Soldier Radio and Television - Week 1

Hey guys!
I'm wrapping up my first week in DC and loving it already. I started at Soldier Radio and Television, the r-tv department of the U.S. army, on Tuesday. That first day they let me and the other intern voice a radio package that aired on the army radio stations; it was pretty cool. We had to go through tons and tons of paperwork, but I now have my own security badge and clearance into both the Pentagon and the Defense Department - also pretty cool. I have learned lots of new tricks on Avid, which will be super helpful.
Wednesday we got to voice another radio package and work on some script writing and story research. Today we sat in on some meetings, wrote some radio script, and did some research. Saturday will be exciting - we are going to the White House for a shoot - awesome! I'm really pumped.
I am living in an apartment on the Georgetown campus and taking a couple of classes here. I'm having a blast and hope all of you are too!

Katrina Heser

First Week in California

Hi everyone!

So I am almost done with my first week at my internships. My background investigation was finally finished this week at the Sheriff's Dept. in Santa Barbara and I got right to work. I am really excited about working there because I not only get to shoot and write stories, but I get to see the other side of how the media works pertaining to law enforcement. They are teaching me how to deal with law enforcement as a reporter and tricks to getting information. The PIO (Public Information Officer) I am working with was an anchor/reporter for 20 years, and he is really teaching me a lot.

This week I got to shoot a story on the Special Olympics Torch Run, which law enforcement does to raise money. Since I am with the Sheriff's Dept. I get to shoot wherever I want, while the other reporters have to stay back.

Yesterday I shot an amazing story. During the Jesusita fires that recently damaged Santa Barbara, two firemen were trapped and badly burned in a house, but saved by two Sheriff's Deputies. They all met for the first time yesterday where the firefighters wanted to thank the others for saving their lives. I am heading to the area where the house burned with one of the Deputies soon to get broll.

I have been given free reign to choose stories I want to shoot. I am planning on going out with the SWAT team, the Dive Team, Search and Rescue, and I am getting set up to interview a very notorious California murderer who is in the prison here. Pretty soon I get to start going out on calls at any time of night whether it be murders or stand-offs. I even get a bullet proof vest. I have also seen some pretty funny celebrity mugshots that have come through the station!

We recently had a bank robbery and a high profile death, so the office was crazy and the media called all the time. Its funny how annoying some of them can get! (TMZ!!) I am really learning a lot about how to approach and not to approach law enforcement.

I am given lots of information about important cases that I am not to repeat to anyone. I have been recused from any cases dealing with the Sheriff's Dept. while at KCOY. Its kind of scary having all this information and having to watch what I say at the TV station. The news director is watching out for me so no reporters try and get info from me!!

At KCOY I have been doing a little bit of everything. Saturday I produced the evening newscasts and edited a bunch for the show. I worked the assignment desk a little but now I will be going out with reporters all the time. I will be able to go out with my own photog on Saturdays too! They even told me I am the best writer out of all the interns they have had!

I hope everyone's summer is going well!

Christopher Lloyd

I interviewed Christopher Lloyd! What else is there to say but that?

Magic Defeated By Lakers Despite Impressive Show

Another Photoshop by yours truly. This one actually had me laughing while doing it because I found the perfect photo of a magician from a costume catalog. Sometimes, things just gel together perfectly for concept.

Magic Defeated By Lakers Despite Impressive Show

Breaking News In DC

Today was a crazy day!!! After us interns got back from lunch we were told there was a shooting at the Holocaust Museum. One of the reporters went down to the Museum, which is close to the Capitol to cover it. Later we were pulled into the quest to find out who the shooter was, where he lived, who the victims were, etc. etc.

One intern went with the senior reporter to where the shooter lived. While the other intern and I were finding information for other reporters who were compiling stories, taking to the Jewish communities in the district, ect. We made phone calls to find out if Hillel groups were doing anything tonight, tried accessing court documents from the shooter who was charged and convicted of crimes in 1981, searched the net, busy busy! But it was great! And I even got to file a story on the security officer who died which will air in the morning.

So sad that this happened and people like that are still out there...but on the upside us interns gained vast amounts of knowledge of working in the newsroom.

KECI internship

So far this week, we've been doing the same things as last week.  Today we went up to Polson to shoot a commercial for Three Dog Down, a business that sells down comforters and stuff.  It was interesting because the client was incredibly unique and had the whole town pretty much involved in the commercial.  I think both Mark and I learned that you really have to be able to work with what you've got, and make sure that the client is happy.  

