BC Capstone & More

2011 BC Capstone Documentary Showcase

2011-11-27T16:52:00.008-05:00

Broadcast Communications Capstone Documentary Showcase
Saturday, Dec. 3

Mueller Theater- McKelvey Campus Center- Westminster College

Presenting the premiere of 14 BC Capstone projects during six documentary screening sessions

9:30-10:15 a.m.
Screening Session #1
Brittany Grego presents “All You Need is Love” & Tiffany Burson-Camara presents “Legal”
--BREAK with refreshments

10:30-11:30 a.m.
Screening Session #2

Marshall Cupelli presents “1988- The Year of the Titan”
Ethan Yeager presents “Inside the Huddle: A Tribute to Coach Terry Verrelli”
Hour Break- opportunity for visitors to grab a quick lunch

12:30-1:30 p.m.
Screening Session #3

Angela Tucker presents “Classroom in the Woods”
Kate Altman presents “Castle in New Castle: The Scottish Rite Cathedral”
David Nicholson “With Healing Comes Hope”
Break with refreshments

2-3:30 p.m.
Screening Session #4

Bradford Arick presents “One Community’s History of Cultural Faith”
Ashley Bishop presents “Four Paws, Two Hearts"
Geoff Klein presents “The Magic of Literacy”

3:30-4:30 p.m.
Screening Session #5

Alyssa Hanna presents “Woman to Woman”
Drew Trifelos presents “Life in Ruins”
Break with refreshments

5:00-6:00 p.m.
Screening Session #6

Matt Pereslucha presents “Let Go and Let God”
Jeffrey Houser presents “Point, Click, Worship”

Westminster grad makes an impact in Idaho

2011-09-24T08:24:00.000-04:00

WOW! FANTASTIC! OAR's Marc Roberge and the crew of Boise's 103.3 KISS FM surprise 2010 Westminster grad Michelle Bistrica (on air she's Michelle Heart). They thanked her and praised her on the air for raising money by running for Leukemia & Lymphonia Society.

LISTEN TO THIS and congrats to Michelle for having an impact for the community and making her mark in Boise.

103.3 KISS FM's Michelle Heart's Surprise Guest by MichelleHeartRadio

Michelle works for Peak Broadcasting. She headed to Idaho immediately after graduating. She is the morning show co-host and mid-day personality for 103.3 and 101.7 KISS FM.

Congratulations, Lee Bieremeyer!

2011-09-01T10:49:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Lee Biermeyer, Class of 2011.
Lee is now part of the WFMJ-TV family in Youngstown where he started in August as a web producer for the newsroom. Management has quickly tapped him for other assignments as well. GREAT JOB, LEE!

Lee most recently completed a series of freelance videos for Westminster showcasing various departments and the role undergraduate research plays in the liberal arts approach to higher education.

I enjoyed working with Lee during his years at Westminster where he quickly moved from the role for student to student leader and mentor. He has an incredible work ethic and is an excellent model for young media professionals.

Video by Lee Biermeyer

The BC Capstone DOCUMENTARY SHOWCASE 2010

2010-11-11T07:44:00.001-05:00

The Broadcast Communications Capstone Documentary Showcase

Tues/Nov 16

Two sessions featuring seven digital short documentaries
Mueller Theater, MCC

5:30-6:30...Session I presentations are: Titan Glory: How One Man Changed a Program by Jonathan McAfoos; Scenes from an Italian Restaurant: An In-Depth Look at Ladies of the Dukes in New Castle by Lee Biermeyer; and Life on the Road: The Culture of Motocross by Mike Hazlett.

6:30-7:00 INTERMISSION with REFRESHMENTS

7:00-8:00...Session II presentations are: Tradition of Coaching Excellence: The Story of Lindy Lauro by Adam Plyler; The Real Work: The Bahamas by Kayla Zoller; A Team by the Bay: The Erie Seawolves by Robert Maleski; and Taylor Made by Corey Emanuele.

The program is free and open to the public. It is scheduled in two one-hour sessions with an intermission and refreshments at 6:30 p.m.

Titan Terror Project Winners Revealed

2010-10-31T11:34:00.000-04:00

October 31, 2010

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.-- More than 125 students, staff and faculty packed Mueller Theater at Westminster College for the first Titan Terror Project Showcase on Wednesday. The standing room only crowd witnessed the top prize going to Broadcast Communications major Alyssa Hanna and her minimovie Independent. Media Art professor Kurt Roscoe and his family received the runner-up prize for a project entitled Red Light.

Audio Visual Services Director Gary Swanson was surprised and pleased by the crowd that turned out for the showcase. AV Services co-sponsored the minimovie competition with Titan Radio and WCN.

"We had an idea that we'd have a good turnout, but never expected that we'd fill the place beyond capacity," Swanson said. "I don't think we even had any standing room left. People were all over the floor and aisles."

Hanna entered the project because she is a student in Brad Weaver's Video Production class (BC 251). Entering the Titan Terror Project was a class assignment. The instructor also made it so the only way a student could get an A on the project was to win the Titan Terror Project.

"I didn't think I would actually win," Hanna reacted. "I knew I would do well enough to make it into the top ten and maybe even 5, but I didn't think I would actually win."

The audience also voted electronically making Hanna's film the fan favorite. Her instructor also informed her she will recieve the A for the assignment.

"I was obviously worried about the grade portion, as that constitutes for a large enough percentage of our final grade, and I take my grades very seriously. I was so worried about the audience award! I think I wanted that more than the other one once I heard that was another prize."

Meanwhile, first-year student Joe Ligo says he was pleased with the audience reaction to his movie, Howard the Haunter.

Ligo entered the competition on his own and his film was featured as one of the top entries. He's a Broadcast Comm major and knows he'll be required to participate when he takes Video Production next year.

"My movie was more like a movie trailer," Ligo explained. "Perhaps I'll shoot for a more short-film like format next time."

Ligo also had high praise for the winners. His movie was the second fan favorite, but he has nothing but congratulations for Hanna.

"Independent was very clever and had a lot of fun people starring in it. Red Light was very clever and suspenseful, and very well edited."

The Titan Terror Project will return in 2011. Organizers say they'll also give competitors three minutes to tell their story instead of the two-minute time limit in this year's event.

"The Titan Terror project has been fantastic, especially in how it connects with our viral video society," Gary Swanson added. "I don't think I've seen so much buzz about something in my 20 years here at Westminster. We definitely want to make this an annual event, possibly opening it up to the community as well."

Watch the Titan Terror Project grand prize winner, INDEPENDENT.

Independent by: Team Alyssa from WCN 24/7 on Vimeo.

Watch the Titan Terror Project runner-up, Red Light.

Red Light by: r2 Independent Films from WCN 24/7 on Vimeo.

Click here to check out all the entries online.

Field trip helps opens the doors for interviews

2010-10-31T11:32:00.000-04:00

October 30, 2010

PITTSBURGH-- When English major Matt Bower left the Creative Careers Seminar held at Carnegie Mellow University on Friday, he was heading back to his afternoon classes at Westminster with something most college seniors wish they had, a internship interview. He'll be interviewing with a computer game design firm.

"I got an interview with a game designer," Bower said. "It's a fledgling industry in Pittsburgh and it's a really cool opportunity."

He joined some 30 other Westminster students who traveled to Pittsburgh for the annual event in P where professionals from a number of creative fields come together to speak with students about resumes, portfolios, internships and career advice. Bower attended the Interactive Media panel that included representatives from Schell Games, General Dynamics C4 Systems, Pikimai.com and Etectera Edutainment.

Junior Broadcast Communications major Drew Trifelos also walked away with the door open for an internship interview opportunity with the Steelers Sports Network. This is the second year Trifelos has attended the Creative Careers Seminar. Trifelos explained he say people with resumes and business cards last year approaching panelists and asking about internships and interviews. He took that idea and ran with it as he returned to the CMU campus.

"This year I had resumes and I was prepared to go up and ask the panelists about internships," Trifelos said. "I handed out two of my resumes and they asked me to also e-mail electronic versions.

Trifelos talked David Zema, FUSE-TV, and Sandy Romah, host and producer with the Steelers Television Network. Trifelos is very excited as he has an interview for an internship confirmed with one of them and he says attending this seminar is a huge networking opportunity.

"I met a lot of interesting people including some Westminster graduates in public relations and broadcasting fields," Junior PR major Pat Sylves said. "They told me about some possible internship. I made a lot of contacts. "

The Pittsburgh Arts Employment Partnership (PAEP) a part of a collaboration of 13 local colleges and Universities sponsor the Creative Careers Seminar, which includes Westminster College. Students attending the event pre-register and pay a $5 fee. Some of the other panel sessions included Advertising & Marketing, Design & Multimedia, Arts Management, Film and Broadcast Media, Independent Artists and Performing Art.

Westminster's Career Center organizes a convoy for interested students. Many of those were from Broadcast Communications because instructors encourage them to attend and require the BC Capstone students to participate.

Sophomore BC student Hannah Paczkowski appreciated the Film and Television panel session she attended. She learned she's doing exactly what she needs to to be on track with her resume in broadcast news.

"I'm on the right track on where I want to go with my career," Paczkowski said. "I know where I should be going in the next few years when it comes to internships."

Probably the most common advice given out by the professionals populating the panels was about polishing resumes for specific employers. Pittsburgh Business Times Advertising Director Kimberly Wohlford stressed that people right out of college must make sure the customize a resume for a particular job and company rather than just sending out a generic one. She also warned you should always spend time and editing a resume before you send it.

"It could be a really good resume that shows off some wonderful things you've done, but if there's a typo then I pitch it," Wohford said. "This person wasn't responsible and careful enough and detailed oriented enough to check.

Advice was a big part of what panelists had to offer and for those few with initiative like Matt Bower, they walked away with more than just insight into resume building and networking. He impressed a potential employer he is more than a soon-to-be college graduate.

"This is a great opportunity to network and meet people," Bowers said. "You get to talk to people in a close-knit environment and I got a job interview."

Westminster's Career Center's staff will soon begin coordinating with the PAEP for next year's event. They will coordinate recruitment campaign sometime while remaining hopeful that as many Westminster students will take advantage of it.

More photos from the 2010 Creative Careers Seminar

PCN shines election spotlight on campus

2010-10-30T11:35:00.000-04:00

October 30, 2010

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa-- The Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) brought its "On the Road" election coverage to Westminster on Saturday. The College hosted PCN's "On the Road" election coverage of the Fourth Congressional District race. The statewide network telecast live for an hour Saturday afternoon in the Berlin Lounge to gauge reaction during the last days before Election Day.

The network even hired one Westminster student to serve as a freelancer. Senior Broadcast Comm major Lee Bieremeyer gained experience behind the scenes of the telecast with the television crews

The visit to Westminster focuses on the Fourth Congressional District election between incumbent Congressman Jason Alltmire (D) and challenger Keith Rothfus (R). Rothfus participated in the event while Altmire did not accept the invitation.

Faculty members James Rhoads, Ed Cohen and Dwight Castro joined former 4th Congressional District Representative Melissa Hart (R) on he panel with Rothfus.

Joe Ligo, Anthony Tammaro, Mariah Ellis, and Jenna Meighen were among the Westminster student panelists.

PCN officials say one of the reason's the picked Westminster is the ongoing working relationship the cable network has with the Westminster Cable Network (WCN). Each year PCN picks up one of WCN's high school football broadcasts to feature as one of its statewide high school games of the week.

"We were looking at schools in the Fourth Congressional District that had political science departments," Michelle Robinson explained. "I saw Westminster and I knew we had worked with the school's TV crews in the past. We made some calls and it was a go."

Watch our sideshow!

Faculty and Staff Attended Mobile Pedagogy Seminar

2010-10-28T11:39:00.003-04:00

October 28, 2010

Andy Borts, Westminster College instructional media technician; Dr. Keith Corso, Westminster assistant professor of communication studies; and Brad Weaver, Westminster lecturer of broadcast communications, attended "The New Mobile Pedagogy" seminar Oct. 27 in Mars, Pennsylvania.

