It's Been Too Long

Since I've been working on photogging and my website, it's been a while since I've done a dayturn reporting shift. I'm pretty sure it's been about a month. With that said, I feel like my other work at the station is allowing me to become a better reporter. Yesterday I was able to plan out my story and visualize the finished product.

When I first made it to the station at 8 a.m., I knew the story I wanted to do. The night before, the Columbia Board of Education officially cut 33 math and literacy coaches. I knew I wanted to talk to one of the affected former coaches. Even though the writing was on the wall, now it was official.

To get video, I visited summer schools. It was also a fail-safe plan. If I didn't find my ex-coach, I could do a story on the increased summer school numbers.

I spent about an hour making calls, waiting for callbacks, and writing a preliminary script. After the principal from Parkade called me back, I was good to go.

After an interview with Principal Amy Watkins, she let me into Stephanie Maddox's first grade class. As soon as I was done filming, the principal mentioned Mrs. Maddox was a literacy coach. Jackpot! Mrs. Watkins planned this, but I didn't know. Good thing I was paying attention.

I accomplished all of my goals of the day:
- Shoot and use 2 sequences
- Shoot and use a standup
- Find a Compelling Central Character
- Use Twitter (I did twice!)

Here's the finished product:

Balanced Budget Equals Cuts

Same World, Worlds Apart

Whenever talk shifts to my future, someone always asks me "So what do you want to do? T.V. or radio?" If they know me well, they now that I live in two separate worlds of broadcasting.
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Most think of radio and T.V. going hand-in-hand. Mizzou's Broadcast sequence merely separates the two with a slash. But in my experiences, T.V. and radio are worlds apart, and I'm stuck right in the middle.

I'm no double-agent, but at times it does feel like I live two separate lives. Sometimes I'm a T.V. reporter -- telling stories and wearing suits. And any weekend, you can hear me introducing songs, or giving me recent commentary about a reality show. In theory, the businesses are the same. Be interesting enough to keep the audience around, making it through your clients' messages. You need to try to get into your viewers/listeners minds.

The experiences are very different, though. Being a television reporter is very satisfying. The people I've met, the stories I've told, are still memorable -- and I'm barely beginning my career. But being a DJ is so fun, too. Since radio lacks the visual component, you need to be that much better to hold your audience's attention.

It seems as though I'm on a road that will split someday, and I'll be forced to choose one or the other. I'm still searching for a way my two dreams could come together.