Time is Running Out...

A few weeks ago I blogged about the importance of teamwork, and this week I got a much better understanding of its powerful meaning.

It was 2:30 in the afternoon, 5 hours till showtime, and Nicky and I were working on scripts for The County Line. We didn't have a complete rundown yet, but we were able to work on intros and readers while we waited for a finished schedule of the show. However, as we were typing up our scripts we weren't sure of what all the package intros were, what readers we needed to use, and what segments of the show were changed or cut. After we got a rundown, we tried filling in the holes of what we didn't have and made a few phone calls to get anchor intros for packages. We did as much as we could, but we had to leave for Capstone class at 3:40.

I wasn't too worried about our scripts at the time, I just figured it would all come together like it usually does. After Weaver let us leave Capstone class early, Nicky and I headed back up to the newsroom to hurry up and finish our scripts. It was about 4:30, 3 hours till showtime, and we were still unsure of a few packages. We were able to finish up almost all of the script at 5:15 and decided to break and get ready for the show, and then meet back at 6:15 to finish a few details, and print out our scripts.

I still wasn't too worried about our scripts and I felt pretty confident in the rundown. After getting ready, I met Nicky in the newsroom to print out our scripts, but that's when things really went downhill. It seems like everytime another anchor and I are printing out our scripts, the printer has to give us problems. I still have no idea what was going on with the printer last night. All I know is that it was 6:30, an hour till showtime, and we had no scripts.

The next 45 minutes were a hectic mess as we scrambled to get the printer working and using what we had to try and put a script together. I was frustrated, not with anyone in the room, but just with the printer. There were scripts laying around everywhere. Luckily, we somehow managed to get all the scripts for the telemprompter and were able to fit a run-through in. However, the show didn't go quite as well as it should have. I felt like I was under a lot of pressure and I thought at any minute something else could go wrong.

After this experience, not only do I understand the importance of teamwork, but I also understand the most important element of teamwork - communication. If your team doesn't communicate with you, things are bound to go wrong. I don't feel that anyone in particular was to blame for the way the show went, I just feel like the team as a whole wasn't communicating enough. All I can say is we learn from our mistakes, and since I'm anchoring next week, I'm hoping the show runs much smoother. And as for the printer, well, I'm still mad at it.

Getting Your Big Break

Earlier this week a Westminster alum, Eric Burns, came to speak at the college. Burns has had quite a career and has worked with some well-known television networks including PBS, E! Entertainment, and the Fox News Channel. He started off by talking about his experiences here at Westminster, and then summed up his entire career in about 45 minutes. It was great to hear from a professional and how he got started working in the business, however he made it seem so simple.

To my surprise, Burns wasn't even a broadcast major, he was an English major! However, in order to be a profound journalist or reporter, you do need to have good writing/speaking skills and I guess that's what helped him get his foot in the door. But, before he got into the broadcast business he tried to make it into show business by performing stand-up comedy acts act comedy clubs. So how did he make it into the broadcast world? Well, it sounds a lot easier that it seems. He made a tape, mailed it into a big station in New York and was hired. Even Burns mentioned how lucky he was to receive such a great job right away.

So after getting his big break at a station in New York City, Burns continued to jump from different networks and finally ended up at Fox News Channel where he stayed for many years. Burns said that his biggest issue with moving from job to job was trying to find a job where he could be in one place to be with his family.

So going back to how Burns got his big break in the broadcast world, I think today, this seems very unrealistic. A lot of the speakers that have come in to talk to my classes throughout my years at Westminster have talked about how you have to "get your foot in the door" and how you're going to be rejected many times before you find a job. Then when you do find a job you're going to start out at the bottom and have to work your way to the top. Also, almost every speaker mentioned something in regards to the low pay and how you shouldn't expect to make a lot of money.

I feel like today, the broadcasting business is very competitive, not just with different stations, but also with the employees. For example, if an anchor is making too much money because they have been at a station for so long, they have the possibility of being fired so a new and younger person can come in and be paid for less money. Maybe this wasn't the case when Burns was starting to make his way into the business, and maybe that's why it was so easy for him to get a good job. I feel that over the years the business has become more and more competitive, and more and more people are striving to be the best of the best. Even here at Westminster, I can feel the competitiveness among the broadcast majors.

I know that when I graduate and begin job searching, it's probably not going to be as easy for me as it was for Burns, but I realize that. Right now my expectations are that I'm going to have to send out lots and lots of resumes, and once I do find a job, I'll probably be constantly working my way up. I'm OK with that though, because as long as I'm doing what I love it doesn't matter.

One Step at a Time...

