My Biggest Challenge

This week for our capstone blog our professor asked us to think about a BC class or projected that challenged us the most. I knew from the moment I read the email what that class was for me. It was Titan radio news producing for Broadcast journalism. I never been a good writer or considered myself one. In fact I really don’t like writing. I enjoy creative writing or things like this blog. But when it comes to structure writing I am horrible at it. So this was one aspect I was not looking forward to for Titan radio news. The only nice thing about this style is that it’s short and to the point. No twelve page papers for me.

Producing a news shift the producer is responsible for everything; from gathering the information, conducting phone interviews, writing the stories, and being the talent on the air. I took this class I believe my sophomore year when I was just changing majors so it was all pretty new to me. Taking on this task seemed to me really over whelming. I can honestly say that I dreaded going to my news shift. But just like anything else you learn and get through it

I would get at the radio station almost a full two hours before my shift first new shift. See it takes me forever to write stories, ,mostly because I’m trying to think of what to say and how to say it so I made sure I got their early. Beyond that, I still had to do the news live over the air. That kind of stuff never bothered me but it was how to work the board that I was worried about.
At the time I didn’t have much experience in conducting phone interviews and calling people up. Most of the sound that goes on air comes from the people we call for a story. So this was a new concept for me. I remember my first phone call I made was to police Chief Carmen Piccirillo. I talked to the guy for almost four minutes only to realize after the I forgot to hit record. Sometimes it’s just the little things. Needless to say I never made that mistake again.

As the semester went on I got better at all these different skills. It was a major challenge because I was new to some many elements. But like anything else it only takes time and practice to improve and become comfortable. There are so many skills that a broadcaster needs that can be developed from radio news. You learn to perfect your writing. It teaches you how to do gather sound for your news cast. It enhances your social and communication skills through all the interviews and contacts you make. And the list goes on. Now here I am as one the EP’s for Titan Radio. Never would I have seen that one coming but like most surprise you don’t. I can say I sharpen a lot of my skills from producing news. I think the biggest way it helped me and can help most people is the communication skill needed to gather news stories. It forces you to interact with countless people. And the is the bread and butter for any Broadcaster.