Voice of Vermont
Award-winning journalist at home in Chittenden
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Nina Keck speaks to a reporter in her office at her home in Chittenden recently. Cassandra Hotaling / Rutland Herald |
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By Bruce Edwards STAFF WRITER - Published: August 17, 2009
CHITTENDEN — When Nina Keck and her husband moved to Vermont from the Washington, D.C., area, she was fairly certain she'd have to make a career change and give up a job she thoroughly enjoyed.
As a broadcast journalist, opportunities in a rural state like Vermont to continue her career in radio news were limited. One obvious exception was Vermont Public Radio, which had an opening.
Keck landed the job, which included a stint as host of VPR's talk show, "Switchboard."
That was 13 years ago and Keck continues to work for VPR as a freelance reporter, operating out of her home in Chittenden.
Keck's road to Vermont as a journalist is the reverse of many in the profession who start out in a small state and then move up the career path to larger news organizations in larger markets.
Born in Milwaukee, Keck graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in broadcast journalism and German literature.
Keck said she knew she wouldn't be teaching German, but journalism "sounded kind of cool."
"When I did my German year abroad in Germany, I had never been out of the country before and it just kind of opened up a huge world and I thought I wanted to be a foreign correspondent," Keck said during an interview in her basement office and studio.
Following graduation, she started out as a disc jockey at local radio stations before moving on to news at Wisconsin Public Radio in Madison.
Bit by the foreign news bug, Keck thought Radio Free Europe — the foreign language radio service aimed at Iron Curtain countries during the Cold War — might offer her that opportunity. But while Keck was fluent in German, Radio Free Europe wasn't in the market for German-speaking announcers.
That's when a friend told her about an internship at Voice of America in Washington, D.C. It took some persistence but Keck beat out the other applicants for the paid internship, which turned into a full-time job for seven years.
Keck worked at Voice of America as a program host, reporter, and spent 1995 as a foreign correspondent in Germany. Her English-language program from 8 to 10 p.m., was beamed to the morning audience in Southeast Asia.
"We covered congressional hearings and press briefings on the (Capitol) Hill," Keck, 44, said of her tenure at VOA. "I remember being in the White House press room with the first President Bush and thinking, 'Wow!'"
She said she honed her skills as a journalist working at VOA and being around so many seasoned reporters.
But Keck's career was about to be interrupted. Her husband, Seth Coombs, was completing his residency as a doctor so the couple began looking for a place to live, work and raise a family. Because both were avid skiers, she said the obvious choice was either Vermont or New Hampshire.
Vermont was the winner with the couple spending their first year living in a rented farmhouse in Wallingford.
Landing the VPR job in 1996 allowed Keck the flexibility to work out of her home, raise a family and continue her career.
"It just seemed like all these great stories started happening from Vermont, which was exciting," Keck recalled. "You had civil unions, Act 60 was brewing when I first moved in."
She's also covered alleged racism at Middlebury College and was part of a team of VPR reporters who worked on a documentary on former Vermont governor and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean.
One of the fringe benefits of working at VPR is listener feedback, something she didn't get at VOA because her overseas broadcasts were only available via shortwave radio. She added the feedback can cut both ways here with praise or criticism.
Working out of her home allows Keck to juggle household chores and the responsibilities that go with raising two children. "I do have the freedom being part time, and kind of being sort of a free agent, to say when I can work and when I can't work," she said.
With her home as her base, Keck has all the reporting tools she needs: phone, tape recorder and computer. Her computer software program allows her to edit and file her audio interviews to her VPR editors in Colchester with just a click of a mouse. Not so long ago, it was a different story. Keck would run down to Brandon with a tape and script and put it on a Vermont Transit bus.
She said covering news in Vermont has other advantages as well with public officials usually readily available and approachable. Keck added working for VPR also allows her the flexibility to do in-depth stories.
Keck's reporting has been recognized with several national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in broadcast journalism.
She is also a freelance reporter for National Public Radio including, "All Things Considered," and "Morning Edition." She's been heard on American Public Media's, "Marketplace," Public Radio International's, "Living on Earth," and Voice of America.
In addition to her reporting job, Keck narrates educational science videos for the Visual Learning Center in Brandon.
Having covered the Washington news beat, Keck said covering news in Vermont has its own rewards.
"I love my job," she said. "I can't imagine a better job."
bruce.edwards@rutlandherald.com
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