Week 4 at KFBB

Last week I covered the shooting in Helena. It was such a sad event, but also a story any reporter would love to cover. We don't have a scanner here in the bureau office, so I heard from my boyfriend that there had been a shooting and called the reporter I work under. She ran to the office and got the camera and I met her down at the police station for the press conference. After the press conference we went out and got broll of cop cars and did MOS interviews for the website. We were up filming, writing, and editing from 11pm to 2 am. It was quite the experience! The following day I did a package on Helena reacting to the shooting. I did MOS interviews and fronted the package.

I learned a lot doing the package. I am learning how to communicate working in bureau. I am learning to work under deadline and edit quickly. I am learning to edit in my camera. I am working under Christina Marrazza. She is a sassy 24 year old from New Jersey with a business background. I am having a great experience.

Week 2 in DC

Hey all! Week two is kicking off wonderfully in DC. I've had 3 stories air so far in the week and 2 days that I've been interning which is exciting. I'm receiving a lot of positive feedback from the assignment editor and reporters and constructive criticism and advice. The assignment editor and one of the senior reporters are really impressed with my tracking and how I sound on air, which is so very encouraging. AND they are looking at hiring two reporters so I hope to look into that and hope my chances will still be high, despite that I'm just out of college and am an intern there....We'll see how that all goes! :P

One of the other interns and I were very productive today on working on our series on Education and the Economy. We collected nat sound from a hs graduation and collected some names of students who graduated. We talked to a college guidance counselor with a private school and a woman who works at the station (but not in the news dept) has a daughter who goes there who happened to have a bunch of friends over and we were able to interview all of them! Very exciting! The other intern was worried because we hadn't gained much progress, but I think we're both very satisfied with the work we accomplished today!

Also, today I helped with a double ender for Pat Duggins, who is an NPR reporter for a station in FLA. He generally covers the big NASA liftoffs and such and I helped him interview a fellow who works for a private space company, SpaceX. He talked with the fellow over the phone and I held a mic in person and sent the file via FTP (better sound quality than over the phone). Plus, I made $75 for holding a microphone for 20 minutes! Nice, especially when my internship is unpaid.

If you ever have any time listen to some stories (esp mine :P ). They can be found at wamu.org/news/.
My most recent story was on a mass for people who donated their bodies to science.
Fun times!!

Glad to work near beaches...

Start of my 4th week here in sunny Honolulu. Have forgotten long ago I'm only here temporarily and Montana is really my home. Have been busy here in the office/editing room. Doing small projects for people on my Laptop. Becoming a whiz at final cut. Experiencing technical difficulties that seem to follow us all in this line of work hopefully and not just me. Thankful I can unwind at the beach after a long day here. When I got this internship and Ray Ekness checked the website he asked me please not spend my entire time here doing weddings. Well I shot my first and hopefully only one this weekend the Kahala resort. Its a place I had no business being in. Everything was immaculate. On the way to the shoot I passed a lagoon that had four or five dolphins in it. Yet even in all its overwhelming beauty, I couldn't help but think about how many wedding here were just a carbon copy of the last one. This one was no different. Today I had the chance to go to this manufactured paradise and help with another wedding. I declined. Say word....

Please stay off the ice

Hey all. This is the beginning of my second week at KECI in the production department. So far I have gone on two shoots, one in Ronan for a bullet manufacturer and one here in Missoula for an Oncology practice that we shot some cancer survivior testomonies. Other than that life goes on fairly well the same. We are editing on Adobe Premier 6.5 and it is very similair to Avid and Final Cut Pro. Logging, capturing, and a lot of doing while someone instructs from afar. So far on the shoots both Jamie and I have asked to work on lighting and we have set up lights and been able to see the huge difference that they make if used right. The production department is great here and fits me perfect for right now. Commercials are fun and give you a lot more leaway as to what you can shoot and the different "artistic" shots that just dont make there way into the news. Hit ya up again next week. Stay off that ice brah.

KPAXKPAXKPAXKPAXKPAXKPAXKPAXKPAXKPAX

So this weekend was pretty busy at KPAX. I had my first in studio live report, where I ran out of breath and almost choked on myself, but I guess it turned out ok. I also ran my first package and did a rap around on it. So my first and second times being on television for the news are in the books! Hopefully things become more routine and it feels a little more natural next time. I had a great support team in the studio so that made things a lot easier. I hope everyone is alive and well. God's Speed
-W

Slacking.

