It's really over? Wow... that went by way too fast.
Last shift and no more blogs and let me tell you, that sounds weird! I'm going to miss J694 because it was a hoot and a half and so were the people.
And Rick, thanks for the waffle party!
Toodle loo eHub.
So this past Wednesday was my second to the last shift.
WOW. It's really almost over.
As usual, things went rather swiftly. I must say I got lucky with my evening producing shift because I've got two people working in the afternoon before me and those two people are always on top of the game.
I'm thinking next week on my last shift I'll bring goodies, like cookies or cupcakes. They'll be festive, you know, for the holiday season.
Yikes! I seriously can't believe I'm almost done. Which means finals are just around the corner.
I should probably go study or work on a paper...
It really is horribly depressing to think that we all (as in the J694 class) will not be together anymore. Out of my four years in college I cannot think of a single class that felt like its own little family.
I’m pretty sure you get the picture that we’re friends outside of the classroom and it probably seems like nothing will change, but that’s not the case. Good ‘ole Sam and Brad will be graduating, leaving the rest of us two family members short.
Sam – I’m not sure you know this, but I learn new words from you every class. Your speeches, rants, whatever you want to call them, are sometimes confusing and sometimes insightful but, I learn new words.
Brad – Please laugh for me one more time before you go. Now, if you haven’t seen Brad in a fit of laughter, you should probably add that to your “Before I Die To-Do List”.
To those who will be sticking around for another lovely semester: I look forward to our crazy nights, dinner dates (that’s you Peteritas) and random group dates (whether those be hamburger night at Cochran’s or dinner at Grandma Quante’s).
Thanks everyone, it's been fun. I give you all my best.
One more thing, perhaps we should arrange a special reunion so that when we're all married and old with kids, or just old, we can reminisce about the good old days of KUJH TV. Who's in?
Phew. In-depth week and let me tell you... it's tough business posting that stuff. Chris did a good job posting the train package and I'm pretty sure he worked on it allllllllllllll afternoon.
I made the suggestion to Rick that each group should post their own in-depth online. I say that because I heard a few, "That should be posted over there!" and "This doesn't look good here!" comments. If each groups posts their own, no prob bob!
All in-depth business aside, it was just another evening in the newsroom. No crying girls or people trying to commit fraud again. No biggie.
Every Monday afternoon, there I sit behind the anchor desk in my grown-up outfit, regurgitating a handful of mediocre quality news pieces. I’m not trying to downgrade our news content, but when I’m regurgitating, it doesn’t articulate what it’s really like to be a part of our crazy team.
Trust me, we really are more interesting than the news makes us appear.So, you get it. There’s tons of good stuff that goes down and only a handful of people ever know about. I say post this secret goodness online, why not? If someone says, “You’ll lose credibility! And you won’t be taken seriously anymore!” I say, “Sorry to break it to ya, but we’re humans and make mistakes, get over it and laugh about it!”
Bloopers and outtakes are fan-freakin-tastic if you ask me. I can always go for a hearty laugh and it’s reassuring to see that “serious anchors” have personalities outside of the teleprompter.
When it comes down to it, all of us that spend most of our days in the newsroom are news nerds and I’ll be the first to admit it. The thing is, we have a lot of fun and most of my “outsider friends” (that is those who are not newsies), just don’t get it. I propose we share our awesomeness with the world. They’ll love it, I promise because we’re a hoot and a half.
Interesting evening in the newsroom. Here's what went down:
Girl walks in: (asks Justin and I) Do either of you know how to use photoshop because I can't figure out how to layer something?
Justin and I: Yes... it depends...
Girl: Well... I'm only taking nine hours this semester and I need 12 to stay on all my insurance stuff so, I'm trying to manipulate (giggles a bit) my schedule (giggles some more) to make it look like I have 12 hours (giggle giggle giggle giggle).
Justin and I: Uh.... yeah.... we don't know how to do that. Sorry.
WAIT A SECOND HERE FRAUDULENT FRANNY... YOU COULD GO TO JAIL FOR THAT BUSINESS AND GET EXPELLED!
People are crazy.
THEN, we had a crier. Yeah, a girl cried. It was awkward. I hate criers, they make me uncomfortable. Cry someplace else, I'm trying to work. I may sound heartless, but Uncle Rick has alway said there is NO CRYING IN THE NEWSROOM! Sorry all you criers, it won't be tolerated.
