And we arrive once more at the illustrious fall break....and a much needed one, at that. Tomorrow afternoon we at Westminster head off for a 2-day (plus weekend) break. Pending rain, mine will be spent by first scaring folks at Hudson Haunted House, and then heading up to Niagara Falls (the Canada side)! It hasn't been much of a week so far (you'll notice it's only Tuesday, not my usual "Friday" post, thanks again to Fall Break) but let's see what we have in store for you today.
What I Did In BC This Week: I had my radio shift today, it went pretty well. I'm really concentrating o n doing a good job so I can have material for a resume tape, but at the same time, I want to have fun. If I think too much about it, my words get all jumbled up and you end up hearing what's inside my head! Scary! Anyway, I also have my radio news shift tomorrow. Once again, I'm hoping for a good newscast. Things can only go up after last week's last-minute fiasco!
Career Planning: I gave my presentation in capstone this week about my internship and why internships are good and all that jazz. It went okay, but I kinda wish I had done it last week because I kinda forgot most of the stuff that I wanted to say. I was supposed to present last week but we ran out of time. We talked about resume/audition tapes, and we watched a few examples of television tapes....bad examples! Don't even ask, the one was so bad that I never want to think about it ever again. So wrong. Anyway, I really need to get into gear and create my tapes so I can get them sent out on time. I know what I want to put on my "news" tape, it's just a matter of getting the one live (election day) and editing down the bytes in one of my wraps. This will be a good tape for this semester...but I need to brainstorm ideas for another tape (later) that will be good for job applications, and stay timely and topical. As for my announcer tape, I'm still working through my air checks to find things I like that showcase my skills and would catch someone's attention.
What's Happening in the 'biz: ABC turns Lifetime? Well maybe it's not quite that extreme...but the network has been airing a lot of shows hoping to attract more women viewers (with shows like "Desperate Housewives" and "Wife Swap"). They're trying to pull themselves up in prime-time ratings..and so far, succeeding. That article at this site talks about the different shows that ABC is promoting this season and how their success so far has been a welcome change.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Friday, October 15, 2004
Homecoming Weekend!
Well I have to start off by apologizing for my late post this week. I've been feeling really sick again lately, and I haven't slept, oh, about all week. Ya know, nose, head, throat, cough, all the good stuff. I finally got some sleep today - almost all of today. So, at least I feel better now, right? I have a busy weekend ahead of me, and a pretty busy week behind me as well.
In other news - It's Homecoming Weekend! Sarah Bowers came by to watch The County Line last night, and Joy is supposed to come up tonight for the weekend. Yay for alumni. Homecoming also means the parade and game tomorrow - I'm Field Commander for Titan Marching Band, so it's going to be a busy day. Unfortunately, it looks like it might be a yucky cold rainy busy day.
What I did in BC This Week: Probly about the most fun thing so far...I went out with Liz this past weekend to film the Fall Festival at the Apple Castle. Liz had to most of the filming, since she needs raw video footage for video production class. But I helped point out shots that would be fun, and the folks we interviewed were great. It was a really enjoyable atmosphere, and I was SO excited that people knew what we were doing? The first guy we bumped into was like "Oh, are you guys with Cable 9?" I was like, yeah, totally! No one's ever known what I was doing before, wandering around with a camera and Sarah Bowers by my side! Plus, when Liz had me reach up like I was going to pick an apple, three other apples fell on my head. *makes mock-angry face*
I also had my DJ shift - Tandi gave us back our aircheck tapes and some notes. Mine were mostly good, and I tried to work on the other stuff that she pointed out, but nothing major. So that was good. My newscast on the other hand.... Just about the worst newscast ever. Don't get me wrong - we had great stories and pretty decent sound, with good story order/flow and all...but it took so long to get the last sound byte that I ended up running into the studio as ABC news was finishing. I forgot to stick the minidisc in the player, and Alaina had accidentally left my stories in reverse order when she was seperating them. I didn't realize it until the third story. Those are the times when I wish our station ran a little more like my internship - their stories and soundbytes are imbedded directly into a file on the computer and they just walk from the newsroom to the booth, and read off that computer! LOL. The important thing to remember from this situation is that I was strangely calm throughout the whole ordeal. Last year I would have been stressing out completely. So, that's growth!
Career Planning: I've been trying to understand not only what makes a great resume tape, but also just the basics of a tape (what to put on it, how long total tape should be, best first thing to hear, etc). We made an example tape in Broadcast Journalism, but I think there's more to it than what I ended up with there. For my capstone project I want to get mine sent out by mid-November...but I don't have anything to send yet. I have all my material from the past four years, yeah, but I don't really know what to do with it! So I've been talking to people in the business, and Mr. Weaver is sposed to address more details in capstone this week, because I guess some other people are at about the same place I am. I have to really get working on these tapes because the deadline for that is drawing near, especially with Fall break next week.
