KFSK in Petersburg, Alaska is looking for a summer intern! This is a fantastic opportunity to get experience with all aspects of reporting for a small newsroom and helping run a rural public radio station. The intern will get on-air live hosting experience. They will emerge with a portfolio of stories as well as samples of their on-air work. This is our 21st year running the internship.
The intern is a full-time reporter, producer, and host under the direct supervision of one of our news team. KFSK’s intern must be willing to get up early (morning hosts generally get to the station around 4:30 am). Besides hosting, duties include researching, sourcing, writing, and producing two to three pieces each week for local, regional, and statewide broadcast. Our intern produces sound-rich features, complex news packages, host wraps, interview segments, and simple readers. As a general assignment reporter, the intern has the opportunity to cover a variety of topics. There is no shortage of interesting stories to report on in Petersburg including health and public health, ecology, fishing and canning, the arts, housing, childcare, sports, energy, and social services. The intern will post web versions of their stories and update social media occasionally.
Past interns have won Alaska Press Club awards for their work here! Some have gone on to work for public radio stations in Alaska or elsewhere around the country. We hope to train our newest intern to have the same success. They will emerge with a solid background to apply for reporting positions nationwide. If you yearn to become a public radio reporter and you love the outdoors, Alaska is a perfect place to start. KFSK is a beloved community resource; residents will be listening to your work.
Our small news staff works with a virtual newsroom that includes reporters at four other stations in the region. It’s called the CoastAlaska Radio Network. We share stories and coordinate coverage of regional news. We also share stories statewide through Alaska Public Media.
KFSK is located in Petersburg, on an island in the Alexander Archipelago of Southeast Alaska. It’s a commercial fishing town with about 3,200 residents. We are in the heart of the Tongass National Forest, one of the most beautiful places on earth—with plenty of access to trails. We are surrounded by mountains, glaciers, water, and wildlife. Summer is a beautiful season to be here. Days are long; June21 has almost 18 hours of daylight. It rains a lot, over 100 inches annually. Think Seattle, only rainier! It’s relatively isolated, but has basic amenities. There are no fast-food restaurants or big-box stores. Access is by boat or plane only.
KFSK provides basic housing for the intern at the radio station during the internship, along with a small weekly stipend and airfare to and from Petersburg from elsewhere in the United States. Check out kfsk.org to learn more about the station, our news, and Petersburg.
We are looking for people who want to become radio journalists. You should have experience editing audio with Adobe Audition or similar software. You should have news-writing or announcing experience—as a college/graduate student, volunteer, or employee. We need to hear at least one story you’ve produced and voiced for a radio station or university class. Applicants should have experience recording sound, interviewing sources, and using a standard field-recording kit. (We will provide all necessary equipment.) You must be comfortable getting constructive feedback on your work, editing, and taking direction from news staff.
Interns generally stay about three months, with flexible starting and ending dates. Some interns have stayed for longer if their schedule allows. We hope to award our internship by late-March/April with the expectation that our intern would be here starting in May or early June.
The deadline to apply is March 20th, 2024. Email cover letter, resume, contact info for at least two references, and links to 1-3 produced stories. Send all application materials to KFSK News Director Shelby Herbert at shelby@kfsk.org. We will confirm when we receive your application. If you don’t hear back from us within a week, call us at 907-772-3808. Feel free to email or call us with questions.
