Alex Wiebel

Well Tuesday Nov. 27, 2007 was probably one of the busiest days I've had in my life. But once I made it to the Multimedia Newsroom it was time to get to work.

The 3:00 Update was pretty eventful in its own right. Sam Knowlton did it well, but when I looked back on the Final Cut timeline, it was not him talking. Instead it was that off a national story for the newscast, which was playing by accident.

Other than that and being a hectic day all around, the second to last Newsroom Shift went by pretty quick.

Well, all good things must come to an end. Just like KU Football's 11-game winning streak and William Hung's American Idol reign; the J-694 blogs are no more. In my farewell to the Newsroom I'd like to reminisce on the good times, but I don't want it to sound like a resume either.

After 3 1/2 years, it's time to say goodbye. Photo: Justin O'Neal

The opportunities here at KU are endless and I felt like I took advantage of as many as possible. Working for TBS for 3 days at Arrowhead for Kansas vs. Oklahoma, traveling to the 2006 Big 12 and NCAA Basketball Tournaments, and driving to Austin, Texas for a KU and UT Football game were some highlights. Again, I couldn't have done it without the skills and knowledge I gained from the J-School.

Whether it was shooting post-game press conferences, doing stand-ups, or editing highlights, I got a feel for it all. Both behind-the-scenes and on-air were areas that I contributed on a daily basis. Now, taking a step back I realized how much time and effort was spent on the 2nd floor of the Dole Human Development Center.

However as I leave the Newsroom, I know there will be better days ahead, but I'll never forget where I came from. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
-Alex Wiebel KUJH-TV News

Well, it's Tuesday, November 20th and Thanksgiving is practically upon us. I won't be heading home for the holiday to eat our traditional fried turkey or barbecue in Texas. Instead I'll be heading over to B-rad's in Lenexa for a good-ol' Midwest-style feast. I can't wait.

As for today's production in the Newsroom, I got a great jump start on posting stories to the web. I have a feeling that everyone wants to get started on the break, and the reporters had stories complete in a timely manner.

Wiebs' Prediction for Saturday's Border Showdown:
KU 44
MU 33

Fights: 14
Death toll: 7
MIP's: 59

Today Bryan Wilcox introduced a comments section, new to tv.ku.edu. This new feature allows any visitor to the Web site a chance to comment on a selected story they choose. I would like to say that I was the first to comment on a story, but that is yet to be determined.

I wanted to really check and see if this comment box worked, which it did. Kudos to Bryan for putting this together, and I think this will further benefit content capabilities for tv.ku.edu. And people all across the globe can laugh at my anchor stories and let me know about it.

Sam Knowlton knows what you want, and we're gonna give it to you.
Photo: Sam Knowlton

Gretchen Wieland is wondering where the wacky winner of the week will come from.
Photo: Gretchen Wieland

How about the Wieland's Wacky Winner of the Week segment or the Knowlton Knows Best? I'd watch this quirky stuff, probably comment on it and hang on the edge of my seat if I can see a water-skiing squirrel. We could ask our handful of loyal viewers what they think, so we can better understand what our audience wants. Until then, we'll just satisfy our hunger by watching our mistakes each and every day.

Today's atmosphere in the Newsroom is a little glum to say the least. Everyone in Journalism 693 and 694 are putting the final touches together for the In-Depth projects. We are all feeling the effects of deadline pressures for our stories and multimedia web elements. There really isn't much else to say about that.

As for the newsroom shift, I've come to the conclusion that students want the semester to be over with. After 11 or so weeks of the 2007 Fall semester complete, it seems as though everyone is having a hard time keeping up with assignments. I know it's tough, I feel the same way. The stories for today include: KU Success in Business, Alternative Breaks and a Pharmacist Shortage in Kansas. According to the Kansas Pharmacist Association, there are 7 Kansas counties without any pharmacies. I learned something new today.

All three of these stories I've done to some effect at KU. Last semester in 692 I did a package on how the KU School of Business cranks out many students into the job market, with quite impressive pay salaries. I did a story that didn't air about pharmacy because of faulty equipment. And back in 415 I did a package on Alternative Breaks as they prepared for the Winter Break and its respective sites across the country.

That's my flashback on today's stories and I'm happy to see them being recycled on the newscast.

Comments, discussion boards and polls are all ways to spread involvement with users. However, to generate user provided content on tv.ku.edu there needs to be a way to receive feedback. I look at the addition of putting our videos on YouTube and how it's opened doors for our students. It can only get better.

Cheesy standups (or sitdowns) are now welcome. Send comments and feedback to tv.ku.edu
Photo: Alex Wiebel

If tv.ku.edu can take advantage of having 29,000+ students at its disposal in providing unique/audience-driven story ideas then the sky is the limit. In doing so, it starts with a solid base from which to work from. KUJH-TV on YouTube is a good start and we can only hope that this model can expand into making the KU Broadcasting product more popular.

Forget about the traditional idea of taping the newscast and calling it a day. KUJH-TV evolved into tv.ku.edu with online multimedia elements a few years ago. Now, KUJH-TV is stepping toward the online world again, but this time with YouTube. I've seen the progressions for almost 4 years now, and I have to say that some things are improving.

Seems just like yesterday former students such as Rahul Sharma were here. But now KU(tube) could keep alumni around longer than you think.
Photo: Alex Wiebel

So, what's the goal of putting KUJH-TV on the other tube as well?

1. Strengthen the KUJH-TV brand


2. Create traffic jams at tv.ku.edu


3. Further online content development

In the long run I think this will be beneficial for our overall multimedia product, but I'm still skeptical if this will actually help KUJH-TV or tv.ku.edu. Heaven forbid that we post something on YouTube that will either make us the laughing stock of the online world, infamous; or both.

I'll admit it, I've been slacking on posting the blogs for the online shifts over the last few weeks. However, I remember them all vividly. So here's a recap of what's happened:

October 16, 2007

• A shooting at KU?


• Digging up some dinosaurs

• Welcome to YouTube KUJH-TV News


• Let's carve some pumpkins!

These shifts were pretty interesting, especially for the shooting on Daisy Hill. I had a chance to look up KU crime statistics and found incidents from public urination to stolen bicycles. That was pretty interesting, and I spent a great deal of time researching that.

KUJH-TV hits YouTube. This new task for the afternoon online producer group is quite easy. Even though the quality of video isn't improving, we still find new ways to compete with the Kansan and KJHK. Who knows maybe one day KUJH-TV could famous and synonymous with videos like Boom Goes the Dynamite.

Today's shift is also similar to last week's because of the new videos being posted to YouTube. For the second week I've had the opportunity to post the KUJH-TV material on YouTube and actually enjoy it. I never would have thought that this would work, but so far so good.