The Search Ends: KDKA it is!

So, spring break is coming to a quick close and it feels like I never even got to unpack. Wait a minute, I was so busy, I didn’t even get to unpack. I still had interviews to complete for a few internship opportunities. I had three interviews this past week. All of them went extremely well, but none really appealed to me like the three others I had done previous to the break. I took time after all the interviews were completed on Thursday to review each and everyone I had done. It was shaping up to be quite a decision. With the many excellent and reputable places I had interviewed at, I had a ton to think about. I had barely had half a day to think, when I received my acceptance to the Sports Department internship at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. As soon as I opened the letter, it felt like the best thing to do. I knew it would be the best opportunity out of all the interviews I had attended. This internship could not be better. I have long wished to work for KDKA and now I will get my chance in the department that is my forte!
On a grand scale, this whole internship search was a ton of work, but it has really paid off. I interviewed at numerous places with different areas of work. Through the experience I verified that I wished to actively pursue my dream of interning at KDKA, while also taking time to weight the other possibilities. I looked at it this way: KDKA was my best interview. The person who interviewed me really cared what I had to say and really enjoyed the interview as well; it just didn’t seem like a mundane thing to him. KDKA was also, I felt, the most reputable; they are well respected and some of the best professionals out there. The final, and most important reason, was that it just felt right. When I opened the letter and saw that I had been accepted, I felt like a kid on Christmas. I knew, with a reaction like that, it was my calling, so to speak. Now comes the real task: the internship! I spoke with my supervisor and have my start date finalized. He also was extremely helpful in detailing what I would be doing as one of their two interns. It seems there will be equal time in and out of the station, from assisting their on air talents with scripts to heading out into the field with the crew. I honestly couldn’t think of anything better! I’m really starting to think that this could be the experience of a lifetime and I’m pretty sure I could be right.

The Hunt Continues: Part II

I have a feeling that for the next few weeks I’ll continue to blog about my ongoing internship hunt. After all, it’s still going to be a few more weeks until everything is all wrapped up and I have decided where I wish to complete my internship.
On Monday I interviewed at a local TV station for three separate departments. It was quite an intimidating setting, in that there were about 70 people there all interviewing for 14 separate departments. It was reassuring to talk with other people from different schools about where they were planning to interview and what their aspirations are. I even saw some old friends from grade school at the interview and catching up with them between interviews was really nice.
The day was particularly long, starting at 10 in the morning and continuing through 2 in the afternoon. The interviews were out in the open and you were called completely at random for whichever three you chose. The waiting was what made me the most nervous. I had at least a 40 minute wait between interviews. The first two I had for marketing/special events and commercial production went fine, but were unusually quick. In a way, I guess they had to be quick with the amount of people there wanting interviews. My final interview with the sports department was my best. I actually interviewed with one of their on air sports talents. The actual interview was a total no pressure situation. No grilling questions, no questioning my resume or activities at school…He just wanted to know what I enjoyed about Westminster and my activities there. The rest of the interview was talking sports. He inquired as to what I knew about sports, what I enjoyed about them, and how I felt I could contribute my love for them to their department. It was the first time in an interview where I felt I could speak without a great amount of pressure and stress weighing on me. In that aspect, I have a very good feeling about that interview. And after careful consideration, I think I may want to jump on that opportunity, if given the chance to intern there. I’m actually hoping for that chance.
In some brief other news, I was offered an internship at another local news station with their marketing department. I am thinking I want to wait to hear from the two other places I interviewed before I give them a definite answer. It was exciting, though, to get the phone call and hear someone say that they think I can excel at their company. The woman really wanted a “yes” when she contacted me on Friday, but I thought it best to take the weekend to think about my decision and weigh the other options. I’ve taken most of this weekend to think about my options and where I really want to end up. I’m still contemplating, but I’m sure by the end of tomorrow, when I have to contact the other station, I will know exactly where I want to intern. Until then, I have the rest of the day to think.

The Internship Hunt...finally over?

