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As a journalist, you learn quickly that you need a lot of tools.
You never know where you might go, who you might meet, or what you might need when you get wind of a good story.
There are a lot of tools in my journalistic toolbox, and I've always got notebooks, writing utensils, a camera, and my phone at the ready.
Of all of the above-mentioned tools, my phone -- specifically the recording app on my phone -- might be the most useful. With it, I can easily record interviews, verify spellings of names and facts, record voice memos to myself for a story, and even do play-by-play for sporting events to keep track of stats.
I can also have an app transcribe the interview for me after I've recorded it and play it back as many times as I need to.
A recorder of some type has been an important tool throughout my career. I got a cassette recorder in high school, which gave way a few years later to a digital recorder, which eventually gave way to a recording app on my phone.
It seems like the perfect tool.
Until it isn't.
When I joined The News' sports desk, one of my earliest assignments was to interview the Rogers City football team for our annual football preview tab -- a chance to talk shop and get a sense of the roster before the season.
On that fateful day, I went to hit record on my recorder, only to realize at that moment that the batteries were dead. I quickly grabbed a notebook and jotted down what I could, but my mechanical mishap resulted in a follow-up call or two to Rogers City's coach to verify the information.
Truly, a rookie mistake.
Another time, I managed to lose my recorder at the Hillman High School softball field after a doubleheader. It wasn't until I got back to Alpena that I realized it was missing and, thankfully, after a call to Hillman's coach, it was located and returned.
In that instance, not only did I not have any quotes for my story that day, I had an interview for a different story stored on it. To make up for my blunder that time, I did the interview a second time from my car the next morning.
Human error certainly plays a part in a recorder working correctly, and, in addition to the blunders mentioned above, there's been a time or two where I've simply forgotten to press record.
But other factors have to be contended with every now and again when recording.
The wind seems practically undefeated when I'm using a recorder. There's nothing worse than getting back to the office, playing a recording back, and listening as the wind mercilessly drowns out half of an interviewee's answer.
Other times, an interviewee is soft-spoken, which requires playing a piece of a recording back, sometimes multiple times, to parse over a couple of words to get a quote exactly right.
And then there's background noise. Interviews in quiet offices are great, but, if you're interviewing someone where they work or in a crowded gym or even outside, there's a chance that your recording will pick up the interview as well as whatever background noise is within range of the mic. I once interviewed a basketball coach after a game with Van Halen blaring in the background and told the coach if their quotes in the paper ended up being Van Halen lyrics, they would know why.
Recorders can be very useful, but, as with most pieces of technology, they aren't failsafes. Sometimes, the oldest tools are the best, and nothing beats having a pen and a notebook at your side.
Just make sure you can read your own handwriting later on.
James Andersen can be reached at 989-358-5686 or jandersen@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.