Amanda Hsu: Beats Manager is a new role on staff this year, tasked with recommending, editing and publishing continuous thematic stories for each person on both the Online and Print staff. I’m Amanda Hsu and in this podcast episode, I talk to junior Thomas Chen who has consistently worked tirelessly behind the scenes of RubicOnline.

Hsu: What inspired you to run for Beats Manager?

Thomas Chen: So last year I was sports editor on RubicOnline, and I really enjoyed my role, but I thought I was wanting something a little more, you know, I wanted to be a little more behind the scenes, running more things at the same time. So I was like, okay, maybe I should just, you know, be brave and run for production manager and just see what happens. Beats Manager isn’t usually a … role that someone gets every year, it’s more like an occasional thing, year to year based on situations [and] special circumstances. So last year, they were deciding who was gonna be on staff, and they were like, we have two candidates for production manager, and I think we could split them, and I think that they thought it’d be beneficial to staff. So that’s how I ended up with Beats manager, and yeah, I’ve loved it ever since.

Hsu: How would you describe your responsibilities as Beats Manager?

Chen: So Beats Manager is a very different role from anything else on staff. A lot of people don’t know what beats even are. For us, it’s a monthly specialized story that every person writes, and it’s a certain topic, so a beat could be boys game coverage, it could be music, it could be technology, or it could be this podcast, which is your beat– Amanda’s beat. So, yeah, it’s basically just like a specialized topic that every staffer on the newspaper or the online site writes every month and develops throughout the year. And then, basically, my job is just to overlook everything about them, like production, brainstorming and publishing. I overlook all of that. So my job is very separate from the normal production of the newspaper or the online site. Yeah.

Hsu: What do you wish to change about how you run things or how you run your system of beats?

Chen: I think one thing that I’ve been working towards this entire year has just been to really spread out my work and make sure that I’m doing things efficiently, but also effectively. So I feel like a big part of that is just me trying to delegate my work to some people– to some other editors that have some extra time, in a way that helps me, but doesn’t stress them out that much. So it’s a constant process of just trying to make [things] as efficient as possible.

Hsu: How many beats do you edit?

Chen: So I edit around … yeah, I edit around 30 beats a month, which is quite a bit, and that’s like seven or eight each week. They’re all very different, and it’s all very fun, but it’s a lot, it’s definitely a lot.

Hsu: What’s your favorite kind of beat to edit?

Chen: My favorite kind of beats are podcasts, like this one, and social media videos because I feel like that’s really where creativity kind of shines through. Especially in the social media videos, I think those ones definitely have the most, I wouldn’t say the most potential for creativity, I would say the most noticeable outlet of creativity. Especially for just our average viewer, because most of them watch our videos instead of reading our stories, even though they should all read our stories.

Hsu: How did you come up with beat ideas?

Chen: So I always tell my writers to think of their own beat ideas before they come to me, because in the end, it’s their beat, and I want them to make it their own and develop it by themselves, but sometimes they do get stuck. And then when that happens, I just think about what is related to their beat topic that would be, that would be timely and that would be relevant to the student body. So for example, I [will] always choose to write a story about local legislation [rather] than national politics or legislation, because if it’s local, it’s more relevant to students, and that’s kind of just where I base all of my brainstorming ideas off of.

Hsu: And how did you come up with the beat assignments at the beginning of the year?

Chen: So that’s actually a really good question. That was a really long process– it was really hard, but I did look at all of the beat assignments from the year before, I looked at them, I wrote down all of the potential ones or all the ones that have been happening every year, and I then I took a list of everyone on staff, and I was like who would really want to do this, or who would be really good at this, or who do I think would like their personality would match this beat. And then I just connected the dots, you know like on those tests, I connected the dots, and then I made a draft. I brought to Ms. Campbell, and then she was like, ‘Oh, actually, this person, this, this one, this.’ and we revised it, I don’t know, ten times at least, and it was all within the span of three days. So it was a lot, but yeah, we got it done. I’m really happy with how they turned out because I feel like everyone got a beat that they really enjoy [doing], or they’re really passionate about, or they’re really good at.

