Well I know that you would never guess in a million years what my capstone presentation would be about, right? Actually, I bet you would guess it…. Sports! My presentation is on Monday November 10th, 2008 at 7 PM. I debated on where I should do my presentation, but I found the perfect spot. I am going to present in the field house conference room.
Have you ever wondered if sports anchors shoot their own packages? As the anchor for our cable show Titan-Town Sports I can answer that question for you, I do! Its called being a video journalist or "VJ." Stations can hire fewer people to do more work and save money in the long run. I know that I have talked about this in previous blogs because the station that I interned at was doing this. I know that it was a lot of hard work, but everyone there seemed to get everything accomplished and didn’t have to worry about it being a crazy news room because of all of the people. I am going to show examples of how I went out every other week and not only shot my video for my packages, but I put them together and anchored them as well. The packages range from 1:30 to 2 minutes. If you aren’t a football fan no need to worry as I have worked very hard to do a variety of feature stories. Focusing on other sports such as high school soccer and the Special Olympics. No matter what your interest is, everyone can relate. I have taken all of these packages, as well as the episodes that I anchored Titan-Town Sports to my mentor Bill Castrovince for feedback. Bill is from WYTV33 the station that I interned at, and is a great story teller and video journalist. His input helped me to work hard to improve everyday not only on my editing and shooting skills, but my anchoring delivery, too!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
I Bet You Will NEVER Guess Who I Chose?
Many of you may not know who the great and legendary John McEnroe is. If you don't I must say that I am disappointed but will get you up to speed. McEnroe was one of the most accomplished players in the history of tennis. For four consecutive years he was the world's No. 1 player. He also reached the No. 1 ranking in doubles. Total he captured 77 singles titles, including four US Open titles and three Wimbledon championships. McEnroe also won five times playing doubles at Wimbledon and four times at the US Open. He also won the mixed doubles title at the 1977 French Open with CBS analyst Mary Carillo. http://www.usanetwork.com/sports/usopen/theshow/characterprofiles/mcenroe/index.html
These are just his major accomplishments as an athlete. McEnroe is also lead tennis analyst for USA Sports. In case you did not know this, USA Sports covers the US Open.
I would do anything to meet McEnroe. He has accomplished so much in his life so far. He has not only played tennis for a long period of time he has also excelled in my dream job....a tennis analyst. Tennis has been a major part of my life. It is the sport that I know the most about and the sport that I have the most passion for. I admire him in so many ways. One that seems to stand out to me is that he was accussed of steroid use. Wheather he did or did not use steroids is irrelevent. http://www.cnn.com/2004/SPORT/01/11/mcenroe.steroids.ap/ I admire him for not letting it affect his love for the sport. He could have just walked away or disappeared but he didn't. He has went from being a fantastic player to an even better analyst. He has proved this by being nominated twice for a Sports Emmy Award as "Outstanding Analyst" from USA, CBS, and NBC, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in July 1999. I know that I will never make it to play at the US Open or Wimbledon, but as long as i enjoy playing and can teach it to others I am the happiest person alive. No matter where this journey after college will take me one thing is for sure I will always have tennis in my life.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Yoga Stretches in a Voice Class?
There are a lot of faculty members at Westminster that have had some impact in my life in one way or another, but there is one who stands out. When the spring semester came around during my sophomore year I couldn’t believe I had to take a class taught by a theater professor. All I kept thinking was that I was going to have to get up in front of people and act, dance around, or pretty much just make a fool out of myself. Scott Mackenzie’s Voice and Diction class turned out to be one of the best classes that I have taken at Westminster. I mean I will admit that when he had us do stretches, or yoga type warm up’s, I was a little skeptical on how that would help me dictate better and help me to be a better broadcaster, but it did.
