Last Blog of the Semester

       

 Ray Carter

       My time at Channel 5 is coming to an end, and many employees suggest that we shadow producers to get a feel for how a TV station does its work. I've assisted and worked with Producers all Fall, but I barely understood what they do. Bryan Spencer, KSDK's Creative Services Producer, suggested that I shadow him for a full shift. At the beginning, Bryan explained that all the producers have to know what's going on in the Run Down or Scripts for the day. It's important for them to attend the news meeting to know what's going on. News changes very rapidly in a larger market; what might be the top story this week isn't the next. Every station is different, but channel 5 tapes quiet a bit of news. Every Producer is assigned thirty minutes of broadcast time or a special series of reports/ commercials for daily broadcast.  Bryan explained that his job entailed making multiple "Topicals" or commercials for the evening news shows. 

      We sat down at one of the station's editing computers, and he showed me that format to use. He inserts graphics and a time line to ensure that everything will be ready before taping. We looked up multiple news websites to see what the most important stories of the day were. He showed me the Associated Press Computer Program; it helps station employees write scripts and put together a news show. He wrote directions for where the anchor sit, read, and act when the commercial tapes. We then went to a meeting after the 6:00 PM. news where the Main Anchor Mike Bush and News Director Mike Shipley suggested where our focus should be on the next 6:00 PM news program. Bryan then handed the script we worked on to Missy, the Head Producer. She made a few changes and then gave us permission to tape the first commercial. It was a neat experience to see how the control room comes together. A lot of buttons light up, and the audio engineer controlled the sound when taping. The Topical shoot only lasted a few minutes, with  Mike Bush giving us one take.


      Bryan and I worked on several more Topicals; he says that the station needs him to do four commercials teasing the news per night. If he doesn't make his deadline then black air shows on the screen, and the station loses a lot of money. He says that it can be a lot of pressure, but it can be really fun. Bryan showed me different editing tricks for putting together a resume package. Later at dinner, Mike Bush and a few other employees told me about their first experiences as  interns. It was very humorous, and they told me that it can be scary working in a professional setting when you're young.



        Overall, my experience has been a unique one. It seems that not every television or radio news internship will be the same. Some will want you to do more office work, while others want you to shadow a certain aspect of the job. In one of my interviews this spring the news producer wanted interns to do a lot of script or news writing. At Fast Track, we were required to do a lot of script writing also. At PBS St. Louis, I worked on a news website doing a lot of interviewing. My Sports bosses Andy Mohler and Rene Knott suggest that a college student should take an internship seriously. They give all the sports interns multiple duties to get a feel for how the workplace is on daily basis. One the newer reporters, Talia Kaplan, suggests that you make sure to come into an internship interview prepared and not to be nervous.  I've enjoyed my experience at Channel 5. It was hard at times, but I got used to the pace.

       I've hoped you enjoyed all my blogs! I'm looking forward to graduating with a Professional Writing Degree this May and moving back to Purdue in January.  I hope that I gave you all insight into some of my experiences this fall.