Both Jaynes and Taylor are satisfying the practicum requirement with their KRCC internships.

KRCC was started in 1951 by Professor Woodson “Chief” Tyree and is operated by CPR. The internship ends right before the beginning of Block 1.