Dr. Mackenzie was not what I expected at all. He wasn’t out to embarrass people or make them feel uncomfortable. Instead, he wanted to help shape us to be great speakers, and for our “accents” to not hold us back from getting a job. We did have to do some odd warm-up’s like rubbing eachother’s backs, stretching our legs, or putting our hands on our partner’s diaphragm, let me tell you what this stuff helped. These exercises helped to open up and expand our diaphragm, and helped us to regulate our breathing. Breathing is very important to how we speak. Dr. Mackenzie made it a point that everyone, no matter what their speaking experience was, learn and demonstrate the importance of breathing and articulation.
Everything that I learned from him in his class will only help make me a better broadcaster. I mean some of my family members make it a point to tell me how much I articulate the ending’s on my words. I actually think they get annoyed by it, but its habit for me, and a good one if I must say. This is a class that I hope they never get rid of at Westminster, and I hope Dr. Mackenzie will continue to teach it for a long time. He knows so much, and is really concerned with what his students learn and how they retain that information. These are the kind of classes and professors that should be at every learning institution.
Dr. Mackenzie was not what I expected at all. He wasn’t out to embarrass people or make them feel uncomfortable. Instead, he wanted to help shape us to be great speakers, and for our “accents” to not hold us back from getting a job. We did have to do some odd warm-up’s like rubbing eachother’s backs, stretching our legs, or putting our hands on our partner’s diaphragm, let me tell you what this stuff helped. These exercises helped to open up and expand our diaphragm, and helped us to regulate our breathing. Breathing is very important to how we speak. Dr. Mackenzie made it a point that everyone, no matter what their speaking experience was, learn and demonstrate the importance of breathing and articulation.
Everything that I learned from him in his class will only help make me a better broadcaster. I mean some of my family members make it a point to tell me how much I articulate the ending’s on my words. I actually think they get annoyed by it, but its habit for me, and a good one if I must say. This is a class that I hope they never get rid of at Westminster, and I hope Dr. Mackenzie will continue to teach it for a long time. He knows so much, and is really concerned with what his students learn and how they retain that information. These are the kind of classes and professors that should be at every learning institution.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
A Role Model.....A "Valley" Legend!
I know I say this from time to time, but this blog entry was quite easy for me. I knew exactly who the person was that influenced, helped, and shaped me the most professionally during my years at college. My internship was such a great experience. I can’t think of a better influence than Bob Hannon.
Being a women isn’t easy in the broadcasting field, let alone being a women in sports broadcasting. I thought to myself that if this is seriously what I want to do, I need to know the in and outs of sports. So an idea popped into my head….why not take a class. Bob Hannon was teaching a course about sports broadcasting during the fall semester. I learned so much from him. He taught be not only everything I needed to know about sports, but he taught be that even if I am a girl I can be just as knowledgeable and professional than any male sports guy. I even proved it, because I know for a fact that I had one of the highest grades, if not the highest in the class. He helped to make me feel comfortable and confident going in to sports broadcasting.
During class Bob had mentioned that in the spring they would be looking for interns. I guess you could say I was just a tad bit eager, because I sent him an e-mail right after class. That is how I landed my internship at WKBN/ WYTV. While going to my internship, Bob was a great role model. He was always on time, professional, and a prominent figure in the “Valley.” No matter whom he saw in public, whether he knew them or not he always greeted them with a smile and hello. To the people of Ohio, and even sports fans in Pennsylvania, Bob was the guy to inform you about sports. He taught me so much in such a short amount of time. All things I am going to take with me when I leave Westminster. I want to be like him, but a girl of course, but not exactly like him. Although, he was great at what he did, one thing he taught me was to find my style and stick with it…and that’s just what I am going to do! I’m sad that Bob is no longer in the Sports broadcasting field because he was an excellent person to learn from. I’m even sadder because future broadcasters will not have the opportunity to learn from him. I will never forget everything he has taught me and when I make it big one day, hopefully in ESPN, I can thank him for everything he helped me accomplish!
Being a women isn’t easy in the broadcasting field, let alone being a women in sports broadcasting. I thought to myself that if this is seriously what I want to do, I need to know the in and outs of sports. So an idea popped into my head….why not take a class. Bob Hannon was teaching a course about sports broadcasting during the fall semester. I learned so much from him. He taught be not only everything I needed to know about sports, but he taught be that even if I am a girl I can be just as knowledgeable and professional than any male sports guy. I even proved it, because I know for a fact that I had one of the highest grades, if not the highest in the class. He helped to make me feel comfortable and confident going in to sports broadcasting.
