Handing off the torch...

It's time to wrap up capstone, and it has been quite the experience! As I reflect over the past semester, summer and last springs semester; capstone has really changed me for the better. And I would hope that this experience will craft next year's class as well into young professionals in the media market. Soon my fellow capstoners and I will be moving on and handing off the torch over to the class of 2010! I have a lot of faith in next year's class and think they have amazing potential to further themselves and do some great things in the department. When entering capstone next semester, the new class will begin working on their project proposals. The senior project is a major component of the broadcasting capstone class and needs to be well thought out. With this in mind, I hope to offer some advice to the future class with picking their senior projects. Upon entering capstone, you should already have a good idea of what you're strengths are in broadcasting. I think it is a good advantage to take you're strength and apply it directly to a project. This will allow you to enjoy what you do, and also really shine with your product. For my project, I chose to built upon a project I did in a Public Relations research class. I discovered that our college TV station needed more promotions so I took this project under my wing and began crafting ideas and strategies. Once you pick your topic, make sure to BRAIN STORM! Brain storming will get the creative juices flowing in your mind and you can begin to hammer out ideas and strategies for your project. Make sure to write everything down, no idea is a bad idea and will only help you build you're foundation for your project. Like a building, a senior project must have a strong foundation to keep it standing! Once you have brain stormed and have that foundation, talk to your fellow capstone classmates and advisers in the department to get their input. This is important because although you might have some amazing ideas, sometimes you can't think of everything and they might touch upon something you haven't considered. With all of these tips in mind, hopefully hammering out your senior project proposal for capstone will go smoothly and lead you to an amazing opportunity to shine!

The Tide of Capstone Crashes Down...

Wow, let me just say I can't believe it is already the 3rd week of November! This semester is flying by and we only have a few weeks left in the semester. Normally this wouldn't phase me much as I would prepare for finals and holiday breaks... but this year is much different.
This is my second semester in my senior capstone class, and the “tide” of capstone is crashing to shore rapidly. My classmates and I have been hard at work the past months working on our senior projects. When choosing our projects, we all decided to go very different routes, which is a good thing and lends creativity and uniqueness to our class. Along with our projects we are required to present our projects to our capstone professor, classmates and any other people we invite. Already thus far, four of my fellow classmates have presented their projects and they have been amazing! For this reason, I decided to summarize and deconstruct a bit of each of these projects because I believe they all deserve equal amounts of attention!
The first brave soul to step into the presentation pool was Melissa Maines. Over the years, I have grown to know Melissa quite well as a partner in many class projects. I have watched her grown into the successful broadcaster she is today and I think her project definitely displayed these skills. Melissa has been working all semester with the sports segment of The County Line. She has basically taken over the responsibility of the whole segment by producing, writing and hosting the sports. For her project, she reflected on all the work she has put into sports over the past semester and this was indeed impressive.
Next to present her project was Amanda Conway, or “Red” as we like to call her in the department. Amanda has also been a close friend to me in the department over the years and has impressed me the most this year with her endless efforts at radio news. Amanda has been one student who has persistently pursued the job of on camera anchoring and reporting. For her project, Amanda analyzed exactly what you need to do (and what not to do) when applying for an on air reporting position at a TV station. She also put together a resume tape of all of her best work over her years at Westminster, and also at her internship in Erie, WSEE.
The third student to present their project was Nicky Piszczor. Nicky is one of those people who you gasp at when even thinking of how much work she has done in her capstone project. I went to view Nicky’s debut of her documentary on the history of Lawrence County and was taken a back by the beauty presented in front of me. I was amazed by the movie that Nicky put together, she effectively combined story-telling, and professional shots while still making the whole film flow.
Finally, the last person to present this past week was Shayna Marti. Shayna has always been a determined student as well. I got to know her well this summer interning by her side in Youngstown at WKBN TV. Shayna took the skills she learned at her internship of story-telling and writing and combined them with her amazing work on camera to capture the essence of a documentary about lending a helping hand. She followed a mission sponsored by the local Lawrence Community Action Partnership and told the story of the compassionate volunteers that work for those in need in the county.
At this point, I do feel a little nervous but I believe more anxious to present my project. I know I have put a lot of time and effort into my project and hope to show my fellow classmates what I have done and hopefully teach them a bit like they have for me.

Oh The Places You Will Go!

This was the theme for this year's senior only "Dine and Shine" dinner. Each year, the Career Center puts on a formal dinner for seniors ready to graduate in the spring. In additional to a very delicious meal and desserts, we were treated to a fashion show with underclassman modeling proffesional business wear and casual business wear. This was helpful because we were able to see in person what was acceptable for an interview, on the job and in a more casual work atmosphere. I actually had an experience my sophomore year modeling for the Dine n Shine so I had an idea of what I was in for coming into this dinner. In addition to the fashion show, we were given many tips on how to act during an interview for the job of our dreams. I learned so many things from the speech that will put me in a better place to interview for a job. First, we learned that most 2nd interviews happen over a meal. The employer will invite the potential employee to a dinner (usually in a nice restaurant atmospher) to discuss in further detail your aspirations for a job. We learned many valuable dining tips like how to use all the different silverware in front of you, how to use your napkin during dinner and how many drinks you may order. The general rule of thumb for drinks is do not order any unless your company and employer are drinking then one per hour is acceptable. Also it is common practice to not order too much food. Our speaker said it is a good idea to eat prior to the interview so you are not starving and ravinous during your meal. It is betterto cut and take small bites so you do not look glutonous. We also learned that a firm handshake is a must. You don't want to reach out and shake your potential employeer's hand with a weak handshake. Overall the first impression you make during a dinner interview is one that will stick with an employer for quite some time so it is always good to be on your best behavior and practice these common courtesies. This year's Dine and Shine gave me a very good inlook on what I can expect during an interview, what is acceptable to wear and how to act to impress and employer!

