THE JOURNAL (podcast by Spotify & The Wall Street Journal)
‘The Journal’ is The Wall Street Journal’s flagship podcast, released daily in partnership with Spotify. As a Summer 2023 production intern, I worked on 50+ episodes— editing raw audio, rewriting scripts, and pitching stories in the newsroom that became full episodes.
I produced and co-wrote the episode ‘Nike’s Sneaky Sneaker Thieves.’ Organized crime rings across the U.S. target and steal full containers of unreleased Nike sneakers— but how do they get away with it? We spoke to reporters and spent countless hours editing in ProTools to answer that question.
'Nike’s Sneaky Sneaker Thieves’ was the show’s most-shared episode in August 2023.
Behind the scenes of ‘Nike’s Sneaky Sneaker Thieves’
The show’s hosts were unavailable to record for the first pass of the episode, so I recorded stand-in narration for ‘Nike’s Sneaky Sneaker Thieves.’ I read aloud from the script me and exec producer Matt Kwong wrote. Raw audio above.
That raw narration was laid into a temp version of the episode, with rough scoring and mixing present. As producer, I oversaw this process, making notes on what to tweak and cut. It’s weird listening to your own voice.
This is the final version of the episode. There were story cuts from the first pass— also audio editing and final scoring. My temp narration was swapped out for show host Kate Linebaugh’s— my fifteen minutes of fame were over.
As my time on the show went on, I learned more and more about audio production. Below are episodes I got to work on in an intensive capacity— whether that be editing, host direction, or the writing process.
Other ‘The Journal’ episodes I’m proud of…
Unbeknownst to the public, the term ‘Taco Tuesday’ was the main subject of an epic legal dispute between Taco Bell and a taco shop in New Jersey. This episode is a deep dive into who really owns those two fateful words.
I participated in audio direction and recording in partnership with this episode’s host, Jessica Mendoza. I also was an editor, piecing together the episode through rewrites, rough drafts, and into final pass.
This episode focuses on a high school in Denver, Colorado— East High— that has seen firsthand the devastating impact of gun violence in their community.
Episode producer Enrique Perez de la Rosa talked to students and administration about their perspective. I was heavily involved in writing for this episode— it went through many phases, with multiple structural variations and countless audio interviews having to be wrangled together.