The Sum of All Fears

Hard news is sometimes a hard subject for reporters to cover. Especially when they are expected to interview people who have been deeply affected by tragedies. The three main examples speaker Ned Waugaman gave were Sept. 11, the hurricanes of 2004 and the recent wild fires in California. Reporters must be sensitive when interviewing subjects that have been through a crisis.

The company Waugaman works for is called Arbitron, which is an international media and marketing firm. Waugaman used examples from his company's firm to show the importance of radio in times of crisis.

When Sept. 11 occurred, Americans were left stumped and confused. What seemed like a country that was invincible had been attacked. All TV stations changed from their regular TV shows to the news of the current event.

According to Arbitron's survey, a million people in New York were listening to WINS (a local radio news program) around 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 11.

Mary Manno

The Truth About Jobs and Internships

Since the original internship seminar I was supposed to attend Thursday had been canceled, I attended this one instead.

The whole session was basically a question and answer session where the Yale overachievers got their questions answered about that beloved New York Times internship.

The main point of this session was this:

Internships are important and give non-experienced undergrads the opportunity to get real life experience, which is something employers look for when hiring new employers.

Also, sometimes you need to start small. Getting a paid summer reporter job at a small local paper not only gives you experience, but a paycheck as well. Some of the fellow overachievers missed that point.

Mary Manno

Photography Lighting

I was surprised at myself for only attending one photography session, but I'm not so sure I even learned anything from it. Paul Fetters, a D.C. freelance photographer, has shot for various newspapers like USA Today and has even photographed the godfather himself, Francis Ford Coppola. He started the session with some pictures from his calendar project, which is when he took a new picture everyday and posted it on his website. Some of the shots had very interesting lighting, and I was excited to embark on this great photography adventure. After the slideshow he took pictures of one of the students, using new light each time he shot. He briefly talked about different lighting and ways to create it. The best advice I received from this session was to shoot everyday. It helps not only to build up a portfolio, but to increase knowledge and skill as well.

Mary Manno

P2P: An Artist's Perspective

I was actually really excited to attend this session. Not only was the speaker, Samantha Murphy, a singer/songwriter, but also she has interviewed one of my favorite musicians, Elvis Perkins. Importunely, this session was not printed in the original booklet, which is why only about 8 people showed up. Murphy had a very interesting view on artist and their promotional need.

Murphy has created not only her own podcast, but also a website (SMtvMusic.com) that is a legal alternative to file sharing. This site is made for the "poor" college student to be able to listen to new artist without paying the huge corporate record companies. Basically what she is doing is providing free publicity for bands that she believes are talented enough to be in the public eye.

She had some very good ideas, but I did agree with her on some of her ideas. For instance, her views on record companies are that the larger companies steal from their artist, which they do. A band makes about $2 or maybe a little more off their CD. Larger companies are also more prone to control their artist. I know bands that had to change most of their songs and clothes in order to comply with the label's standards. However, there are record companies who are doing it right. I brought up the point of Saddle Creek Records, a closely-knit record company out of Omaha, NE. Getting a Saddle Creek artist at KNWD is like Christmas for me. The label is mainly artist run and is most likely one of the fairest labels out in today's society.

I think it is good to have someone like Murphy in that industry that is in it to truly benefit the artist and also college students.


Mary Manno

College Broadcasting and the FCC

Talking about rules and regulations may not be the most exciting thing to discuss at 9 a.m., but I figured I should attend this session due to some recent problems at KNWD. FCC commissioner Michael Copps really did not get into specific regulations for radio stations. Instead, he concentrated on the future of radio stations and how it can affect broadcasters. Most people know that you can travel across the country, and hear the same 50 or so songs playing on different radio stations. That is the main reason I stay clear of corporate radio stations and throw in a CD. I can only stand to hear Sean Kingston on needed occasions. Copps related this problem to radio stations owning a lot of other stations. This problem is making all stations generic. Localism is being taken out of the stations. Stations no longer have to prove to the FCC that they are meeting the public interest. The old rules required stations to come in every 3 years, where they would answer many questions to make sure they are serving their purpose as a station. That rule now only requires stations to return a post card sent out by the FCC every eight years.

Mary Manno

Adobe Production Studio

Jason Levine, the Adobe evangelist, had to be the most excited instructor I had seen all day. This man eats, sleeps and breathes Adobe software. He only had time to show us a few things in Adobe Photoshop CS3. His enthusiasm made me excited about the new features that Photoshop CS3 has to offer. Images can now be made into a 3-D model without taking as much time. Objects can be selected without the dreaded magnetic lasso tool taking 30 minutes to trace. We also learned that now video can be edited using Photoshop. The new features reduce time and improve quality of images.

