The Interns

I haven't blogged in such a long time because I have been so incredibly busy. I work two jobs, at my internship Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and at the restaurant Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday and Thursday are killer days, where I generally pull 14 hour workdays. I am managing to survive in the big city with its expensive cost of living, mainly becasue I've gained some savviness from the previous summer, and also because I know not to spend money on stupid stuff all the time.

The internship allows me to interact with Broadway stars on a daily basis. Last week, I was mortified, though, when I was speaking with actor Tim Curry (star of "Spamalot") on the phone and I had to ask his name again, because I didn't know who he was. Actually, I wasn't really mortified, because I'm not as familiar with this business as I am others and it's all part of the learning process. When I am at the internship, I take phone calls, set up press tickets for theatre reviewers, clip any publicity about the plays we represent and file them away, run errands to the theatres on Broadway, and do lots of general office work. I don't get star struck easily. I went along on a satellite interview with Pablo Schrieber, younger brother of Liev Schrieber, and we made casual conversation, but I wasn't freaking out or anything. I also work with publications in NYC on a daily basis like The Village Voice, The New York Times, TimeOut NY, Metro Daily, and lots of other small publications. We also work with publications across the country. It's funny to me how quickly I became accustomed to someone on the other line saying, "This is so-and-so from The New York Times." I got to write a pitch last week, and review a script. I am slowly but surely learning.

I use my free time to travel, since it is so easy to do up here because of the close proximity of things. I went to Washington, D.C. two weeks ago, and met up with a KU friend who is interning for Senator Pat Roberts at the U.S. Capital. It's always nice to see a familiar face. I have been traveling to Connecticut to get fresh air every other weekend (I have friends there) and this is the best way for me to relax and get out of the hectic city life that is New York City.

Funny side note: my internship is located two blocks south of the picture on the top of this page (that would be MTV in Times Square).

Posted by ENP at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Considering this is my first post, and we are well into the summer, I'll try to contain myself.

I'm one of six interns for NBC Action News (KSHB41) in KCMO. So far, I'm having a blast (besides the fact that I'm a block from the plaza). My instincts about becoming a producer are right on. My reporting skills are developing, too - I'm just much more production-minded. Hence, I write ALL the time. After the morning meeting, we cruise the wires or go out and shoot VO/VOSOTs until the early afternoon. Then I writewritewritewritewrite for Brooke and Paul (our 5 and 6 p.m. producers). I've had about 20 stories on-air so far - two more tonight. It's like I'm an employee, not an intern.

Today we've been SUPER BUSY with BTK/Dennis Rader stuff. We didn't even have a morning meeting. Everyone is back from vacation and the newsroom is loud and crazy again (last week was SILENT. Almost everyone was away).

I won't lie - the perks of being part of the media are amazing. Did you know most hotels offer media discounts? Just say "I'm with this station." Bam. 30 percent off.

More than anything I'm excited to come back to KU and produce - - I want to apply everything I've learned here to my own work on campus. I'm learning the politics of news, too. The golden rule definitely applies in this business - especially with public officials. For example: we've been good to a police department in the past, so in return they're giving us an exclusive on a HUGE story coming out in the next couple days.

I'd give you the scoop, but then...

Back to "action" for me.

Posted by Whitney Mathews at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've experienced slow news days in the Multimedia Newsroom at school. I've watched producers and reporters twirling around in their chairs, waiting for the police scanner to announce any kind of minor tragedy, just so there'll be a story to cover.

And we thought we had it bad then.

Monday, my first assignment was to go to the old folks' home and take pictures of their antique car show. That was a lot of fun. The obvious typo in one of the cutlines was less fun.

Since then, I've spent the rest of the week playing phone tag with various sources. Apparently everyone who's an authority on anything is on vacation this week. Just for the sake of reporters everywhere, I'd like to make a small request: When you non-reporters out there decide to simultaneously take the week off, please let us know. We like vacations, too, and we don't like being left out and left without anyone to interview all week.

I've been talking to Scott at the Harvey County Extension Office this week a lot. We're phone buddies now. He's their horticulturist, and because his coworker, the agriculturist, is on vacation, he gets to answer all my questions about rainfall, wheat, bugs and whatever other nature-y stuff ends up on my desk. He's the only person who knows anything who's actually in the office most of the time, and that's why he's my favorite source this week. He must have finally found out about the everyone-but-journalists vacation scheme, because he's been out of the office every time I called today.

While I wait for all those return phone calls that should start pouring in any time now, I'm listening to NPR and pondering where my sudden fondness for Marketplace came from.

Posted by Katie Lohrenz at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After three weeks of writing obits and other more glamorous tasks (including creating an all-new Hillsboro-Kansas.com), I get to start the whole process over again at The Hesston Record.

The Record is owned by the same folks who own the Free Press, and Joel thought I should divide my time equally between the two papers. While the process for putting the print product together is the same at both papers, the Record does their web stuff differently (different CMS, different host, less content online since the Record is fee-based instead of free). They've got a smaller staff too, so I suspect I'll have a heavier workload.

I'm a bit nervous, because I don't really know anyone at the Record and I'm completely unfamiliar with Hesston. Right now, the plan is just to get to work without getting lost (thank you, Google Maps).

Posted by Katie Lohrenz at 08:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's E-Media Tidbits from Poynter brought this page, the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Legal Guide for Bloggers to my attention and I thought it might be relevant to what we're trying to do here. What do you think?