The seminar focused on the use of mobile technology for learning as well as accessibility solutions in classrooms and included extensive discussion about applying the mobility of technology to teaching and learning in higher education. More than 40 participants represented colleges and universities from western and northern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

"The presentation offered a fantastic exploration of the question of class attendance based on making content available online," Borts said. "If faculty post a variety of content online, the lesson plan could include more ways to create experiential learning based on that content. The students could get the content early and understand it better when the lesson plan is geared toward meaning-making."

"More and more higher education instructors are realizing that there's more to teaching than lecturing for an hour at a time," Corso said. "The mobile technology revolution is opening doors that allow instructors to utilize classroom time in ways that permit students to analyze and apply what they learn instead of just passively receiving content."

"This seminar allowed me to explore how I can adapt the mobility of technology as I work with my students in broadcasting and journalism," Weaver said. "Using smart phones, laptops, digital cameras, and other technologies are great tools for working with students, who can help shape what they learn and how they make sense of it and use it."

Borts is a 2010 Westminster graduate who joined the staff in July.

Corso, a 1984 Westminster graduate who joined the faculty in 2004, earned a master's degree from the University of Akron and Ph.D. from Capella University.

Weaver, who has been with Westminster since 2000, earned an undergraduate degree from Alderson-Broaddus College and master's from the University of Kansas.

Contact Weaver at (724) 946-7238 or e-mail weaverbl@westminster.edu for additional information.

Autumn Views: One-room school house along the way

2010-10-25T11:37:00.000-04:00

October 25, 2010

WILMINGTON TOWNSHIP (Mercer County), Pa.-- Amish farms and homes line the roads of Wilmington Township in Mercer County where an afternoon drive reveals brightly lit open fields and patches of canopied autumn leaves covering the roadway like a forgotten covered bridge. Driving along Leesburg Road offers views of one room Amish schools. The old ways of the Amish and the modern tractors of the "English" farmers share the road as you pass buggies and large farming tractors heading to fields and farms.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau the 13 miles of the township have 1,105 residents.

City-Data.com reports that more than a third of the people living in Wilmington Township share a German ancestry.

Most common first ancestries reported in Wilmington township (CityData.com):

* German (34.5%)
* Irish (10.1%)
* Scotch-Irish (9.4%)
* English (8.1%)
* Italian (8.1%)
* Pennsylvania German (5.7%)
* United States or American (4.8%)

Enjoy some of the view along the roads running the Lawrence and Mercer county line as WCN 24/7 documents the autumn views in this rural community.

Blown Away

2010-10-23T11:45:00.001-04:00

October 23, 2010

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.-- Faded autumn colors fall to the grounds of Westminster creating a new project for Physical Plant crews.

Workers use industrial leaf blowers to gather up the leaves before using rakes.

They then deposit the leaves along borough streets for municipal crews to pick up and haul away.

Random Views of October Near or Around Campus

2010-10-16T14:40:00.000-04:00

The Campus Orange Tree- It's only temporary

2010-10-15T11:38:00.000-04:00

October 15, 2010

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.-- One natural centerpiece on the Westminster College campus transformed this October standing out against the steel and glass of the McKelvey Campus Center. A lone Sugar Maple tree, also known as Acer saccharum Marshall, has turned into an orange tree.

Officials at the Physical Plant Office say the 40-foot tree is about 30 years old. It's proximity to the Campus Center makes it a popular place for students to sit and read or relax.

First Frost of the Season

2010-10-13T11:48:00.000-04:00

October 13, 2010

PLAIN GROVE TOWNSHIP, Pa.-- Early morning risers discovered frost covered windshields on Wednesday morning. Walking along a road side covered with fallen leaves revealed an extra crunchy sound. Dozens of leaves from nearby Maples and Oaks shimmered with what appeared to be a sugar glaze coating thanks to Jack Frost.

The first significant frost of the season ushers in an urgency to the brilliant foliage painting the Lawrence County countryside.

The colorful scenery will soon disappear as will the memory of this first frosty morning of October 2010.

Enjoy our Autumn Views along Reese and Old Ash roads in Plain Grove Township and on Potter Run Road in Washington Township.

Stacks of Stalks

2010-10-12T11:46:00.000-04:00

October 12, 2010

WILMINGTON TOWNSHIP, Pa.--Each autumn in Lawrence and Mercer counties means the mulching and plowing under of corn stalks on most farms, but on the Amish farms in the area you'll find those corn stalks piled neatly into what locals call corn stalk teepees.

Johnston says where most farmers discard the old stalks, the Amish see an opportunity to recycle and turn a profit.

"I normally just mow mine down," Johnston told WCN. " But the Amish stack their stalks into the what you call teepee shape to dry out the stalks. It prevents mold and mice from destroying the stalks. They sell the dried stalks as decorations."

Check out our slide show and enjoy the brilliant colors a journey along Wagner and Allen roads in Wilmington Township in Lawrence County.

Capstone Students Blog On This!!!

2010-09-16T17:06:00.000-04:00

Lee Biermeyer,
The BC Conquerer

BC Capstone student Lee Biermeyer took the plunge with producing THE COUNTY LINE this week. However, Lee's role did not end there. He also directed the show and is serving as the show's executive producer this semester.

But wait! Lee even found time to produce a TCL friendly package based on his documentary, The Ladies of the Duke. The TV feature piece Lee put together for TCL about the local restuarant gave us a nice sample of what he'll be serving up with his documentary in November.

BC 602 Blog Prompt for the Sept. 19 Deadline!!!

Tw0 Parts

Part One: Introduce us to your off-campus expert. Provide a brief professional bio and summarize the person's expertise. Briefly explain why you selected this person and how they can help you in your project. Please also identify how this person can offer you constructive criticism through your production and post-production process. Give a few examples of input they have given you and what you have done with the feedback.
Part Two: Give us an overview of the production process so far in your project. What have you shot? Where have you gone? Have you logged your video? Be specific as you discuss your video and audio and analyze it with a critical eye. What has gone wrong? What has gone right? How will you address any problems? Will you re-shoot? Finally, offer us a summary of your plans for the next few weeks. Be specific when offering insight into when you will be completing a script and rough edit.

BC Students Freelance VIDEO stories for local newspaper

2010-09-15T11:43:00.000-04:00

September 15, 2010

Westminster College students in the spring semester "Broadcast Journalism" course experienced the challenges and rewards of freelance video production.

The junior broadcast communications majors were in a class taught by Bradley Weaver, Westminster lecturer of broadcast communications. "This exercise gave students an opportunity to pitch a story and then deliver it to meet the expectations and promises negotiated with the editor," Weaver explained.

Students met with Tim Kolodziej, editor of the New Castle News, with proposals for video essays they researched, shot, produced, and submitted as freelancers for the paper's online edition. Their payment was 10% of their grade, if the video was accepted by the newspaper. No points were given if the video was rejected.

"That's how freelance journalists make it," Weaver said. "Payday only comes when someone buys your work. This project forced students to tap into their skills as journalists and their skills in presenting and selling their work to an employer."

Six of the nine videos were accepted by the New Castle News.

"We are planning several stories to coincide with the videos we've received from the Westminster students," Kolodziej said. "Our summer intern will review each video and build a more in-depth story by visiting the sites and interviewing the subjects further."

Weaver and Kolodziej have partnered on other projects-most notably, the music on the New Castle News' website during the holiday season and sharing news clips and videos from Westminster's The County Line show-but this is the first classroom assignment they have undertaken cooperatively.

"I enjoyed meeting with Brad and the students back in April," Kolodziej said. "I was impressed by their passion for their subjects and their confidence in pitching ideas. I like Brad's energy and his students are well-prepared for their tasks."

Coming soon...new BC Capstone bloggers

2010-09-02T13:39:00.004-04:00

This entry is directed at all new BC Capstone bloggers. It's time to set up your blog, develop your blog persona and start posting.

So what's this blog thing all about?
It's a place for you to reflect and communicate with me and each other (AND THE WORLD) on what you're doing with your documentary. Your BC weblog is also where you will explore what you want to do with a career while also reflecting on your experience at Westminster College.

What should you blog about?
Each week I will prompt you to write reflectively or professionally about a topic or aspect of your documentary, your future plans or some aspect of your college life.

You are encouraged to go beyond the required blog entries. Discuss current events in electronic media or offer your own polished commentary on the industry to demosntrate you're plugged in to the business and issues of electronic media.

I also encourage you to post links to job resources that may assist you in your future efforts.

Finally, keep your capstone blog PROFESSIONAL and on task. It is about your capstone and broadcasting. I encourage you to review the blogs of your classmates as well and engage in commenting with constructive feedback. However, keep personal matters to a private or separate blog.

BC Students Freelance VIDEO stories for local newspaper

2010-08-30T01:35:00.000-04:00

The TItan Terror Project

2010-08-19T16:39:00.002-04:00

This fall, the BC 251 mini-movie project goes campus-wide. It's not just for those enrolled in video production this semester.

THE TITAN TERROR PROJECT- Presented by AV Services, Titan Radio & WCN 24/7.

Titan Radio shares spotlight with Stanford & Brown universities

2010-08-06T11:11:00.002-04:00

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.-- When The Princeton Review's annual survey ranks Titan Radio among the best campus radio stations in the country, what other schools share the list with Westminster. Here's a rundown of this year's top 20 stations:

Princeton Review's Most Popular College Radio Stations-2011 Edition

1. DePauw University ...WGRE 91.5 FM, Greencastle, IN

2. Ithaca College ...WICB 91.7 FM, Ithaca, NY

3. Emerson College ...WERS 88.9FM, Boston, MA

4. St. Bonaventure University ...WSBU-88.3 FM, St. Bonaventure, NY

5. Brown University ...BSR 88.1 FM, Providence, RI

6. Stanford University ...KZSU 90.1 FM, Stanford, CA

7. Knox College ...WVKC 90.7 FM, Galesburg, IL

8. Howard University ...WHUR 96.3 FM, Washington D.C.

9. University of Puget Sound ...KUPS 90.1 FM Tacoma, WA

10. Carleton College ...KRLX 88.1 FM, Northfield, MN

11. Guilford College ...WQFS 90.9 FM, Greensboro, NC

12. Alfred University ...WALF 89.7 FM, Alfred, NY

13. Siena College ...WVCR 88.3 FM, Loudonville, NY

14. Swarthmore College ...WSRN 91.5 FM, Swarthmore, PA

15. Reed College ...KRRC 97.9 FM, Portland, OR

16. Seton Hall University ...WSOU 89.5 FM, South Orange, NJ

17. Whitman College ...KWCW 90.5 FM, Walla Walla, WA

18. Sacred Heart University ...WHRT-FM, Fairfield, CT

19. Westminster College ...TITAN RADIO- WWNW 88.9 FM, New Wilmington, PA

20. Manhattanville College ...WMVL 88.1 FM, Purchase, NY

Only 2,500 four-year colleges in the country make it into The Princeton Review's annual guidebook "The Best 373 Colleges." The 2011 edition includes detailed profiles of the colleges with scores in eight categories, plus top-20 rankings in 62 categories based on The Princeton Review's surveys of students at each college.

The lists featured in the "Best 373 Colleges" are based on The Princeton Review's survey of 122,000 students, about 325 per campus on average. The 80-question survey asked students to rate their institutions on a number of topics and report on their campus experiences.

Broadcast Journalism for a Newspaper? Students freelance for local online newspaper

2010-07-29T10:36:00.004-04:00

July 29, 2010 (story courtesy the Westminster College Communications Office)

NEW CASTLE, Pa.-- Westminster College students in the spring semester "Broadcast Journalism" course experienced the challenges and rewards of freelance video production.

The junior broadcast communications majors were in a class taught by Bradley Weaver, Westminster lecturer of broadcast communications. "This exercise gave students an opportunity to pitch a story and then deliver it to meet the expectations and promises negotiated with the editor," Weaver explained.

Students met with Tim Kolodziej, editor of the New Castle News, with proposals for video essays they researched, shot, produced, and submitted as freelancers for the paper's online edition. Their payment was 10% of their grade, if the video was accepted by the newspaper. No points were given if the video was rejected.

"That's how freelance journalists make it," Weaver said. "Payday only comes when someone buys your work. This project forced students to tap into their skills as journalists and their skills in presenting and selling their work to an employer."

Six of the nine videos were accepted by the New Castle News.

"We are planning several stories to coincide with the videos we've received from the Westminster students," Kolodziej said. "Our summer intern will review each video and build a more in-depth story by visiting the sites and interviewing the subjects further."