The Applications Begin!

For capstone this week, our professor asked us to respond to a job listing we found in a field we want to work in. For over the past year I have been working on promotions for my senior project, for this reason I have chosen a promotions job. THIS IS A CLASS ASSIGNMENT -- NOT A REAL COVER LETTER/APPLICATION

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Promotion Manager, Radio Disney

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City Greensboro
State NC
Position Type Full-time
Requisition ID 178721

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Radio Disney in Greensboro, NC seeks a motivated Promotions Manager in the Greensboro market. Radio Disney is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company.

Responsibilities: Supervise and manage promotion department including event staffing; personality hiring, training, and scheduling. Coordinate all station promotions and event activities to include equipment, prizing, games and activities. Oversee local production of station promo’s and occasional commercials. Explore, identify and present revenue opportunities for the station. Maintain high quality operational equipment such as vehicles, audio equipment etc… May include nights and weekends

Requirements
Education: High school diploma, some college preferred

Work Experience: Radio promotions experience preferred, prior performance based work related experience a plus.

Technical Skills: Basic radio production, sound system usage, PowerPoint, and other PC skills

Non-technical Skills: Highly detail oriented, highly energetic, lift up to 50 pounds, enjoy public contact, and enjoy working with children

Cover Letter:
Hello Disney,
I would like to take the time to introduce myself. I am Nathan Dodd, a senior Broadcast Communications major and Public Relations minor at Westminster College in Pennsylvania. I am responding to the Promotions Manager position for Radio Disney. I think I would be an excellent canidate for this job because I am a very enthusiatic and hard working person. In addition to my good work ethic, I have had a vast amount of experience in radio and promotions with my time spent here in college. At Westminster, we are given the chance to work hands on in the radio and TV stations from freshman year. Ever since I started my collegic career I have been hard at work learning as much as I can about the broacasting and promotions field. I am even currently working on a promotions campaign for our college radio station producing radio promos and advertising the station. My love for broadcasting and promotions will shine through as I work for your company managing your station. I'm a people person and love to work with the public and think that the interaction with the public will further my enthusiasm with ths career. I am also a huge fan of Disney and think that my enthusiasm and work ethic will match your station's mission perfectly. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you!

The Value of a Liberal Arts Education

When entering Westminster College as a first year, one of the first things you hear is about the value of a liberal arts education. Basically, this means that a college believes by taking many different courses in many different field you can broaden your horizon of education. Some of the classes I've had to take to fulfill this requirement include writing, speech, swimming, political sceine, philosophy and many others. I have enjoyed all of the courses I have taken here at Westminster but the one class I had the toughest time grasping was Astronomy. I took Astronomy last semester with Dr. Lightner. Dr. Lightner was a wonderful professor and full of life and knowledge. This man was literally an encyclopedia on Astronomy! I respected him very much and was glad to be in his last class before he retired from Westminster. So I do not blame my difficulty in this course on the professor at all, but I just never really learned to grasp it. I went into Astronomy thinking "This should be an easy science course, we'll just study planets and stars and the galaxies." While we did do those things, Astronomy is much more involved than just studying starts and planets. By definition, Astronomy is scientific study of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, and galaxies) and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere (such as the cosmic background radiation). It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the formation and development of the universe. As you can see, there are many different types of sciences involved in the study of Astronomy. We learned a wide array of information while in the course, and I definnitely thought the class was interesting and inspired me to learn more. The information was so complex however that no matter how long I studied, I always came up a little bit short. I passed the class successfully though and I am actually glad I took this course because I believe it opened up my mind to many things I normally wouldn't think about. The value of a liberal arts education is very apparent to me now, and has showed me how it can help me grow.

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

I would like to give a huge thank-you to all of my fellow BC major class-mates. You guys have all helped me out so much and I think everyone in my class definitely has their own strengths which together builds an amazing team of young professionals! One person who sticks out the most to me as someone I would like to stay in contact with in the future is Christina Roseto. Christina is not only an amazing friend, but pretty much amazing at anything she puts her mind too. This includes academics, and most importantly, broadcast communications. I have journeyed through my years in the department with Christina by my side. We have taken several classes together, but it wasn't until Senior Capstone that I really grew to appreciate Christina's talents. Since last semester, we both have experienced the highs and lows of the capstone experience. Christina has helped me in several occasions get my act together and deliver what I need to by giving me tips and suggestions. Her project for capstone is filming the Westminster Titans and putting together clips of practice, games, etc. to compile a recruitment video that can be shown to high school football players. I think this is a great project and I have been supporting her the entire time with hopefully some good suggestions to help her as well. In 10 years I see Christina doing something great in sports broadcasting. Her internship this summer at KDKA working in the sports department seemed to benefit her tremendously. I know that in the future she will be even more professional and produce even higher quality work than she already does now because she has amazing potential to grow in this profession. I can see Christina wanting to stay around the Pittsburgh metropolitan area for her job but she could definitely land a job in any larger market that she wanted! Christina has a love for not only Pittsburgh but the work that she does in broadcasting and I know this will carry her far!

The Next Big Star in Broadcasting!

