Accepted a Job at KSLA - Shreveport

I decided to accept a job at KSLA as a reporter after interviewing with them last week. The news director Jayne called me on Monday offering me the job. I still have to get packed up here in Columbia, Mo and get moved out there, but I am doing that not this weekend, but next. ACK! I hate moving. I have plans to head down there on Friday and try to find a place to live. Hopefully I'm successful.

Look out for a new blog from me next week about my journey to Shreveport! :)

Funnnn

I've had 2 weeks of interesting times. I spent a week in Waikiki, Hawaii. It was great. We saw tons of different beaches, Diamond Head, mountains for days and amazing rain forests. It was a great trip and well worth the 20 hours total spent on a plane to get there from St. Louis.

Tomorrow, back to headquarters in Columbia. I'm excited to see the few friends that are still left there. Im excited to see what they have been up too.

Yesterday, I visited KSLA in Shreveport, LA. It was a great visit and I really liked the station and people.

Now, Im just enjoying watching the local Dallas Fort Worth news in HD---stunning!

Almost here...

Friends. Family. Fun. This weekend is going to be filled with wrapping up all the memories I have to share at the greatest place on earth--Mizzou.

I have had a great run here with many ups and downs, its been real as ever though. Reality is upon me and I am prepared for whatever comes my way. The state of the biz is just that the state of the biz, I am going to take it and run with it and along the way learn from it. Its only changing because the people are changing...We have to understand that no one wants it the way they did in the 50s...or even the 80s and 90s, for that matter.

Its going to be a wild ride, but I'm ready for whatever comes my way. I'm excited to embrace the changes that may come even as soon as I walk across that stage on Saturday. Its awesome!

So prepare for an update sometime next week about how the job search is going...I leave Tuesday for Honolulu, Hawaii. Should be fun, my family and when I say family --- my dad and I are going there for a celebratory gift after grad. We're staying on the Waikiki beach. Should be a good time, since I haven't taken a trip with him in YEARS.

Til next time, later!

Wrapping things up

Tying up loose ends here and trying to end things on a good, positive note.

I was walking to the library yesterday and walking past, Brady, our old student union--and its getting torn down for a new BIGGER AND BETTER Student Center. The memories came flowing through my mind. I can remember the first story I shot for MUTV--the college television station--freshman year on the Legion of Black Collegian's list of demands to MU higher-ups.

That wasn't the only memory I had of that place either...but, Im kinda bummed I wont even get to really use the new "Brady." What are they going to call it anyway? LOL.

Off that topic...before I start thinking about how Im going to MISS all the GREAT people that I've met over the past 4 years! :/ I'm excited to embark on an entirely different experience though---starting my career. I am excited to learn new things, use technology to its fullest potential possible in my future job, I want to get more people close to me on Twitter too. I want the Mom on it, since she could text updates. She didn't understand Facebook. She's coming to visit for the first time for graduation.

To wrap things up here, the last few weeks have been crazy...Vegas (RTNDA), finishing the big multi-platform BusinessWeek.com project with my group members and working on my capstone project with iTunes U and the incoming journalism freshmen...Its been a HUGE challenge getting everything done...oh and not to forget job hunting and my other classes.

I'm looking forward to traveling after graduation!!! I'm going to Hawaii with my dad and I really want to go hiking in the volcanoes (not the HOT ones I hope). This should be a fun trip and a great time to catch Dad up on my life and catch up on his as well.

That's all for now. I'll make another post sometime this weekend...Have a good one.

In the meantime, read this article about stations "sharing video," times are changing--any effort to save money, managers are doing what they can...sounds all too familiar from RTNDA. Here's the link to the article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tue-rosenthal-0505-may05,0,7639093.story

So much to do...

Hahaha...random thought of the day: Meet the Press' intro is so dramatic...the music and all is crazy! Gotta love it though.

Right now I am catching up on a few classes and watching MTP update on Swine from leaders working closely with it in the US government.

Its interesting to note Swine flu is making its way all over the US---Louisiana even announced cases today in a news conference I was able to follow via twitter from KATC down in Lafayette, LA.

In other news, Columbia's weather has been weird as ever---looking forward to Hawaii in a couple weeks! It doesn't even feel like its this close. Can't wait to soak up some sun and see a different part of the country...oh and volcano hiking with Dad should be fun!

SWINE FLU!!!

Not to scare anyone, because I feel like a lot of the national media is hyping the swine flu thing up way too much BUT: KOMU 8 reported today the first case of swine in MO.

Its not in mid-Missouri, but instead near Kansas City.

Nixon is working to get vaccines to Platte county, where the virus was detected.

Officials aren't saying much about the case itself. Hopefully we will hear more soon.

I was watching nightly news tonight and the reporter said the masks don't do much help, which totally makes sense. The particles of the virus are small enough to seep through the masks. Interesting.

Stay tuned.

Vegas

woahh...What a week that just passed. I went to the RTNDA@NAB conference in Las Vegas for a week of broadcast journalism! It was a great experience and I learned a lot.

The industry is going through a lot of changes right now and the name journalist is going through a transition to multimedia journalist. We, as journalists, have to be able to submit content to different platforms, be able to edit and what not in the field and use other elements of the internet to capture the attention of our viewers.

I didn't know this, but some stations are already using Skype to do live shots from distant places. I talked to a news director in Indiana and he said some of his reporters are doing that now. I think that's awesome. I'd love to be able to just travel to a story, gather my elements for a pack or VO/SOT and edit it on my laptop send it to the station then do a Skype live shot from the scene. I can see this being really useful in the future and I'm sure the quality will get better.

This industry is changing, but there's only one way to live through it right now--adapt! I am totally all about the technology that is allowing journalists to report more efficiently and I hope this isn't the end. I'm sure it isn't.

There was a job fair at the convention, there were a few television corporations...it was sort of interesting how many students were there, but not as many corporations. I passed out tapes and resumes to a few corporations...made good contacts as well.

It was a great learning experience and I hope to attend again in the future years. Now---OFF TO THE JOB SEARCH 2.0.