What's happenin' in the biz: Going along with what Sebastian was talking about a view weeks ago in one of his posts, the article I found here is about ESPN2 debuting it's new spanish-language production of SportsCenter. I found the headline on the Broadcast and Cable news site, but I didn't have an account to view the full story. The show will give latest scores and sports news and information, much in the same format as the English-language show. Lino Garcia is the general manager for ESPN Deportes. Garcia says this is a great chance for the rest of the world to check out the show and see what its about. Much as Sebastian hopes our country will someday do - there will be a focus on soccer and other sports that are not necessarily "mainstream."
In other news - It's Homecoming Weekend! Sarah Bowers came by to watch The County Line last night, and Joy is supposed to come up tonight for the weekend. Yay for alumni. Homecoming also means the parade and game tomorrow - I'm Field Commander for Titan Marching Band, so it's going to be a busy day. Unfortunately, it looks like it might be a yucky cold rainy busy day.
What I did in BC This Week: Probly about the most fun thing so far...I went out with Liz this past weekend to film the Fall Festival at the Apple Castle. Liz had to most of the filming, since she needs raw video footage for video production class. But I helped point out shots that would be fun, and the folks we interviewed were great. It was a really enjoyable atmosphere, and I was SO excited that people knew what we were doing? The first guy we bumped into was like "Oh, are you guys with Cable 9?" I was like, yeah, totally! No one's ever known what I was doing before, wandering around with a camera and Sarah Bowers by my side! Plus, when Liz had me reach up like I was going to pick an apple, three other apples fell on my head. *makes mock-angry face*
I also had my DJ shift - Tandi gave us back our aircheck tapes and some notes. Mine were mostly good, and I tried to work on the other stuff that she pointed out, but nothing major. So that was good. My newscast on the other hand.... Just about the worst newscast ever. Don't get me wrong - we had great stories and pretty decent sound, with good story order/flow and all...but it took so long to get the last sound byte that I ended up running into the studio as ABC news was finishing. I forgot to stick the minidisc in the player, and Alaina had accidentally left my stories in reverse order when she was seperating them. I didn't realize it until the third story. Those are the times when I wish our station ran a little more like my internship - their stories and soundbytes are imbedded directly into a file on the computer and they just walk from the newsroom to the booth, and read off that computer! LOL. The important thing to remember from this situation is that I was strangely calm throughout the whole ordeal. Last year I would have been stressing out completely. So, that's growth!
Career Planning: I've been trying to understand not only what makes a great resume tape, but also just the basics of a tape (what to put on it, how long total tape should be, best first thing to hear, etc). We made an example tape in Broadcast Journalism, but I think there's more to it than what I ended up with there. For my capstone project I want to get mine sent out by mid-November...but I don't have anything to send yet. I have all my material from the past four years, yeah, but I don't really know what to do with it! So I've been talking to people in the business, and Mr. Weaver is sposed to address more details in capstone this week, because I guess some other people are at about the same place I am. I have to really get working on these tapes because the deadline for that is drawing near, especially with Fall break next week.
What's happenin' in the biz: Going along with what Sebastian was talking about a view weeks ago in one of his posts, the article I found here is about ESPN2 debuting it's new spanish-language production of SportsCenter. I found the headline on the Broadcast and Cable news site, but I didn't have an account to view the full story. The show will give latest scores and sports news and information, much in the same format as the English-language show. Lino Garcia is the general manager for ESPN Deportes. Garcia says this is a great chance for the rest of the world to check out the show and see what its about. Much as Sebastian hopes our country will someday do - there will be a focus on soccer and other sports that are not necessarily "mainstream."
Thursday, October 07, 2004
In the swing of things
I'm finally motivating myself to get some of this work done. I've made a lot of phone calls and sent out a ton of emails lately. What can I say, I'm an organizer and a planner, lol. So I'm working on contacts in the business and generally making myself more knowledgeable about things. It's about time too - the semester is half over! It feels like it's been longer, and yet, where does the time go?
What I did in broadcasting this week: It feels like everything I did this week was broadcasting related. I've been doing some research for my "programming and promotion" class, because we're working on a group project where we have to create a tv show/radio program and do a mock "pitch" to a network. It's been fun, but it's hard to come at something from a new angle, a new take, and back it up with predicted ratings and all! The people who come up with some of these shows have to be super creative...an area where I sometimes lack skills.