This week I would like to take some time to recognize someone from the underclassman crowd of the broadcast communications department. This person is someone who has stepped out and shined in their roles in the major. The person that I believe has a magnitude of potential is sophomore Kayla Zoller. I had the pleasure of working with Kayla all fall semester of last year on the college’s remote truck crew, Titan Crew. Kayla was just a freshman last year but that made no difference, she stepped up and took on a lot of responsibility for someone just starting out in the major. Kayla helped us a lot during Titan Crew last year but it is what she’s doing this year that is even more impressive. Kayla has taken over the role of Jill Carle from last year, the graphics director. When working with graphics in the remote truck, it is vital to have all of the graphics you need for the game including player names, team logos and scores. Graphics is a very demanding job because you must be on your toes at all times and know what is going on in the game at all times. I was very impressed that Kayla decided to stay on Titan Crew even when it was not required of her to be and work as hard as she has. When I think of the rest of the sophomore class, I really cannot think of anyone else who has really taken the initiative to get involved so I’m very happy Kayla has!
If I were to offer some advice to this up and coming broadcasting star, it would be dedication. I know from firsthand how hard it is to balance all the different aspects of college and be successful. One attribute you definitely need in this broadcasting department to be successful is dedication. You must get your foot in the door and make sure it stays there. Kayla has already proven she wants to be active in the department so she’s got her foot in the door so to say. But with two years left in her college career, I see even more potential and great things coming from Kayla. I hope she decides to stay with Titan Crew as the graphics director but also get involved in all the broadcasting aspects such as radio and studio TV. Kayla definitely has the potential to be the next big thing in broadcasting, not only at Westminster, but also in the future in the work place!

A great Alumni connection

Many people have helped me stay encouraged and persistent during my academic career here at Westminster including professors, coaches and faculty members. This week however; I would like to focus on a fellow classmate that has helped me in the field of broadcasting. Pat Sandora has been a great person to look up to all 4 years of my college years even though he graduated a year before me. I knew of his name even before I transferred to Westminster College my freshman year. Jumping into the broadcasting department was quite intimidating at first and I was a bit scared. I didn’t know many other students in my classes because I had just transferred and the seniors seemed to run everything in the radio/television stations. I originally met Pat in the spring during Greek Week because he was in fraternity and came back to visit the fraternity house. From the first time I met him Pat was very interesting, enthusiastic and captured my attention. I learned that Pat was a broadcast major while here at Westminster and that he was very involved in his time as a student. I eventually established a friendly relationship with Pat and we communicated quite often via email and instant messenger. I first expressed to Pat that I wanted to get more involved in the broadcasting department at Westminster and asked him for advice on how to get my foot through the door as a freshman. He suggested that I start taking practicums, especially radio news since I just had BC writing and knew the radio news format. I decided to take the news practicum the fall of my sophomore year and really enjoyed it! I met a lot of my fellow students that worked in the radio station and learned the ins and outs of radio news. The first television project I was involved in was a unique segment called “On the road” where a group of students travel to interesting places in the county and reported about their experiences. I was so eager to get into the television aspect of broadcasting that I signed up for the show as a reporter just for the experience. I learned from Pat that he also helped with the On the Road segment while at Westminster and he gave me even more advice on the segment. Eventually as my college years continued I went on to get more and more involved. I needed less guidance as I built up more confidence and relationships with my professors and classmates in the major but I will always remember being a young, scared freshman. I think it is important not only as freshmen to obtain guidance from a role model but also to keep professional contact with people as you progress. It is vital to have people in your social network who understand your goals and whom you can also lend a helping hand as well!

Identity Crisis!

This week for capstone we had to finally complete our project binders and it felt so good to have everything set up and ready to go. I’m very excited to present my senior project capstone! My presentation is focused on my project “Identity Crisis” and will be in Mueller theatre in the McKelvey Campus Center December 2nd at 6 pm. The title of my project may catch your attention but it’s probably not quite what you’re thinking! The identity crisis my project is focused on is that of WCN’s image. I have zoned most of my focus on our weekly newsmagazine show The County Line. At my presentation I intend to show all of the work I have put into this project . For my project I have implemented many promotions strategies to help advertise WCN/TCL, ultimately increasing viewership. I have created weekly Titan Radio teaser promos, web promos for WCN’s cable switch, advertised on campus via emails and flyers and teased the show on the coache’s corner. I will present briefly (about 10 mins) about my project and show examples of my promotions work over the past semester. I plan to invite all of my closest friends on campus who have inspired me to be the well-rounded person I am today, my coaches and professors who have pushed me to achieve the best I can while at college and of course my family who have always been in my life to support me. Overall I feel that this presentation will be more than just a showcase of my senior project, but a glimpse into my life and how I have transitioned into adulthood at this wonderful institution. Please come support on December 2nd, I’m very excited!

Chelsea... Lately!

This week I would like to take some time to dedicate a thank-you to someone outside of the Westminster College network, someone I have never actually met but that I greatly admire. This person is Chelsea Handler, a hilarious comedian that is taking the entertainment-news world by storm. If you have never heard of her, I highly recommend watching some of her stand-up comedy or you can catch her nightly on the E! Network with the show “Chelsea Lately.”
As one of the nation’s fastest-rising female stand ups stars, Chelsea has performed to sold out audiences around the world including the Montreal Comedy Festival and the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. After her successful stand up tours, the E! Entertainment Network invited Chelsea to tape a pilot of her first nightly talk show, “Chelsea Lately.” The show was a hit and the E! Channel has just signed her for another season. http://www.comedycentral.com/comedians/browse/h/chelsea_handler.jhtml
The reason why I admire Chelsea Handler so much is because of her hard work and motivation but also because she loves what she does and can fun with it. I can’t imagine a more perfect dream job then talking about entertainment news and gossip to the entire world on your own television show. She started out as a comedian, but has worked her witty sarcasm into the field of media and entertainment with her nightly talk show. I make sure to tune in every night (or at least catch reruns) to get all the latest updates on celebrity news. It’s also very inspirational to see how she has handled her own in a typically male-dominated market. The late night talk show world is known for hosts like Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel and David Letterman but Chelsea has definitely proven she’s funny enough and tough enough to hang around.
Chelsea knows how to make her audience laugh and have a good time but she is also very good at what she does. I think that’s a very valuable lesson to take into any field of work you may go into! Her continuous joy of doing what she does helps me even more move towards my future in broadcasting and wherever life takes me!

