I secured my internship at the NBC Miami News Bureau sometime last semester, and since then, the excitement and anticipation really just grew.
My first day was January 13th. Over winter break I kept thinking, I can't believe I'm interning when I get back to school. January 12th I kept thinking, I can't believe it's tomorrow. I did a dry run and drove to work the evening of the 12th just to check out the location so I wasn't sitting and panicking in rush hour traffic on my first day.
I'm glad I did.
My alarm went off on January 13th at 7:15 a.m. I woke up at 7:13. I knew what I was going to wear in advance; the bureau chief told me it was pretty casual there but on my first day I preferred to be too formal than too casual. I wore a grey pencil skirt, black sleeveless button down, polka dot cardigan and nude heels.
I made my coffee and left for work at 8:07 a.m. I was a little confused when my GPS started to take me a different way than it had taken me on my dry run the night before. I later realized it was helping me to avoid the standstill that was US-1 for as long as it could.
Sirius XM On Broadway played "Let it Go" followed by "On My Own" and I knew it was going to be a wonderful day.
I pulled into the parking garage at 8:45 or so. I got out of the car, took the elevator down to the main entrance to the building where the very nice security lady told me NBC is on the 16th floor. I went.
I rang the doorbell and the bureau chief, my boss, let me in. This was our first time meeting, and we had only spoken on the phone once. She was nicer than I could have imagined. Later I'd meet producers and photographers, all wonderful.
She was the only one in the office and she later told me she gets in at 7:30. I'm not quite sure but I'm under the impression she never goes home.
I get to sit at a desk all my own, which a very nice producer who is based in Orlando is un/knowingly sharing with me.
At 9 a.m. we listened to a conference call with "New York." We work for New York, we take orders from New York, and we really just love New York. That was a thought I could really get behind. This call had all the bureaus, CNBC, MSNBC, the dot coms, and other departments and Telemundo on it. Each basically shares with 30 Rock what we have happening that will gain national prominence.
The difference between the local affiliates and stories out of where the Networks are located is that the bureau keeps its eye on local/regional stories that could potentially have a national impact. It's a lot of background and research work, and sometimes it never even comes to be a story. It's the first real exposure I have to what it takes to do a story from start to finish. Everyone was on the phones. Everyone asks questions, and everyone does research. And the story sometimes doesn't even air.
It's a really interesting way to look at the news. It's not just a theft or a car accident. It's what could become the next Trayvon Martin case, or a small incident that we feel might not go away for a while. At one point two different FBI agencies were on the phone lines.
The news broke of a man who shot another man at a showing of Lone Survivor because he wouldn't stop texting.
This was going to become a national story.
And the next day, it was front page on CNN.com.
That night as I was scrolling through my Twitter feed, I saw the story in 140 characters (or less) and for the first time, it didn't feel like news. There was no shock value, there was no curiosity. To me, it wasn't news. To me, it was something that happened at work. It was something that happened in the South Florida region that could gain national prominence. I can almost already feel the desensitizing sneaking in. In class today, we wrote a news story about it and to this moment, it feels like the incident in the theater never happened.
At 11 a.m. at work, I met Kerry Sanders. Kerry was interviewing someone via Skype in our in-Bureau studio. While we were setting up the audio, I was quietly standing where I was told to stand, and Kerry introduced himself to me. It was pretty cool. His phone background is the Peacock. I can also get behind that.
The first lick of Spanish was spoken. You can take the national news out of Miami but you can't take the Miami out of the national news.
After the interview concluded, I got to log another interview which will be used in the same story, which will air on the Today show soon. Logging is tedious. You're watching a very long piece of footage, and stopping it every few seconds to write down word for word exactly what was said. I caught onto the keyboard shortcuts really quickly and realized it's another thing for my resume. It's painstaking, but extremely important, as producers and editors will know exactly what happens where, and can easily pull the bites they want.
To me, logging is the very first step in an excellent story. And I got to do it.
I logged for a while but I noticed the Today Show conference call going on across the room. It seemed to be bureaus and other divisions talking about content that would air the next morning. I heard "Savannah" and I could no longer pay any attention to the footage I was supposed to log. I mean, PLEASE. I learned Savannah was going to interview an olympian. Then this morning when I got ready for class, she did.
I ate lunch as I continued to log, and logged until I went home. Stay tuned for my journey in food-shopping/dining-hall stealing as I now bring lunch three days a week.
Tomorrow, it's dining hall pasta.
