My first week in promotions at WAVY-TV 10 and FOX43 was jam-packed. On my first day I was assigned to writing the press release, or “presser,” for OpSail 2012 Virginia and Harborfest. I couldn’t believe that they would trust me with a project so soon. That was the first press release I have ever written. I have read about them in school so I knew the general idea about how they were worded, but for the most part I was completely clueless. After writing my first draft I was very proud to hear my supervisor tell me that it was one of the best pressers she has read, especially for a first timer. After a few revisions, my presser was completed and was sent out later in the week. As if writing the presser wasn’t enough, my supervisor also taught me how they complete the Logs for both stations. The logs are how the stations dictate what commercials and promos are going to be aired at which time. After the sales department fills up the spaces for commercials, whatever time slots are left over, the promotions department fills with station promos and advertisements for syndication.

Later in the week, I got the chance to write the topical for the Hampton Roads Show. I worked with Mike Booth in my department and we watched video clips that were going to be featured on the next episode. After we chose our clips, I wrote a script and then we set it to the guy who does the stations voice-overs. Once we had the audio, I learned how the promos were put together and next week I’ll hopefully be able to edit on all on my own.

The rest of my week was filled with preparing for OpSail and for The Hampton Roads Young Achiever Award Banquet. I filled the gift bags for the recipients and organized the prize boxes for OpSail. I also put together the prize wheel that was used on Saturday! My week concluded with all of OpSail events, which I’ll talk about in another post.