Callers who want to leave a voicemail story must agree to the following terms:
- You must be 18 years or older. Only adults may contribute stories. We hope to expand this soon to cover all undergraduates too.
- Your story will be public. Please only share stories that you are comfortable appearing on the radio — that’s a good way to think of our approach. It is fine to include your name in your story if you want. All stories shared through the hotline will be stored in the AU library’s oral history archive. In addition, you agree to let us use your story in edited form at our listening stations and online.
- Any stories you contribute must be yours. We only accept first-person accounts and reflections, no hearsay. If you want to interview someone, that’s great, just make sure they acknowledge the terms in the interview, especially that their story may be made public and that we may edit or remix their story.
- Your phone number will remain private in most circumstances. Your phone number will never be publicly shared, or given to any companies for commercial purposes. For the permanent archive, we will not share your phone number with the library, so it will not be part of the public record for stories you contribute. In cases of hate speech or other safety concerns, we may be legally required to share call details with the police or campus authorities.
How to agree to these terms (and record an audio story): The first time you call our hotline, you will be sent a link to this page by text message; you must then reply ‘agree‘ to show you agree to these terms before you can leave a story. The system will automatically reply to confirm.
Editorial appeals: Like many news and journalism projects, if you do not like the way your voice was used in a radio story, you may contact one of our editors. Every story we release has an editor and you can also contact our editor in chief, who is democratically elected by the graduate students of American University.
For more questions, see our frequently asked questions page or contact us.