Of particular interest is the FAQ on Labor Law. They haven't posted the info yet, but I highly recommend we check back in with them later.

I look forward to hearing more about your adventures in internshipland...

Posted by Staci at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am an intern for the Production Manager at Clear Channel Entertainment's Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. My job consists of everything under the sun, but the most exciting part is producing concerts. In my three weeks here I have met and interacted with several stars, with many more to follow.

I found out about this internship in a very unexpected way. I checked a random email account that I had not checked in about four months. I saw a message in my inbox talking about concession and security positions at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. I didn't want to do that type of work, so I called the head guy to see if they offered internships. He told me he did, but that I had missed the deadline. I said thank you and hung up the phone. I thought for a second and realized that I wasn't going to let it go there, so I called him back and asked if I could set up an interview. He agreed since he had not made his final decision. Long story short, I and three others were chosen out of 20 individuals for the positions.

The four of us will be in charge of many concerts, but my big one is Vans Warped Tour. I am in the process of getting the show going. Fifty bands, seven stages, 55 buses, and we won't even get into how many fans will be there. It is going to be an organized nightmare, but I am looking forward to it more than ever. I am in charge of contacting bands, scheduling meetings, preparing the venue, etc. slong with my buddy, Dewey. We are the production team for the show.

I will let you all know how it goes.

Side note: I will not be bribed for tickets. :) Pictures coming soon.

Posted by Candice at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I started my internship at The Pete Sanders Group, a small PR firm located in Times Square, last Tuesday. I work three days a week and the remaining days I waitress at a cute little restaurant in the Lower East Side called Grilled Cheese NYC. The press firm does publicity for Broadway shows, such as Chicago, Little Women, Forbidden Broadway and several off-Broadway shows. My internship is unpaid, but I do receive a stipend for public transportation and lunch when I am at work. I also get to see any show that Pete Sanders represents. Last week I was fortunate enough to see the off-Broadway preview of a show called "Manuscript" with my internship director, Glenna, and my fellow intern, Rachel. It was a lovely play and had an amazing plot. I am adjusting fine to living in the city, as I did it last year, but there are still things about New York that throw me off - the frequency of homeless people, the lack of vegetation, the "anything goes" attitude. It's an exciting place to be and the summer is off to a great start.

Posted by ENP at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's Friday, and my work experience has taught me that Fridays are either (a) frantic days where you finally do all the things you were supposed to do this week or (b) the most boring of days because you have already completed your To Do list. Even though I'm a master procrastinator, it seems like I fall into the second category most Fridays.

I spent most of the day cleaning out old filing cabinets and then we spent about half an hour trying to figure out why a document wouldn't print. At this point, I'm fantasizing about a future where printers no longer exist.

The only big item on my agenda for today was a meeting with Mike from Power One Media, the company that provides the content management system and hosting for the Free Press website. It's been a while since the site technology has been upgraded, so it was Mike's job to convince Joel, the paper's publisher and my boss, that the $250 upgrade is worth it. I guess it was my job to make sure the technobabble (CSS, RSS, XML, etc.) Mike was rattling off actually meant something.

Joel and I were in his office, and Mike was in his office somewhere far away. We used Microsoft's Live Meeting software on Joel's PowerBook to see Mike's web browser on his computer as he browsed through various client and demo websites to show us the new features we could get in the upgrade. Highlights included increased use of CSS in the templates (translation: better-looking and more modern), powerful new controls for display ads, a new yellow pages section, and some other things I don't remember.

I was mainly interested in getting RSS feeds (translation: with RSS, your computer alerts you when there's new news to be read, instead of having to check the web site manually) set up, and Mike said it could easily be set up. So I'm happy enough.

Joel was more impressed to hear about a program that could convert all our finished Quark documents into XML files that can be uploaded to the site and spare Joel and our editor, Don, from having to manually input each story, although it sounds a bit too automagical to be true.

Posted by Katie Lohrenz at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today is my first day at the Hillsboro Free Press. I don't really have a position here, I'm just the intern. I think I get to do whatever I want, as long as I don't step on anybody's toes and I turn in a couple stories each week.

I'm commuting to Hillsboro three days a week. My mom grew up here, but I haven't spent time here since my grandparents moved to the city when I was in junior high. Hillsboro has a population of a little less than 3,000. My cell phone doesn't get any reception here. When I go to McDonalds to buy coffee (because it's either McDonalds or the gas station for coffee), everyone stares at me like they're trying to figure out who I might be related to or if I'm just passing through. Across the street from the paper, there is a store that is a Radio Shack, video rental store, cell phone dealer, and dry cleaners.

I love this town already.

The Free Press is a small paper in a small town. Today's edition was 24 pages long and included a detailed critique of the past weekend's demolition derby and an article about drivers in a neighboring town being reminded that they really do have to stop at crosswalks. After eight years in business, the Free Press has a circulation of a several thousand, while their competition -- the old, established paper -- has a circulation of a dwindling few hundred.

Today, I pitched a couple story ideas and worked on a couple story assignments. Then I had lunch and chatted with my boss about internet technologies for a while. Now I'm waiting for a demo of QuarkXpress to download and install so I can format my stories and turn them in.

Tomorrow, I think I'll write some obituaries and type up the high school honor roll. It's my understanding that they publish the senior center's menu most weeks too, but for some reason we're not doing that this week.

I love this job.

Posted by Katie Lohrenz at 08:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)