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b'Neal Augenstein on how he views his job, as a reporter ~\\n\\n"Story telling is just what we do. Reporters have to boil things down to make it so anybody can understand it... if I could figure out the simple things. If I could understand something, if I could ask enough questions so I could understand the concept, it will be something that I could pass along to the audience. That\'s what I\'ve tried to do. I don\'t mind looking like an idiot, and asking my question, if I can come away from there being a temporary expert on whatever it is."\\n\\nNeal Augenstein, Reporter and Tech Editor WTOP, and host Andy Ockershausen in studio interview\\n\\nAndy Ockershausen: This is Our Town. This is Andy Ockershausen, and I am so delighted. I say that because I mean it. To talk head-to-head, person-to-person with a man that I\'ve listened to on the radio for so long, and has the most memorable voice, and that is a supreme compliment, Neal Augenstein.Neal Augenstein: Thank you, Andy. Has it really been that long that you\'ve been listening? It really sounded like it\'s been years and years and years-\\nAndy Ockershausen: Well, it has been because I\'ve been around a long time. I grew up in the radio and television business, but my love has always been radio. Voices are so important to me and so important to talent. You have an enormous talent and one of them is your voice.\\nNeal Augenstein: Thank you.Andy Ockershausen: You know that.\\nJim Farley Made an Investment in Augenstein\'s Talent and the Rest is History\\nNeal Augenstein: To be honest, it\'s actually a miracle that I\'m even on the air. I spend so much time in my career having bosses tell me, "you don\'t belong on the radio." When I started here at TOP in 1997, I had a lisp, and I couldn\'t say the letters \'L\' and I couldn\'t say the letter \'S\'. One of the things that Jim Farley did before he would hire me full-time is he said, I\'m going to send you to a voice coach." He sent me to Ann Utterback.\\nAndy Ockershausen: I\'ve heard that name.\\nNeal Augenstein: ... who historically, she\'s a voice coach-\\nAndy Ockershausen: You were probably fortunate that Farley recognized your talent, and then wanted to expand on it, rather than just let you go. He\'s an amazing man.\\nNeal Augenstein: I was very lucky that he made ... I considered it an investment in me. I also worked for a couple of years with a speech pathologist who helped make it a little easier for me to say those \'S\'s\' and \'L\'s\'. Even to this day, I have to think about it when I say them, but thankfully, I guess I had other talents or other tools in story-telling that were able to compensate.\\nAndy Ockershausen: I compliment you on the ability. I don\'t want to say story-telling so much as you sell what you\'re covering by emphasizing it. I noticed that and I appreciate it so much. I know your work and I know how busy you are, but you still sell that story.\\n"Storytelling is just what we do."\\nNeal Augenstein: Thank you. Really, story telling is just what we do. Reporters have to boil things down to make it so anybody can understand it. In fact, when I started in this business, or actually before I started in this business, I went to American University and got a degree in broadcast journalism. I realized that I really did not like politics. I thought to myself, "I must be in the wrong business."\\nAndy Ockershausen: In the wrong city, that\'s for sure.\\nNeal Augenstein: Certainly, in the wrong city. Eventually, when I got the chance to do some news, I thought to myself, "you really don\'t know very much about politics, and you\'re not that interested in it," but if I could figure out the simple things. If I could understand something, if I could ask enough questions so I could understand the concept, it will be something that I could pass along to the audience.'