Justin Knighten gets a last-minute call returned from an e-mail sent a month earlier. It’s the day before the Fourth of July and the woman on the other end of the telephone is organizing a major event in Washington, D.C.

She tells him that he has already missed a chance to interview many of the big names – but Stevie Wonder is singing as they speak.

He doesn’t have any of his recording equipment and he calls Talk Radio News Service Technical Director Greg Gorman to help him out.

He rushes to the studio, gets the equipment, throws Gorman back the keys and dashes to Capitol Mall.

“I didn’t know what I was doing, trying to think in my head really fast,” Knighten said months later at the end of November. “What was I going to ask Stevie Wonder that was significant and that our viewers would want to hear and that they’d be interested in?”

The Sacramento State senior communication studies major listened to two songs during the rehearsal once he arrived, and then he got to ask questions.

“It was one of those moments that I’ll never forget,” Knighten said.

Spur of the moment reporting and quick decision making by Knighten were integral to his internship provided through the The Washington Center.

It provided him with the chance to interview celebrities and politicians for more than 600 national affiliates during the summer of 2006.

Knighten asked Stevie Wonder what he reflected on during the PBS-sponsored concert on the west lawn of the Capitol.

“You know, a desire for freedom and a commitment to keeping the spirit of freedom alive is something we always have to acknowledge and appreciate,” Stevie Wonder said in a one-minute, eight-second audio story cut, edited and written by Knighten.

“I think of the soldiers that are, you know, far away from their families and those that have died unfortunately and I hope that they get home safely.”

“I hope we will come to a time where every single country and nation will not have to send the young people out to fight battles, but the leaders will find a way of coming together at that, as Dr. King talked about, the table of brotherhood and find a peaceful solution.”

Knighten currently works on the website for the Environmental Protection Agency in downtown Sacramento. He is a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, is involved with the Public Relations Student Society Association of America, spent some time working with the Environmental Student Organization and was once the vice president of College Democrats.

The Washington Center, in its 31st year, serves as a gatekeeper to many internship programs in the Washington, D.C. area.

Robert Walters, senior program adviser for mass communications at The Washington Center, said 635 interns were selected for the summer of 2006.

The nonprofit organization divides interns into different groups, such as mass communications or criminal justice.

“It’s sort of like a study abroad program where students from your school and a thousand other schools apply to be an intern for a semester, whether in the spring, summer or fall,” Walters said in a telephone interview.

“We help place them in the internship and supervise them while they are here,” he added.

Knighten, one of 75 students in the mass communications group, said six interns worked for Talk Radio News Service and College Media News.

He said a typical day began at 8 a.m. with the interns meeting at a studio near their dormitory-style housing. The interns would divvy up story ideas, often spurred by a 4 a.m. feed of the upcoming day’s events. Then, they would head out to cover an event. The content these interns provided was available to syndicated across the country.

“We had to go to different hearings or any event throughout the city and go back to the studio and actually cut them,” Knighten said. “We had to find out what was most newsworthy… do a description write-up about it, add extra information (and) upload it onto the website.”

Eight stories produced by Knighten can be downloaded at the College Media News website. The one- to two- minute clips cover topics on deaf culture and a documentary on reforming drug laws, among others.

Madeline Kokosinski, a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, studying communication studies and sports management, was also an intern with Knighten.

She described him as a go-getter, very motivated and active in understanding politics.

During the 10 weeks Knighten spent in the program, different Talk Radio News Service students rotated as an office “czar” or newsroom manager.

“He was on the ball in that he knew he was up to date with everything that was going on,” Kokosinski said in a telephone interview.

“If something needed to be changed, he would let everyone know and contact the right people, tell everyone who needed to be where and when. He’s very good at it.”

Nate Miller can be reached at [email protected].