Weaver and Kolodziej have partnered on other projects-most notably, the music on the New Castle News' website during the holiday season and sharing news clips and videos from Westminster's The County Line show-but this is the first classroom assignment they have undertaken cooperatively.

"I enjoyed meeting with Brad and the students back in April," Kolodziej said. "I was impressed by their passion for their subjects and their confidence in pitching ideas. I like Brad's energy and his students are well-prepared for their tasks."

Houston, PA
Brittany Grego, a junior broadcast communications major, is a daughter of Timothy and Kimberly Grego and a graduate of Chartiers-Houston High School. Her video essay, "Diversify the Farm with Goats," can be viewed by clicking here. "My topic focused on goat farming and why people raise them. I loved this project! I learned how to make the topic interesting and entertaining through writing and how to bring out more natural sound of the goats. I loved going out, meeting my subjects, interviewing them, learning about their lives, and taking everything I learned to inform and entertain the public. I felt like a real reporter going out on the scene and getting that field experience that will greatly benefit me."

New Castle, PA
Katelyn Altman, a junior broadcast communications major, is a daughter of Weston and Laurie Altman and a graduate of Mohawk Area High School. Her video essay, "Golf Car Supply in New Castle," can be viewed by clicking here.

New Kensington, PA
Bradford Arick, a junior broadcast communications major, is a son of Scott and Janice Arick and a graduate of Kiski Area High School. His video essay, "Family History Detective Work at the New Castle Library," can be viewed by clicking here.

Pittsburgh, PA
Ashley Bishop, a junior broadcast communications major, is a daughter of Robert and Nancy Bishop and a graduate of Baldwin High School. Her video essay, "How Do You Say Volant?," can be viewed by clicking here. The video offers a brief history of the Lawrence County village that is nearly 200 years old. It begins and ends with trying to discover the correct pronunciation of the town's name. Volant resident and unofficial historian Betty Steve is the expert source.

Tionesta, PA
Angela Tucker, a junior broadcast communications major, is a daughter of Mary Tucker and the late John Tucker and a graduate of West Forest High School. Her video essay, "Bingo Night at the Scottish Rite Cathedral," can be viewed by clicking here.

Newark, OH
Drew Trifelos, a junior broadcast communications major, is a son of James and Melanie Trifelos and a graduate of Granville Christian Academy. His video essay, "Bluebird Farmers," can be viewed by clicking here. Blanche and Richard Kind have helped bring the bluebird back to their community by building and maintaining dozens of bluebird houses on their Grassy Crest Dairy Farm in Plain Grove Township. For more than a decade they have observed and recorded the bluebird activity, including how many nests have been built and the number of eggs hatched. "It was definitely a good project, as it was different than what we had been used to. Having it worth 10% of my grade didn't seem too bad until it was made known that we didn't get that if the video essay wasn't used. That kind of put me on edge as I did not know if my work would be good enough. What I took away from the assignment is knowing what can be expected from reporters, not only interviews and multiple shots, but also being able to put it all together so that it flows-which is not as easy as I had thought previously."

Scanning the Flickr-sphere

2010-07-05T23:04:00.001-04:00

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Dana's documentary draws more attention

2010-06-03T14:25:00.004-04:00

Westminster graduate from Elizabeth produces film that wows British

By Michael Jones
FOR THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 3, 2010

Dana Kerkentzes of Elizabeth Borough wasn't quite sure what would happen when she focused her video camera on a local children's production troupe for her college senior project.

What Kerkentzes found was an inspiring story that landed her 15-minute documentary, "Another Journey to Oz," in a British film festival.

The recent Westminster College graduate spent last summer following the Petite Players as they prepared an offbeat play of "The Wizard of Oz" at the Grand Theater in Elizabeth. The fact that she grew up just a few minutes away from where the group performed made the film a bit more personal.

"I wondered what these kids did and what it was like," said Kerkentzes, a 2006 graduate of East Allegheny High School. "I thought this would be a great opportunity to tell the story about kids doing something they love."

ABC sees future & cost savings with one-man bands

2010-03-02T09:03:00.002-05:00

NETWORK going to the VJ model...

FROM THE LA TIMES

ABC News sees a digital future

By Matea Gold

But the network faces a delicate balancing act: the immediacy and cost-savings of such

'backpack' reports versus technical, ethical, editorial and quality issues.

Reporting from New York - Dan Harris, an anchor and correspondent for ABC News, has a firsthand grasp of how digital journalism could transform the future of network news.

Working without a camera operator or sound technician, he and his producer, Almin Karamehmedovic, have used hand-held digital cameras to track American sex predators in Cambodia, sneak up on silverback gorillas in the Central African Republic and document child exorcisms in Congo.

"There's never been once when I missed the bigger crew," said Harris, who lugs equipment and mikes-up interview subjects himself, much as he did when he started as a local reporter in Bangor, Maine. "The level of intimacy you can achieve so far surpasses what you can get with a big team, it's beyond compare."

But even digital journalism acolytes such as Harris caution that the pared-down approach has its limitations.

When he was covering the recent earthquake in Haiti, "I couldn't do some basic journalism because I needed to worry about tech stuff," he said.

"There are enormous benefits, but there are also real concerns that we have to do this wisely."

That's the balance ABC News is wrestling with as it cuts 25% of its 1,400-person staff and halves its ranks of bureau correspondents, replacing them with two dozen digital journalists.

Network executives say smaller cameras and laptop editing software offer them a lifeline as they struggle to contain costs. Instead of relying on different people to produce, report, shoot and edit stories, one or two people with the right equipment can handle those tasks.

In dramatically overhauling its newsroom structure, ABC offers a stark illustration of how the economic squeeze is remaking traditional media organizations and what viewers see on the news. Stories shot with hand-held digital cameras often have a personal, rough-hewn quality familiar to a generation raised on amateur Web videos, and can lack the polished production values that mark network news.

Some veteran broadcasters are skeptical that digital journalists, burdened by so many duties, can effectively cover a story.

While it may save money, "what it is going to do in the process is simply cut down on an individual's ability to tell the story properly and well," said Ronald Steinman, executive editor of the Digital Journalist, a magazine about visual journalism, who spent four decades producing news for NBC and ABC.

That sentiment is shared by many ABC staffers, who declined to be quoted by name for fear of losing their jobs. They fret that the expectations being put on digital journalists are unrealistic.

ABC News President David Westin said the network will still cover the majority of stories with a producer, correspondent, camera operator and sound engineer that make up the traditional four-person crew, particularly newsmaker interviews with politicians and celebrities. But he argued that digital journalism actually gives reporters more control over their stories.

"This is a way to maintain or enhance our editorial footprint and get to the stories that are really important, and in some cases, do it in a more compelling way," he said. "In my heart of hearts, this is really about the journalism, not the money."

Digital journalism is common at local news stations, which expect their limited staffs to multitask. But in recent years, it has also been embraced at the network level.

"A good three years ago, we were like, 'This is the future,' " said Alexandra Wallace, senior vice president of NBC News, who estimates that 20% of the network's on-air stories are digitally produced. "There are huge upsides that have nothing to do with cost."

ABC plans to deploy its digital journalists in two-person teams, but some correspondents function as "one-man bands," such as CBS' Mandy Clark, who just spent two weeks embedded with the Marines in Afghanistan producing her own pieces. CNN has four such reporters working around the country, and Fox News uses solitary reporter-producers in remote places such as Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Kevin Sites, a former network producer who was one of the first "backpack journalists," said he got the idea while covering the war in Kosovo for NBC. "I remember having to move almost a semi full of equipment into a war zone," said Sites, currently a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. "We were so top heavy."

READ MORE

Back to the Future-- Former BC 251 students return

2009-11-10T22:06:00.002-05:00

Westminster grads Jon Joy (2003) and Chris Norris (2008) visited campus on Wednesday as guest judges for the BC 251/Video Production Mini-Movie Showcase. They both were former students in BC 251 and judged the group projects at this year's event. Check out some of their feedback and advice about playing with Flip Video cameras and doing mini-movie projects.

Rubbing elbows with creative types could lead to internships & jobs

2009-11-07T20:26:00.000-05:00

November 6, 2009

PITTSBURGH, Pa.- Sixteen Westminster students traveled to CMU in Pittsburgh on Friday for a glimpse into their futures as they participated in the Creative Arts Career Seminar.

Organizers presented a variety of panels made up of experts ranging from filmmakers and broadcasters to poets and publishers to actors and musicians.

Each student picked two panels out of eight to attend. Those panels featured professionals discussing their backgrounds, internships and the future of careers in their fields.

"Wander and explore until you find something you really like that feeds your creativity and don't be afraid to take risk," Deborah Acklin, WQED Multimedia COO, said during the seminaor's keynote address. "I never looked for a job, they seemed to find me and I took chances on what I thought would make me happy."

The seminar also included a networking session where students rubbed elbows with panelists and had a chance to collect business cards.

Westminster Broadcast Communications major Lori Wise met Modcloth.com's Molly Prosser. Prosser is the Lead Eidtor/Writing Team Coordinator for the company. Modcloth is an online Pittsburgh-based fashion retailer specializing in vintage, vintage-inspired and indie clothing as well as blogs on fashion, art and music.

"We're definitely growing despite the economy and we're using social networking media to connect and we're looking to hire good writers who can work in new media," Prosser said. "I need people who can write for the web as well as Tweet, Facebook and be creatie with content for our products and for communicating with our visitors."

Wise happened to be wearing a shirt she purchased from the company.

"I like fashion and I like to write," Wise said. "It's also interesting to find out from Molly Prosser that she wants to read someone's blog as she considers who she hires."

Prosser says she looks for employees who can write in various formats and she's impressed to hear some Westminster students, like Lori Wise, maintain blogs and video blogs.

"Anyone who sends me a resume and has a blog link gets my interest as that's what we're about. The whole blogging and social networking for marketing is what we're doing."

Wise and other Broadcast Comm students maintain weblogs as part of their capstone projects.

The Westminster delegation to the Creative Careers Seminar was organized by the Career Center. Career Center Assistant Director Kati Edminston says the chance to network and ask questions from all these experts is extremely valuable when looking for internships and jobs.

"Knowing someone really helps you get a foot in the door," Edminston said."We're very pleased with the turnout we had from our students and it looks like they will take a lot away from this experience."

2009-11-04T16:19:00.004-05:00

Vote for your favorite BC 251 INDIVIDUAL Mini-Movie project.

C lick here to watch & vote!!!

BC 251 Mini-Movie Showcase- GROUP PROJECTS

2009-11-04T16:18:00.001-05:00

ALWAYS ROLL!!! ON EVERYTHING!!! PROTECT YOURSELF!

2009-10-16T16:11:00.001-04:00

Anchors running their own prompters? Hmmm...we do that at the college station...and always did it at small market stations.

2009-10-15T08:33:00.002-04:00

WTTG-TV: anchors working teleprompters
from
http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/17760.html

The Washington Post reported another sign of the times in local TV news: “The day's news may soon rest in the hands -- and quite possibly on the feet -- of newscasters at [News Corp.’s] WTTG, Channel 5, in Washington.”

In a bid to save money, the station is planning to reassign the technicians who operate the prompters that feed scripted news copy to the anchors while they're on the air. Instead, the station wants its anchors to do the job themselves.

WTTG, Fox 5, intends to train its newscasters to operate prompters using a series of hand levers and foot pedals, all while they're reading the news as it scrolls by.

"Instead of orchestrating coverage, fact-checking, handling breaking news, paying attention to the [newscast], engaging reporters, questioning authorities, covering bad writing and technical mistakes, anchors will now spend most of their time" running the prompter, a newsroom employee told the paper. "It's kind of like a literal one-man band -- singing, banging a drum, crashing cymbals, playing a trumpet and strumming a guitar…except we're not playing show tunes here."

Fox5 News Director Phil Metlin briefly described what the station had in mind in an internal memo last week, said the story. Metlin said reassignment of the prompter operators' work was part of a "corporate directive". Wrote Metlin to his staff: "We have purchased new equipment including foot pedals and hand controls. In the coming weeks, we will begin placing this equipment throughout our studios and we will begin a vigorous training program. Our goal is to use this equipment flawlessly."