My Mentor

I have had a lot of teachers/professors/coaches in my life that have inspired me… but when thinking about my future in the field of communications, one person really jumps out as a true mentor that took me under their wing. That person is my internship advisor from this summer at WKBN, Maggie Henderson. Ever since my first day at the station interviewing, Maggie has been very understanding, patient, and willing to help whenever. I thought for sure I wouldn’t have gotten my internship in the newsroom this summer because I got lost in Youngstown and was consequently late for my interview. Maggie was understanding though and actually very relatable to because she told me she was from Pennsylvania and that she went to college in PA so she known how confusing Youngstown can be at first. This automatically put me at ease and I knew I could talk to her about anything I needed from there on out, it was also nice that she is in her twenties so she knows what it’s like to be a young professional in the field. Throughout my internship, Maggie watched over my fellow interns and myself and always made sure we were learning something valuable from what we were doing. The list of things I learned this summer from my internship is never ending, but some of them were running Avid, writing scripts/teases/VOSOTS, producing and promotions. I spent a good amount of my internship experience going out on the field with reporters, but whenever I was in the newsroom I learned how to enter press releases into the day book and how to take phone calls. Maggie helped us get into contact with the promotions department one week, where we learned how promotions ties into the newsroom with producing commercials, special features, graphics and much more. After that, I asked Maggie if we (the interns) could job shadow her as a producer. She was more than willing to help and show us how she times out a show, how to make the show flow and how to write short and concisely. She also gave us very informative packets of information for anything we needed to know about producing or being in the news room. Overall, Maggie Henderson made my internship experience very valuable and very special to me; I think without her, I wouldn’t have appreciated what I had done for 3 months so much!

Public Relations & The Media

Being a broadcast communications major and a public relations minor here at Westminster College, I’ve experienced many classes and projects. When I sat down and thought about which class most impacted my stay here at Westminster, I would have to choose Public Relations and The Media. At first, I wasn’t too sure what this course would entail, besides the obvious of pr and media practices. As we got deeper into the course however and as I studied the text, I began to gain respect for the information I was being taught. The text we used was a small paperback book, approx. 300 pages long, but it sure did pack a good punch. I learned how to prepare the perfect press kit, how to organize a press conference and how to deal with reporter’s deadlines. We even had several mock press conferences where the class was divided up into half reporters and half public relations staff. The goal of the press conference was to experience how it feels for both parties of the press conference. Being a broadcast communications major, I had a slight idea of how it felt to be a reporter and what it was like to try to get the biggest, most newsworthy story. This is a reporter’s job, and sometimes it may seem we are being insincere, but we are just trying out hardest to do the best job we can. On the other side of the press conference, are the company speaker and their pr team. This course really opened my eyes because I got to experience how it felt for a pack of reporters to come at you during a conference, and you be on your toes AT ALL TIMES! I learned that you should always treat the media with respect because if you get on their bad side, then you lose important contacts for when you want to promote your company. This course definitely shaped my future career goals and senior project by showing me both sides of the media/public relations field. My senior project is to implement many strategies to promote our television station here on campus. I want to make sure to make good contacts and improve my broadcast/promotions skills for not only my senior project, but also my future career!

Hangin' With Promotions!

Last week, Shayna and I changed things up a little at the TV station by job shadowing the Promotions department. Promotions is something we are both very interested in because this field ties in our love for TV News and Public Relations. When we first got to the station on Wednesday we met up with one of the Promotions producers, Justin. Justin is a really nice guy and easy to relate to because he just graduated from college a couple years ago. We talked to him about his job as a producer and all of the projects he had to cover. Next we hung out in the edit bays and watched as some of the promotions segments were edited. We saw the weekly "movie review" be put together and it was really neat to see how a green screen works and how they add graphics and other fancy effects to make the feature look great. We then went over to the graphics department of promotions and learned a bit about this job. The graphics director was really nice and showed us how he creates graphics for the different news casts and different stations. He definately has alot on his plate now that there are 3 stations in this building, WKBN, WYTV and FOX! Finally the Asst. Director of Promotions, Dave Redig talked to us a bit about our future goals and told us about the big Canfield fair, where we will be manning the tents on behalf of the station. Overall it was an interesting day and I think we learned alot. It was also nice to change things up a bit and see another departments job other than the news room!

Writing for ON THE AIR!

I talked briefly in my last post about how I started practicing writing scripts on stories I went out with reporters on. The format here at WKBN is slightly different from what I'm used to back at college, but ultimately the skills I have learned over the past 3 years have helped me out a lot here in the newsroom. I have been writing scripts for over 2 weeks now here at WKBN and have had anyone I can read over them and make corrections so I can get better at writing.

Last week when I came in on Wednesday, I was in for quite the surprise! Things were a little tight in the newsroom and some scripts needed to be written for the noon news. Noon Anchor, Jeff Levkulich had me write a VoSot on tips of saving fuel. It was really nice to have the experience of writing a professional script to be used on air and have an experienced anchor look over my script and give me suggestions for improvement. After a little tweaking, the script was ready to go and loaded into the rundown! Next, Jeff had me write two sports teases for the noon news as well. This was my first experience writing a sports tease, but it was pretty easy to follow the format and get it in there quickly. I went up to the studio and sat in the studio as the noon news was broadcast. It was pretty exciting to have my script read on air live during the news and I felt pretty accomplished, but I know I still have a lot of work to do and improvements can always be made. I look forward to writing more in the future for the news, and I plan on writing at least one script a day for my own benefit even if it is not used on air. Writing has definitely grown on me a lot since I have been here in the newsroom and it's something I believe will give me an advantage in the future.

Alpaca Shearing!

So here is the video I captured on my LG Venus cellphone, it takes 30 second video clips and it's kind of hard to see but not too bad for a cellphone!

First Week At WKBN!

