Public Radio in the United States & Latvia: BAFF alum Artjoms Konohovs

Artjoms Konohovs is an alumnus of the Baltic American Freedom Foundation (BAFF) Professional Internship program, a CIEE fellowship program that matches citizens of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia with internship positions in the United States. Artjoms began his internship with previous experience in the journalism field: he worked as a public radio journalist for 6 years at Latvijas Radio, and had just completed a Master’s degree in European Communication Studies at the University of Amsterdam. He was looking for a way to learn from the field of radio in the U.S., and found the opportunity to do so through BAFF. In 2012, he began an internship with KALW, the NPR affiliate station of the San Francisco Bay Area. 

During his time at KALW, Artjoms focused on local stories in the Bay Area. Because the U.S. presidential election campaign was underway, he also helped to coordinate coverage of the election and of state-wide propositions in California. One of his assignments was to cover the story of the Republican Party throughout the election, which he refers to as a ‘rare breed’ in San Francisco, a city in which the majority of voters are Democrats. 

Artjoms also worked on stories about culture, arts, and local businesses. “It wasn’t the experience of bringing coffee or doing basic things,” he says of his internship experience. He learned about the creative use of sound in radio, and new ways of audio storytelling. Artjoms says that the standard for journalism was high at KALW, and that they were focused on ‘evergreen stories’ – stories that aren’t time-sensitive breaking news – which was a departure from his experience with Latvijas Radio. “The concept of interviewing a place was very prominent at KALW news – to help make the imagination work with a piece,” he explains. 

Today, Artjoms works as the Brussels correspondent for Latvijas Radio. To listen to more of Artjoms’ work from his BAFF internship, visit the KALW website.