WTTG GM Duffy Dyer told The Post his station hasn't decided when it will implement the new system. But he said the anchor-controlled prompters tested well at Fox's station in Austin. "Some anchors and news talent prefer to operate it themselves because they can be in complete control of the speed and the pauses. Maybe this will allow our talent to handle the prompter exactly as they want it."

RBR-TVBR observation: Sure, the move could increase the potential for on-camera blunders. Viewers may also notice some awkward movements beneath the anchor desk. However, the bottom line is to keep the newscast on the air and hopefully profitable. Eventually, newscasts may resemble more of a video blog on the internet as far as professionalism is concerned. As it stands now, most stations are relying upon citizen journalists with cell phone videos for much of their content. Nothing wrong with that – it gets the viewers more involved in the product, and more engaged.

Learn to use Twitter & Facebook-- & the ethical implications

2009-09-28T15:20:00.008-04:00

Learn to use Twitter & Facebook—and no matter what tools you are using or how you are communicating with an audience, ACCURACY is the cornerstone for ethics in journalism.

WKYC-TV journalist Eric Mansfield posed a rhetorical question to the students attending a journalism ethics workshop wondering how many of them wanted to get a job after graduating college. Then he told them they better learn how to use Facebook and Twitter.

Mansfield joined other journalists and media ethics experts at the 2009 Poynter Kent State Media Ethics Workshop to discuss what values journalism will carry over from traditional media as the evolving model of news continues to change shape.

I brought along 10 Westminster College students from BC 311/Broadcast Journalism to join other students, faculty, professionals and ethics experts in attendance at the national conference featuring online journalists. Those students agreed the most compelling session came in the afternoon during the panel discussion called "When the News Finds You Through Social Media."

The conference advanced the ethics discussion concerning online journalism in a gathering called “What Values?” bringing together faculty, students andprofessionals. While sticky ethical issues came up concerning how journalists pull images, video and information from Facebook, MySpace and weblogs to using

Twitter for story ideas and news tips, all the experts kept brining the issue back to accuracy and credibility.

Rubber City Radio Vice President of Media Ed Esposito stress it was important to get the story right. He stated no one will remember who got it first if they don’t get it correct.

He pointed out only media insiders brag about who’s first because in an age where immediacy is no longer owned by broadcast outlets being accurate is paramount and the utmost important issue when it comes to driving ethics in any newsroom.

One-Man Bands- The NEW NORMAL

2009-09-28T12:01:00.004-04:00

"Most young journalists coming out of universities, such as the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, are “multi-media journalists the day they step out of college,” says Jerry Gumbert, president and chief executive officer of Audience Research & Development (AR&D), a news consulting firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. “They’re a very sophisticated breed that’s been used to operating their own websites to show and tell their own stories. There’s something to be said for a story teller having control of all facets of telling a story. It’s the new normal.”

FROM AZBiz.com

KVOA staffers fear changes
from newsroom reorganization
By David Hatfield, Inside Tucson Business
Published on Saturday, September 26, 2009

Sometime, supposedly in October, viewers watching local news on KVOA 4 will see the results of what station insiders are looking upon as a sea change in the way TV news is gathered. Reporters and videographers, as separate job titles, will be gone replaced with the title multi-media journalist.

It means reporters will be carrying cameras and shooting their own video and videographers will be out researching and reporting their own news stories.

Pejoratively the new job title is being nicknamed “one-man band” or “VJ,” short for video jockey.

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Actually the idea for multi-media journalism has been around for a few years as media companies try to meet the challenge to deliver news and information on multiple platforms. Indeed, Ed Tribble and Tyler Wing already carry that title at KVOA 4, though Tribble is leaving to take a similar job at KPNX, the NBC station in Phoenix.

What has put KVOA’s newsroom on edge is the manner in which the station is making the changes. Several weeks ago at a station meeting, staffers were told there would be a reorganization of the newsroom. Besides the change to multi-media journalist, KVOA is changing its news assignment desk,

which is usually staffed by one person per shift, into an area for “content managers” and “content producers” who will be responsible for updating the station’s website.

KVOA’s newsroom staff consists of about 45 employees. Those directly involved in these changes say they are being told they can audition for the new job titles, which has left at least a few of them with the distinct implication that not all will make the cut. Beyond that, KVOA is advertising it has openings for multi-media journalists as well as content managers and producers.

KVOA’s news director Kathleen Choal didn’t respond to a request to talk about the changes.

The announcement rippled through other newsrooms. And, for good reason, by the end of next year every TV station and print media outlet in the country will be using multi-media journalists to some degree, says Jerry Gumbert, president and chief executive officer of Audience Research & Development (AR&D), a news consulting firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. He says his company has 150 media clients, from both traditional electronic and print media companies. KVOA is an AR&D client.

Gumbert says media companies will still put together what he calls “a polished finished product,” either a TV newscast or a newspaper but the new normal he says is that consumers are going online to get news and information. More specifically, there are three peaks during a typical day, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. after people arrive at work, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. just before going out to lunch and 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. just before going home.

“As any producers of a product do, we have to follow the consumer. And the consumer has spoken as to how they want their news. They want it when they want it and where they want it and if we don’t do that, then somebody else will,” Gumbert said in an interview. “We aren’t blazing any new trails. We either have to follow the changing media consumer to get them what they want, or we’ll be obsolete.”

Gumbert says he doesn’t get involved with how stations make the change.

Many of the early TV station adoptees of the multi-media journalism concept did it as a cost-saving measure. Often they were not the strongest news stations to begin with. In some of those cases, it was a last-ditch effort and hasn’t proven successful.

Other pushback has come because it requires employees to change. “Nobody likes change, it’s uncomfortable,” Gumbert said, adding, “Nothing is easy to the unwilling. It’s really about desire and passion.”

MORE...

Guess Doubling Up On Station Ownership Didn't Work

2009-08-07T09:57:00.003-04:00

NEW VISION'S VISION'S BANKRUPTCY KILLING NEWSCAST IN YOUNGSTOWN

When companies take over multiple TV stations in the same market claiming it makes sound business sense keeping stations viable, do they know what they're doing? I guess that business model worked out so well that New Vision ended up bankrupt?

MORE FROM YOUNGSTOWN'S BUSINESS JOURNAL

WYTV to Eliminate 5 p.m. Newscast;
New Vision Expedites Chapter 11 Exit
By Andrea Wood

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- As the operators of WKBN/WYFX and WYTV sail through bankruptcy reorganization with a hearing set for Sept. 10 to confirm the restructuring of $400 million in debt, local management today announced it will eliminate one newscast effective Sept. 21.

WYTV’s 5 p.m. weekday newscast will be replaced with a syndicated version of “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader,” says Dave Coy, general manager of the three TV stations. WYTV will continue to broadcast a local news program at 5:30 p.m., he notes.

Coy emphasizes no newsroom jobs will be lost -- just as no jobs have been lost in parent company NV Broadcasting's Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Nor has employee compensation been cut by the 14-station group, unlike the measures taken by other broadcasters and newspapers across the country as they grapple with the recession that has reduced advertising revenues, he says.

The programming decision includes a new 4 p.m. program on WYTV -- “Dr. Oz", a medical and lifestyle advice show with Dr. Mehmot Oz, professor of surgery at Columbia University.

Part of the rationale for the changes is that WYTV and WKBN will no longer compete for news viewers at 5 p.m., Coy notes. Instead, viewers seeking local news at 5 can watch WKBN’s program and those who look for local news at 5:30 can watch WYTV.

“This is the strongest lead-in programming we have ever built going into the late afternoon important news block,” adds Gary Coursen, news director of WKBN/WYFX and WYTV. “We are still meeting the needs of local news viewers at 5, while providing engaging entertainment for those who want their news a little later.”

Yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, parent company NV Broadcasting received court approval to expedite hearings on its consensual reorganization plan.

MORE

Spoofing the Prez

2009-08-06T21:59:00.002-04:00

A funny take on the hyper-reality that is President Obama...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

CBS Taps Into One-Man Band Reporter in Afghanistan

2009-07-28T10:40:00.006-04:00

Now one of the networks is tapping into the one-man band model.

Read more from the New York Observer.

CBS News Hires Digital One-Person Band Journalist to Be Based in Afghanistan

By Felix Gillette/NY OBSERVER

CBS News executives announced today that they have hired Mandy Clark, a former video journalist for Voice of America News, as the network's digital journalist to be stationed in Afghanistan.

Back in April, we wrote about various news organizations shifting their resources overseas from Baghdad to Afghanistan. At the time, Paul Friedman, a senior vice president for CBS News, told us that the previous fall, CBS had engaged in discussions with other networks, including NBC News, about the possibility of opening a joint facility in Kabul.

“We have all known for months that the focus was shifting from Iraq to Afghanistan,” said Mr. Friedman at the time. “We’ve all budgeted for it, and we’re all trying to figure out how best to get it done.”

Stationing a nimble, digital journalist—or so-called one-man band—in Afghanistan will no doubt help the network better cover the region in the months ahead.

At the same time, the move provides further evidence that the broadcast news divisions are undergoing a major shift in how they cover news overseas. Out: large, permanent bureaus. In: digital journalists armed with laptops and small cameras, who can report, shoot and edit their own video, while moving in and out of regions quickly.

“The old model no longer applies,” Mr. Friedman told us back in January. “You do not need a massive infrastructure, as long as you can mobilize people quickly when the story develops.”

To date, ABC News has been the most aggressive at investing in the new model. In October 2007, the news network announced that it was hiring seven digital journalists to report for the network overseas. The program has since expanded.

With the hiring of Ms. Clark, CBS News would appear to be exploring a similar model. "Mandy has done great work from the field in all conditions and we are pleased that she is joining CBS News,” said Mr. Friedman in today's release. “Mandy is intrepid and her wealth of experience reporting from the Middle East, Central Asia and elsewhere and her adroit use of technology, make her a terrific addition.”

Props and Lameness in TV Storytelling

2009-07-23T14:49:00.005-04:00

Jeremiah Patterson tipped me off tho this story on YouTube from a Cleveland station. Perhaps I'm being too critical and see consultant fingerprints everywhere in newscasts, stories, etc. However, I witnessed consultants bringing in prop ideas like this when I worked for a certain network affiliate during a certain time before a sweeps period.

Lame props really smack of an idea from these alleged experts. The so-called consultants (ex-news directors and managers playing a scam of recycling themselves as experts until they can worm back into another newsroom) come in with gimmicks and schtick.

It wouldn't surprise me if a outside research firm cashed a big check after they presented so called data and expertise to station management & reporters claiming the use props to "force" walking and talking stand ups and contrived video would engage the viewers. Use props to make a point, demonstrate but don't distract or make it hokey.

So you don't have video of the bear? Does that justify the lame cardboard stunt?

What You Missed Last Night: The Daily Show visits The New York Times

2009-06-11T17:01:00.001-04:00

What You Missed Last Night: The Daily Show visits The New York Times

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BC Capstone 2009 Amazing Race

2009-05-09T09:27:00.001-04:00

BEA @ NAB 2009

2009-04-28T07:05:00.002-04:00

I participated in two panels at the Broadcast Education Association at NAB in Vegas. The first was the Student Aircheck presentation. The second was a panel discussing the issue of certifying or licensing journalists. The RTNDA @ NAB Career Day brought in lots of college students, but few news directors. Lots of companies were on hand recruiting for internships, but few for jobs.

What's in a song?

2009-03-12T10:10:00.003-04:00

With BSG about to end, the producers injected a version of "All Along The Watchtower" to set the tragic tone and direction of the story. Wow-- what a different version of the song versus Hendrix or Dylan. I even recall DMB doing a version a few years back. An interesting, foreshadowing twist using this song in the final episodes.

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Launching WCN 24/7

2009-02-26T14:18:00.001-05:00

REVENGE OF THE BLOG

2009-02-26T14:12:00.002-05:00

Hello, BC 601 students…REVIEW AND DIGEST THIS BLOG ENTRY. IT IS YOUR MISSION TO ESTABLISH A WEBLOG AND COMPLETE THE DIRECTIVE AT THE END OF THIS ENTRY DURING THE BREAK!!!