Well classes are out for the semester, but that doesn't mean I'm not still hard at work in my major of broadcasting! This past week, fellow class mate and now co-worker Shayna Marti and myself started our internships at WKBN in Youngstown, Ohio. We were of course a little nervous when we came in our first day, but our internship supervisor Maggie Henderson put us at ease and showed us some of the technical aspects of the newsroom. Almost every reporter in the newsroom gets their own computer and work off of an AP system named ENPS. Using this program at first was like learning a foreign language because we have never used it before in our experiences at Westminster. The system allows you to check multiple AP wires, write scripts and save them to the rundown server and also acts as an in-office email system if you need to contact others in the newsroom. After learning a bit about the computers and the programs WKBN uses, We went out on our first adventure with a reporter to North Poland elementary to film a package about make a wish. It was really neat to get our first taste of how a VJ (video journalist, backpack journalist, one man band etc...) gets the job done and all the aspects that go into it. We helped Roxann Sebest set up the equipment, and then watched as she got all the b roll footage she needed for the package. She allowed us to be in charge of the camera for the interviews she conducted with the students and the school's president. On Tuesday, I came into the newsroom by myself and went out on another feature/enterprise story with a VJ named Dan Marin. Dan is a really cool guy and showed me how enthusiasm for the job and in the field can really help you capture a good package. The most amusing part of the day is that we went to an alpaca farm named Day Star Alpacas in North Jefferson to film the alpacas getting sheared for the summer. I will be sure to upload the video I captured on my cell phone of the alpacas getting shaved, it's truly unique! I even got the taste of editing on Avid, which is the editing software they use in the station, and the shots of the alpacas made for compelling and colorful video! The next day, on Wednesday, Shayna and I returned to the newsroom and decided to split up to follow different reporters on their journey's for the day. I went with veteran reporter Stan Boney to interview the mayor of Youngstown, and also a former senator who knew Ted Kennedy in the 80's. I decided after watching the video that was captured from the day that I wanted to start writing my own package scripts. It was quite the process to begin to learn how to write scripts on the ENPS system, but I got the hang of it after awhile and polished off a pretty good script. I had my supervisor Maggie look it over and give me suggestions to improve my writing. With all of this action in one week, I can't wait to see what this week brings, and I'll be sure to post video of everything happening!

Wrapping Things Up!

So here I am, at my computer, on the very last Sunday of the school year at Westminster! It's so surreal to think back over this semester and think of everything I have accomplished. It's also a wonder that I have survived it all and came out intact, but everything I have done this semester and all the pressures have made me a stronger person in many ways. I took 19 credit hours this semester including my TV practicum and Capstone. This first semester of capstone has been a major eye opening experience and has taught me a lot. I have finally finished my plans for my senior project and have gotten approval from the department. Also by working with my fellow capstone classmates I have learned a lot from them, and we have been able to help each other through this crazy process. For our capstone final, tomorrow morning, we will be meeting up to compete in an "Amazing Race" type activity held right here in New Wilmington. The reason why we are doing this is because it ties in with the overall theme we've had in capstone this semester, The Amazing Race. When we first started the class we had to identify a partner and fill out a lengthy application. As the semester went on we filmed and edited an application video and then eventually dubbed it over to VHS and stuffed it into envelopes to be sent out to CBS! We also had a similar activity with Titan Traverse where we had to work with partners and in teams to compete against the other teams. This experience helped us to realize that teamwork is a must and also if you want to succeed you must utilize your strengths. I think our final adventure tomorrow with continue this idea and I'm excited to see exactly what we will be doing! Finally I wanted to give out a final shout out to the graduating broadcast seniors. You guys have put so much work into the department in your years and we all really appreciate it! I know that they have helped me a ton and have made me an overall better student in broadcasting. Congrats to the class of 08, and hopefully my class of 09 will be able to represent the department just as well next year, but they are big shoes to fill!

A Producer's Life

I've mentioned The County Line several times in previous blogs because I've been very involved with it this semester from being on crew to filming sports, making packages, doing interviews and finally last week, I got to produce my first show! I will admit that I was nervous at first because I am a perfectionist and wanted to make sure that it would turn out to be a great show. But as the week rolled on, things seemed to mesh together well and things slowly began gaining speed. We had a meeting in the newsroom to discuss possible package ideas and assignments for the show. After some discussion and brain storming it seemed we had more than enough material to try to jam into the 30 minuet show. Fellow Capstone classmate, NickyPiszczor, helped co-produce the show and was a great help. I have seen people work on putting the show together before but I had never actually produced so she helped show me the ropes of what exactly need to be done. We talked several times throughout the week to keep track of what stories were coming in and what we still needed. We met the night before the show to produce a rough draft of the rundown and it was interesting to see the process of entering all the information like run times, tape codes, story slugs and back timing. I noticed that one of the biggest pains in producing is making sure that your show is timed PERFECTLY. You must make sure all the package times, commercial blocks and other aspects are timed out perfectly to meet the 30 minuet slot. The day of the show was a very exciting day to say the least, both the joy and pressure of producing started weighing down on me. I stayed in the newsroom most of the day just emailing graphics, checking in with reporters on their packages and making sure the run down was complete and accurate. FINALLY it was show time at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and even tho I was slightly nervous I was more excited to physically see how the show would come together. Nicky and I finally stepped back and watched as all the aspects of the show came together, there was nothing much more we could do and the pressures we felt were lifted as we saw how smooth it ran. There were of course a few minor hiccups, but overall we were very proud of the show and everything ran great. This experience definitely opened my eyes to the world of producing and I'm very excited to delve deeper into producing at my internship this summer and also next year at WCN.

What Dosen't Kill You Only Makes You...