During class Bob had mentioned that in the spring they would be looking for interns. I guess you could say I was just a tad bit eager, because I sent him an e-mail right after class. That is how I landed my internship at WKBN/ WYTV. While going to my internship, Bob was a great role model. He was always on time, professional, and a prominent figure in the “Valley.” No matter whom he saw in public, whether he knew them or not he always greeted them with a smile and hello. To the people of Ohio, and even sports fans in Pennsylvania, Bob was the guy to inform you about sports. He taught me so much in such a short amount of time. All things I am going to take with me when I leave Westminster. I want to be like him, but a girl of course, but not exactly like him. Although, he was great at what he did, one thing he taught me was to find my style and stick with it…and that’s just what I am going to do! I’m sad that Bob is no longer in the Sports broadcasting field because he was an excellent person to learn from. I’m even sadder because future broadcasters will not have the opportunity to learn from him. I will never forget everything he has taught me and when I make it big one day, hopefully in ESPN, I can thank him for everything he helped me accomplish!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
One of my best professional experiences....my internship!
I know that my main focus last semester was informing you all about my internship at WYTV 33/ WKBN 27. So why would you think that my first entry would be any different? The reason I am writing about my internship right now is because it truly was on of the best professional experiences that I have ever had that helped shape me.
My internship at the station taught me the importance of being on time (or even early), how to dress, shoot video, edit, and overall just how to be a professional while being out in the field. I'm not going to lie, most of the time I am an early bird and am always on time, but there are the occasional times when I was a few minutes behind. While interning at the station I learned the importance of being early because in news or even sports there is always things that can happen and throw everything off. PLUS it really impresses your employer when you are on time!
Being out in the public it's really important to dress your best and look professional! Being a college student, I'm sure most of us are used to wearing jeans and sweats, but this is not the job field for those articles of clothing. Being a broadcast major at Westminster we are give plenty of opportunities to shoot video and edit our packages. The only thing that made it more different when I would do those things at the station was that I felt pressured to complete everything in a timely manner and do the best that I could do because these were actual sportscasters who were going to critique my work!
All of these things are going to help me with hosting Titan Town Sports this year! My capstone project is to make a montage of all of my packages that I do (Bi-weekly) for Titan Town Sports! Since I want to be a sportscaster all of these things are only going to help me even more! Not only am I going to look and sound more professional, but I'm going to gain hands on experience which is a great pay off!
My internship at the station taught me the importance of being on time (or even early), how to dress, shoot video, edit, and overall just how to be a professional while being out in the field. I'm not going to lie, most of the time I am an early bird and am always on time, but there are the occasional times when I was a few minutes behind. While interning at the station I learned the importance of being early because in news or even sports there is always things that can happen and throw everything off. PLUS it really impresses your employer when you are on time!
Being out in the public it's really important to dress your best and look professional! Being a college student, I'm sure most of us are used to wearing jeans and sweats, but this is not the job field for those articles of clothing. Being a broadcast major at Westminster we are give plenty of opportunities to shoot video and edit our packages. The only thing that made it more different when I would do those things at the station was that I felt pressured to complete everything in a timely manner and do the best that I could do because these were actual sportscasters who were going to critique my work!
All of these things are going to help me with hosting Titan Town Sports this year! My capstone project is to make a montage of all of my packages that I do (Bi-weekly) for Titan Town Sports! Since I want to be a sportscaster all of these things are only going to help me even more! Not only am I going to look and sound more professional, but I'm going to gain hands on experience which is a great pay off!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
All Good Things Must Come To An End!
Who knew, way back in January, when I wrote my first entry, that I would have had one of the most enjoyable and valuable learning experiences of my life. My internship with WYTV/WKBN will be missed dearly. It was one, of a few things, that I looked forward to doing every week. It was so exciting and I never knew exactly what was going to go on, or where I would be going. I have also experienced a lot of firsts with this internship, such as stand ups, indoor arena football, election night, ice hockey, and how can we all forget, an RBI.