SETTING UP YOUR WEBLOG
If you haven’t established a weblog yet, please do so by March 5, 2009. I strongly suggest you use Blogger. I am familiar with it and from time to time in class I can field questions, etc., concerning Blogger as I have used it for a few years now. Spend time NOW learning the tools, selecting a template, etc. I have tried using other free blog servers out there, but Blogger is the one I know and trust (it’s owned by Google). FYI, I don’t get any kickbacks from Google. Be wise in naming your blog as it should connect to the mission of your blog and as well as help brand yourself online.

WEBLOGS: A CLASS REQUIREMENT
You will be engaged in weekly blog entries. Use great care in selecting a user name and password. Write them down, e-mail them to yourself and make them easy for you to remember. Again, it is important to chose a blog name that reflects your PROFESSIONAL GOALS or persona. The blog can augment a resume and be a way for you to catch a potential employer’s attention. Your blog should help you stand out from all those other college grads you compete with after commencement.

WHY ARE YOU BLOGGING FOR THIS CLASS?
Employers are now searching the web to sniff out the dirt on the people they hire. The fire people who blog about work (positive or negative). They’re checking out MySpace and Facebook to find insight and answers to questions that would qualify as "illegal questions" in the context of a job interview. Companies are using the Internet to weed out the people the DON’T want to hire. Your capstone weblog is geared to do the opposite. It will serve as a window into your professional persona. It will be a place for you to articulate your knowledge and understanding of your field. It is a medium for you to showcase your command of the terminology and nuances of the industry. It is a place for you to communicate your strengths and skills as a young professional transitioning from college to the next phase of your professional life.

THE CHEAP THRILLS ARE A BIG PLUS
Adding pictures, when tasteful and relevant and composed well, can accentuate your blog. Consider how they can work as an asset to drawing in attention. Video amplifies your command of multimedia. Blogger now lets you upload video files direct to a post or you can embed video clips from YouTube or other sources.

Links are also key. You can have a link list to sites that have similar missions to yours or sites you find helpful, entertaining, etc. You will also want to embed links in your posts that serve as resources/attribution for material you discuss.
You will also want to read and comment on other blogs. This promotes interaction and can drive people to visit your blog.
Your profile should avoid releasing any “personal” information that could contribute to identity theft, and you should strive to promote yourself as a mature, viable candidate for employment. You want to come off polished and grown up. Be very selective in what you include in your profile.

DRAFT A WEBLOG MISSION STATEMENT
You will want to craft a mission statement to include in the sidebar area of the blog. This can simply state the goal of your blog (and it should connect back to your blog name). For instance, if you want to be a newscast producer you can state you will review a newscast each week from a market where you can potentially land an internship or first job. Each review would discuss strengths and weaknesses of a station’s product and your assessment should explore how well you might fit in that operation.

FOLLOW WEAVER'S WEBLOG GUIDELINES
When blogging please apply my guidelines--here's the link! You never want to share private/personal details. You never want to go negative. You want a well written entry that communicates briefly, but presents sound points that are organized well.

BC 601 DEADLINE IS COMING

2009-01-26T13:04:00.000-05:00

Create your countdown widget and more at Blixy.com!

NEW SEMESTER UNDERWAY

2009-01-25T22:24:00.003-05:00

Heading into the new semester now means getting students interested and integrated with WCN 24/7 with video and audio components.

It's also time to get capstone students thinking about off-campus mentors, internships, blogging and projects.

Lots to do...and never enough time to do it all.

Remembering my grandmother

2009-01-08T18:59:00.006-05:00

Luetta Jane Weaver
1917-2009

In remembering my grandmother, so much focus is on the fact she was 91. However, the grandmother I remember is the vocal, colorful lady from my youth. Her funeral was the second for Tess, now 11. Her first was her other great-grandmother from West Virginia, Nellie Johnson.

In 1917, America joined the fight in World War I. Woodrow Wilson was president. John J. Cornwell was governor of West Virginia. He headed the administration that created the state's board of education as well as the Department of Public Safety which became the West Virginia State Police.

Imagine how my grandmother witness the world change. I thought it might be interesting to note who else was born in 1917. Some of the famous people born the same year include:

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Arthur C. Clarke
Joan Fontaine
Nat King Cole
Lena Horne
Casper Weinberger
Cyrus Vance
Dean Martin
Andrew Wyeth
Sidney Sheldon
Buffalo Bob Smith
Dinah Shore
Gene Rayburn
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Robert Mitchum
Dizzy Gillespie
Tom Bradley
Phyllis Diller
Sophie Masloff
Robert C Byrd

My grandmother was the daughter of Lloyd and Grace McGinnis Wilson. I was very fortunate to know by her parents and grew up well into my early adult years with both these wonderful great-grandparents. I'm also fortunate as my daughter Tess knew her great-grandmother.

Luetta lived a full life, she grew up on a homestead, went to school, had many adventures and learned to cook, milk cows and had many chores to do, which came in handy when she became a mother. She reveled in colorful storytelling and mastered the art of apple butter, fudge and other homemade goods that a generation of children and grand children enjoyed. She also played the piano, the accordion and organ. Music was a lifelong passion. She often played in churches. Her faith remained an important and central part of her life as she was a woman of many talents.

Titan Radio is one of the best U.S. college radio stations

2009-01-05T14:00:00.000-05:00

My Number 1 PICK!

2009-01-02T10:54:00.002-05:00

THE BEST SHOW OF 2008- BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

My top pick for best TV show of 2008 is Battlestar Galactica as the first half of the final season took us to a point where the producers could have been an incredible way to end the series. But it's not over, folks!

My Number 2 Pick for Best Show of 2008

2008-12-30T10:02:00.004-05:00

LOST (Number 2 on my list of BEST of 2008)
Wow...what cliffhanger into the next season! The producers are probably fans of BSG!

Season 4 of LOST redeemed itself for me after a frustrating Season 3. The producers pushed us into the future and created new paradoxes as old questions are answered. WOW...what a ride.
It's my number 2 pick for 2008.

Number 3 PICK for BEST SHOW OF 2008

2008-12-29T11:08:00.001-05:00

The Big Bang Theory- My top 3 pick.

TBBT is absolute proof the sitcom on network television hasn't died yet.
It's a joy to watch-- appealing to the Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek geek in me on one level and so successful in crossing into the mainstream pop culture. When an episode is finished you're suddenly disappointed because you want more.

NUMBER 4- A Tie Between Daisies & Killer Cyborgs from the Future

2008-12-28T11:23:00.009-05:00

PUSHING DAISIES
& TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES--
Two shows tie at number 4 on my list of BEST SHOWS OF 2008.
One show will end...the other survivors to hunt down an audience for another day.

ABC has abandoned the wonderfully written and imaginative PUSHING DAISIES where the old murder mystery formula meets romantic comedy under a Tim Burtonesque storyline.

Bringing dead people back to life could have been creepy, but this show is whimsical and colorful. A great cast clearly enjoys hitting the timing required for the fast-paced, sarcastic and snappy dialogue. Alas, the show is a victim of last year's writer's strike and the network has refused to order new episodes. That's code for it's cancelled.

If only Ned could touch the nearly dead series and bring it back to life on a cable network like FX, Sci Fi or USA. SIGH! I will miss Ned and the gang and learning more about the supporting characters who were so rich and complex you wanted them to become the stars of the show.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles--The Best Show on TV too few people are watching!

This show has grown into its own and it is great. It's grown up, polished and sophisticated, action oriented but so much more evolved than the last two Terminator movies. I'm surprised Fox is sticking by it, but in 2009 the network is sliding it to Friday nights. That could be put the show in danger of being canceled or "terminated." Perhaps the fact you can watch all the episodes on HULU will save it.

Number 5 on my top five television shows of 2008

2008-12-27T11:15:00.000-05:00

MAD MEN- My number 5 pick for best show of 2008

This show captures the look, feel and the tragedy of pretty, rich people spiriling out of control in a sexist, materialistic culture. Oh, what-- that's today. What a stylish, compelling show.

Flip Video keeps shoot little stories for WCN 24/7

2008-12-26T22:54:00.002-05:00

Another little story shot on Flip Video...good enough sound for radio or TV.

WCN 24/7 online and ready the next step...

2008-12-23T20:18:00.003-05:00

Covering your campus and your community...

The natural online convergence of WCN (The County Line newsmagzine, etc.) and Titan Radio News is now up and active. We'll post items over the break and begin setting up integration with the new season of TCL, Coaches' Corner as well as Titan Radio News. Some nice features include the interface with Facebook and other widgets. Check it out...

www.wcn247.com

Why is Titan Radio one of the best stations in the U.S? Watch to find out... - Campus News

2008-12-21T12:46:00.000-05:00

Why is Titan Radio one of the best stations in the U.S? Watch to find out... - Campus News

Flocking to a white Christmas - County News

2008-12-19T08:51:00.001-05:00

Flocking to a white Christmas - WCN & TITAN RADIO

One heck of a busy semester for Broadcast Comm

2008-12-16T09:19:00.003-05:00

Fall semester is now over! WHEW!

It was one heck of a busy semester. From a flurry of Capstone projects to students videoblogging Wilmington's incredible high school football season to all the election coverage on radio and television. Our WCN crew even managed to squeeze in the New Castle Light Up Night parade. Happy Holidays!!!

One-man banding coming to WUSA

2008-12-13T11:04:00.003-05:00

The one-person band model re-invented for today's larger TV news operations continues to prove my graduate research predictions from 1995 at KU that the one-person man model would continue to grow into major markets. Now WUSA in Washington, D.C. is adopting the model. I remember working for WBOY as a one-man band in the 80s and while covering a local story playing out in D.C. and how the big city news crews treated me like some stray dog to be kicked to feared. The world is changing!

From the Washington Post:
by Paul Fahri
WUSA moves to one-person news crews
The march of technology and the shrinking economy are beginning to take a toll on the traditional means of television news-gathering: the TV news crew.

Under a new agreement reached this week with its labor unions, WUSA, Channel 9, will become the first station in Washington to replace its crews with one-person "multimedia journalists" who will shoot and edit news stories single-handedly.

The change will blur the distinctions between the station's reporters and its camera and production people. Reporters will soon be shooting and editing their own stories, and camera people will be doing the work of reporters, occasionally appearing on the air or on in video clips on Channel 9's Web site.

For decades, TV journalists have worked in teams, with the lines of responsibility regulated by union rules or simple tradition. Stories were covered by a crew consisting of a camera operator and a correspondent (and further back, by a sound or lighting technician); their work was overseen by a producer and their footage assembled into a finished story by an editor.
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But technology -- handheld or tripod-mounted cameras, laptop editing programs and the Internet -- have made it possible for one person to handle all those assignments, station managers say.

The change is driven by increasing financial pressure on TV stations, as advertisers disappear from nightly newscasts and audiences scatter to the growing number of channels and Web sites.

In fact, separate from its new union agreement, WUSA -- owned by McLean-based media giant Gannett -- plans an across-the-board cut in reporters' salaries as it increases their responsibilities. Multimedia journalists will earn 30 to 50 percent less than what traditional reporters have been earning, with salaries topping out at around $90,000 annually, according to people at the station.

Channel 9 -- which is running last in the local news ratings -- will switch to the new system early next year, becoming the first station in a major market to revamp its entire newsroom. Its agreement is with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents on-air reporters, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents production employees. Union members said they expect the agreement to be ratified.

Competitors are paying close attention. Another Washington station, WRC, Channel 4, is expected to begin phasing multimedia journalists into its newsroom later next year as part of a sweeping cost-cutting effort by its parent, NBC Universal. WJLA, Channel 7, has already used some of the work of multimedia reporters employed by NewsChannel 8, the cable station that is owned by the parent of WJLA, Allbritton Communications. A fourth local news station, WTTG, Channel 5, said it has no immediate plans to do something similar.

"We believe strongly that [this change] will raise both the quality and quantity of the product we're putting out" on TV and on the internet, said Allan Horlick, the president and general manager of WUSA, in an interview yesterday. "The concept of a multimedia journalist, having his own beat, with an area of expertise, and a limitless virtual news desk is something we can get very excited about."

However, the concept gets mixed reviews in other quarters. Veteran TV journalists say their concern isn't the quantity of news that can be produced but the quality, because not all TV journalists are skilled enough to do a job formerly handled by specialists.

