Telling a story about Pennsylvania dairy farms and the families that operate them could produce something stereotypical and superficial, or it could more meaningfully result in a deep, nuanced look at the economy, family dynamics, societal pressures and what people value.
With “The Wakefields: Two Brothers, Six Generations,” Penn State alumnus Cade Miller offers the latter of those approaches. The 22-minute audio documentary will air at 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Aug. 25 on the “Inside Appalachia” podcast produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Miller, who earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State in May, worked as part of the News Lab at Penn State to report and create the story. The News Lab, housed in the Department of Journalism and led by Maggie Messitt, the Norman Eberly Professor of Practice, facilitates partnerships between professional news organizations and Penn State student journalists — regularly collaborating on long-form and special projects.
For Miller, what was initially envisioned as a multi-part podcast about agriculture in Pennsylvania became more focused as he conducted his research. His grandparents operated a dairy farm in Bedford County, where his mother grew up. Miller said his familiarity of and fondness for family farms helped him focus on a farm operated by some Penn State alumni not far from his grandparents.
Miller, who grew up in West Virginia and has been a regular listener of “Inside Appalachia” and NPR’s “This American Life,” spent spring break of his senior year with his grandmother, Jeanie Hite, and visiting the family that became the focus of his project, the Wakefields. His grandfather, Harry Hite, died in 2017.
“I had never created something like this before, so it was challenging and exciting,” Miller said. “There were so many pieces — research, editing all the audio, the script, considering an aesthetic and selecting the music.
“I wanted to get my voice out of the way. Even though I had to narrate a good bit, I wanted to make sure everything they were passionate about or wanted to talk about was in there. Plus, it was important to convey that the family members were college-educated people. They know what they’re talking about and what they’re doing. They just happen to work at something hard that doesn’t seem appealing to most of the population.”
As Miller learned more about the family that was the focus of the story, he gained an even greater appreciation for the hard work and persistence displayed by all farmers, including his grandparents.
The final product was completed a couple days before his graduation in May and has been considered as potential content for the podcast since then.
“It’s truly a stunning work of audio documentary, a deeply personal and tragically real narrative about family farming,” Messitt said. “It's so well written and reported. It's just beautiful.”
Producer Bill Lynch of West Virginia Public Broadcasting agreed and was committed to finding a place for the piece.
“It was a matter of finding a place on the schedule fit and finding a way to make the piece fit our format,” Lynch said “It made sense to find a good place in the center of the piece when you could pause for a second with the bottom-of-the-hour break and then come back and end on a cliffhanger. The piece really worked that way. So, in terms of timing, and with school year coming, this seemed right.”
Lynch said the story resonates because of the variety of topics it addresses. He also credited Miller’s strength as a storyteller.
“It's a matter of engaging people and taking them on a journey — putting them in a place where they can feel it — and Cade’s very good at it,” Lynch said. “He has the right people talking, there’s music that sets the tone and his own delivery is a storyteller’s delivery. It’s just entertaining.”
Miller accepted a position as an admissions counselor at Shepherd University and started working there Aug. 19. He plans to pursue his master’s degree while focusing on two things he enjoys — higher education and storytelling.
Source : psu.edu