I also had my radio shifts this week. Tandi still has my aircheck tape so I didn't get to aircheck myself, but that's ok. I'm pretty anxious to get some feedback about that side of my broadcasting goals. I did have some pretty funny things to talk about...and I also got a little more involved personality-wise, because I had some amusing blurbs that were more political in nature (but balanced - no cheap jabs at anyone on my show! except Joy!) so that was exciting.
The County Line is tonight. I've been serving as Floor Director, which is a pretty fun job for me. I have to communicate what's going on in the control room with the studio and anchors, and also make sure cameras are doing their jobs and anchors are doing okay, looking at the correct camera, etc. I just wish everything didn't happen on Thursdays here at Westminster! There are a thousand places I'd love to be, but they're all at about the same time. (TCL, Dance Theatre, Gospel Choir...and more).
My newscast on Digital 88.9 News yesterday was great. Shannon and I think it may have been our best newscast yet, and Alaina did a great job producing. I recorded it myself to save on minidisc after it aired, for potential use on my resume tape.
Career planning: I've been contacting a lot of people in the business as I start working harder on my Capstone project. It's a good way to network, but sometimes I feel like this little kid tugging on someone's shirttails, ya know? Well, ya gotta start somewhere. I got in touch with Joy to see about shadowing her over fall break, and I got sad news. She ended up leaving the radio biz because things weren't jiving with her ADD. She thinks she's gonna be a gym teacher now. I'm kinda sad now because I was hoping to get some more insight from her, since she graduated about a year ago now and she's been at that station ever since. But good luck with your new goals, kid!
What's a'happenin in the 'biz: I read an article from newslab.org that was titled "Could satellite be the new FM radio?" While I feel that the article was mis-titled because I thought it would be about one thing and it lead me in another direction, it was still worth reading. Howard Stern has signed a deal with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. to get away from the FCC and such. Satellite radio is trying to get more listeners because they've never really profited, and Sirius thinks that Stern is their "ticket" to more subscribers. Personally, I never listened to Howard Stern, and I would never buy satellite radio just to listen to Stern and other shock jocks. I'll stick with the free and the FM, thanks!
What I did in broadcasting this week: It feels like everything I did this week was broadcasting related. I've been doing some research for my "programming and promotion" class, because we're working on a group project where we have to create a tv show/radio program and do a mock "pitch" to a network. It's been fun, but it's hard to come at something from a new angle, a new take, and back it up with predicted ratings and all! The people who come up with some of these shows have to be super creative...an area where I sometimes lack skills.
I also had my radio shifts this week. Tandi still has my aircheck tape so I didn't get to aircheck myself, but that's ok. I'm pretty anxious to get some feedback about that side of my broadcasting goals. I did have some pretty funny things to talk about...and I also got a little more involved personality-wise, because I had some amusing blurbs that were more political in nature (but balanced - no cheap jabs at anyone on my show! except Joy!) so that was exciting.
The County Line is tonight. I've been serving as Floor Director, which is a pretty fun job for me. I have to communicate what's going on in the control room with the studio and anchors, and also make sure cameras are doing their jobs and anchors are doing okay, looking at the correct camera, etc. I just wish everything didn't happen on Thursdays here at Westminster! There are a thousand places I'd love to be, but they're all at about the same time. (TCL, Dance Theatre, Gospel Choir...and more).
My newscast on Digital 88.9 News yesterday was great. Shannon and I think it may have been our best newscast yet, and Alaina did a great job producing. I recorded it myself to save on minidisc after it aired, for potential use on my resume tape.
Career planning: I've been contacting a lot of people in the business as I start working harder on my Capstone project. It's a good way to network, but sometimes I feel like this little kid tugging on someone's shirttails, ya know? Well, ya gotta start somewhere. I got in touch with Joy to see about shadowing her over fall break, and I got sad news. She ended up leaving the radio biz because things weren't jiving with her ADD. She thinks she's gonna be a gym teacher now. I'm kinda sad now because I was hoping to get some more insight from her, since she graduated about a year ago now and she's been at that station ever since. But good luck with your new goals, kid!
What's a'happenin in the 'biz: I read an article from newslab.org that was titled "Could satellite be the new FM radio?" While I feel that the article was mis-titled because I thought it would be about one thing and it lead me in another direction, it was still worth reading. Howard Stern has signed a deal with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. to get away from the FCC and such. Satellite radio is trying to get more listeners because they've never really profited, and Sirius thinks that Stern is their "ticket" to more subscribers. Personally, I never listened to Howard Stern, and I would never buy satellite radio just to listen to Stern and other shock jocks. I'll stick with the free and the FM, thanks!
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