Back in Action!

Classes are back in session and I'm gearing up for my last semester at Westminster... how scary is that?!!

This week in broadcasting was pretty minimal. Lots of meetings and planning for the semester. I've been working closely with the new radio news director, Liz Farry, and she is awesome! We've come up with some really great strategies for the semester and set some very good goals. I'm looking forward to Titan Radio News and The County Line starting up again so I can fall back into the groove of broadcasting. My personal goals for this semester are to churn out at least three, resume-quality packages, anchor regularly, and slowly ween myself off of producer control of the show. I think the third is going to be the hardest!

My career goals are always floating in the back of my brain. I'm waiting to hear back from someone at the Page Program at NBC to set up an interview. I'll be contacting them next week if I don't hear from them before. If I get a call I'll have to go back to NYC twice for a round of interviews... pretty cool! I'm also looking at some places in Chicago because I really liked my experience there as well. I'll pretty much take a job where ever I can find one, but I'm trying to look in key areas as of right now.
**UPDATE 2:50pm** I just received an email from Nikki Battiste, the girl I visited with at NBC in New York. She said my resume is sitting on the guy's desk from the Page Program and all he needs is my application! She said he recognized my name from somewhere, too! Guess I better get on that application!

I found an article on MTVNews about how some very popular music artists are making TV and other kinds of ads promoting the value of radio. It is an effort to combat the growing popularity of satellite radio and the internet. Radio: You Hear it here first! This is the first ad campaign of its kind and should spark some controversy over the new technology.

New York, New York!

I just got back this afternoon from my six-day trip to New York City and New Jersey. Here's an summary of everything for those of you who care!

First off, I have to say a HUGE thank you to Ryan, Jake, Nikki, Amanda, Mike and Ted for giving me a place to stay and some great hospitality! Thank you thank you!

So while in NYC I got to do some pretty cool stuff. I've been interested in moving there after I graduate, so it was nice to stay with other people my age who already live there to get a feel for what it's like to call NYC home. I think I'm still interested in moving there, but I got a new feel for what it's like.

Friday afternoon my friend Ryan, who interns at MTVNetworks, took me to the famous Times Square offices for a look around. It was great! I didn't get to see the TRL studio or anything, but I visited MTV, MTV News, Nickelodeon, VH1, SpikeTV and MTV International. It was REALLY great to walk around their offices and see what a creative place it is! I didn't really get to talk to anyone about jobs or anything, but it was still cool. While on the News floor I spied on John Norris while he was working in his office. I felt cool!In another MTV moment, I saw Willy from The Real World: Philadelphia at a bar that night! Again, I felt cool by association.

**Cue the urban walking/taxi/subay montage**

Saturday and Sunday I switched hosts and just enjoyed a weekend in the city with my friend Jake. No broadcast adventures for once! We went to the Met and saw some great works of art, saw a movie, ate pizza... a great time!

Monday morning started early! I met with Nikki Battiste, Associate Producer on the Jane Pauley Show at NBC. She took me around the NBC studios and offices and it was SO great! I got my own private tour of the SNL studio, Nightly News and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Then we went across the street to the Today Show studios where they were taping! Nikki knew everyone there and they were all really excited to meet her and were very nice to me, too. Katie, Matt and Anne weren't there that day, but I was in the studio while Natalie Morales did a live interview, then chatting with her quickly. When I was leaving the studio, Al Roker was coming back in and I said, "Hi, Al..." and she said "Hello there." We're friends, haha!

Nikki told me all about the Page Program at NBC, which she participated in after she graduated, and it sounds like it is definitely something I am interested in now. A few months ago I heard Meg Camardese talk about her experience in the program and she loved it, too. Nikki tried to get me an on-the-spot interview with the man in charge there, but he isn't in on Mondays, so she is going to pass on my resume and info and says that she can get me an interview no problem! We'll see how it goes! Talking with Nikki was really great. She has worked for the Today Show, SNL, and Jane Pauley and she is only 25. She gave me some great inspiration and a lot of tips on how to succeed in the business. I'm very, very grateful for her time.

Monday afternoon I trained down to Ewing, NJ to stay with '04 grad Amanda Oliveri. She does promotions at Nassau Broadcasting which is 920 ESPN, 94.5 The Hawk, and 97.5 PST. I got to go into the station with her and meet her coworkers, then went on a remote with her that night in Philadelphia. Tuesday we hung out and then went to Philly again that night.

I came home today in such a crazy away. I trained back up from south Jersey to Newark to fly home, but I had a layover in DC before getting back to the 'burgh... such a whirlwind tour! All I needed to do was get on a boat and I would have had all the major modes of transportation covered!

The trip was really tiring, but really beneficial to me. I got a lot of insider info at some major networks, and also got me really excited for the career hunt! I realize now that I need to make like five resumes, depending on the type of job I'm going for. The options are endless, including radio DJ, radio news, TV news, producing, directing, reporting, acting, dance... ayiyi! I'll get it all together, have no fear! That was a really long blog entry, but I hope you made it all the way! Back to normal blogging next week. 1 more semester left...

7 down, 1 to go!

It's hard to believe that there's only one semester left in my college career! The years have gone really fast... lots of things have happened, blah blah! I'm looking forward to this last semester and everything that's coming with it, but I'm also going to be sad to leave good ol' Westminny.

This week in broadcasting wasn't very full. No radio shifts, no County Lines, no news meetings... a little sad. We went out 2 Thursdays ago to celebrate the last County Line. We also went to happy hour on Friday for capstone. It was a little sad because only Mr. Weaver, Tandi, Sarah, Sebas and I went. 4 out of 10 was kinda lame, but at least we know who the hardcore ones are, haha! It was a good time! Looking forward to next semester!