It’s really unbelievable to think that this semester is already half over. Even harder to fathom is that my internship search is winding down. I know I’ve been talking about it for far too long at this point, but it’s quite a relief to know that I have a mock interview and a real one under my belt and a few more on the way to muster through. Last Friday, I scheduled a mock interview at the Career Center, in order to prepare for the upcoming interviews I have. I was actually really nervous getting ready to head over there that morning. I felt like it was going to be an actual interview that would be taken into account for a job. I made sure to be adequately prepared: resume cover letter, letters of recommendation, transcripts and all. I also made sure I was dressed properly. It’s such an oversight sometimes, but you really have to be careful about how you look when entering a workplace. I went with a nice professional pants suit. I went over my answers to the questions that I thought were most likely to be asked. I did everything necessary to prepare, despite the fact that it was not an actual interview for an internship.
Upon my arrival, the director of the Career Center greeted me as if she was my interviewer. We went through questions, some of which were pretty difficult to answer quickly. I did my best to answer without stumbling over words or saying too many “likes” or “umms”. Making proper eye contact was the most difficult thing for me to do. I always have a tendency to look away or let my eyes wander around a room while talking, but in this interview I was able to stay focused and keep solid eye contact with my interviewer. Overall, it was a fantastic experience. I was able to focus and answer all the questions with solid answers. I was finally able to make my debut at a real interview.
Last Tuesday, I interviewed with the marketing/advertising department at a local television station in Pittsburgh. The woman that I interviewed with was the head of the department, so she was, understandably, busy. To be honest, her questions were very tough. She wanted to know basically everything about me. Unlike the mock interview, she asked nothing about what I knew about the station and its history. She focused on the internship itself and the departments I would be working with. I must admit, it was difficult answering her questions, since I was in the actual interview. I realized about two questions into the interview that this was the real deal: I was applying for an internship and had to prove what I have is worth her hiring me. Overall, the interview went well. I was nervous with her being extremely busy, but I managed to pull through. I had survived my first interview.
Now comes the rest. I have four more interviews coming up within the next three weeks. I know now what to expect. I know how to keep myself calm during interviews. I know how to stay focused and on the right track. The career center proved to be a great practice tool to zero in on my skills or any problems I might have had. I know now that I will be totally prepared and ready to answer the toughest of questions in order to obtain that dream internship I have wanted all along.

Double Yoi: The Legacy of Myron Cope

As I sit here this morning in my over worn Pittsburgh Steelers shirt, I can’t help but think, “Yoi: we’ve lost a legacy.” Myron Cope, the man with the screechy voice who served as color announcer for the Steelers for 35 years, passed away this past week. Call me biased, which I’m not, but Cope was an institution, not only in his native Pittsburgh, but also across the entire nation. After all, the Steeler following doesn’t stop as soon as you leave the greater Pittsburgh area; therefore, Cope’s fans don’t either.
Cope was, perhaps, best known for his over-the-top persona during Steeler games and his sports show on WTAE radio. He coined the very phrases that Pittsburghers emphatically yell at their TV screens during games to this very day.  Every Pittsburgher knows them.  “Yoi”, a commonly used word for a good play. “Double yoi”, Cope’s saying for an outstanding play and also the name of his autobiography. “Okle-dokle”, simply, “okay” in the grand book of Copeisms. “The Bus”, the nickname for former, Super Bowl winning running back, Jerome Bettis was also Cope’s doing. I could go on for hours; as a lifelong Steelers fan, I’ve heard them all time and again. Cope exuded life on the radio. It was almost entirely by accident that he became as popular of an announcer as he did. Cope periodically appeared on TV and radio for WTAE, but the station was looking to hire him full time. Cope was reluctant about his voice being broadcast over the airwaves, but his boss quickly reassured him that obnoxious voices were in and that he should consider the proposal. Cope took the position and changed the face of sports broadcasting forever. Never had anyone ever heard a voice like his. Cope made the likes of Howard Cosell and Harry Carey sound like polished newsmen. You could not and will not ever hear someone quite like Myron Cope in this day and age. By broadcast standards, his voice defied the refined way broadcasters are trained to speak. It didn’t seem to matter: Pittsburghers loved him, squawks and all. His voice became synonymous with everything Pittsburgh.
The thing about Myron Cope that most people don’t realize is that he was a true writer. He was, first and foremost, a journalist. His journalistic career began at the Erie Times, where he only stayed 7 short months before retuning to Pittsburgh to work for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Cope soon realized, though, that his future was as a free-lance writer in the sports magazine industry. An acclaimed career at Sports Illustrated earned Cope numerous awards for his writings. Cope, as in his radio broadcasts, reverted to humor in his articles. According to many of this colleagues, his writing was unparalleled to anyone’s they had ever read. His columns exuded energy and humor, but never strayed from the facts.
Despite his excellent writing abilities and signature voice on the radio, Cope will forever be known as the creator of the symbol that separates Pittsburgh Steeler fans from the rest, The Terrible Towel. Shortly before a playoff game in 1975, Cope suggested Steeler fans bring towels to the game and wave them to give the Steelers a bit of an edge. And, well, the rest is history. Cope’s invention went on to become a trademarked, officially licensed product of the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise. Fans, players, coaches, and countless others, whether in Pittsburgh or abroad, carry or display the towel with great pride. Cope’s success from The Terrible Towel went to a cause greater than any Super Bowl win. Proceeds from The Towel went to Allegheny Valley School, a private school for children and adults living with learning and developmental disabilities. Cope’s own son has been a resident of the school for a number of years. Because of Cope’s generosity, $2.2 million has been given to Allegheny Valley School as a result of profits from The Terrible Towel.
Myron Cope will forever be remembered as a colorful broadcaster, who surprised even his toughest critics. He tackled the world of broadcasting, while enjoying every broadcast he did. Cope had a genuine love for the Steelers, the fans, and, undoubtedly, all of Pittsburgh. As I finish here, I can envision myself at my home with the volume turned down on the TV and the radio turned up, listening to Myron Cope, wearing the same worn Steelers shirt and twirling my Terrible Towel as the final seconds tick down to a Steelers’ victory. I can hear him say, “Double yoi, what an exciting game for them Pittsburgh Steelers!” and ending the broadcast with his signature sendoff: “Bye now!” His abilities have made him a permanent fixture in Pittsburgh sports lore and radio broadcast history. Now that deserves a definite double yoi!