Mary Manno

Can I be a Journalist and a Christian, Too?

I was really excited about my noon session because I was going to attend the independent filmmaking seminar. By the time I got to that room, every seat was taken. I found myself wandering the hall for a different session to sit in.

The one I wandered into happened to be my favorite of the day. Terry Mattingly and Dean Nelson were very interesting and entertaining instructors. They discussed how teachers at Christian colleges can be biased and turn students away from secular journalism jobs. They identified being a journalist as a calling. A really great point they made is how religious people hate journalists, but the people who wrote the Bible were journalistic in a way. The Bible is written by storytellers, and in a way, journalists are storytellers. They tell the stories that get published all over the nation or even just their community.

They also discussed how some of the ethics of Christianity make great journalistic standards. Christians are supposed to treat others as they would want to be treated. Same thing goes for journalists. They should write stories about others as they would want stories about them written -- unbiased.

A great verse they gave us is Proverbs 31:8

"Speak up for those who can not speak for themselves."

Mary Manno

'And You Want Me to Write What?'

This session centered on recommendation letters and tips on how to get teachers to write one for you. A handout was passed out with one side giving examples of two recommendation letters and the other with the top 10 things to remember when looking for a great reference. Some of the tips include providing a job description of the job or internship and giving the adviser a resume and portfolio to jog their memory. We were also taught that the adviser is like "Santa Claus" and is watching a student at all times. Also, the adviser is keener to write a great recommendation letter for a student who is always trying and working hard.

Mary Manno

Intro to Underwriting

In all honesty, this session made me a little sad. One of the instructors talked about how strict they were on their staff. After one excused absence at the station (as in missing their shift without notifying a manager ahead of time) they received a warning. The second time they lost their shift, because 700 students were on a waiting list to fill that spot. I wish somehow students would get that excited about KNWD! I cannot even imagine a waiting list that long! I did take note that deejays were dismissed for missing their shifts, since it can be a problem at our station.

The main thing discussed in this session was how to create an effective media kit to send out to advertisers. The main thing to remember is to keep it simple and client-centered. We also learned about effective times to contact certain businesses in order to make an ad sell.

Mary Manno

Whither Magazines? A Look at the Future

Originally, I was going to attend a seminar about landing an internship. However, it happened to be canceled, and I found myself at a seminar about magazines. With all the convergence going on in journalism, I decided to attend a seminar that deals with something that I do not know that much about--magazines.

Keith Bellows, who works at National Geographic, gave a great seminar about how the magazine industry is not a dying field, just different. He gave us a different way to look at the rise of Internet readers. The magazine world is now a 360-degree field. Reporters are not only being hired to write articles, but to post Web articles and podcast.

I learned a lot from this seminar. I never realized that a magazine has to keep a subscriber 3-4 years in order to start making money off of them. Mr. Bellows made it clear that getting into this field is very competitive, especially for photographers to get work in National Geographic. He gave some great advice for breaking into the field. For example, when you intern, always ask if there is something to do. Motivation shows that company you really want to help and learn. Mr. Bellows said National Geographic has had countless interns who just sit at their desk and wait for work and lack that certain motivation the magazine needs. In the end, they don't get selected for the jobs.

Mary Manno

Rolling Suitcases unite!!!

For some reason, sitting in the airport Wednesday morning made me really nervous. Maybe it was because I was about to conquer (like many airplane trips before) my fear of heights and embrace the unknowingness of the sky. Maybe it was because I was reading "Into the Wild", a book about a free spirit embracing the road for two years, finally starving to death in Alaska. The only thing I did know was that I was early. My mom, being the wonderful person that she is, demanded dropping me off at the airport about 20 minutes till I had to be there.

After defeating the wannabe Airforce 1, also known as the Shreveport jet, I waited anxiously with Dr. Lee, Jim and Lauren to see if we won a seat on the 11:45 plane. Oh, the joyous life of a standby flyer. By some miracle of God, all three of us made it on the plane and into Washington in one piece. Since we have been here it has been an interesting ride. There are a lot of important people walking on the streets (and by important I mean they have a suitcase and are listening to an iPod). The Wall Street posers line the subways, and we knowingly took them down with our rolling suitcases.

Mary Manno