I’ve always thought that the one thing that tv.ku.edu is missing is interactivity. Sadly, there’s nothing going on within the site itself. We need some action here!
I think it’s time tv.ku.edu hands over its V-card. Action and interactivity would make the site so much better and I think one of the best places to find the site some action is through user provided content. Through citizen journalism, bloggers, vloggers and social networking sites we can probably get a buzz going.
Here’s a few things we can incorporate into the site:
Why stop here? We're obviously on a roll.It’s working with YouTube, so, why stop there? As I've mentioned before, it can't hurt to at least try and if you don't, you'll never know what may have been.
Special note to tv.ku.edu: We just want to share you with the world.
To be honest, there really wasn't much to do that lovely Wednesday evening. Fine with me though because it was Halloween and I was ready to get into my costume and celebrate with the fools of Lawrence!
Actually, I had to leave early so that I could potty train Jackie before we took her out.Once again Laurel and Chris were aware that it was a holiday and I surely did not want to be stuck in the newsroom late, so they did some serious work during the day and I was able to peace out early. Thanks guys!
The copy editor came in again, but I found a few mistakes that he surely didn't. I'm thinking he had ants in his pants and couldn't wait to get out of there.
I was thinking... I get stuck producing on the all the days when surely nobody would want to be there. For example, we have the Wednesday before fall break, I was stuck in the newsroom when I could have been driving down Highway 70 to good 'ole STL. Then there's Halloween, well, I wish I had trick-or-treaters coming in. That would have been fun. Here's the perk: Thanksgiving break I will be home on my couch eating Mama Sue's cookies. HAHA Suckers!
I figured my first video on YouTube would be me doing something completely ridiculous, but seeing me in a suit coat reading bra stories is embarrassing too.
KUJH TV news on YouTube sounds like a good idea, but I’m never sure anything is a good idea until I go through Mama Sue’s Pro/Con checklist. It works with boy problems, school issues and now it’s going to work for me on this matter.
PROS:
- We’ll get more viewers than we did on tv.ku.edu
Sadly, our online viewers at tv.ku.edu consist of the reporters’, producers’ and anchors’ moms. On YouTube, we’re going to get a handful of random viewers and random is fine with me. Even google.com uses YouTube for news (Pick us google!).
- Our wonderful online producers can say, “Yeah, I’ve posted videos to YouTube. Check it out!”
Our YouTube skills are just another perk to our resumes and at this point there’s nothing wrong with that.
- Exposure, exposure, exposure
For all y’all looking to be TV personalities, putting your face and your work out there for the greater world to see is good exposure during the treacherous job hunt.
Sum Up: Putting news pieces to YouTube can generate viewers that we would have never gotten on KUJH TV/tv.ku.edu and it has decent benefits for online producers.
CONS:
- Waste-o-time?
Okay, so, if no one watches then we wasted 10 minutes per week posting videos online? Big whoop. I waste more time watching full house.
- Mean comments
I figure if someone is leaving nasty comments about our news videos, then someone needs to get a life and do something besides sit a computer and comment on KUJH TV videos all day.
Trust in Mama Sue - she knows her stuff.Sum up: No one will watch and we just wasted a miniscule amount of time posting videos and people will say mean things.
Survey says: PROS win.
There’s no harm in giving YouTube a whirl because if anything, it will bring us at least one extra viewer. I’m going to leave you with one more bit of Mama Sue’s advice: “Well Stephanie, it can’t hurt to try and if you don’t, you might be kicking yourself in the ass later on.” I love that lady…
So today I learned a lot. I learned how to do the Soulja Boy dance. It took some serious time and effort, but with the help of my friends, Wiebs, Lexy and Kelly, we managed to make it happen. This is one online producing shift that all of us should be proud of.
Aside from learning the hippest dance ever, producing went well. The editor, Jeff, came in again and he did a real good job with editing the stories. There were only a couple of things I had to go back and change.
Today was the first day working with Brian here, but I didn't get a chance to meet him. Working with someone new will be like starting over, but everyone knows I like meeting new people.
One more thing... Today, I realized that I have come up with a rather systematic way of producing. I really am a creature of habit and my habit seems to be working well. To be honest, I was also wondering the order and process other people use. Just out of curiosity.
I like online producing. I might actually miss it next semester.
Video thanks to Chris Raine who slyly captured us with the 3 o'clock update cam
Even