Internships and Capstone...surprise, surprise!

I had a variety of ideas flowing through my head this week, so bear with me on this one. This past week was quite busy, between the massive amount of work I had in my classes and trying to finalize my project idea for Capstone. However, I pushed all of that to the side on Wednesday when three of the seven places I applied to for internships contacted me, requesting interviews. At first, it was an extremely overwhelming feeling. Trying to figure out my schedule with two tests looming in the next two weeks was a task in and of itself. Then, I actually took a minute to think that there was no reason for me to feel overwhelmed. In fact, I should have been overjoyed from the beginning to be past one of the waiting phases: receiving a response. The best news, two out of the three places that contacted me are the top two places I would love to intern. I scheduled interviews for all three places (all in Pittsburgh) and am anxiously preparing for them. I’ve been working closely with the career center since last semester and now it will come full circle with a mock interview coming up on Friday. My fellow classmate/friend Doug Kunst noted in his blog last week that the interview that career center gave was extremely challenging. So much so that it was actually much more difficult than his actual interview for an internship he is pursuing. In a way, I think I will enjoy a challenge before the real deal. It will probably put me much more at ease for when I enter the actual interview. Many of the interviews are for marketing and advertising departments of these companies, which couldn’t be anymore perfect. One actually deals with sports marketing, advertising and media relations, making it ideal for what I am looking to pursue.
The other thing running through my head this week, before the internship interviews, was the topic of my senior capstone project. We took class time in Capstone last week to brainstorm about potential ideas and this week we took time to discuss some more options and what would actually go into our senior project. I began to put more thought into my very vague (and that’s being nice about it) idea for my own Capstone project. After much consideration and though, I’ve narrowed it down to working with the athletic department here at Westminster and trying to promote the college’s sports through a series of posters and other graphics or working in conjunction with development department of my alma mater in order to appeal to many students in the area (my alma mater is a private high school), while still working with the current students on ways we can better the school as a whole. It also crossed my mind to possibly check into doing this for Westminster, since transportation may become an issue for getting back and forth to and from Pittsburgh. In both instances, no matter which one, I would still use posters, flyers, and other tactics of advertising to put its name out there more than it already is. I’m still testing the waters to see if anything else in the field of marketing/advertising develops, but for now I will continue to plan on developing these two ideas into a compromise or “all in one” project. It will certainly be exciting once everyone has selected a topic of interest. I enjoy the discussion in Capstone and have been relieved that many others are still pushing around a variety of ideas on what they could possibly do. In my case, I’m looking for this to be a shining example of what I have done in the Broadcast Department here at Westminster. For now, it’s a slow moving process, but I know in about a month time will start to fly, so that’s why I keep the ideas flying through my head at all times. I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to projects and other school work, so, needless to say, this is something that I am going to keep considering and brainstorming about until I have the perfect idea in place. This project and my continuing internship search are two things that I can’t make major mistakes on. I guess the pressure, so to speak, is on me to make my interviews and every component of my Capstone shine through. Until next time…