I’ve heard this phrase before, but didn’t understand its true meaning until this week. This was honestly one of the toughest weeks I have ever faced academically in my college career. Many things happened in my classes which pushed me to the edge but the real topper was when my capstone class met on Thursday to pitch our senior project proposals. We had to come up with a short summary of what the main point of our project would be, a list of objectives, strategies, and evaluation methods. Our capstone professor then asked the other members of the broadcasting faculty to come into our class to give us feedback on our proposals. Essentially my project was to target the student body of the college and get them interested in watching the college television station through radio advertisements, campus advertisements and other strategies. I originally thought I had a pretty strong project because everyone I talked to about it seemed pretty excited about what I was doing. When I pitched my project idea to the faculty however, they were less than excited. I was told that I should not target the students at all because the student body changes every year. I was also told that I shouldn’t focus my energy on making posters, flyers and campus advertisements either. After getting shot down by the firing squad, they suggested that I focus my project on a different audience, that of the Lawrence/Mercer county community. When I take a step back and think about it, they were right in saying this because the community around us is essentially who watches our network and our programming. I think it will be a fun and rewarding project to connect with the community and obtain a stronger viewer ship for WCN using my promotional strengths. Overall, this week really showed me how to take constructive criticism and have a thick skin, because in the end what doesn’t kill you really makes you stronger!

If the Shoe Fits...

This week as I blog, I would like to turn the spotlight away from capstone for just a moment to talk about another valuable class I am taking this semester, Broadcast Sales/Advertising.  Before taking this sales class, I really had no interest in sales or really knew what it was all about.  As we began the class however, I found it extremely insightful and found myself wanting to make myself a better sales person.  As the semester winds down, one of our last assignments in class is to take everything we have learned about sales/advertising and interview a successful sales person.  I found myself scrambling to find someone that would be interesting for an interview, until I made a trip home to Meadville this weekend.  I started talking to my parents about the assignment and they suggested I talk to their friend, Carole Andreas about her career in sales.  Carole had been over to our home a few times in the past and I had enjoyed her company so I was interested to sit down and talk to her about exactly what she did in the sales and marketing business.  It came as quite a surprise to me that Carole has so many various talents and products including: fine art, consignment projects, advertising design and production.  She has her own shop and art gallery in downtown Meadville, where she meets with clients concerning advertising promotions and also continues her love of creating original fine art pieces.  One of the most interesting promotions campaigns she has worked on was one with music legend, Madonna.  Madonna released a children's book The English Roses recently, and along with it, a wide array of children's clothes and accessories to help promote the book.  Carole Andreas, which was sitting in front of me at the very moment, had helped Madonna design shoes for her line!  This was a very exciting surprise to me, as I have been a fan of Madonna ever since I can remember and have even bought some of her "M" men's fashion line from retailer H&M.  Now I am even more excited to report my findings and talk about my interview with Carole to my broadcast sales/advertising class next week!  This really goes to prove that connections are all around you.  I never fully believed my professors when they said "ask your parents who they know, you would be surprised" until I found myself interviewing a local fine artist who has designed for a worldwide superstar.  You may have to dig a little, but you will be surprised who you have in your social network and whom you may be linked to!

Crunch Time!

With only 3 weeks of classes left in the semester, it’s definitely getting down to crunch time! It seems that just about everything is due at once, and there is not enough time to do it all. It’s amazing to look back at the beginning of the semester 3 months ago and looking at where I am now. 3 months ago I was creating this very blog as an assignment for my senior capstone class. Now it has become much more than just a blog to me, it’s become a way to express myself in a professional manner, while still including my own personal style. 3 months ago, I had no idea of what I wanted to do for an internship or where I would be ending up this summer, but now I have a great opportunity working at WKBN in Youngstown and living on my own in my apartment in town. I have a feeling that this summer will be a chance to show myself that I have what it takes to make it on my own. I will need to be dedicated to my internship and work my hardest, so that I know I can make it out there in the “real world.” To get to the summer however, I have a lot to do! I have my senior project pitch next week during capstone where I present my entire senior project idea to be approved by my capstone professor and the communications department chair. I think that by taking the skills I have learned thus far this semester about selling yourself professionally, I should be able to tackle the pitch and get approval by my professors. I also still have my producing week coming up for our school news program, The County Line. I have learned a great deal about producing by just observing my fellow classmates in the studio all semester. Of course, I will probably need some help and a little kick to get me started, but this should not be a problem either and I am excited about the opportunity to produce my very own show! With all of these objectives weighing down on me and the end up the semester creeping up, I must now get ready for crunch time, and prevail over the pressure, because I know that the professional “real world” will be just the same, if not more intense!

Ace the Competition!

Most of you reading this blog probably already know me pretty well, but for those who do not, I wanted to provide a little insight into my life this week. I’m a pretty busy guy here at Westminster College, and one of my passions and favorite leisurely activities is tennis. It has become more than just a pass-time here at college however; it’s become a full blown time commitment and has fired up my competitive side to the extreme. Every spring when I pick up that tennis racket and lace up my sneaks to walk onto the court I get inspired. Inspired to win, inspired to work to my full potential, and inspired to be the best that I can be.
I have noticed this feeling being spilled over into my studies and professional life as well recently. As noted in my post last week, my internship hunt has been going pretty well and presenting a lot of positive opportunities. I just found out at the beginning of this week however, that I have yet another opportunity coming my way. On Monday, I got a call from the marketing department at Anderson Coach & Travel in nearby Greenville, Pennsylvania to set up an interview. I sent my resume for the job to Anderson a few months ago and initially wanted to do this internship because it will incorporate many skills in public relations work and marketing. Plus the internship is PAID! Yes, that’s right, an actual paid internship! This is exciting because I would not have to get another part time job to help pay for living expenses this summer if I was already getting paid to do an internship. My interview is on Wednesday, and I couldn’t be more excited for it, but at the same time I am feeling torn. I really enjoyed my interview at WKBN in Youngstown, and would love the chance of working in the newsroom getting experience in the broadcasting field. I have to think about my professional goals however and what would be best for me. I mean I haven’t even been guaranteed the internship at Anderson because I still have to interview for it, but eventually if I do get picked for it, I will just have to weigh the positives and negatives for both of the jobs and decide what would be most beneficial for me. Relating back to my tennis references, I believe in the internship and professional world it is just as important to “Ace the competition.” You need to show employers what you are made of, how hard of a worker you can be, and distinguish yourself from the others in your field!

