A Lawrence woman has been getting some national radio play.

For the past few months, Jenel Farrell, a 1998 Kansas University graduate, has been an intern for National Public Radio in Washington, D.C.

She was one of 30 people chosen from among 1,000 applicants.

“Most people don’t have any real sense on how hard it is to do radio work,” said Doug Mitchell, project manager for Next Generation Radio, a division of NPR.

In addition to working in the information library, Farrell also was the producer for a segment on NPR’s “Intern Edition,” a show worked on top to bottom by interns at NPR.

Farrell worked on a short segment concerning Topeka’s anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps and First Amendment rights.

“I wanted to take his rhetoric and put a positive spin on it,” Farrell said. “I wanted to show how his hate speech has actually galvanized people into acting and using their First Amendment rights.”

Farrell got her start in radio when she and a small group of people started a local radio station in Lawrence in 1997. They broadcast out of Liberty Hall’s basement for more than a year.

“Radio is sort of an equalizer,” Mitchell said of Farrell’s experience in Lawrence. “You don’t need a lot of money to be a broadcaster. You do in television, and you do in (print) journalism.”

Farrell will return to Lawrence for one month, until October, when she begins her new job for the acquisitions department in the Western European Language Section of the Library of Congress.

According to Farrell, she was the first new hire from outside the department in 15 years.

“One of the greatest things about this country, and our culture, is the freedom of information,” Farrell said. “I feel very strongly that we should be giving people the information they need.”