Seems to me I'm one who's been doing an internship the longest and still haven't written anything about it. Well, here goes.

Roughly mid-April (I think) I responded to the Program Director for Energy 107.5 FM here in the lovely Garden City. He was looking for someone with a basic knowledge of HTML and a more expert knowledge of Twitter. How could I have turned him down? Currently, they're re-vamping the website to be this crazy interactive online home, so to speak, for their listeners. Die-hard fans have the chance to upload pictures, video, audio clips, and txt messages to a clog (still haven't deciphered this new inter-word [and no, it's not a wooden shoe you'd wear in the Netherlands]), chat with other people in the area, stream the radio station, and all kinds of other stuff I'm sure none of you are interested in. I've been participating in the chat room and have e-met quite a few unique Missoulians.

On the Twitter end of things, I was responsible for establishing four new accounts with subjects the listeners were interested in. From there, I was to research four RSS feeds per account that would automatically update through tweets. The four I made up are as follows:

http://twitter.com/energyfrontrow - Concert listings for all of Montana and other large cities in the region.
http://twitter.com/NRGComingSoon - Upcoming movies, traliers, cool theatrical stuff
http://twitter.com/GotEnergyGetFit - Health, weight loss, other things
http://twitter.com/NRGPillowTalk - Sex and relationships, etc.

The links provided from the RSS feeds were supposed to link to Energy's website as a "middle-man" to generate more hits on the website. The idea is to get people to the website, find something else they may be interested in, and click around from there. Though it's not working now, apparently it wasn't my responsibility to get that established.

(I apologize if I've lost you in all this inter-speak, this post is long enough as it is.)

Aside from the internerdy duties, I've been helping out with events put on by the radio station. Last weekend they sponsored a giant free BBQ at Bonner Park. I ended up with the wonderful duty of monitoring children in the moon bounce. By the end of the day my hands smelled like little children's armpits and it solidified the fact that you'll never see any offspring from me.

This next week they're sponsoring a night at the movies on Wednesday, to which I'll get to see "The Hangover" again for free, simply by showing up and handing out passes. (The movie is hilarious, go see it!) Thursday the station is sponsoring the "Unite the Mic" tour, setting B-Real from Cypress Hill and Bizzy Bone from Bone Thugs on their new project (be still my beating heart.....) so I'll be there helping set up, schmoozing "rap" stars, etc.

By my calculations, I'm nearly done with my duties with the station. My one "final project" is to try and find someone who would want to take over after I'm done. It has been fun and the people at the station are absolutely great, so if you're interested, let me know.

Hope the rest of you are keeping busy and having fun!

Week three...DONE

I'm close to the halfway point here in Honolulu. Still have about another month down here maybe less. Shot another interview at the salvation army today. The women we interviewed worked more directly with the clients than the last interview. I think we may do one more interview next week and then I'll have to decide what kind of shots I'll need to get to tell this story. Its gonna be extremely challenging shooting at a place like ATS (addiction treatment services). Obviously everyone there is in some stage of recovery from either drugs or alch. Meth or Ice as they call it here in the islands, is even a worse problem here then in Montana. Its a side of Hawaii you don't really here about unless you watch Dog the Bounty hunter (stay off that ice bruh). ATS is located on the Pali Highway which runs right through the mountains to the other side of the island. Its nestled right against the mountain and surrounded my some of Hawaii's most lush vegetation. At first glance it may appear more like a vacation spot then a place where addicts go to get clean. I was told that it would be highly unlikely, but if by chance I saw someone in there I knew, I was not to approach them or speak to them. Next week i'll be going through the interviews and getting soundbytes. Sound familiar? Tommorow I'm helping to shoot footage at a graduation and the dreaded "WEDDING"!!! Luckily I don't have to edit that....

So I just got done with my 3rd real day at KXLY in Spokane. I was feeling pretty confident the first day after they asked me if I knew how to use Avid and INEWS. And then they told me to build the sports block for their 11 o' clock show. It is amazing how much harder INEWS is when you're introduced to new commands (FS and BAM, for example) and when you don't have your classmates' rundowns to reference! Today, they had me build the 6 o'clock sports block and went through it when I was done. Think back to when you sat next to Denise while she went through your rundown with you and wrote a tally mark every time you did something wrong--it was like that except for when they found three errors in the rundown, they didn't tell me what they were, they told me to go back through and find them (that was fun, let me tell you). I learned a lot from that exercise though, and when they told me to also do the 11 o' clock block for that day, I had it completed in 20 minutes. I even got to edit some highlights that will air here in about 10 minutes. I've already learned a lot from Dennis (who hired me), and he tries to lighten the mood by making jokes throughtout the day, including telling me that I'm fired--which leaves me laughing or on the verge of tears because I can never tell when he's joking. Hope you all are enjoying your summer!

