“Oh, yes, the parking lot syndrome,” said Chapin Montague ’17, about those occasions when the writer of this article can’t leave her car until the conclusion of a StoryCorps segment on National Public Radio (NPR). Montague has clearly heard this before about segments produced by the nonprofit organization she has worked for since January of 2022. The mission of StoryCorps is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs.

Interviews typically take place between two people who know each other in the presence of a trained StoryCorps facilitator. At the end of the recording session, participants receive a complimentary recording of their interview. With their permission, a copy of each interview is then archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Only a small portion of those recorded interviews air nationally on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” and these are among the many interviews posted on StoryCorps website.

Montague started at StoryCorps as a production intern in January 2022. She was then a fact checker before becoming a participant relations associate, coordinating with the team that works in StoryCorps signature trailers. The Airstream trailers and recording booths were the original venues for StoryCorps recordings, and interview topics were determined by who walked into the trailer or booth.

I have made an effort in whatever position I’ve been in to tell southern narratives; it’s something I’m really passionate about. I love amplifying the voices of folks often underrepresented in our region.

Montague recently began a two-year contract as a national facilitator for StoryCorps. On May 19, a story Montague facilitated about a nurse who volunteered on the U.S.-Mexico border broadcast on NPR. At the time of this interview, she was heading to Nashville with recording equipment to “set it up, make people comfortable in the space, archive, log notes for keywords and subject notes, and step in with clarifying questions,” she said. “But the goal is to interrupt minimally and give the participants time and space to share their stories.” Montague will then be responsible for archiving and databasing the interviews. The interviews, for a series being produced by NPR affiliate WGBH-Boston, will take place in Nashville and cover a single topic: the early days of school desegregation.

Montague has long desired this kind of opportunity; her recognition of parking lot syndrome comes from personal experience. “When I was growing up, my dad [Tom Montague ’87] and I listened to radio and podcasts together. In college [Wesleyan] I hosted two radio shows at the college radio station while I was there and decided I wanted to work in radio after graduating,” she said. Montague majored in anthropology and theater at Wesleyan. “A funky combo,” she said with a laugh, “but it serves me well.”

After college, she moved to Brooklyn to start her audio journalism career. Montague knew she was choosing an industry that’s both tough to break into and tough to stay in, even once you gain a foothold; short contracts are the norm. She worked in a sandwich shop for a summer and was thrilled when, that fall, she landed two internships, the first at WNYC, the nation’s largest public radio station by audience size. She worked on a live arts and culture show called All of It. “Working live was a very different thing, a very cool experience.”

She also interned for Heritage Radio Network, where she worked on Meat and Three, a show featuring a main story and three smaller, related pieces, all food themed. “I worked on a piece about Nashville hot chicken and a piece on soil carbon storage. It was an opportunity to produce from the beginning, including the initial pitch, conducting the interview, and editing the tape.”

Meat and Three tied in well with Smorgasbord, a food show Montague hosted in college for which she interviewed local restaurant owners, professors, and students who worked on the school’s student-run farm. But, as with everything Montague has done in radio since Wesleyan, she was not the on-air talent. Montague finds she “naturally gravitates away from hosting. It might be fun to one day do that, but not necessarily. I’ve come to love doing production work and being exposed to the editing process.”

That she enjoys being behind the scenes is unexpected, given that as a Baylor senior Montague thought she would pursue theater as a career; she still calls fine arts instructor Beth Gumnick inspirational. “But being exposed to ethnography when I got to Wesleyan, I found that form of storytelling to be equally intriguing—and there is still an element of performance in radio. Plus being an actor is a crazy life.”

In thinking about theater and Gumnick, Montague remembers other Baylor teachers who shaped her current life. “Human geography instructor William Montgomery ’92 drew me to anthropology and formed the trajectory of my life,” she said. “And AP literature with Heather Ott was very formative.”

Montague also used the word formative about growing up in Tennessee and Chattanooga. “I have made an effort in whatever position I’ve been in to tell southern narratives; it’s something I’m really passionate about. I love amplifying the voices of folks often underrepresented in our region, using the StoryCorps process,” said Montague. “I’m so grateful to be at StoryCorps for as long as I have been. It’s a dream job.”