I have experienced a lot of happy and exciting events, as well as a tragic event. All which I will hold dear to my heart. My first stand up is something that I will never forget. Most of my broadcasting experience has come from reading scripts. So when I was practicing what I was going to say I stumbled a lot, mainly because I was nervous. This stand up was with Bill and he is such a great storyteller that I was just as nervous doing it in front of him. I was so pleased with how it came out. Bill did such a great job making me feel comfortable and so proud of what I accomplished. One of the best pieces of advice that Bill gave me was to tell a story as conversationally as possible. This is something that was very hard for me at first, but with practice, I have seen a major improvement.
Something else that really stands out is my first experience covering indoor arena football and ice hockey. I was so energized and ready for just about anything. I am so glad that I got to experience these kinds of things while doing my internship. I also picked up a few pointers when I went out with Joe to get some footage for a feature story on the Mahoning Valley Thunder. These are pointers I am going to take with me and continue using. One of those pointers I will always remember is that you don't always get to find out background information on the people you are interviewing or about the story you are going to do, so when you do a stand up you just need to be simple and to the point, and feed off of what the interviewee says. This I believe will not only help me in my final year here at college, but in my future as a broadcaster.
There are also many other things I will not forget. One of those things happened to hit close to home. That was when I went out with a news video journalist for the day and ended up covering a fatal accident that was a young student here at Westminster. It really hit me, because in sports, what goes on is a lot of exciting action, in news it’s not always as joyful. Some days you may cover something that is going on in the area that is very joyful and giving, things charity related. Then there are the things like covering a tragedy, whether it is a fire or an accident that are never easy. There are even times when you may know or be close to the person you are reporting on. That is just the difference between news and sports.
My time at the station went by so fast. I am still going to keep in contact with all of them. Bob is actually going to be looking at my packages that I am going to be doing for Titan Town Sports as part of my senior project. A lot of people I have talked to said that during their time at an internship they did not get hands on experience and that a lot of what they were doing was running errands or going on mail runs. I can honestly sit here and say that this was an amazing internship. I met a lot of nice people, learned a lot about myself, and gained a lot of knowledge. I was very blessed to be given this opportunity and to have worked with such great people!
I have experienced a lot of happy and exciting events, as well as a tragic event. All which I will hold dear to my heart. My first stand up is something that I will never forget. Most of my broadcasting experience has come from reading scripts. So when I was practicing what I was going to say I stumbled a lot, mainly because I was nervous. This stand up was with Bill and he is such a great storyteller that I was just as nervous doing it in front of him. I was so pleased with how it came out. Bill did such a great job making me feel comfortable and so proud of what I accomplished. One of the best pieces of advice that Bill gave me was to tell a story as conversationally as possible. This is something that was very hard for me at first, but with practice, I have seen a major improvement.
Something else that really stands out is my first experience covering indoor arena football and ice hockey. I was so energized and ready for just about anything. I am so glad that I got to experience these kinds of things while doing my internship. I also picked up a few pointers when I went out with Joe to get some footage for a feature story on the Mahoning Valley Thunder. These are pointers I am going to take with me and continue using. One of those pointers I will always remember is that you don't always get to find out background information on the people you are interviewing or about the story you are going to do, so when you do a stand up you just need to be simple and to the point, and feed off of what the interviewee says. This I believe will not only help me in my final year here at college, but in my future as a broadcaster.
There are also many other things I will not forget. One of those things happened to hit close to home. That was when I went out with a news video journalist for the day and ended up covering a fatal accident that was a young student here at Westminster. It really hit me, because in sports, what goes on is a lot of exciting action, in news it’s not always as joyful. Some days you may cover something that is going on in the area that is very joyful and giving, things charity related. Then there are the things like covering a tragedy, whether it is a fire or an accident that are never easy. There are even times when you may know or be close to the person you are reporting on. That is just the difference between news and sports.