All the pieces fit!

This have really started to come together for me this week, it’s funny how sometimes all the right pieces just seem to fall into place! First, I wanted to talk about the world of internships. For awhile now, say a couple of months, I have been stressing about finding an internship around the Lawrence county area for this summer. I was concerned that I might have to end up driving the hour commute to Pittsburgh everyday if I wanted true broadcast experience. A week before spring break however, I get a call from the executive producer of WKBN in nearby Youngstown, Ohio asking if I could come in for an interview! I was ecstatic about this opportunity and couldn’t stop thinking about it all break. Finally, we returned to school after break and I went in for an interview on Friday afternoon. The interview was scheduled at 4 p.m., but I was kind of nervous and got lost on my way to the station and ended up getting there 20 minuets late! I thought for sure my opportunity had gone out the window because I was already late on day one, but the producer I met with was really easy going and understanding so that put me at ease. During the interview, I thought back to an important topic we discussed in Capstone class, how to self yourself as a professional. I thought of all the things I have done related to broadcasting and public relations and explained my love of the field. Eventually, after taking a tour of the station and talking a bit about the internship itself, the producer offered me the job! I feel this will be a great opportunity for me to learn more about the field of broadcasting and, most importantly, get the professional experience I will need to land a job after I graduate!

Now with my internship lined up for the summer, it was time to focus on a more immediate issue. I have been pondering for a few weeks now about a research project I wanted to do for my PR research class. Finally, I decided that it would be a great idea to work within my major field of broadcasting and also be able to apply my skills in public relations. I came up with the plan to focus on Westminster College Network and discover what type of problems they have reaching viewers. I talked with my Capstone professor and also my fellow classmates to determine that the main problem WCN has is its image. I feel that not a lot of students on campus know exactly what WCN is and if they do, they do not watch it very often. The next step in my research project was to create a survey to distribute randomly across campus. The questions are geared to determine the target audience for the network and find out exactly why people are not watching. When I have the surveys returned to me I will be able to pinpoint the issue and therefore be able to implement a plan. This is where my pr project ties in with Capstone. We are also required to do a senior project for Capstone which reflects our knowledge of the field of broadcasting. I decided that it would be a good idea to go the route of actually following thru with my research and helping WCN solve their identity crisis. I will mainly focus on promoting the station on campus in various ways and benchmarking my success as time goes by.

Drink Up, Broadcasters!

This week, the career center hosted a panel of web-based journalists who spoke about their jobs and the future of broadcasting. It was very interesting to hear how they started out in the field at television stations and newspaper offices and ended up where they are today leading the future with technology. One speaker from the Pittsburgh WQED station, made an analogy that really caught my attention. He said that the media is currently going through a “milkman” transition. Think back a few decades, milkmen used to visit the doors of almost every home in America, providing milk to the families weekly. Eventually, the availability of refrigerators and the building of giant supermarkets weeded off the profession of delivering milk because it was now available whenever you needed it. In broadcasting, the “milkmen” are essentially the print journalist and the availability of computers in every American home, and the coming of the “super web” is weeding out the concepts of how we originally received news on a daily basis. Broadcasters now have to branch out and distinguish themselves in order to make a living. Instead of just writing an article and having it published in the daily paper, print journalists are now posting those articles on their papers website with video, graphics and sound. Instead of just producing a package for the evening news, video journalists are now constantly covering news and posting it on their websites to rival the constant media overflow consumers are being flooded with. Anyone with internet can now log onto popular news sites like CNN.com, nytimes.com or usatoday.com instead of having to wait for the 6 or 11 o clock news to know what is going on around them. I am as guilty of clicking to the web for news as anyone else, its convenience and constantly updated sources keep me coming back for more. I think the future of broadcasting is a very interesting and exciting concept, just imagine how different the future could even be from today. What will the web bring us next, and will it consume our lives and how we receive news even more than today? As young journalists, we need to keep on our toes and be ready for anything. More than ever, we need to distinguish ourselves from the media pack and start developing our web savvy selves!

S.O.S. on the Set!

So this week was quite the surprise on the set of The County Line! For those of you who need to be filled in, TCL is a weekly news program we run from our college campus which is reached by homes all over Lawrence and Mercer counties. The staff, producers, and anchors for the show are made up completely by Westminster students. This is a great opportunity for us as young professionals because we can learn the ropes of a TV station, and learn from our mistakes as well. AND BOY did we have a lot of mistakes this week!
The night started out as it normally would, we had a meeting before the show and began to run thru the show before we actually aired live. The run thru was a little shaky, but nothing more than to be expected for the first try. When we started the show at 7:30, all hell broke loose. On our rundown sheets, many of the cameras/video lines were mixed up and did not correlate with the packages we were running. After the first couple package tosses, we had some major “technical difficulties” and ended up sending it back to the anchor who informed the audience of our problems and we went straight to commercial to get ourselves back on track. That wasn’t even the end of it though, we had a little trouble with some of the audio/video in the packages themselves and we ended up finishing the show two whole minuets early. This left a lot of dead air time with no functioning overhead camera so we just pulled back one of our studio cameras and left it on the anchors until 8:00 finally rolled around.
Unfortunately, we got a lot of bad wrap, but in the end it was no one individual’s fault, we all had made mistakes at some point which just accumulated. While talking to my friends around campus, a lot of them asked me what happened on the show this week. I explained our unfortunate events, and ended up just laughing it off with them. I do not see this as a negative experience however; it was mainly a learning experience. First of all, I had no idea so many people actually watched the show on campus so that gave me hope that we had a good audience. Secondly, we learned that organization and professionalism are a MUST while producing a television news program. You can run a show 50 times and be completely comfortable with it, but when it comes time to go live, you never know what surprises could pop up, you must be quick on your feet and have a tough skin!