"There are some people who will be very good at this, and some not as much," said Bill Lord, WJLA's news director. "If you're forcing everyone to do things against their skill levels and desire, your product suffers."

The newspaper industry has experimented with something similar -- using "mobile journalists" or "mo-jos" to report and write articles and take video and photographs, which they upload to their newspapers' Web sites.

The upcoming changes at WUSA have soured veteran reporter Gary Reels, who began working at the station in 1980. Reels has decided to take a buyout offer from the station and will leave Dec. 23. He doesn't know yet what he'll be doing next.

"It takes a lot of time to shoot and edit and write and prepare a story, and if you have one person doing all that, something has to give," he said yesterday. "For those people who want to take the challenge of adding all that to their workload, my hat's off to them. But it's not something at my ripe old age that I care to venture into."

Pittsburgh ND heads to Florida

2008-12-11T15:02:00.004-05:00

Long time WTAE-TV News Director Bob Longo is leaving the "Burg" for a new gig heading up the news at a Hearst-owned station in Florida. Longo offered genuine advice to Westminster students a few years back during a visit to WTAE. Broadcast Comm students wanted to know more about what he as a news director wants to see on those resume and audition videos.

BC Capstone 2008- ELFED Part 1

2008-12-04T13:47:00.000-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

BC Capstone 2008- Doug as an Elf

2008-12-04T13:45:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

BC Capstone 2008- ELFED Part 3

2008-12-04T13:44:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Online Texas newspaper sells IMMEDIACY

2008-12-02T16:09:00.004-05:00

One newspaper site slams TV for being too slow

Lost Remote alerted me to the online promotion underway by Austin's newspaper web site.

The paper is even running a contest around the promotion mocking the "shallowness" and one time strength of broadcast news- immediacy. Looks like the old media model for TV news is NOW a great weakness for the online newspaper to exploit.

Check out all the vid clips online!

Well done, Statesman.com!

YouTube's new aspect ratio

2008-11-26T11:07:00.003-05:00

YouTube Goes Widescreen

I was scanning YouTube for WKRP vid clips for the episode where the station tried to give away live turkeys from a helicopter. I found it, but realized YouTube videos were playing back in the 9:16 aspect ratio.

Of course WKRP and many other clips are resized. I am now thinking next year's mini-movies in BC 251 could be shot and edited in 9:16. Guess we'll need to get the HD Flip Video cameras as well.

He re's a link to the Turkey Drop episode. How it remains online without copyrig ht dispute?

Sweeps piece in L.A.- Is it the tease or the sleaze

2008-11-11T07:29:00.006-05:00

KTLA doesn't want viewers to go "Ugly Betty" on them-- it's not a plug for the TV show!

I could go all over with a headline on this. Wax on- wax off? I'll stop now.

Can you file this under news you can use?
What's the viewer benefit?
Oh, that's right...it's Los Angeles. There is no shock factor.
You have to watch this...and they dog lick live shot seems to add insult to injury.
Do they teach this kind of coverage in j-school?
I'm wondering if this is the station's official salon and do the anchors at KTLA get this kind of styling as a perk?

Swimming with sharks

2008-11-10T21:27:00.002-05:00

Amanda Conway, a Westminster College broadcast communications major, will give her capstone presentation "Swimming with Sharks" Thursday, Nov. 13, at 6 p.m. in Old Main room 211. The event is free and open to the public.

Conway, a news reporter on Westminster Cable Network's The County Line, said, "People count on news reporters to keep them informed. Earning that viewer trust is a top priority to any reporter, especially one who is just starting out. In my presentation, I'll share the best ways-what to do and what not to do-to help a new reporter stand out from the crowd."

Following the presentation, the audience is invited to the WCN studio for the live broadcast of The County Line, the weekly news magazine that features stories from Mercer and Lawrence counties.

Conway served an internship with WSEE, the CBS-TV affiliate in Erie.

From VJ to Titantown Sports Anchor/Producer

2008-11-07T21:23:00.001-05:00

Melissa Maines, a Westminster College broadcast communications major, will give her capstone presentation "Student by Day, VJ and Anchor by Night" Monday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. in the hospitality room of Memorial Field House. The event is free and open to the public.

Maines, Westminster Cable Network's Titantown Sports anchor, said, "I will show examples of how I not only shot my own videos, but put them together and anchored them, as well. If you aren't a football fan, there are packages on Special Olympics; Wilmington High School coach and Westminster alumnus Christian Davoli; and a profile of New Castle Thunder coach Anthony Razzano, who suffered severe burns in an accident."

Maines served an internship in the sports department at WYTV 33, the ABC-TV affiliate in Youngstown, Ohio. D

The Medium is the Message- Hologram-style

2008-11-05T09:41:00.001-05:00

CNN goes Star Wars/Star Trek...and the point of using a hologram in the coverage is what?

Documenting Election Day on Flip Video

2008-11-04T16:07:00.002-05:00

I voted. I waited in a line for about 20 minutes. No big deal, right. We wait in longer lines to ride something at Disney World.

YouTube or blog your vote

2008-11-03T16:46:00.000-05:00

Election 2008

2008-11-03T16:35:00.001-05:00

Oh the transition is coming...

2008-10-20T15:29:00.001-04:00

The JOY of living and working in L.A.

2008-10-15T16:22:00.004-04:00

Jon Joy (class of 2003) visited campus on Wednesday talking about working on MTV's "The Hills" and living in L.A. The Future Media Professionals student organization staged a lunch time question and answer session with Joy in the Berlin Lounge.

WC squared

2008-10-14T16:43:00.002-04:00

This week is an appropriate time to blog about my recent experience and honor of speaking before the Westminster College Women's Club during the group's monthly luncheon in Wexford. I was joined by senior Nicky Piszczor as we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Atria's and spoke to the members of this 103 year old organization. These ladies are clearly well connected as alumni and love Westminster. They also personify the notion of networking with each other on any number of levels from professional to personal. While we talked about the mission and work of the Westminster Cable Network we also discussed the upcoming partnership with Armstrong Cable and the yet to be built TV station. It was one of those occassions where had the pleasure of meeting people who's history with where you work makes you appreciate their passion as well as your own. I want to thank the ladies of the WC-WC.

Nicky would make an excellent future member of this organization.

Horndog blogger chronicles, comments on TV people behaving badly

2008-10-10T20:58:00.006-04:00

Are blogger's journalists?
Will libel lawsuits against bloggers require the testing for absence of malice as traditional media?

Style magazine examines the case of a bartender's blog and observations and comments about local TV personalities after the station threatened to see the blogger.

Blogger Raises Ire of Channel 6
by Amy Biegelsen

A 25-year-old Richmond blogger known for riffing on nightlife, his sexcapades, literary pursuits and local media personalities has been threatened with a defamation suit.

In an e-mail to blogger Jack Lauterback last week, CBS 6 general manager Peter Maroney demands that he “immediately remove the false, damaging and salacious statements” on his blog related to the station’s newscasters, or face legal action.

Maroney declines to comment on the matter to Style and indicates that he considers the e-mail to be a private communication.

Lauterback, a bartender, writes bluntly about his behind-the-bar observations and salacious encounters at www.jackgoesforth.blogspot.com.

Maroney’s threat stems from a Sept. 12 post, wherein Lauterback calls CBS 6 anchor and reporter Lee Mahaffey “smoking-hot” and confesses he hopes to one day coerce her “into making some bad decisions.”

In a June 19 post, Lauterback alleges seeing CBS 6 weekend anchor Ric Young at a restaurant with his brother. Lauterback describes for readers a night in which his friends mistook Young for Channel 8 anchor Juan Conde. He also writes of the waitress’ complaints about the size of the tip Young leaves.

Lauterback declines to remove the posts and bets that nothing will come of the legal threats. After all, he writes, “the other local media outlets will undoubtedly be all over Channel 6’s decision to pick on a poor blogging bartender.”

John Paul Jones, a law professor who specializes in the First Amendment at the University of Richmond, says that if the lawsuit were to go to trial, the court would likely view Lauterback as a journalist.

Then it would be up to the station to prove that he not only intentionally meant to hurt the anchors’ reputations, but also that what he published was false, and that he knew it was false.

Reached by phone Monday, Lauterback says he stands by what he wrote. He says he’s excited to get a rise out of the television station, but didn’t start blogging to get attention. He has literary aspirations and even a literary hero: “Henry Miller, the writer.” The Miller quotation tattooed on his right forearm reads: “The ordinary man is involved in action, the hero acts. An immense difference.”

New Wilmington Raised

2008-10-04T09:24:00.003-04:00

This guy grew up in New Wilmington...
He's the son of retired Westminster College music professor Paul Chenevey.

Steve Chenevey has officially been named co-anchor of Channel 5/WTTG's (DC) morning newscast. He joins joins Allison Seymour for the 5 AM to 9 AM slot. Replacing Bob Sellers, who got the Fox5 axe in July.

Chenevey joined WTTG in 2003. Before that he worked at WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh and WYTV in Youngstown.

WCN is changing channels...

2008-09-29T15:41:00.000-04:00

WCN & TCL covers spot news

2008-09-18T13:50:00.000-04:00

The County Line & Titan Radio cover plant fire with VJ gear...looks good.
BC Capstone student Alex Hines covered the New Castle hazardous waste plant fire on Thursday with our VJ gear (Panasonic camcorder unit) and here's what we had on the air and online.
Looks just as good as the DVC Pro gear.

Rock You Like a Hurricane

2008-09-13T14:51:00.000-04:00

What's the lesson here? If you're planning to hype hurricane coverage with the words "certain death," do you really want to put your reporter smack dab in the middle of it? Live for the sake of LIVE. At least we have a great YouTube clip.

But Geraldo's didn't make the Splash our friend Lenslinger and pals had covering a hurricane years ago on the North Carolina coast. Still, it seems a bit dangerous to be out there in that situation.

The County Line begins a new season

2008-09-06T10:03:00.001-04:00

The crew and staff of The County Line kick off a new season on Thursday night on Sept. 11.

WC grad lost while doing what he loved

2008-08-29T08:36:00.004-04:00

Westminster Community Remembers Isaac

Thursday, August 28, 2008/titanradio.net

NEW WILMINGTON, Lawrence County-- Faculty, staff and Westminster College alumni are remembering 2004 graduate Isaac Ludwig after he died this week in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. Ludwig went missing on a river trip on Tuesday. The 27-year old experienced whitewater guide disappeared while on a kayak trek on the Little Pigeon River. Another group of kayakers discovered his body the next morning. Park officials say Ludwig, who worked in the area with a rafting company, was kayaking with friends when they couldn't find him. His companions pulled out of the river when the water became too rough. Ludwig had a degree in public relations while also studying broadcasting and political science and loved the outdoors and kayaking.

His friends continue to leave comforting messages and remembrances on his Facebook page.

"I will miss seeing pictures of your adventures and your travels," Westminster College PR instructor Dee Natale wrote. "It doesn't seem fair that someone with so much life leaves us all behind."

Ludwig worked for a paddle sports company called Rafting in the Smokies. His posts on his Facebook pages on Tuesday indicated he had returned to Tennessee after a river trip in Western Pennsylvania. The experienced kayaker's final Facebook entry has a timestamp of 11:43 Tuesday morning. It was a simple update status statement.

"Isaac Ludwig is back in the Smokies...with rain."

That rain may have contributed to the river conditions that day. On Wednesday morning some friends left what appear to be concerned messages. One came from friend Adam Bixby.

"Man, Isaac, send me a note when you get this please."

Then the bad news spread as people began posting their reaction as they learned that Ludwig's body had been found in the river. Steady streams of remembrances from friends continue to post on his Facebook wall.

Westminster alumnus Craig Carlin graduated with Ludwig. He has kept in touch with Ludwig via Facebook and reached out online to react to the tragic news.

"I remember watching from shore as Isaac kayaked down the creek at college and I thought to myself, "This guy is crazy" and later became good friends with him inside and outside of class," Carlin posted. "Isaac, if you had to go early, at least it was doing what you truly loved to do. We'll all miss ya, buddy."

Ludwig's whitewater adventures experiences took him to rivers across North and South America.

Juggling those DMAs-- but who's watching?

