Alumni Advice

"Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts. You have to remember this when you find yourself at the beginning."
~Sandra Bullock, Hope Floats

For Capstone this week I had to give a presentation on a Westminster alum who is in the same field I would like to one day be a part of. I had a hard time trying to figure out who to contact because I'm still unsure what exactly it is I want to be when I graduate. I've come to realize that editing and shooting are my true passions and being on air is just a perk. With that figured out, I
talked to some of my professors about who I should contact and Mark Finklepearl was brought up. He is the VP of Productions and head of the East Coast division of Beyond Productions. This is an Australian based company in charge of producing shows for the Discovery family of networks, but most notably "Mythbusters" on the Discovery Channel. He seemed like the perfect person to contact! I love what the Discovery Channel and it's other affiliates offer and the work they do.

To make a long story short I got in contact with him and he was an awesome resource! He has done so much in his career and was able to give me some really good advice. He made me feel better about what the future might hold for me. The most important advice he gave me was this: "Don't be precious." He said I have to be willing to work on all sorts of projects and not just the high end ones; he's worked on some high end stuff and he's worked on some crap. But he learned a lot from the crap. He also said to freelance in the beginning; it's the best way to work yourself into as many different networks of people as possible; and that's what will keep you employed.

Live from New Castle...it's Thursday Night!!!

I recently had the amazing opportunity to do another live remote for The County Line. Thursday Chris Norris and myself were the co-anchors for New Castle's Light Up Night. I work with Chris every week on the radio as we have a morning show together. We both LOVE Christmas (we've had a countdown going since October) and this was such a fun experience! It was another chance for me to experience what it's like ad-libbing for an extended period of time; ad-libbing on the radio and ad-libbing on TV are two totally different things. Chris and I were joined by retired band director Dr. Tom Zumpella for the narration of the parade. He was a little pre-occupied with the parade and didn't talk as much as we would have liked him to, but it was still an awesome experience. I was a little worried about whether we would be able to fill the time, but with all of our Christmas spirit along with some great stories things worked out very well! So not only did I get to take part in yet another live event that will go on my resume tape...I am now officially in the Christmas spirit!

Cloning would be nice

This past week was ridiculously busy. We had to do live coverage of our school's Mock Convention. This was my first true live experience. Our news is done live, but we have a teleprompter. Mock Convention was all ad-libbing and working in conjunction with so many other people. It was a little rough at times because we weren't getting very clear signals from the people in the truck as far as what was coming up next so things were a little hectic for awhile, but overall I think things went relatively smoothly.

In addition to all of that I was also involved in Theatre Westminster's production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Opening night was Thursday; so was Mock Convention. So as soon as Midsummer ended I had to run down to the gym, change and get ready to go live in an hour. So it was a little crazy, but things went well. There were times this week where I wish there were two of me so I could get everything done, but it was a nice lesson in time management. And this live opportunity provided great material for a resume.

Smooth Sailing

People who aren't in this business don't realize how much time and effort gets put into a newscast. You can spend three hours at a shoot only to come back and edit all your video into a two minute package. But when everything comes together nothing can beat the feeling you have when you see your work displayed. This week's show was a prime example of everything we do coming together to create a professional looking broadcast. I was fortunate enough to be one of the anchors of this show; I'm very proud of all the work everyone put in to make this one of the best shows we've had in awhile. The content was good and the rookie crew caught on quickly to how things needed to be run. So kudos to everyone involved and keep up the good work!


http://www.westminster.edu/student/orgs/radio/county_line.cfm

Facing Reality

So this week we were asked to put together a resume. It is through this process that I have come to realize I feel very unprepared for the real world. I have yet to get an internship and I fear this will hinder me when it comes to getting a job. The trouble is I'm not quite sure what I really want to do with life after graduation. We've had a lot of professionals come to speak in one of my classes and through that I have learned to just get an internship somewhere, anywhere in the business. It doesn't really matter if it's in the field I want to go into, but it will look good on a resume and show the diversity and range of my talents. My plan right now is to try and get an internship at a radio station back home during the Christmas break; I would like to have another internship lined up for next semester at a TV station.

Real life is sneaking up on me and it's starting to scare me. My biggest challenge for this year will be to better my organizational and time management skills.

VJ Ready??

So I tested out the waters this week with my first package as a "VJ." I went to a corn maze and hay ride in nearby Cool Spring Township. It was a little intimidating at first because I didn't have anyone with me, but overall I think it was a good experience. The only downside to the whole thing was that I wasn't able to do any stand ups. Again, I didn't have anyone with me and I felt a little uneasy about leaving the camera alone on a tripod with a bunch of kids running around. So I fixed that problem by doing a live intro and tag out on the show. Here's the package and the lives. Hope you enjoy!

One thing though, the audio at the beginning is a little rough. Our audio person was a rookie so my apologies.

Me...an expert?!

So last week we had to meet with Brad Weaver, our Capstone advisor, to talk about exactly where we were going with our projects. We had to develop goals, write an abstract and a proposal. Not going to lie, I was a little intimidated. But, I understand why we needed to do it. For my project I want to focus on the importance of the up and coming "VJ" in this business. I think it's a skill all young reporters/photographers should have by the time they graduate from college.

So here are my goals:

• Become an expert on VJ-driven shows.
• Perfect my own skills as a VJ.
• Pitch my show idea to Discovery or Travel.

Now I wouldn't consider myself an expert at anything, but through research I hope to make myself a little bit more aware of what's going on in this line of work.