Broacasting: It's everywhere I go

I beginning to think I’m on the brink of a revelation as far as career options are concerned. After my blog regarding academics versus athletics in our nation’s schools I’m feeling more motivated to pursue a career in athletic directing or perhaps development at a college or high school. It’s taken me this long to realize that my calling in the professional world doesn’t necessarily involve broadcasting on the surface, but if you look beneath the outside description you can find the many ways broadcasting will play into these two types of careers. Athletic directing and development require daily interaction with the public. You need to know how to communicate adequately and properly with your peers and others you are doing business with. As silly as it seems, reading the news on air for Titan Radio or The County Line here at Westminster has forced me to speak more carefully and with better diction, thus training me for sounding professional upon entering an interview or job/internship setting. I truly believe that speaking properly is in the top three most important tools when you are in an interview or gaining a job. If you’re going around the office Monday morning “hollerin’ ‘bout how dem Stillers beat dem jagoffs from Cleveland again, ‘n at”, you’re clearly not going to be taken seriously, at all. Luckily, though I never have spoken like this before in my life, I have erased much of my Pittsburgh accent that I arrived here with. Though I do have minor slips with the words “slippy”, “gumband”, and “pop”, I feel that for the most part I’m a pretty professional speaker, capable of thriving in a work environment that requires constant communication.
Broadcast writing has prepared me for the world of athletic directing and/or development. This may seem strange, but writing concisely and with descriptive, but not over-the-top, sentences are imperative in the professional world. This, coupled with learning how to write a press release in last semester’s public relations course, is something needed at an athletic directing and/or development job. Athletic directors are responsible for many things, including dispatching scores of games to the local media outlets, contacting other athletic directors regarding games or other matters of business, and sending out newsletters or forms to parents. All these job assignments listed above require some form of concise writing. Media affiliates don’t want to read through endless sentences of play-by-play descriptions of the game. They want to know: final score, score after each quarter, leading two scorers from both teams, and any other vital information about the game (i.e. the leading scorer was out with the flu and was not playing). To do that in today’s world of technology, you text or email the media outlet. More and more TV stations and newspapers are relying less on phone calls after games from athletic directors. You have to be to the point about a game recap or you’re going to make the people publishing the story pretty unhappy. You also won’t win fans or praise if you send out long and over exaggerated newsletters or forms to parents of children in the district. This, too, must be short and easily readable. Whether it’s the athletic director sending the yearly reminder regarding sportsmanship at athletic events or the development director notifying the parents of an upcoming project at the school, these notices must be explanatory, but not overdone. Parents are busy and, at times, may only read over the first few lines of a letter. Make your point in the first few sentences to get their attention and then you have a much better chance of them reading the rest.
There are many other ways broadcasting will help me when I embark on one of these careers. Media management, a BC elective I took last spring, taught me the value of using the media as an aide for promoting a particular event or happening. Broadcast Journalism gave me a broad perspective of how to use certain media elements. It could prove important someday if the school needs someone to be interviewed by a local media outlet. Going into the interview, I can safely say that I would know what types of questions would be asked and how I can answer them. In the worst case scenario, I could do some major damage control if the school district I am working for gets them into some trouble. It’s good to know the ins and outs of the media. Building relationships with the media is a must. It’s their business to know you and what’s going on with your program, so should you make it your business to know them and how they’re going about that.
There are so many more aspects of broadcasting that could potentially play out in either of these careers. However, there are so many that it would take far too long to list them all out on this blog. The ones listed above are the most vital ones to those careers. I never thought I’d say this, but broadcasting really does play into these careers more than I ever thought it would. The benefits of the major are endless and, hopefully, they will help me when I go to land that big job someday. For now, I’ll just keep it concise by saying that broadcasting, as a whole, has more than prepared me to speak, write, and overall communicate extraordinarily for whatever future career I decide to undertake.