Laura

The Show Must Go On

So week two is just about in the books, which means I can sleep in for two days.  But this week has been pretty much the same as every other week so far.  I am finding now that the things that used to be the most difficult for me are becoming enjoyable rather than extremely stressful.  I know this may sound kind of strange but I really enjoy TDing.  There is a great responsibility involved which makes it fun and challenging at times.  We just ended our sweeps period last week, so I am patiently waiting to see what the results are.  I would hate to fall behind KECI for a second period in a row.  I also had a very eventful day a few days ago, when all the power in our entire building went out halfway through the show, talk about stressful.  I would say we were out of commission for about 15 minutes before we were able to get all of our computers up and running in the control room, but I'm pleased to say we got back on air before our show was scheduled to be finished and closed it out with flying colors.  I have heard a million times from people in the business that I should always prepare for the worst and expect the unexpected...after our little power problem I will definitely abide by that advice ha ha.  Well I hope everyone is having a great summer, that's the good word from KPAX.

1st story in DC-a size 8 radio market

Hello everybody! I started my first week interning at public radio station WAMU 88.5 in DC this week. On day two I was assigned to cover a conference on progressives gathering and I spoke with Congresswoman Donna Edwards who serves in our listening area. Check it out here: http://wamu.org/news/
It's the story entitled: Progressives Convene In Washington

So far there are 3 interns including myself, and I'm the only one with any broadcast experience. The other interns don't know how to use adobe audition...which is a tad frustrating because I have to take them under my wing a bit and show them how to use the program and the recording equipment and such.

We brainstormed our big project for the summer today and we're hoping to pull together a series on the economy and education. We're still ironing out the details but we're planning on pieces like getting into college and how people are going to pay for it, graduating (college) in a recession and the next step: the jobless job hunt or going to grad school. Should be fun to talk to some locals in this situation.

More later and much j-school love,
natalie

LeBron Barricades Self In Talcum Powder Fort

Yes, another fine posting from me! And I would post a photo of where I'm at, but I'm in my living room at home, so it's not that exciting. ; )

And to link:
LeBron Barricades Self In Talcum Powder Fort

Week 3 at KFBB

This last week, I was assigned a series of 5 packages. I get to shoot, write, edit, and voice track and do stand-ups for each one. They will air the week of June 22nd. The series highlights 5 places around the Helena and Great Falls area where people can go and recreate on the cheap. I got the opportunity to go and do my first shoot by myself. I went to Marysville Montana and shot footage of the old buildings and got an interview with a local resident. I really enjoyed going out and working on my own. The station even gave me my own business cards. I am now a titled reporter!

Drew's 2nd entry

I did a story today on one of the local high school graduations. The situation that we have dug ourselves into at KTVQ is one where if we cover one high school graduation, people complain if we don't cover all of them. Ah, you must be thinking, then why just not cover any of them. The answer, my friends, is that Sunday evenings in Billings, Montana are largely uneventful. Therefore, tonight (which is a Monday) I was assigned to cover the graduation. I ended up doing a package on it, mainly focusing on the aphabetical nature of the graduation procession. I interviewed the first person to receive their diploma and the last person, as well as a girl whose name was the most difficult to pronounce. The piece came off well despite the 30 minutes I had to edit the story upon returning from the shoot. It will be on KTVQ.COM if you want to watch it, but be warned, definitely not my best work... and that says a lot.

KPAX Week 1 (kinda)

So I have been working for KPAX for almost three months now, but I'm officially one week into my internship.  I have done just about everything that there is to do in preparing our show Montana this Morning for air.  I am TDing every morning and I have also done things like write, edit bumps, update the news ticker, run audio, and create graphics.  Last week, I also ran camera for the taping of a show that runs statewide called Face the State.  I have really settled in at KPAX now that getting to work at 4 am isn't quite so painful anymore.  I think the most difficult thing thus far, are the days when I have to TD and run the audio board at the same time for an hour and a half show.  If forces me to be more alert than I have ever been at that hour of the day.  So far so good.