Hsu: And do you want to explain about the beat tracker and beat themes like the My Little Pony theme this year?

Chen: Yeah, so my official job title is actually the My Little Pony Beats Manager, because last year when I was applying … on the application you have to say what your vision is, and you have to present to the staff, and I said that one of my ideas was to make it My Little Pony themed [because] in beats we have four groups and they all produce work different weeks, so we split them into groups. And last year it was Minion-themed, so in my presentation, I wanted to have a little fun thing, so I was just like, ‘Oh, we should do a My Little Pony theme.’ And then, you know, we turned it into the theme of the year. And now we have four groups. We have team Twilight Sparkle. We have team Princess Cadence– is she a princess? Guys, I need to know my My Little Pony better. And then we have team Princess Celestia and team Princess Luna. And then every month, they compete, and they see which pony can get the most beats in and meet their deadlines the most. And the team, at the end of the year will be receiving a mystery surprise gift, and it will be really great and amazing and awesome.

Hsu: Who’s winning right now?

Chen: So right now, Celestia is winning, which is me and Amanda’s group, so you know, you have to keep that up. And, yeah, there’s no rigging– I did not rig the process you guys.

Hsu: How do you encourage your writers and [create] a positive environment?

Chen: I always want my writers to feel supported in a way that’s not me micromanaging them and telling them what to do, but I also want them to always try to turn in quality work, creative work, and also work that meets the deadline. It’s a balance between being strict about it, but also being kind about it. And you really have to find that place where … they feel encouraged and they feel motivated, but they don’t feel completely stressed out and they don’t feel like I’m frustrated with them. So I would just say that’s my main thing, it’s just to really always be there when they ask for help, and always send out gentle reminders … and also just let them foster their own style of how they do things, and just make sure that they’re not derailing.

Hsu: And what is your favorite part of your job?

Chen: My favorite part of my job is talking to everybody, it’s absolutely my favorite part. I love working with everyone and texting them and having conversations with them at school, during class, especially when they come up to me and they ask me a question about their beat, or they are giving me updates about their drafts or whatever. It’s great. I really like this job, because I work with everybody on staff and a lot of the time the conversations about our work or our beats turns into just more fun conversations or more casual conversations where I just get to learn more about everyone and it’s a lot of fun. There’s a lot of laughs, but there’s also a lot of work getting done. So I just feel like it’s a really healthy environment, and I just really like that part about it.

Hsu: What about your least favorite or hardest part of your job?

Chen: My least favorite part of the job is when it’s 11 p.m. at night and I have tons of drafts to edit and tons of drafts to publish. That’s definitely my least favorite part and it’s also the most lonely part of the whole process, you know … I’m just in my room by myself reading through five stories a night and it’s just … it’s a lot, but I always tell myself … I have to put in the work because they’re putting in the work, so I just need to help them and let their stories be seen, and you know, I’m getting through it, you know.

Hsu: What do you hope to pass on? Or what advice do you have for future staff members?

Chen: If I had to tell future staff members one thing, I would tell them to really learn how to appreciate the importance of journalism and the importance of media in the world, and just how important it is to tell all kinds of stories in all kinds of different ways. If there’s one thing I’ve taken away from being on staff and being Beats Manager is that journalism runs the world. And if you really look closely at everything that’s happening, you’ll realize how important media is in almost every aspect of life; in politics, in science, and just in life, health, entertainment. It’s everywhere and it’s so important to the world, and I think people need to really learn how to appreciate that and learn how to notice the small things and the little details. Maybe something more staff-related, I would just say I really want everyone to be just kind and supportive of each other, and I want them all to I want them all to enjoy the process and not feel like they’re fighting a deadline. So my advice is to start everything early and talk to people– talk to everyone, talk to Ms. Campbell, talk to your editors, talk to them a lot, make sure you know what you’re doing, and start early– always start early guys.

Hsu: You can take a look at Thomas’s own multimedia beat stories on RubicOnline. We will be back with more behind-the-scenes stories from staff. See you then!