So I had my interview this week at WKBN and it went really well! The lady who discussed the internship with me was a Grove City graduate and actually interned there herself before she recieved a job. It was great to talk with someone who knew what I was going through and she had a lot of great advice for me as well. First she showed me around the building and then we talked in her office. After she finished up telling me about the internship and answering any questions that I had, she offered me an internship!

I recently emailed her to let her know that I would gladly like to intern at WKBN. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not sure what I want to do or where I want to go after college, but I'm hoping this internship will really give me a good idea and drive me in the right direction. I was told during my interview that I would be able to try all kinds of differents things such as going out with VJ's, editing, or working with promotions. I'm excited to get the chance to work in a professional atmosphere and network with people who have been working in the business for years.

Now that I have an internship all figured out, my next step is to figure out my senior capstone project. Mr. Weaver is having us make a calendar which will keep track of everything that we will be working on from here on out. I think this is a good idea, especially for someone like me. At times I tend to be quite a procrastinator, however I always make sure I get things done, even if it is the night before. For my senior project though, I really need to make sure I'm on top of things and work on things in a consistent and timely manner so I can get everything done and not be stressed out.

I've recently been brainstorming to try and come up with different ideas for my project and right now I have one idea at the top of my list. Since I also really enjoy doing Public Relations, I want to somehow incorporate it into my senior project. I feel that the best way to do this would be to do an advertising campaign where I can use my PR skills to create the campaign and then use my broadcasting skills to create radio and television advertisements to go along with the campaign. For right now I'm going to keep thinking.

Working Together

At the beginning of the semester each person in my Capstone class had to fill out application for The Amazing Race. The application was 15 pages long and asked questions that really made you think about yourself. Not only did the application really make me think about myself, but also my partner, Christina. The application had you choose adjectives to describe your partner, describe a time where you and your parnter had an argument, and talk about your partners strengths and weaknesses. I realized that I really didn't know my partner that well, but I recently found out we make a pretty good team.

The second part of this project is to actually create the application video to send in with your application. Christina and I had talked about the video for awhile, but wanted to make sure we knew exactly what we wanted to do before we started shooting. We worked on brainstorming and preproduction for about two weeks in order to plan out the video. Once we came up with an idea that we were both happy with we wrote a script and came up with a storyboard. I even watched past application videos for The Amazing Race that were posted on the web to see what other people might have done. Some of them were very creative and well edited, but a lot of them were basically just two people sitting in front of a camera talking about themselves the whole time. Christina and I wanted to do something that would not only be creative, but also different.

After we finished up with preproduction, we were ready to begin filming, however this didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped. We had planned to begin filming on a Monday, but due to technical difficulties our filming got pushed back a day which really made us nervous. We took the next day to film our first opening scenes, and then we took the next day to finish filming the rest of the video and refilming parts that weren't quite up to par. Although it took a lot of time, we got our video shot and we got the video captured onto the computer so it would be ready to edit once we returned from spring break.

Even though I felt as though I didn't know my partner very well in the beginning, I found out that we work very well together. We both have our strengths and weaknesses, but when we combine them, we can be even stronger, for example, Christina is better at writing, while I'm better at editing. I also learned that even when we came to a bump in the road, we worked through it and still got the job done. Even though we aren't actually making this video hoping that we get picked to be on The Amazing Race, I think Christina and I might actually make a pretty good team if we did happen to be picked. I feel that our video turned out really good and I'm excited to start editing it and putting it all together, and hopefully once it is finished I can post it.

Making Progress!

So a few weeks ago I had posted about an internship fair that was held here at Westminster. My Capstone class went and we were suppose to bring our resumes and try and network with the representatives there. After I went I really didn't think much of it. There was really only one company which related to broadcasting which was WKBN in Youngstown. I talked with the representatives for awhile and then handed them my resume, but so did everyone else.

Well these last few weeks have been pretty stressful with projects, presentations, and midterms so the last thing on my mind was trying to find an internship. I occasionally search the web and post my resume on different sites, but I haven't had much luck. The whole internship thing has been stressing me out for the longest time because I see other classmates being successful in getting interviews and I feel as though I'm a few steps behind.

Well, my whole attitude and mood changed when I received an e-mail on Wednesday. It was from the executive producer, Maggie Henderson, at WKBN in Youngstown, the same people I turned my resume in to! I was so excited to see an e-mail in my mailbox titled "Internship." Maggie said that she looked over my resume and was impressed and was wondering if I would be interested in a summer internship, which is exactly what I was looking for.

I called Maggie back the next day and set up an interview. Before my interview though, I need to make sure I'm prepared. I plan to update my resume, practice my interviewing skills, and update my resume tape in case they ask for one. I'm so excited to have an interview for a real internship, but I'm nervous at the same time. By having an internship I'll be able to not only gain the hands-on experience I need, but also find out what I want to do in the field of broadcasting. I've never been sure about what I want to do in broadcasting, but I always thought I would be able to figure it by doing an internship.

