As Matt Horn returns to college this fall, KVNF wishes to thank him for his excellent work as our Morning Edition Host. KVNF's Regional News Host and Senior Reporter Lisa Young interviewed Matt about his stint at the station.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Lisa Young: Good morning. I'm Lisa Young. KVNF'S a regional Newscast Host and Senior Reporter. As you may know, this is Matt Horn's the last day (Aug 9, 2024) as our Morning Edition host intern. Matt recently sat down with me for this fun interview. Matt, thanks for visiting with me today.
Matt Horn: Yeah, of course. No problem.
YOUNG: How did you first learn that there was an opportunity to be an intern at KVNF?
HORN: You know, I was actually just kind of scrolling around on Indeed in Fort Collins and I was looking to see if there were any jobs in Paonia for when I was coming home for summer break. And I saw a few other opportunities. And then I saw the job opportunity for the full time Morning Edition Host. So I was like, I wonder if I can do maybe like a part time or internship thing through my major. So then I reached out.
YOUNG: Matt, you mentioned your major. You grew up here in Paonia. You graduated from high school here. Tell us what you're doing now.
HORN: I'm up at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and I'm studying journalism, and that's about it. I gave myself a semester as undecided just because I didn't really know where I wanted to go. And then I just took a bunch of different classes in a bunch of different areas, and one of those was a media and society journalism focused class, and I loved it. So I talked to my advisor and declared as a journalist for my second semester, and now I'm going into my second year as a journalism major.
YOUNG: You're no stranger to KVNF. Tell me about the relationship that you've had with the station growing up here in Paonia.
HORN: I mean, my whole life, every car ride either to or from school or just kind of walking around. I would always hear of KVNF or I'd be listening in just on the radio, kind of passively, not really of my own merit. But usually my parents or people in my life would be playing it like my neighbors. They'd usually always have it on in the background. So growing up, I would always hear NPR give you enough, kind of just throughout.
YOUNG: So it really felt kind of like a natural thing for you to become a part of the station. Tell me a little bit about Morning Edition.
HORN: So Morning Edition is a block of time from 6 to 8 a.m. every morning or at least through the week. And it's NPR's Morning Edition. But I go over certain breaks throughout that block, and I cover local events, local news, PSA's and the weather. I do that every day with, you know, up to date news and current stuff going on.
YOUNG: As someone who worked with you initially, I was very impressed with your ability to run the board because that's one of the things a number of folks have trouble with. But I found that you seemed really comfortable running the board, running the breaks. Tell me a little bit about that.
HORN: I'm still not perfect with it, but, you know, it gets you get more comfortable with it as you go along. And you kind of have to be paying attention to three different clocks at the same time. And timing, when you throw in the ads, when you start talking, when you pause NPR's thing and where you have to go over and where you come back in, stuff like that. It's a lot going on, but I think once you get in a good groove with it, it almost feels like second nature.
YOUNG: There's another element of being a Morning Edition host, which is writing scripts, finding the material. Tell our listeners a little bit about that process.
HORN: So that process for me, it's usually every day. I sit down, give myself a good chunk of time. I go through my usual articles and websites such as Delta County Independent, Montrose Daily Press those kind of local, regional areas for news and current stuff going on. But then I also look for the broader regional stuff so, current laws being passed, fire dangers especially right now, or just like bigger events going on that affect Colorado as a whole and rural areas like us elsewhere to see where we could be heading with certain topics and kind of ranges from like housing, health care, stuff like that.
YOUNG: Overall, how would you say your internship has been with KVNF?
HORN: It's been really amazing. It's been a great learning experience. I've had so much fun doing it and it's just a great learning opportunity, especially for what I want to do with my major. And it's just it's fun to do. I think people think, 'Oh, you have to be in this specific range of learning or topics to be able to do it'. But as long as you've got passion for wanting to learn and wanting to get out there and be a part of your community, anyone can do it.
YOUNG: Going back to school now, what do you think you will take away from the internship?
HORN: So I'm definitely still keeping myself and my options open. But I have looked into the CSU radio station. KCSU and I'm going to reach out to them. And I've already kind of started that whole process and I'm going to try to get more involved with that and just be a part of that community up there. I've also looked more into like what I can do, like with my voice or with writing either through school newspapers or just kind of that whole genre of communication I guess.
YOUNG: I know that our listeners have truly enjoyed having you, Matt, as the Morning Edition host. Tell me a little bit about maybe some of the feedback you've gotten.
HORN: A lot of the feedback I've gotten has been really positive, and a lot of people came in and said, "It's been great hearing you every morning. It's been nice to have like a consistent voice and community member that they feel they can connect to."
Some of the more critiquing side of the criticism I've gotten has just been, you know, be comfortable and be yourself and just kind of stick with your voice. Don't change it to try to fill the shoes of other voices. And I think that's been one of the most important parts of it, has just been to be myself and kind of build my own character and connect with people through the show.
YOUNG: I've been told that one of the harder things to do and it takes a while, is to find your voice. I know when I started out, I started in a radio station that the owner was kind of old school and he really liked more of that announcer voice. You know, with that authoritative voice. So that's what I learned. A big shift for me coming into public radio is I've been trying to get rid of that. And at times I've it's a default. I find myself going into that radio voice announcer kind of mode, you know.
HORN: Yeah.
YOUNG: But I really appreciate the fact that you've come in with a much more conversational style, which is what we're looking for in community radio. You've done an excellent job, Matt. Anything else you'd like to share about your time here at KVNF?
HORN: Not that I can think of, other than it's been a really great learning opportunity and I kind of hope more people can find out about it.
YOUNG: Matt Horn, thank you. Good luck as you go back to school. You you know that you're always welcome at KVNF.
HORN: Thank you. It's been a fantastic experience.
YOUNG: KVNF Is looking for a full time Morning Edition host and staff reporter. More information on the position can be found at our web site at kvnf.org. Special thanks to Matt Horn for serving as our Morning Edition host intern.
