Alumni Spotlight: Julia Furukawa
Radio visions, creating a story to be part of with NHPR’s All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa Western graduate shares her experience as a journalist working in radio and finding self-love
Story by Raine Westfall
Growing up with the radio on, tuning into authentic conversations and rich stories full of sound, weaving seamless tales on long car rides or while cooking up her next meal, she pictured the coolest people in the world, journalists. Julia Furukawa knew she wanted to be one of them.
Journalism, Furukawa said, is one of the truest ways of helping people understand the world they live in; sometimes by exposing a hard truth or by evoking unexplored topics. She aims to tell people’s stories in the most authentic way possible.
Every weekday for two and a half hours Furukawa, who graduated from Western in 2020, invites you on an audio journey into the world as the permanent host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s show All Things Considered.
“When you go to bed at night, you can think, I really hope this makes somebody think in a different way. Or I really hope that this person, this issue, this thing, is heard now,” Furukawa said. “If I can do that, as a journalist, be a storyteller and elevate voices that need to be elevated, counter information that needs to be countered, then that’s success.”
Announced as the permanent host of the radio show in September 2022, she helps produce the best listening experience by extensively prepping its content, from reporting, interviewing and editing audio, to selecting the most appropriate order to air local and national stories.
Moving dials up and down, pressing buttons, flipping switches and turning knobs, Furukawa operates the radio spaceship like a DJ with a soundboard. Illuminated against the ON AIR backdrops and flashing lights behind the mic Furukawa shepherds the listener into an intimate experience with news.
“In radio, it feels like you’re there and you’re the one responsible for creating the vision in your mind of what the scene is like and making it so engrossing,” Furukawa said. “It draws you in and makes you a part of the story, because part of the narrative is what you imagine in your mind. I always wanted to give that to people and I’m beyond grateful that I do.”
Furukawa, who’s a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, previously worked as the assistant managing editor for Paris News in rural Northeast Texas for about a year post-graduation, where she held a large amount of editorial control at only 23 years old.
During her time at Western, Furukawa was one of the students who filed a lawsuit against Western in 2019 for withholding public information about sexual assault offenders whose names had been redacted from student records.
It was when Furukawa felt she was not represented by the journalism department that she said Western taught her that the power of self-advocacy pays off for herself, her peers and her community.
Furukawa said part of her job is embracing the discomfort of speaking to a large audience while being comfortable with being a vulnerable participant in occasionally deeply upsetting conversations. Showing empathy on air reacting to live unobjective horrible moments, she said, helps humanize her to her listeners but also creates an avenue for the audience to better understand the story and learn along with her.
“When I hear stories about mass shootings, when I hear about news from Ukraine, or Ethiopia, I’m no longer embarrassed to react the way that I would if I was reading that news to a friend. Because I want to give the people listening license to feel as well,” Furukawa said. “Because when you hear something bad, upsetting, you want to know, to be able to react to it and to process it. And maybe somebody is listening alone. And they don’t have anyone to turn to and give a really crestfallen facial expression to and have a moment of shared grief. And if I can be that person for them, I want to, and I want to be that person for myself at the same time.”
Being a journalist, Furukawa has had to acclimate to the influx of letters and emails from her viewers, some writing to show their appreciation and others their contempt. The nature of being a public figure while struggling with her own intrinsic desire to seek external validation, Furukawa said, was an adjustment.
“I desperately crave approval from people in my life, I want them to love me, I want them to embrace me for who I am. And I want them to appreciate everything that I say. Now that I’ve been a journalist for a little while, I’m letting go of that and acknowledging that sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth,” Furukawa said. “Sometimes people don’t want to hear what you have to say. And sometimes, that might be unfortunate, but it’s also okay. And so I think all of the different jobs I’ve had so far have gradually helped me build up a bit of a reserve of confidence in myself that, if, you know, Joe, in Lancaster writes in to say that he hates what you did with the weather forecast, it’s not the end of the world.”
Nearly every day after work, Furukawa relieves her stress by sweating out the toxins of the day, scaling stone grooves hand-over-fist and summiting mountain faces with her rock climbing community. Rock climbing, Furukawa said, helped her find moments of control when it feels like her life has none.
Other than caffeine, Furukawa said what keeps her going is no longer the desire to make others proud, but to make herself proud. By allowing herself moments of self-gratitude and love, Furukawa learned to appreciate herself.
“It’s crucial you have that confidence and love for yourself to do this kind of work, or really to do any kind of work — because as a journalist, you will be judged,” Furukawa said. “But if you have confidence and faith in what you did, and you did the best you could. What else matters?”