2008-08-29T08:19:00.005-04:00

Pittsburgh dropped to Designated Market Area (DMA) 23 as Nielsen Media Research updates it's television market rankings. It becomes official in January.

Portland, Oregon, moved up the ladder moving into the 22nd DMA spot. Portland's population is growing. The Steel City's population declined. PG television critic Rob Owen has reaction from local TV station general managers spinning as there's no big deal. Owens points out that at one time was a top 10 market.

Nielsen also reported a slowdown in the growth of television audiences. While the Asian, hispanic and older audiences continue to twice as face as the entire audience using television. Nielseen estimates the 2008-2009 TV season will have an audience of 114.5 million television homes.

Weaver's Webblog Guide

2008-08-17T22:18:00.003-04:00

Weaver's Guide to Blogging
Keeping your blog focused, professional and simple while also keeping it up to date makes a blog worth visiting and credible. Images, graphics and video dress it up, but it will always come back to good, solid writing and communication. That's exactly why you should never post a first draft entry. Edit what you write. Spelling errors and typos tarnish you and your blog. I suggest writing & editing entries with a word processor, then copy and paste into the blog.

Here are more tips I offer my BC Capstone students when it comes to blogging:

Showcase Good Communication Skills

1. Invest time and research into your content.

Write enough to communicate meaning with the reader, but avoid overkill. Have a point and get to it.
When students blog, potential employers could be watching.
KEEP YOUR WEBLOG PROFESSIONAL & POLISHED.

You must always think about your audience, no matter how niche it may be. You should also keep ethical and leg
Write what you know about-- concentrate on what you're passionate about and make that the focus of your blog.
Showcase your work. Promote your talent, skills and experience.
Demonstrate your knowledge and experience by correctly using the terminology of your profession.
Connect your entries to topical events and issues in your field.
Offer your own style and voice and be consistent with it.

2. Always attribute!

Plagiarizing, fabricating or other BS is not tolerated. Such misdeeds will often be challenged publicly and will haunt you in your professional efforts.

3. Offer Links!

The more links you offer the better the chances your blog could turn up in a web search.
Link back to your sources (this offers transparency, attribution and validity to the points you want to make).

ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU'RE PUTTING IT OUT THERE FOR THE WORLD TO SEE!

What you post is public so be ready to stand by it.

1. Never reveal personal, private information.

Never blog about your personal life. Limit contact information to comment areas or postings that your blog can forward to you. Also turn on the blog features that will let you screen out e-mail scrapers, SPAMMERS, etc.

2. Never blog proprietary or privileged information. Never disclose company secrets or information shared with you in confidence. Off the record means off the record. Don't even hint about something proprietary or priviledged as it will flag the attention of corporate lawyers who are now in the business of patrolling blogs for such violations.

If you're blogging about internship or job-related experiences, inform your employer about your weblog.
Promote transparency. Invite the employer to read your blog and offer feedback.

3. Ask about restrictions or limits on what you can and cannot blog.

Many companies now have strict rules about employee blogs.
Some media savvy companies encourage blogging but have specific guidelines.

If the employer prohibits blogging about work experiences, then comply.

4. Be Positive- Showcase your ability to think critically and creatively.

Offer solutions instead of only pointing out problems.

5. Be clear when expressing opinion or comments.

When engaged in criticism, remain constructive.
Recognize opposing positions.
Support your points with evidence and attribution (include links).
Never engage in personal attacks.

6. Update entries on a regular basis.

Develop a routine so regular visitors can expect timely updates and will want to interact with your blog.

7. Entertain and inform your readers

INCLUDE PICTURES: Offer interesting and appropriate images and context.
Write engaging headlines.

Be Prepared- Avoid Legal Entanglements

1. Be truthful & ethical.

Read and understand the Blogger User Agreement.
Understand the impact of what you write.

2. Remember libel applies to weblogs.

Remember false light applies to weblogs.
Remember invasion of privacy applies to weblogs.

Other Tips- Read & Comment

1. Read other weblogs.

Routinely search for weblogs discussing topics of interest to you.
Bookmark weblogs you think are written well or speak to you.

2. Offer constructive feedback and comments on blogs you visit.

Some places to get started with weblogging:

Blogger

WordPress

KDKA Radio's Future?

2008-08-03T10:28:00.004-04:00

This summer I visited my friend Marshall Adams-- KDKA Rado Program/News Director and checked out the newsroom during the station's live coverage of the Bonus Gate indictments involving current and former state lawmakers. The station's newsroom is getting upgrades, new Dell computers (why Dell? I can't stand Dell), etc.

The PG published an interesting article on Saturday suggesting KDKA radio may be for sale. I find this interesting the article focused on radio. The old traditional media companies are all trying to unload old media-- radio and TV. Just look at NBC/Universal unloading it's owned and operated stations in Miami, Columbus, Hartford, etc. I suspect CBS/Viacom may be looking to do the same with radio and TV-- but radio is cheaper to maintain and program in the scheme of things in the digital future. TV is expensive to maintain and program. Plus KDKA radio and KDKA TV share space and resources in Gateway Center. Perhaps KDKA-TV is also on the auction block or will be soon? Maybe Viacom is looking to dump both? Just a theory.

Is KDKA radio for sale?

Saturday, August 02, 2008

By Adrian McCoy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Could the nation's oldest radio station -- and a Pittsburgh institution -- be on the selling block?

That's the speculation after CBS Radio, which owns KDKA-AM and three FM stations here, announced plans to sell 50 stations in midsize markets.

The plans to sell off 50 of the 140 stations it currently owns coincided with Thursday's announcement of CBS's lackluster second-quarter earnings. During a conference call with analysts, CBS said it would divest itself of stations in around 12 midsize markets in order to concentrate on its larger markets. "By selling selected stations in these markets, we can focus on the larger market stations, many of which are showing growth," said Les Moonves. CBS Radio president and chief executive officer.

Like most media companies, CBS is dealing with a downturn in advertising revenues. In the three months ended June 30, net income rose a scant 1 percent, boosted by the sale of its shares in The Sundance cable channel. Revenue in the radio division fell 10 percent, while operating income was off an even larger 16 percent.

Karen Mateo, CBS Radio's communications vice president, yesterday said the company "is not commenting at this time" on what stations or what cities are candidates for sale. But the company's emphasis on concentrating on larger markets -- the top 15 -- would put Pittsburgh's CBS stations on the potential for-sale list. Pittsburgh ranks 24th in Arbitron's national ratings.

In addition to news/talk KDKA, CBS Radio locally owns contemporary hits WBZW-FM (93.7), country WDSY-FM (107.9) and hot adult contemporary WZPT-FM (100.7) here.

Michael Young, senior vice president and Pittsburgh market manager for CBS Radio, told gathered KDKA staffers Thursday after the earnings announcement that because Pittsburgh isn't part of top 15 markets, "we could potentially be in play as a cluster or station for sale.

"But we don't know that. We don't have a specific list."

Radio industry observer Tom Taylor, news editor of the broadcasting trade journal Radio-Info, believes Pittsburgh's stations could be sales candidates, but he said whether that holds will depend in part on whether buyers would be interested in this market. Until specific stations and potential buyers are named, the speculation and uncertainty will continue for CBS employees here and in similar-sized markets, such as Baltimore, Cleveland and Charlotte, N.C.

CBS already has sold some 40 stations in smaller markets. But the economic environment has changed, Mr. Taylor points out. "Credit is hard for everybody. And there are a lot of radio stations out there for sale."

While radio stations have changed hands frequently since the ownership consolidation wave began, KDKA's ownership has been steady -- now with CBS and formerly of Westinghouse Electric, which acquired CBS in 1996 and ultimately shed its industrial divisions and took on the CBS name.

KDKA had been a Westinghouse broadcasting property since its first broadcast on Nov. 2, 1920, providing listeners with a rundown of the Harding-Cox presidential election returns.

For many, the potential sale of KDKA radio is as unthinkable as the someone other than the Rooney family owning the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"It's hard to imagine CBS not owning KDKA," Mr. Taylor said.

Titan Radio is one of the "Best College Radio Station"

2008-07-30T09:43:00.004-04:00

Titan Radio is one of the "BEST COLLEGE RADIO STATIONS" in the U.S., according to the 2009 Princeton Review BEST 369 College Rankings . A survey of 120,000 students generates the annual report ranking everything from biggest party school to how nice the dorms are...

Titan Radio/WWNW in little ol' New Wilmington, PA, is listed in the top 20 "BEST" college radio stations. While Emerson College in Boston took number one, small but polished Titan Radio came in 18th in the country. WOW!

This is a mega-honor for the students, faculty and staff. We didn't go looking for this recognition. We didn't apply to some contest and pay an application fee. This title came to us as a wonderful surprise. Dr. B and all the student's who dedicated their time and efforts to Titan Radio and www.titanradio.net since I've been at Titan Radio (and before) share in this honor. This is fantastic validation for what we do in the classroom, in the station, in the newsroom and at all those live sports broadcasts. How cool is this?

WTAE-TV News Director Bob Longo on resume DVDs

2008-07-28T09:21:00.000-04:00

ADVICE from a large market News Director

Bob Longo says you want to showcase snippets from your best stand-ups or live shots in a short montage on your videotape. He agrees videotape is outdated, but so many news directors still ask for a non-returnable VHS tape when they post a job opening. He suggests you also create a resume DVD and even post your demo reel online via YouTube. You can click watch the video clip here of Longo offering more advice for college students trying to break into the TV news business.

A CAPSTONE BLOG FIRST

2008-07-25T00:27:00.006-04:00

For the first time ever a capstone-related blog features blogger video of a former capstone student's marriage proposal. Chris Norris (Class of '08) pulled a fast one on his beloved Beth and it's all on his blog. He even went down on one knee. What a summer he's having!

Congratulations to Chris & Beth!

CHECK IT OUT.

Who knew? HULU

2008-07-18T14:00:00.003-04:00

As NBC sheds off its o & o stations (like the Miami station this week), it's another signal the company is moving away from old media and embracing new media. NBC's has some mixed signals in the news that shows users of HULU are happy and the demos are good-- but the numbers are not as BIG as hoped.

TV WEEK runs donw the numbers...

Despite a high-profile in the media business, only 15% of online Americans have even heard of Hulu.com, the NBC-Fox online video venture. But those who have used the site like it a lot. That’s the conclusion of a recent study from Solutions Research Group. Hulu users say they like the ability to search and find both old episodes of TV shows and recent ones they missed. Hulu visitors also like that the shows are free and that the service operates as something of an online digital video recorder.Their only complaint is that the site offers only the most recent episodes of certain shows.The average age of a Hulu user is 32, 10 years younger than the average online American. Also, two-thirds of Hulu users are male. Solutions Research Group said 51% of users are between 12 and 29, and their average income is 22% higher than the U.S. average.Hulu users are more likely to own laptops, smart phones and video-capable MP3 players than the average online American.About 39% of Hulu users said they “frequently paid attention to ads seen online.”

Meanwhile, the online video thing appears to be catching on for ABC. The network reports
ABC.com users clicked on and watched a record 815 million minutes of full-length episodes during the month of May.

Why do you need an affiliate? Maybe that's why NBC is turning the tables now and making the affiliates pay the network. The day is coming when the networks will abandon the local stations.

And the Primetime Emmy nominations are,,,

2008-07-18T02:27:00.012-04:00

With all the reality crap on network television, there's little wonder why the big drama series prize now includes shows from basic cable networks like FX and AMC. Where are the quality shows, NBC, CBS? But hey, the Emmy's cultivates more reality/game show programming by creating a new category this year for best reality competition show host. Like Howie Mandel needs an Emmy for keeping people waiting through the next commercial break?

Here's the complete Primetime Emmy nomination list. This is the 60th anniversary for the event.

I predicted in a pervious post that I think Mad Men will walk away with the outstanding drama series Emmy since television is all about the business of advertising. Mad Men is a great show worth finding and watching (just like BSG). It's tragic characters bring the days before seat belt laws to life as children jump merrily on big bench seats of the cars of the early 1960s as mommy struggles to light up a smoke and navigate the road. The show has a bitter-sweet irony yanking on the nostalgia and romanticism of the era. Mad Men has great moments peppered with twisted little background elements showing the naivete' of the times-- like mothers scolding children playing with dry cleaning plastic because they're worried about the clothes and oblivious to the suffocation risk it poses. That same simple nostalgia and romanticism is carefully manipulated by the ad men and women the show is about as they ply their trade on Madison Avenue.