Map to Your Life

This week I’m going to reflect on something that may seem like a very basic skill, but in all actuality, can be the difference between complete success and failure in the broadcast world. I’m talking about time management! Time management is something you don’t necessarily think about on a day to day basis but it really determines almost every aspect of your life. Moving to college is a huge wake up call to a young adult because you don’t have your parents constantly riding your back telling you when, where and how to get things done. You are almost forced, in a way; to develop your own guidelines for getting things done and must set your own timelines. I am the first to admit, I have terrible time management skills, but I am working on them and have greatly improved since my first year here at college.
Our capstone professor is asking us to make our own timeline for class with everything we want to accomplish this semester in the department of broadcasting. This is a new concept to me because I can’t say I have honestly ever sat down and mapped things out on a timeline before. To start working on my timeline, I had to think about what goals I wanted to accomplish. I think the key to setting goals in the future and achieving them is setting priorities. You must weigh you’re options and decide which goals will have the biggest, and most positive impact on your life relating to what you are trying to accomplish. In relation to broadcasting, time mangement is key because you must be able to meet deadlines. News is always breaking, technology is constantly changing and you must be on your toes at all times to keep deadlines met. Especially in today's world of VJ work (video journalists) you must be even more aware of time and deadlines because you are shooting, editing and often reporting all at the same time. Being the computer/internet geek that I am, I immediately went and Googled timelines you can create for free online. One which seemed pretty user friendly and fast was from http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timelines. Now if you want to get real fancy and willing to spend a little cash for more luxurious timeline options you can visit http://www.timelinemaker.com/. All in all, I think this assignment is a very good life lesson and one which will make a huge difference in the successes of a young broadcaster climbing the ranks.

The Final Countdown

What a week! This has been a week of many deliberations for me. In capstone we spent a good amount of time going around the classroom and discussing the final senior project and everything that goes along with it. Most of my fellow students are choosing a project which directly correlates with what they want to do as a career after graduation. When it came time for me to give an idea of what I wanted to do as my senior project it forced me to really think about what I want to do after graduation. The scary thing is that I don’t know exactly what I want to do. I absolutely love broadcasting, and in today’s world, it’s getting more and more competitive, you must be on the top of your game and be well trained in every aspect. I think Westminster does prepare us for that world after graduation but I also want to throw some aspects of public relations in the mix. This led me to the realization that my senior project should then reflect my love for BC and PR. Mr. Weaver suggested contacting an alum, Liz Farry, who was also a broadcast student at Westminster but now working in public relations. I’ve been reading over her blog and her post-graduation life seems very exciting and promising, which gives me hope. I will be sure to utilize connections like these, my skills in different fields and determination to put together a blueprint for my senior project over the next few months. This should prove to be an exciting and interesting quest!

The Power of a Résumé

This week for class we had the great opportunity to attend the Westminster College “Experience Outlet.” It was essentially an internship/summer job fair where employees from companies around the Pittsburgh area came to meet students interested in getting job experience. One of the main components to fully utilizing the fair was bringing a personal résumé. I had made résumés in the past, but never really at a professional level which showcased all of my dimentions, education and skills. The first step I took in the process of creating my résumé was to list all the things which promote me as a young professional in the coroporate communications realm. I listed facts about my education, relative courses, leadership activities, work experience, honors/awards, travel experiences and skills in broadcasting, public relations and computers. After compiling a mass of information, I contacted the career center to set up an advising appointment. The career center staff helped me narrow my information and format it into an appealing and polished final product. Finally the process of writing my first résumé was almost complete, and after printing them out and holding them in my hands, I felt very satisfied at the step I had taken into the professional work world. I think the résumé has a great power in selling yourself not only as a professional but as a unique person with many dimensions. This in turn, can attract a company to you and help them realize what you can do for their workplace. The next day I attended the fair and met many interesting representatives, many of which were very eager to know more about my education in broadcasting and public realtions. I handed out several résumés with a smile and hope to hear soon from the companies which I met at the “Experience Outlet.”

Hand in Hand: BC & PR

For our first blog assignment, our capstone professor Mr. Weaver asked us to view several well written blogs from students in the past capstone classes. We were then suppose to digest the information of a blog that we thought was specifically significant then report our thoughts. The blog I chose to review was "On the Verge" by December 2007 graduate of Westminster; Sky Yaple. The reason why I chose to dissect this specific blog is because of Sky's welcoming and fun tone to her blog. Not only did Sky post about her very important capstone experiences throughout the semester, but also about other fun nooks in the mass media spectrum. Some things that caught my eye were her humorous posts about sites like "Simpsonize me" which may seem light hearted at the surface and just a way to kill time. But in all reality, when you look deeper this site is much more; it is a planned and strategized partnership between the Simpson's cartoon and huge fast food chain burger king. Both of the two had huge promotions over the summer of 2007. This realization led me to the main point of the blog I am crafting right now. Mr. Weaver had mentioned to me that it would be an interesting addition for me to talk about my public relations experiences as well as my broadcast ones. To get to my point, the "Simponize Me" web site was just that; a public relations campaign disguised under a fun exterior. It was no accident that The Simpson's Movie was such a huge hit, the promoters hit many media outlets to help promote the movie to it's target audiences. This is essentially the point of a public relations campaign; to establish a positive connection with a products target audience. PR practitioners then devise a plan and send a press release to many media outlets including TV, radio, and most recently the Internet, which are all becoming a huge part of the broadcast communications world as well. So in conclusion, I want to say thanks Sky, for showing me how a well crafted blog can be produced and how to include your own special touch.