As the summer nears its end, I am squeezing in every moment and experience of my internship.
I spent last week covering the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee for the Virginia Association of Broadcasters. It was a fun and busy time, but I definitely missed WAVY-TV 10. I missed WAVY so much that I accidentally ended one of my stand-ups with “10 On Your Side.”
It felt really great to be back at WAVY this week. Everyone was interested to hear about my experiences at the RNC and how I’m looking forward to also covering the Democratic National Convention once my internship wraps up.
I started this week working on my intern checklist. I shadowed the digital team, sports, weather and sales all in one day. With the digital team, I learned how they find deeper angles on stories and post on the web.
I learned that sports is kind of similar to news in terms of their rundown and writing. I think all the events they attend are really cool.
I expected weather to be the most similar to how things work in news, but it was actually pretty different. In weather, it’s like they are their own producers. The meteorologists create their own segments in the rundown and their own graphics. The meteorologists also don’t write scripts, which I find super interesting.
I ventured upstairs to sales to learn about advertisements and marketing. We discussed cold calling, advertising proposals and market analysis. We also talked about ratings and how the viewers play a role in determining when which commercials air.
On Wednesday, I shadowed Regina Mobley on a story about a juvenile that was shot in London Oaks in Portsmouth. We spoke to residents of the apartment complex about keeping kids safe. I edited and wrote a package for that.
On Friday, I went with Ashley Knight on a story about a missing man from Chesapeake. We went door to door speaking with neighbors to see if they knew anything. We went to the man’s house and his wife answered. She was heartbroken, so she declined to speak on camera.
The most interesting part of this week was traveling to the different departments. Sports has a cute little corner in the back of the newsroom with press passes for games and sports memorabilia. Weather has a hidden space in the news studio. Sales seemed quiet, which is not what I’m used to.
Someone is always walking in and out of the newsroom. There’s always a television on in the background or someone on the phone. People exchange story ideas from across the room or talk about whatever is playing on television.
I loved learning about how each department is unique and how they all bond together to make WAVY-TV 10 function.
