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!