The career and job hunt was in full force this past week. Since I didn't have many finals I was set on getting all of my radio resume tapes finished and sending some out. On Friday I sent out packages to KissFM in Jamestown, NY for a morning show host position, and to Wish 99.7 in Pittsburgh for a part time on-air job. It's my first "real" applications, so I'm anxious to see what type of response I get back. I'd love to hear some feedback, regardless of whether it's good or bad. I plan on applying to ChannelOne news while I'm at home, and then putting my TV resume tape together as soon as I get back to school. It's go time!

On a personal update, I'm going to visit friends in both New York City and New Jersey after the first of the year. I've made arrangements to stay w/ a few friends in NYC so that I could see the city like someone who lives there, not so much a tourist. I am also going to meet with a friend of the family who used to work for Katie Couric and SNL and now works for Jane Pauley. After NYC I'm headed to Princeton, NJ to visit with 2004 grad Amanda Oliveri at her promotions job w/ Nasau Broadcasting. I'm VERY excited for the trip, and I'm also traveling on my own which should be a great experience.

I hope everyone has a great holiday! I'm sure I'll update the blog a few times over break!

Jackpot!

This week in broadcasting has been very active for me both on the radio and TV. On Tuesday afternoon we found out that the Born 2 Run sports complex in Grove City had gone bankrupt and was forced to lock up its doors. Liz and I ran stories about the closing and also got reaction from a parent whose child plays hockey there. We were enterprising and that was a really good feeling.

I had planned on doing my ever-present package about hybrid cars, but dropped in so Sebastian could add a package to sports. I was sitting around on Thursday afternoon and at 2 o'clock Mr. Weaver said there was breaking news. The $171.4 million winning Powerball ticket was sold right here in New Castle at the Country Food Mart on Butler Avenue. A press conference was set for 3:30pm with the store's owner because he gets $100,000 for selling the ticket! Being the hardcore broadcaster that she is, Liz Farry cleared her schedule and came with me to be my shooter. During the press event Liz and I were there shooting with the 4 major stations from Pittsburgh and the 3 from Youngstown. We felt very cool.

Amy Marcinkiewicz and her videographer from WPXI Channel 11 helped us out my letting us tape our microphone to theirs on the stand. Amy also helped us identify the man in charge so we could talk to him and gave us a few pointers on shooting events like this. It was a really great learning experience and goes to show how important it is to make good contacts!

We got back at about 4:45 and I had my complete package finished by 6:15. An hour and half isn't too shabby for editing a package, especially w/ all the short notice. I think it turned out really well and I could definitely add it to a resume tape.

We had our last County Line of the year last night. The show was really great and everyone did an awesome job. It's hard to believe that we put together 11 live shows this year and all of them (except that third show, haha) we were pretty good. The show went through some tough times w/ anchor changes and technical issues at the beginning, but things got worked out and I am looking forward to the Spring.

Looking for a career has hit a slow spot this week. I have my resume updated, my DJ CD completely burned and ready to send out. My TV resume isn't put together at all, but I now have 4 really solid packages to put on there, so I'm happy with that. I plan on using Xmas break to get a lot done. I am planning a trip to New Jersey to visit WC Alum Amanda Oliveri at her job at Nassau Broadcasting in Princeton. She does promotions there and has a lot of fun. She's only 25min from Philly and an hour from NYC, which is where I want to end up. Hopefully I will also be able to go from NJ to NYC in the same week and visit some friends that I know there. I have been to NYC several times, but never as a person who lives there, just on more organized trips. I'm very excited for the chance to scope out potential future homes and to see how other broadcasters are doing!

I found an article rating the top news sites of the year. It puts Google's news site, ABC News and a Chinese News website in the top spots. Pretty interesting to see and may be useful to us broadcasters in the future.

Ready and Rarin' to go!

This week in broadcasting has been mostly the same old for me. Morning show, news meeting, radio shifts and The County Line. We had a pretty unique show this week. A few minor technical mistakes, a neat interview segment and we timed out really well. It's hard to believe that there's only one more show left this semester. We're looking to fill in some holes for next semester, and also prepare people to take over new positions in the fall. Mr. Weaver and I discussed having me fill in for one of the anchor positions. He was really for it, and I would definitely like the experience. We'll have to see how we can work it out.

The career seach is heating up because I'm getting REALLY hungry about finding a job and took some serious steps this week towards doing so. I sent my resume to Nickelodeon for a writer position for U Pick Live, a sort of TRL for cartoon shows. A job like that would be really fun, and Nick is a part of MTVNetworks, which is where I'd like to end up. I also finally completed and burned my DJ resume CD, which includes a 90sec DJ aircheck and 6 promo spots to show off my production skills. I think I've been channeling Julie this week because I've been printing off job openings and putting them together in a binder so that I can easily compare them. I plan on sending out some stuff next week. I also need to make copies of my headshots to send out with a few applications. There are 2 jobs that I am interested in that ask to have color photos attached. I'm ok with that.

Like I said before, it kinda sucks that BC jobs need to be filled immediately, especially since I really can't start working until May. Unlike others though, I really can't bring myself to drop my responsibilities at Titan Radio and WCN to take on a full or part time job. I have worked really hard for years to prepare myself to get a job in broadcasting, but I have also worked really hard to get the leadership positions I have here at Westminster. I don't want to turn my back on those responsibilities now, especially when the people who appointed me to the positions could be valuable references in the future. Even though I have a MAJOR itch to find a job now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my college career because, let's face it, I'm going to work for the rest of my life.

I found an article about how blogs are becoming a powerful force for companies to use. One experted is saying that media needs to "adapt or die" when it comes to the use of blogs. I think most people know what a blog is now, and they're really becoming a trend in the industry. Don't all us capstoners feel special now?!