And probably some more logging.
You heard it here first,
Jordan
My first day was January 13th. Over winter break I kept thinking, I can't believe I'm interning when I get back to school. January 12th I kept thinking, I can't believe it's tomorrow. I did a dry run and drove to work the evening of the 12th just to check out the location so I wasn't sitting and panicking in rush hour traffic on my first day.
I'm glad I did.
My alarm went off on January 13th at 7:15 a.m. I woke up at 7:13. I knew what I was going to wear in advance; the bureau chief told me it was pretty casual there but on my first day I preferred to be too formal than too casual. I wore a grey pencil skirt, black sleeveless button down, polka dot cardigan and nude heels.
I made my coffee and left for work at 8:07 a.m. I was a little confused when my GPS started to take me a different way than it had taken me on my dry run the night before. I later realized it was helping me to avoid the standstill that was US-1 for as long as it could.
Sirius XM On Broadway played "Let it Go" followed by "On My Own" and I knew it was going to be a wonderful day.
I pulled into the parking garage at 8:45 or so. I got out of the car, took the elevator down to the main entrance to the building where the very nice security lady told me NBC is on the 16th floor. I went.
I rang the doorbell and the bureau chief, my boss, let me in. This was our first time meeting, and we had only spoken on the phone once. She was nicer than I could have imagined. Later I'd meet producers and photographers, all wonderful.
She was the only one in the office and she later told me she gets in at 7:30. I'm not quite sure but I'm under the impression she never goes home.
I get to sit at a desk all my own, which a very nice producer who is based in Orlando is un/knowingly sharing with me.
At 9 a.m. we listened to a conference call with "New York." We work for New York, we take orders from New York, and we really just love New York. That was a thought I could really get behind. This call had all the bureaus, CNBC, MSNBC, the dot coms, and other departments and Telemundo on it. Each basically shares with 30 Rock what we have happening that will gain national prominence.
The difference between the local affiliates and stories out of where the Networks are located is that the bureau keeps its eye on local/regional stories that could potentially have a national impact. It's a lot of background and research work, and sometimes it never even comes to be a story. It's the first real exposure I have to what it takes to do a story from start to finish. Everyone was on the phones. Everyone asks questions, and everyone does research. And the story sometimes doesn't even air.
It's a really interesting way to look at the news. It's not just a theft or a car accident. It's what could become the next Trayvon Martin case, or a small incident that we feel might not go away for a while. At one point two different FBI agencies were on the phone lines.
The news broke of a man who shot another man at a showing of Lone Survivor because he wouldn't stop texting.
This was going to become a national story.
And the next day, it was front page on CNN.com.
That night as I was scrolling through my Twitter feed, I saw the story in 140 characters (or less) and for the first time, it didn't feel like news. There was no shock value, there was no curiosity. To me, it wasn't news. To me, it was something that happened at work. It was something that happened in the South Florida region that could gain national prominence. I can almost already feel the desensitizing sneaking in. In class today, we wrote a news story about it and to this moment, it feels like the incident in the theater never happened.
At 11 a.m. at work, I met Kerry Sanders. Kerry was interviewing someone via Skype in our in-Bureau studio. While we were setting up the audio, I was quietly standing where I was told to stand, and Kerry introduced himself to me. It was pretty cool. His phone background is the Peacock. I can also get behind that.
The first lick of Spanish was spoken. You can take the national news out of Miami but you can't take the Miami out of the national news.
After the interview concluded, I got to log another interview which will be used in the same story, which will air on the Today show soon. Logging is tedious. You're watching a very long piece of footage, and stopping it every few seconds to write down word for word exactly what was said. I caught onto the keyboard shortcuts really quickly and realized it's another thing for my resume. It's painstaking, but extremely important, as producers and editors will know exactly what happens where, and can easily pull the bites they want.
To me, logging is the very first step in an excellent story. And I got to do it.
I logged for a while but I noticed the Today Show conference call going on across the room. It seemed to be bureaus and other divisions talking about content that would air the next morning. I heard "Savannah" and I could no longer pay any attention to the footage I was supposed to log. I mean, PLEASE. I learned Savannah was going to interview an olympian. Then this morning when I got ready for class, she did.
I ate lunch as I continued to log, and logged until I went home. Stay tuned for my journey in food-shopping/dining-hall stealing as I now bring lunch three days a week.
Tomorrow, it's dining hall pasta.
And probably some more logging.
You heard it here first,
Jordan
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