First Morning Anchor Shift

On Thursday morning October 15th, I was asked to fill-in for our morning anchor Lauren Whitney. She just got married over the past weekend and was on her honeymoon-so students got to fill-in all week in her absence. This was my first anchoring shift so I was a little nervous but even more excited to finally get some new experience! I arrived at the station around 3:15 am to look over my scripts and do my make-up before the show began at 4:30 am. I anchored with Megan Murphy, who anchors the morning show Monday through Friday. She is a Mizzou alum and was wonderful to work with! We have done work together with some of the franchise stories at the station, but this was my first time as her co-anchor. After setting up at the desk, essentials including a water bottle, lipstick for re-application, my scripts, my IFB and the microphone tightly clipped to my blazer, I was ready to go! Our local morning news show begins at 4:30 am and lasts until 7 am, when the Today Show begins.

The first thirty minutes were a little nerve-racking getting used to the cameras and the time on-air however by the 5 o'clock hour I was comfortable and having the best time! During commercial breaks and weather, Megan was able to help me and critique so throughout the show I could improve my anchoring. The morning show has a great environment due to its conversational mood and relaxed feeling, so I was able to chat with Megan and our meteorologist Eric in a natural fun way. The experience was fulfilling and I learned so much about how I can improve my on-air performance. I hope to do it again soon!

Enjoy the photos and I'll keep you posted on upcoming shifts!

Now to 8 on your money

After my morning live shot and hearty breakfast downtown with my live truck operator, I headed out on my next HFR (hold for release) adventure. My story is about how the economic recession has and is currently affecting non profit organizations in Columbia. After making some preliminary research calls last week, I set up an interview with the executive director of the Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter in Columbia. She was extremely helpful and gave me just the right information that I need for my story. After speaking with her about the positive and negative effects the economy has had on her organization, I have found a theme for my story. The angle I am going to take will focus on time versus money. During the economic recession, non profit organizations typically experience an increase of volunteers giving more of their time, however they lose a significant amount of monetary donation.

Big Brothers Big Sister has seen an influx of mentors, volunteers and participants at events. On the other hand, the amount of money raised at events by individuals and other sources of funding has decreased. Also starting in January, their annual budget will change significantly due to changes put into place by the federal government in terms of education and mentoring program grants. The director discussed these various situations and how the organization is thankful for the growth of volunteers, but also has to change some of their programming based on the budget loss.

The director at Big Brothers Big Sisters also connected me with one of the mentors who participates in the program. He has been very active in the recruitment aspect of getting other volunteers involved over the past year. He gives a good personal angle to my story. He is willing to do an interview as well as let me come along with him and his "little" (the child that he mentors) next time they do an event or play together. We have plans for this Sunday to play games inside or sports outside depending on the weather. This will give my story good visuals as well as a person who is finding a way to give back during these tough times.

Off to more research and interviews so look for more updates coming soon!

Money For Music

This morning's live shot brought good news for MU on a chilly day. This is my last Monday morning live shot shift so it was fun to end on a good note! Speaking of good notes, my story was about a recent donation to the MU School of Music. Supporters of the MU School of Music are still giving even during these tough economic times. A donation of one million dollars made by Dr. Jeanne and Mr. Rex Sinquefield is being used to create the Mizzou New Music Initiative. This initiative will add new scholarships and programs to the MU School of Music. Beginning in Fall 2010, there will be two new full-tuition scholarships for incoming freshman who seek a degree in music composition. The goal is to have8 full ride music composition scholarships by 2013. The money will also allow for two graduate students to participate in the New Music Ensemble. This ensemble works with MU School of Music faculty and student composers to perform on and off campus. This group of graduate students will also have the chance to work with some of the world's leading composers. They will perform music written by MU students and staff. The current New Music Ensemble is having a concert this evening at the Whitmore Recital Hall on the MU campus and that is where I did my live shot.

The shot was well-lit and turned out to be a good story. Afterwards, my live truck operator and I celebrated 8 weeks of successful morning live shots with breakfast downtown at Ernie's diner. An egg white omelette, hash browns and wheat toast was a perfect end to an great morning. Now tune in on KOMU 8 News at 5 and 6 pm for my next 8 weeks of dayside live shots!

Link to the story

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is domestic violence awareness month. The Boone County Safe Shelter is holding a series of events throughout the month to raise education and awareness about the dangers of domestic violence and those trapped in violence can get help. Today marks the start of the "Be The Messenger" campaign which encoruages everyone to talk to one person today, whether it be by phone, text message, email or face to face conversation about the dangers of domestic violence. The shelter's philosophy is that we cannot solve the problem of domestic violence if we cannot talk about it, so the month's activities promote the healthy discussion of domestic violence.

The month's activities also include a project done by the shelter and the MU RSVP center, Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention center, where a clothesline of t-shirts will be displayed in Lowry Mall on the MU campus. Each t-shirt was made by a woman expressing her emotions about domestic violence. Also the 3rd annual "Love Shouldn't Hurt" essay contest deadline is Friday. Middle school and high school students in Columbia are encouraged to write an essay about dating abuse or healthy relationships. This message is important. I enjoyed seeing what other steps the community is taking to spread the word about getting help if you are in a violent home or relationship situation, since it directly connects to my story last week for Hispanic Heritage month.

Link to my story

KOMU 8 En Espanol

After a long month of researching, reporting, shooting, phone calls, interviews, writing, editing, time in and out of the station my story for Hispanic Heritage month finally aired! Last Thursday October 1st, at the 10 pm show, my story on domestic violence in the Hispanic community was released to our viewers in Mid-Missouri. Honestly this was the hardest package I have ever completed and I am extremely proud of all of my work. The story ended up being about 3:30 with interviews, video and special graphics to really make it look visually pleasing as well as present the information in a clear and concise way. I also spent a lot of time with another reporter who translated my entire video story and written web story into spanish. Both the spanish and english video stories and written web stories are online.

One of the biggest improvements that I am trying to make in my personal work is to enhance the online version. I wrote an in-depth web story that includes more interviews and facts that have a hard time squeezing into an on-air package. One of the web masters also assisted me in designing an interactive map that shows all of the counties in our viewing area and as you scroll across them, places to go for domestic violence support pop up with the name and phone number. I also included images and links to various websites about the laws and protections of immigrant women who are trapped in violence.

On Thursday evening, I arrived at the station to make sure the english version was ready to air on the 10 pm show, the spanish version of the package was ready to be posted and both spanish and english web stories and interactive graphics and links were ready to go. After double checking, I put on my studio makeup, practiced my scripts and headed to the studio to do a microphone check and practice with my anchors Angie and Jim. I introduced and tagged the story live at the desk with the anchors and everything went very smoothly. I was extremely pleased the next morning to receive numerous emails and phone calls from my sources and other domestic violence agencies thanking me for putting the message out there. This kind of positive feedback and knowing that I can help the community is why I am a journalist. My adventure with Hispanic Heritage month was a challenging and eye-opening experience. My journalistic skills improved. I also had the opportunity to work with a part of our community and a new language that I had never experienced before. I hope men and women will see my story and know that they can get help if they are in a violent situation.

Link to my story

Link to the spanish version-KOMU 8 en espanol