Academics vs. Athletics...You make the call

I’m switching gears a little this week. Today’s entry isn’t going to be about whether I’m still stressing over internship deadlines (which I am) or anything broadcast related. This entry is being written to focus on the importance of education versus the importance of athletics. As someone who may pursue the career of being an athletic director, I am constantly paying attention to the latest high school and college athletics. For me, it’s an important thing to research.
It’s far too often in this day and age that we witness young men and women pursue athletic opportunities over academic ones. I know this is a hot button issue that is heavily debated at all levels (middle school, high school, and college); nevertheless it’s a topic that continues to spread through school systems across the nation. You can argue whatever side you want, but the bottom line is there are some wrongs being committed by student-athletes, their parents, school boards, athletic directors, athletic district committees, coaches, and school administrators. These wrongs can range from letting a gifted athlete play in a pivotal game when they didn’t make the grades required by the school to transferring for the sole purpose of playing for a better or more highly recruited team.
Just as in any system, there are more than a handful of flaws in school athletics. Differences vary depending on the school or district. Usually, schools with winning traditions in certain sports tend to have the most problems and run into the most trouble. In the athletic district where I competed in high school athletics, issues regarding transfers for athletic intent, excessive college recruiting, and students not performing in the classroom as they should have been were rampant. At times, the district committee would review cases of such things, mainly transfer issues, and, in most cases, would rule the player ineligible if there was even the slightest trace of athletic intent involved. However, being frustrated with the outcome, the player and his/her parents would proceed to the state level and petition to them for clearance to participate. Nine times out of ten, the state athletic committee would grant the player eligibility. Stupid? Yes. Wrong? Absolutely.
Families are uprooting their lives so their child can play at the championship winning school or the school where all the college recruiters go. Granted, there are some families of low income who rely on their child to obtain an athletic scholarship for the sole purpose of attending college. This I understand completely, but out of all the cases I have read in local newspapers, more often than not the athlete transferring is only going there to win a championship or be looked at by more recruiters than at their previous school. Most are from affluent, well-to-do families. This is a trend that must stop. If I ever enter the world of athletic directing, I will more than make sure that the coaches in the district know my policy on academics versus athletics: academics always come in first. I will make sure students-athletes' grades are checked every single week in order to ensure good performance, not just on the playing field, but ultimately in the classroom. Few high school athletes can bank on ever making it to the pros, so it only makes sense that they place their education first, being that is the thing that will get them to a quality college and earn them a career someday.
Most state athletic boards have established rules for academic eligibility for student-athletes. Taking that a step further, most school districts have implemented systems of checking on a student’s grades if they participate in extracurricular activities on a weekly basis, which is wonderful. Many times this system keeps students working to their full potential, so they are able to participate; however, many other times these systems fail, because leeway is given by a teacher, administrator, or coach. What does this prove? It proves that, not only did this student not fulfill the academic requirements demanded of them and received a poor grade, but also they now know that they can get away with this again in the future, causing them to, perhaps, not study as much or turn in incomplete homework. It’s a vicious cycle. Letting a student, who is performing poorly in school, play in the big rival game that night instead of teaching them a lesson by having them sit the bench, or, even better yet, not allowing them to attend the game in hopes that they brush up on their studies, is senseless. It may benefit the team in the short term, but it certainly will not help the student in the long term.
The other issue worthy of addressing is the over exaggerated, drawn out, excessive recruiting and signing process once a highly talented student-athlete is spotted. Recently, a top-notch high school football quarterback named Terrelle Pryor has made his mark in high school football and basketball becoming one of the best athletes to come out of Western Pennsylvania. Local and national media outlets have been covering Pryor rise for around two years now and deservedly so. Pryor and the Jeannette High School football team won the district title two years in a row and the state title this past December. Pryor, himself, became the first athlete in Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) and Pennsylvania state history to rush for over 4,000 career yards and pass for over 4,000 career yards in football and score more than 2,000 points in basketball. There is no doubt that he is a tremendous athlete. The only problem with this picture is the intense pressure he is under to make a college choice.
It has been reported that Pryor has recently been receiving hundreds of text messages per day about his college decision. He also has been making many final visits to the colleges he likes the most, while still carrying a full course load at Jeannette and playing basketball everyday of the week. All of this, and Pryor is barely 18. Just today, Pryor was scheduled to make his college decision live on ESPN-U and other television stations. Yes, you read correctly: live and on television. Despite it being the first day a student-athlete can sign a binding national letter of intent, Pryor did not make a decision, but held the television press conference for the throng of media outlets anyway. It’s the most extreme form of informing the public of a high school athlete’s decision on where they will play at college. This leads me to ask the question: Is this necessary in high school athletics? I tend to think no. However, society tends to disagree. Many people would rather tune in to see where a star athlete is headed to college, rather than watch a presidential debate on issues that will directly affect them. Watching athletes do this sort of thing has become the norm. Standards have changed. You don’t see people reading up on the student with the 4.0 headed to a top notch college to study Biochemistry and Physics, who could potentially develop the cure cancer someday. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad about being the blue chip athlete or the extremely intelligent student. In many cases, both are the same person. The thing is, people should try to not get so caught up in the whole parade of blossoming athletes. Yes, it’s fun to watch your favorite player compete on game day, but do you really need to plop down in front of the T.V. and watch them make their decision live on their air? No. People need to take time to understand that sports, while fun and entertaining are just a game. Life and education are the real deal. Kids today need an education to succeed in life, unless they’re a part of the miniscule number of athletes that will make it to the pros. There’s no crime in doing both, they just need to know the limits. Students-athletes need to make sure the hustle they show on the playing field is equal to the hustle they show in the classroom.

Reference links for this blog:
Transferring: For the good of the student or for the good of the athlete?

Terrelle Pryor's televised press conference

Academic rules and other requirements stated by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) for student athletes