Look out, Mike Rowe! I'm coming for your job!! :)

Lessons in Teamwork

Last week for capstone we went up to the Titan Traverse ropes course. At first I thought this would be just another lame “team building” activity we were being forced to do. Once we got up there, I realized that everything we were about to do had relevance to life after college…in some way or another. As a TEAM we had to get everyone from one side of this “spider-web” to the other without touching any of the ropes. It took everyone working together and effective communication skills to get it done. It sounds cheesy, but without everyone working together we really couldn’t have gotten it done. This relates to real life because, especially in this line of work, you really need to work together to get things done; you can’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.


I was a crazy young man who let himself be blinded by his passions and obeyed only the impulses of the moment.
~Gustav Mahler

Team Serious

OK...so I was really nervous after the first meeting of Capstone about my future. I thought since I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do I would have a hard time finding a job. But I talked with Weaver today about a show idea I had and I feel a lot better.

Because I enjoyed doing On The Road so much I was trying to think about what I could do with that in the future. I love watching Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel and thought that would be a great job to have. But I knew I couldn't rip that show off so....I came up with a show which Weaver and I have temporarily called "$20 and a Tank Of Gas." The concept of the show would be discovering different places that the people of New Wilmington and the surrounding area could go to on a day trip. This is just so I can use this as a package for The County Line and possibly as part of a resume tape. If it were to get picked up the concept would be the same, but it would be focused on traveling around the United States and discovering small town places not many people go to. Since I come from a small town I know how important tourism is to the economy of the town.

I've got some research to do as far as shows already on Travel Channel and such, which I've already started looking into. But again, now that I've talked things over with Weaver I feel a lot better. He really liked the idea and seemed to think it could really work. Not only as a segment for a college tv station, but also as a segment on a national station.

It's surprising the things one thinks of in the shower...haha

The Beginning of the End...

Well, here it's finally here...my senior year of college. I never thought this day would come but now that it has I'm scared to death! Classes started this week and I'm pretty happy. I think my favorite class will be Sports Broadcasting. Sports Director and Anchor at Channel 33 in Youngstown Bob Hannon is teaching the class. Right now, he's looking like my saving grace. I need to make sure I do well in that class and he may be able to give me a foot in the door...

I'm still trying to get some of my work from last year up for all to see. Even some stories that I did that were never posted online; like the story on the auctioneer. That was my very first story and I got a lot of help from Mr. Weaver on it, but it's one of my favorite stories that I've done. It'll be good resume tape material for a reporter job...

As far as a senior project goes...I'm going to produce a video for my uncle's optometry practice. I've got some ideas of what I want to do with it, but I need to run them by him before I can really start working on it. Since it's my senior project I think it will help me learn how to STOP PROCRASTINATING!!! That is one of my major weaknesses; it's a horrible habit that I need to learn to get out of quickly. I'm hoping this year will teach me better time management because of all the things I'll be involved with.

In addition to having 19 semester hours I have 2 radio shifts (7-9 Monday mornings with Chucko & 10:25-12), I'll be anchoring both sports and news, I'm a part of the Titan Crew for football games, and I'm audtioning for a show next week. Broadcasting is my major, but theatre is a very strong passion of mine and could very well be another job avenue for me to explore. I'm taking a dance class this semester to help with musical auditions and this upcoming show is Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which will look amazing on a resume. So, I'll be in for a lot of work this semester with not a lot of time for play, but I think that will be a good kick in the face as far as reality is concerned. In real life you don't always have time to do what you want. That's why you find a job doing something you love; it's more fun than work.

INTERNSHIP!!!!

So I think I might have finally done something right...I got myself an internship. It's only for a week of work and it's not exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life, but it's a start. From June 11-17 I will be working at the US Open! I'm only going to be a scanner and I'm not even on the course itself :(...HOWEVER! I will be done working at 2 pm so I can go watch the rest of the tournament! ESPN, NBC, and The Golf Channel will all be there broadcasting so I'm hoping I'll be able to somehow make some contacts that way.

A couple of weeks ago my dad asked me what I was planning on doing after I graduate and I jokingly told him I was going to send in a resume to The Golf Channel...but now that I think about it that has quite a bit of potential. I've done some research and so far I'm liking what I'm seeing. Their corporate headquarters are in Orlando, Florida (a nice, warm, beautiful city that I would love to move to) and it's called The Golf Channel. Come on! What more can you ask for?! I spent a week in Orlando in February for a training trip for the college golf team and it was absoutely amazing! If I could live and work down there, especially doing stories on a sport that I love I could see myself being very happy. All I need now is more material for resume tapes....

Let's Get It Started

Well...here it is...the beginning of the end. I have just finished my junior year of college; I am now faced with the all too frightening reality that I will have to step into the real world in a little over a year. The good thing is that I've learned a lot this past year. I've done a multitude of TV packages and I've even done some anchoring for our sports segment. I really enjoy doing sports; it gives me a chance to show my personality without being stuck behind a desk. But next year I'll be co-anchoring sports and also doing some work behind the news desk as an anchor as well. In addition to doing TV work I'll also have a morning radio show with Allison King; it's early but it should be fun. The thing I'm going to miss the most is doing "On The Road." I'm pretty sure that has been my favorite broadcasting experience. Some people have said it's the worst segment on our show because it's just four college kids with a camera goofing off, but I think it's a fun release for the audience. This world has become so crazy they need something they can just laugh at and if I can make them do that then I have fulfilled my purpose.