The Spiritual Edge, a new series exploring the leading edges of faith, spirituality and religion, is seeking pitches from experienced reporters to help expand our reach to a national audience.
A project of KALW in San Francisco, The Spiritual Edge is documenting change on the American religious landscape. We think religion and spirituality are dynamic and underreported and our hope is to bring a respectful, yet inquisitive approach to fill a hole in current media coverage.
In terms of what we’re after: we care less about tradition than innovation. We’re more interested in people and communities than historical religious institutions. We’re fascinated by demographic shifts that are encouraging growth of a DIY spiritual culture and the way science, especially health, can intersect with religion. We’re also very interested in what happens when immigrant groups import their religions to the U.S.
We’re looking for stories that focus on something surprising that can take us to a place we’ve never been before. As we document the changes, we see TSE as an opportunity to educate listeners on history, culture and the ways in which people seek meaning, healing or connection in their lives. At KALW we also like to creatively use sound and music to more fully bring listeners into the experience.
This is the second season of TSE, but until now, all stories have been based in the Bay Area. We’re ready to expand by commissioning six well-crafted, long-ish (eight to 14 minute) stories from other parts of the country. Reporters will receive $1100 per story with a $100 stipend for expenses. Each reporter will also be asked to work with a local professional photographer. Photographers will be paid $300 per assignment with a $100 stipend for expenses.
Our intention is that each story will be broadcast locally in the reporter’s region, have a home on thespiritualedge.org, and be part of the Spiritual Edge podcast series that we will begin producing in Spring 2017. So far, our stories also have a great track record of airing on national programs such as PRI’s The World and NPR’s All Things Considered.
For examples of stories we’ve done in the past, click here.
A few of our favorites:
- Oakland pastor turns the tables on church homophobia
- How a cynic, Vietnamese immigrants, and the Buddha cleaned up a neighborhood
Send pitches, a short bio and sample clips to thespiritualedgeradio@gmail.com. Pitch deadline is Dec. 15, 2016. Questions? Email judysilber@gmail.com