While I'm a big LOST fan, my money is on Mad Men. My wife's now squarely behind Dexter after watching it on TiVo downloads. I was disappointed to see Pushing Daisies was passed over in the outstanding comedy series category. A couple of the actors from that show received some Emmy noms. I guess I must be missing something for not being plugged into Two and a Half Men all these years.

Outstanding Drama Series

Boston Legal
Damages
Dexter
House
Lost
Mad Men

The Police Beat Leads to Romance

2008-07-05T17:15:00.000-04:00

TV reporter Melissa Batulis (Westminster '03) dropped some alumni news via email over the break as she revealed she's engaged to her police officer beau. She's engaged to Exeter Twp. Patrolman Sean Fullerton, has now upgraded his status to fiancee' (see the two in the picture here taken back in November when Melissa visited campus). Melissa met Sean when she was looking to get cover vids of a local police department for a story she was working on at WFMZ. Congratulations to the happy couple.

Emmy choices could get LOST again

2008-07-02T08:35:00.003-04:00

The Emmy's released a list this week of the 60^th Primetime Emmy Awards’ top ten vote-getters for outstanding drama series and outstanding comedy series, as voted on by the Television Academy. LOST made it into the top 10. BSG is ignored once again. Lost won for it's first season. Then everyone drifted away because the storyline became too strange and chaotic, etc.

My favorites on the drama list are Mad Men and Lost. I suspect Mad Men will definitely make it into the final nomination as it's about the advertising gig in the 1960s. Since advertising drives the industry, voting members are really drawn to the show. In the comedy category I'm split between my fondness for Pushing Daisies and 30 Rock. The Emmy's has an interesting process in place now to draft a final list of nominees to be announced on July 17.

Here's the top 10 list for drama votes:

Boston Legal (ABC)
Damages (FX)
Dexter (Showtime)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
House (Fox)
LOST (ABC)
Mad Men (AMC)
The Tudors (Showtime)
The Wire (HBO)

The top ten comedies are:

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Entourage (HBO)
Family Guy (Fox)
The Office (NBC)
Pushing Daisies (ABC)
30 Rock (NBC)
Flight of the Conchords (HBO
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
Weeds (Showtime)

Improving my YouTube VIEW

2008-06-19T16:41:00.004-04:00

WATCH IN HIGH QUALITY
YouTube has a nice new feature offering me a chance to improve the quality of my view. However, garbage uploaded will be garbage watched. I was reviewing some old BC 251 mini-movie projects and really think the new feature allows me to see such projects as "Day in Reverse" closer to what I recall seeing in our class. The video quality upgrade allows me to appreciate that work so much more than the lackluster FLASH playback quality that was the norm on YouTube until now. Thanks you Google/YouTube geeks. I appreciate it.

Googling it up on YouTube

2008-06-16T06:21:00.006-04:00

Google (owner of YouTube) wants the world to know it now has a 411 directory service. Instead of advertising on TV, it's using YouTube. Make sense, right. I think it's an interesting example of how companies can use YouTube for advertising and how the medium (YouTube) shapes the message. The spot's more than an announcement--it's almost a 90 second informercial. It's a demonstration approach using Google geeks to show how Google 411 works. When's the last time a 90 spot on TV actually worked? However, here on YouTube because it's simple and resembles a user-generated video it seems to work. This is a telling example of how to keep a spot real, appealing and focused. It's a low-cost spot demonstrating how effective YouTube can be as an advertising medium.

Don't date robots

2008-06-12T15:35:00.008-04:00

As a follow up on my rant on the i-Phone and the other new tech product lines competing for my dollar, I thought it appropriate to consider the issue of technological determinism. The theory states that "we make the tools and then the tools re-make us." From H.G. Wells to today's Battlestar Galactica and to my personal favorite-- the intergalactic hit The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, popular entertainment has explored issues and raised warnings rooted in this theory. Marry our consumerism culture with technological determinism and perhaps we all should heed the warming posed in a Futurama anti-robot propaganda film.

i-Phone schmy-Phone

2008-06-10T13:25:00.016-04:00

i-candy I don't want

The unveiling of product lines (new revenue streams) like the new generation of i-phone bores me. Until the PRICE really comes down I'll keep all my separate gadgets. I don't even like my LG phone with Verizon. Crappy service, outrageous rates and lame features are all designed to separate me and my money.

Can someone explain to me why texting is so darn expensive? I guess because it's popular and the demand is driving corporate greed? I'd rather embrace the gadgets, gizmos and online services I use and enjoy. My TiVo (mine dates back to the Series 2), my Flip Video cam, my portable hard drive, g-mail, Hulu, Amazon Unbox, Pandora, my cable modem and cable telephone, Flickr, Blogger, etc.

My daughter wants a Wii so bad she's started saving up for one herself. I don't see the big deal. It looks like a video game without the wires. Remember, I was one of those in the original Pac-Man generation who jumped on every innovation that came along with rolls of quarters-- I just can see dumping money into a new generation of the same, lame and money draining product lines. Perhaps because I'm no longer the target demo I've become jaded. Perhaps I'm just developing savvyness to the ways of consumerism and electronics. Or perhaps I only embrace the things I find useful and beneficial or moderately entertaining in my life. While I listened XM Radio when I had the free subscription in the mini-van, I could never see any value in paying for it.

Even the big screen TVs haven't impressed me yet. How can I justify that huge cost of the cable package upgrade to receive those HD channels? It makes the cost of the HD screen insignificant. Add on to that the HD channels require a cable box or receiver and you lose me. I don't need another device wired up and collecting dust around the television set. Merge the PC and HDTV into one device with my TiVo service (I'm bored with DVD's as they just take up space). Give me data files I can easily store -- or better yet let me stream it. Like Pandora with music. I'm tired of collecting audio files for songs and keeping them stored and managed on my device. Let someone else pay for the music, store it and manage so I can listen when ever the mood strikes. Give me more services like movie from Amazon Unbox (but I need a much better selection). Let me access it, watch it and move on to the next one when I want it. If I care to see the same movie again, I'm sure it will show up somewhere on cable or there's Hulu. Right?

For the love of salsa, what the frak gives with the all the negative vibes?
Sorry to be so sour about the i-phone update. I guess the price of gasoline, the loser economy, a choppy Indiana Jones sequel that failed to be greater than the sum of its parts, more lame reality television, potentially deadly tomatoes (from the same government that brought us "Death by Peanut Butter" and "Lead Toyland") and the lack of any genuine leadership in our country in both the public and private sectors has me a bit grumpy today.

Coming Soon- A New Season of The County Line

2008-06-09T14:17:00.002-04:00

Take the The County Line show open, add new music and some graphics and you have an instant promo for the fall season of TCL. I couldn't find a pinch of fairy dust or any eye of newt to add to the recipe as we're working on a no-frills budget.

Broken News

2008-06-04T14:37:00.002-04:00

The Onion News Network pokes some fun at the hype stations place on breaking news...don't let the facts get in the way of the coverage. The breaking news culture feeds the frenzy in this spoof as the producers have an obit graphic ready for the reporter on scene in this mock live report. If only the real news tried as hard as ONN.

Breaking News: Something Happening In Haiti

Video for the sake of video

2008-05-21T13:57:00.011-04:00

Blogging some video off YouTube just because it's fun to watch...

One of the "news pegs" used in broadcast newsrooms that J-schools really don't teach to is the compelling "video or audio" element. I'm sure they use the "compelling" photograph news peg at newspapers, even if they don't want to take responsibility for how it drives content. In television, this explains the endless number of useless, low impact stories. Think about all those fires at abandoned buildings. The assignment desk always makes any fire more important by justifying it through the video.

"We have flames," someone will shout across the newsroom.

The next thing you know those flames are in the A-block and there's a video tease. Consider all those worthless traffic accidents you see in small and large market newscasts? Do we have video? If you do, it's in the rundown and the less sexy, but high impact story from an important government meeting is cut.

Flip Video to the Titan News Rescue!

2008-05-19T20:18:00.002-04:00

FLIP VIDEO ON THE SCENE COLLECTING AUDIO AND VIDEO FOR TITAN RADIO NEWS

This story on TitanRadio.net and Titan Radio is courtesy of Alex Hines and my Flip Video camera. Shot on the scene and the audio ripped from the AVI file for the noon radio newscast...and raw video and the interview posted online via TitanRadio.net and YouTube. Quick, easy and the gear fits in your pocket. It's raw and dirty...but when you're working for free...

Stolen truck really runs away
Monday, May 19, 2008
NEW WILMINGTON, Lawrence County-- Borough police solved a case of a reported stolen pickup on Monday as they determined it was never stolen-- it ran away. On Sunday evening, Westminster history major Matt Steffy reported his truck stolen. He and his roommates live in a rented home along New Castle Street. It appears someone may have failed to put the truck in park. Roommate Alex Stubenbort tells Titan Radio News it rolled away from the house and down a hill into McClure's Run next to the New Wilmington park. You can see raw video of the scene where the pickup rolled and hear Stubenbort's account of what happened.

You can also see the video here on titanradio.net or via ou YouTube links below:
Raw video #1 of the runaway truck
Raw video #2 of the runaway truck
More Video- Roommate explains what happened

Shooting commencement highlights with Flip Video

2008-05-18T21:10:00.009-04:00

I used Pure Digital's FLIP VIDEO to shoot the video for this year's highlights now on titanradio.net. There's very little to complain about this tiny, tough little camera that saves AVI files you can edit in most video editing software, upload online, embed, etc. Flip Video's files are more user friendly that those expensive consumer hard drive cameras with specialized video extensions that make it impossible to do anything with them outside the limited software that comes with the camera.

Flip Video is affordable and pretty cool. Just keep extra AA batteries handy.

The raw video clips are on YouTube. Links to all of them are on titanradio.net.

BC 601's Amazing Race Theme Comes to Life

2008-05-17T15:07:00.000-04:00

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa (titanradio.net)--Instead of cramming for a final exam, Westminster College junior broadcast communications majors worked with Titan Traverse to bring their own version of reality TV's The Amazing Race to life. Broadcast Capstone instructor Brad Weaver says students were required to come to the first day of class with a completed application for the television show. He also required them to team up with someone in the class or off campus.

"The questions on the application were provocative, forcing them to think about their goals outside of college," Weaver said. "I used the application as a tool for self-reflection and to explore career paths."

You can see and hear from students in the video files here on titanradio.net or watch via our YouTube link.

Initial reactions from the students were mixed.

Melissa Maines of Clearfield said, "I've been watching the show since the first season, so I was really excited when Mr. Weaver told us about the assignment."

At the other end of the spectrum was Aimee Gerber of New Castle: "My first reaction to this assignment was ‘absolutely not,' but this application isn't like any other application. This one forced us to think about ourselves, about our character, what we're most afraid of, how we cope with conflict."

As the semester and the project progressed, attitudes changed especially after Titan Traverse staged it's own version of The Amazing Race for the students to run. Chose the raw video clip you want to view from the links here:

Bill Sadler of Youngstown, Ohio, commented, "Putting the million-dollar prize aside, our project has a hidden message. This was to show us we have a wide variety of strengths, and we are qualified for any task given to us. We will be entering the ‘race' of the job market soon and will be competing against many for one prize."

Doug Kunst of Bellevue said, "The Amazing Race was a clever way for us to reflect on who we are and where we have come from. For me, it was realizing how good a fit I am to broadcasting."

Nicole Piszczor of Broadview Heights, Ohio, related, "In the end, it made me realize more about who I am as a person and as a professional."

Shayna Marti of New Wilmington observed, "The application asked questions that really made you think about yourself and your partner. I realized that I really didn't know my partner that well, but I recently found out we make a pretty good team."

Weaver said, "One of my goals was for the students to discover ways to ‘sell' themselves beyond the bullet points of a résumé, while exploring the kinds of questions employers might ask."

Each team was responsible for producing the three-minute application video The Amazing Race requires. The final exam period was an Amazing Race-themed event organized by Westminster's Titan Traverse staff. It included canoeing across Brittain Lake, climbing a rock wall, mountain biking, and solving clues to reach the finish line.