Not only would this internship be perfect for me because it's television, but it's also relatively close which means I wouldn't have to worry about driving really far. Having an internship like this would really help me to network with the professionals and find references to put on my resume. Now all I have to do is prepare myself and I hope I get it!

Less "Me" and More "We"

This week in capstone we learned all about teamwork. This is an important element in the world of broadcasting because everything runs by the work of many. Each week we produce a show called the County Line, where we present local news, sports, and feature stories to the community. Putting together a show like this each week takes an immense amount of preparation, skill, and teamwork. In order to learn a thing or two about teamwork, our capstone class met with members of Titan Traverse who put us to the challenge.

We started off by pairing up with another person and introduced them to the rest of the group by using our creative skills. We were given paper, markers, and play-dough and were instructed to use the materials in any way to help us describe our partner. After introducing our partners and playing a few quick games, our real challenge was presented to us. The members of Titan Traverse set up a smaller version of The Amazing Race. After being separated into two teams, we were given instructions and then began our race. The race included a scavenger hunt for clues, a puzzle, an obstacle course, and a blindfold game. Unfortunately, my team fell far behind on the puzzle part and we were unable to catch up. After my team finally finished we talked together as a group on how teamwork relates to and is used in our major.

I found this race to be exciting, fun, and challenging all at the same time. One thing I realized about myself is that I am a very competitive person. I use to play sports in high school and I was always competitive then, but I never thought I would be so competitive in something so small as a Titan Traverse activity. I found myself sprinting across the quad as fast as I could to get to the next clue. I also found myself becoming frustrated when members of my team would step on an object during the obstacle course causing us to start all over. However, I feel that a competitive spirit is a good quality to have, especially in broadcasting. Television shows, newspapers, and magazines are all about ratings and competition. When you're not number one your constantly striving to be number one. However, I realize that although I'm a competitive person who really wants to win, sometimes it takes more than just one person to be successful. This is where teamwork comes in.

In order for a television show to be successful and gain ratings everyone must work together and do their part to achieve this common goal. Without the producer there would be no one to produce, without the director there would be no one to direct, without the reporters there would be no one to report, and so on. It's important for each person to do their part, but it's also important to communicate with the rest of the team. I feel that The Amazing Race activity really brought a new light to the definition of teamwork. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses; however we all have the same goal. In order to accomplish that goal we must work together as a team.

No More Newspapers?

Is there a future for the newspaper? Since today's world is so fast paced not a lot of people have the time to sit down and read a newspaper. Instead, we can can tune in on the radio to listen to the latest news while we drive to work. We can flip on the television, relax and watch the evening news, or we can read news stories on the web with the click of a button. With all the technology we have today it's much easier to find news stories that appeal to us in a short amount of time.

Newspapers have been around in America since the 1700s and have served their purpose for many years. However, some people believe that the newspaper may be coming to an end due to technology and the different mediums we use to find news. Even newspapers themselves create their own websites to display the same news stories they are printing in their papers. So why are so many people turning to the Internet to find news? Well, personally I find the web to be a much quicker and convenient way of finding information. Whether it's reading the latest news, watching videos on You Tube, or doing research for a school project, all the knowledge and information I could possibly need is right at the tip of my fingers. I don't have to search through a library or spend money on a paper, I just have to have a keyword.

Not only is the Internet becoming a main news source for people, but it's also allowing people to become their own journalists. The new craze in Internet news are citizen journalist sites. These sites allow people of a community or neighborhood to post their own news stories, photos, and videos. I checked a few of these sites out including "neighbor go" and they seem like a good idea. However, most of the stories I found were about school events, such as Family History Night at a local elementary school. They're not what you would call "hard news stories," but the purpose of the site is for people to post news that they find interesting or important to them. If the local residents didn't write these small stories that they find important, then no one else would.

Another main news source people are using today is, of course, television. If you're already watching television then why not keep it on to hear the evening news? Television makes it so simple to be up to date on what's going on because there are so many news channels we can choose from, including national and local. Another reason why I think more people turn to television for news rather than the newspaper is because it's visual. Instead of reading, you're listening and watching at the same time. Not only do you hear about a fire, but you also get to see it, which makes the story much more exciting.

Overall, I think the newspaper will still be around for awhile. Even though the world is becoming much more hi-tech, many people still look to the newspaper as their main news source. I think we all use a mix of different mediums to gather information and for many people that includes reading a newspaper. Even though I mainly rely on the Internet and television for my daily news, if an interesting headline catches my attention I'll pick up a paper and read it.