My time at the station went by so fast. I am still going to keep in contact with all of them. Bob is actually going to be looking at my packages that I am going to be doing for Titan Town Sports as part of my senior project. A lot of people I have talked to said that during their time at an internship they did not get hands on experience and that a lot of what they were doing was running errands or going on mail runs. I can honestly sit here and say that this was an amazing internship. I met a lot of nice people, learned a lot about myself, and gained a lot of knowledge. I was very blessed to be given this opportunity and to have worked with such great people!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Things That Happen Everyday in the Newsroom....
My internship this week was different than most. This week Bob asked me if I wanted to go out with a VJ in the news department. Since before in the past, I haven't got too many opportunities to go out with someone in news, so I thought this would be a great opportunity. Little did I know that Tuesday would be life changing for me.
Early that morning we received a phone calling telling us that there was an accident on the interstate. All I kept thinking was that I was hoping it was nothing serious because I have never been one for the sight of blood or anything worse. We drove on the interstate and saw the tow truck. We had to park on the opposite side of the road. Guess what that meant? We were going to be running across the interstate and as if that wasn't dangerous enough we were going to be running across the road with equipment. These are things though that happen all of the time when you are in news...you never know what's going to happen or what to expect.
We got some footage of the accident and then met with the trooper to get details about the accident. The only thing we found out was that it was serious and the driver was life- flighted to an area hospital, and a one vehicle accident. We left and after being back for awhile it was time for the noon news. The competing station had declared the accident fatal, but the officer had told us it wasn't. We finally got confirmation, and the accident was fatal. I kept thinking about it, and was glad in a way that I did not see the accident as it was being handled, but just saw it being cleaned up.
Later that night I got news that the driver of the car was from my college. I didn't know what to feel at that moment. My heart kind of sank. I was sad for her, her friends, and her family. I had only known of her, so I really didn't know her. In a way I was kind of glad that I didn't, because if it had been one of my friends out there I don't know how I would have reacted. This really hit home to me.
This is something that could happen at any time when you work in news. You never know what to expect. News is a lot different than sports. When in sports everything is pretty much happy, and fun. Most things I've seen in news so far have been very emotional and serious. I think people who are in news deserve a lot of credit. They witness things that are really serious and can too be in harms way, just like police officers and firefighters. I really hope that I can get a job in sports right away, but if now I guess I know ahead of time what I will be in for if I go in to news.
Early that morning we received a phone calling telling us that there was an accident on the interstate. All I kept thinking was that I was hoping it was nothing serious because I have never been one for the sight of blood or anything worse. We drove on the interstate and saw the tow truck. We had to park on the opposite side of the road. Guess what that meant? We were going to be running across the interstate and as if that wasn't dangerous enough we were going to be running across the road with equipment. These are things though that happen all of the time when you are in news...you never know what's going to happen or what to expect.
We got some footage of the accident and then met with the trooper to get details about the accident. The only thing we found out was that it was serious and the driver was life- flighted to an area hospital, and a one vehicle accident. We left and after being back for awhile it was time for the noon news. The competing station had declared the accident fatal, but the officer had told us it wasn't. We finally got confirmation, and the accident was fatal. I kept thinking about it, and was glad in a way that I did not see the accident as it was being handled, but just saw it being cleaned up.
Later that night I got news that the driver of the car was from my college. I didn't know what to feel at that moment. My heart kind of sank. I was sad for her, her friends, and her family. I had only known of her, so I really didn't know her. In a way I was kind of glad that I didn't, because if it had been one of my friends out there I don't know how I would have reacted. This really hit home to me.
This is something that could happen at any time when you work in news. You never know what to expect. News is a lot different than sports. When in sports everything is pretty much happy, and fun. Most things I've seen in news so far have been very emotional and serious. I think people who are in news deserve a lot of credit. They witness things that are really serious and can too be in harms way, just like police officers and firefighters. I really hope that I can get a job in sports right away, but if now I guess I know ahead of time what I will be in for if I go in to news.
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