Hi everybody!
This is Joe Kraus again. I am now in my final semester as an undergrad student at Canisius College pursuing a major in journalism with a concentration in sports journalism.
For the Spring 2020 semester, I will be interning with the sports department at WIVB-TV in Buffalo, NY!
In this role, I will help provide coverage on-air and online at WIVB.com. The role entails writing recaps and stories for their website content, transcribing and / or cutting audio, learning camera techniques among other tasks in fine tuning my baseline. The internship will also entail shadowing the sports reporters on their assignments for the day and assisting in any of their requests. The reporters are also eager to help improve my camerawork and create a couple packages and on-camera work for my reel.
My first day at the station, I not only reconnected with Jenna Harner, who I met shortly after she arrived to Buffalo two years ago, but also met the other members of the sports department, including Mary Margaret Johnson and their sports director Josh Reed. I will mostly be working with Jenna and Mary Margaret this semester.
After Jenna gave me a quick tour of the station and I met the station’s news director, we went to the UB men’s basketball game against Western Michigan. Even though the game didn’t start until 7 PM, we got there around 4:30 as she showed me what she does to produce a pre-game package. This included interviewing UB head coach Jim Whitesell and filming b-roll by walking around the court and getting different angles of the players warming up.
Not only did UB win over Western Michigan, the game was also Coach Whitesell’s 400th win as a collegiate coach. This is a significant feat as he is only one of 50 active coaches in the country to accomplish this!
During the game, Jenna showed me some of the “tricks of the trade” as she called them of how to shoot some footage of a game and how to decide which highlights to use for later. She said I was a fast learner.
After the game, I stood in the back of the media room while the press conference for Coach Whitesell and two of the Bulls players was taking place. The last part of the night was Jenna recording her stand-up to recap the game and transition between the quotes from the press conference for the 11PM news. After I watched her put this package together with some quick edits, the day was done.
Overall, it was a very informative day and I look forward to going back this Saturday to find out what I’ll be doing. I really feel that the knowledge I’ve gained in my classes at Canisius College along with the other experience I’ve had outside of the classroom over the past few years made me feel comfortable being in the newsroom and getting this experience.
Stay tuned for more updates!
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