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2/14/14 Call for Pitches: Coffee, Restorative Justice, Low wage workers

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Making Contact is an award-winning, 29-minute weekly magazine/documentary-style public affairs program heard on 140 radio stations in the USA, Canada, South Africa, and Australia.  Amplifying voices and perspectives rarely heard in mainstream media, Making Contact focuses on the human realities of politics and the connections between local and global events, emphasizing positive and creative ways to solve problems.

We are seeking pitches on these themes:

  • Coffee
  • Restorative/Transformative Justice
  • Low Wage Workers Movement

Coffee

We’re collaborating with Green Grid Radio on a show about coffee. Whether it’s about the public health impact of one of our favorite drinks, the damage coffee farming causes the environment, the effects of caffeine in oceans and rivers, the trash coffee culture leaves behind, or what civet coffee is, we want to hear your coffee pitches. (We’re already covering the Fairtrade USA/ Fairtrade International split) HURRY! PITCHES FOR THIS SHOW MUST BE RECEIVED BY 2/7

Restorative/Transformative Justice

We already have a piece on restorative justice in high schools.  We’re looking for something in the criminal justice system, or somewhere else surprising. Key to pitching stories for this show is access.  Do you have access to the participants? Even better, can you be there to record some of the encounters which are part of the restorative justice practice? We want to bring the listener there and show them how it works, not just tell them about it.

Low Wage Workers Movement

The last year has seen an upsurge in low wage workers organizing; either with unions, or on their own. We’re particularly interested in profile-esque pieces of some of the organizers/participants in this emerging movement, especially those who weren’t previously active or activists. Where is this movement for wages and respect headed? Can it raise wages and respect on the job for all American workers? What does its emergence mean for unions? These are some of the questions we would like to explore in this show.


We are also planning shows on reproductive health, gentrification, squatters, and prison/criminal justice issues. We also invite pitches to mark 50 years since 1964 and the Freedom Rides. We will send out a more details call for pitches in the future on these, but if you have an incredible story you are following on any of those topics, let us know.


Specifications

This call for pitches is for segments of about 8 minutes, and we generally pay $450 per story, but we also occasionally take longer pieces (12 or 26 minutes).

 As with any pitches you send us, please check out our show and read our guidelines before you pitch.

https://focmedia.org/production/submission-guidelines/

Consider the following. Does the story:

  • Link grassroots issues and human realities to national or international trends?
  • Give listeners a historical, political, or social context of major national and international events?
  • Shed light on social and economic inequities?
  • Explore any alternatives or solutions?

Send pitches to pitches@radioproject.org. Please be detailed but succinct, and include a description of your idea, narrative/story arc, interview subjects, scenes, and sounds/ambi. If you’re pitching to us for the first time, please include a brief bio and relevant audio clips.

 

We look forward to hearing from you!

Andrew Stelzer, George Lavender,  Jasmin Lopez and Laura Flynn

Making Contact Producers

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