My week in news, oh’ my week in news… I learned so much during my second to last week as an intern at WAVY. As I said before, I highly anticipated spending time in the news department.

Every day I got to go out on a story. Four out of five of these days, I went out with reporter, Jason Marks. I am so grateful for this. Every day I went out with Jason I learned something new, I learned so much about the art of journalism by shadowing him. He even gave me a chance to do a few stand-ups. He made me do them over and over again, and critiqued me as I went. I needed that. I will remember his advice, throughout my career.

Having a chance to work with the photographers was great too. Nick, Greg, Drew, Kenny, and Aaron were all so helpful. It was so cool seeing how fast they can put a package together when needed. It takes me hours to do what they do (I’m working on it though ). On my day out with Greg, I got to do a stand-up during a march in Portsmouth. We had to hop in and out of the truck to follow the protest which was pretty fun, minus the fact that I wore heels the wrong day lol. It was interesting doing a stand-up with such an active and loud background. My new goal is to strengthen my voice and become more comfortable on camera.

At the end of this week, I was more excited about my future than I have ever been. With hard work and dedication I know that I will succeed.

I am in disbelief that today is my last day here at WAVY. I have loved every minute of my time here. The people that I have met, the things I have learned, and the memories I have made will stay with me forever. I can’t say thank you enough to everyone I have worked with, each have shared there own personal words of wisdom, words that I’ll remember more than any textbook material I’ll learn in school.

My last week has been chaos. I worked on The Hampton Roads Show, spent a few days in sales, gave my final station tour, finished my project, and worked on the over-night shift for news. I haven’t slept much the past few days, but it was all worth it. I don’t know what the future has in store for me, but I do know I won’t be saying goodbye to WAVY, just a “See ya later.”

Love, Tracey.

Today I got to wear the headset again… and it’s getting less and less intimidating, I haven’t gotten to the point where I can completely multitask..but I’m getting there. The chefs today made this AHMAZING strawberry shortcake- as much as my mind was saying avoid it, it was just too good to pass up! Cyprus Grille in Embassy Suites will definitely be a place that my mom and I go before I head back to school!

After the show rapped and Tracey and I cleaned up the set I headed to the newsroom to help Susan…but then…

Aaron said he was going to the new Urban Outfitters…I said I wanted to go and Susan graciously let me go! I had so much fun..first off the store is amazing…three stories with a really cool city vibe. Aaron let me interview a few people and then we went back to get Melanie in order to develop the story a little bit further. Melanie made the story more about the economic impact of the store and what that meant for Grandby Street. She also did a package on the heat because it was so hot outside today.  I know I was burning up, black pants was not the way to go..times like that I really wish someone would bring back those ugly zip-off pants where you could change your pants length with one zip (I know they were ugly..but I’m talking about for convenience).

Since one of the packages was about  Urban Outfitters, Melanie decided to experience it herself (SHOPPING). She ended up getting this really cute, simple dress!
After we shot Melanie’st packages, I got to step in front of the camera which I enjoyed. Melanie and Aaron were great about constructive criticism and tips!

Quotes of the day: ” This is a yoga lesson” – Melanie’s response to losing a hairband

-”You know you live in a small city when people get excited about the opening of an Urban Outfitters” – Melanie

Tuesday I got to see firsthand what it’s like to be a storm chaser… well kind of sort of.

Jason, Drew, and I hopped in the WAVY van and made our way to the peninsula to catch footage of a storm that Don and the other meteorologist were tracking. The tropical storm was supposed to be pretty bad and was expected to possibly lead for the 5pm show.

We drove, waited in traffic, moved up a tiny bit… and waited in more traffic. By the time we finally made it to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the skies were grey and it was pouring down. But the rain didn’t last long. By the time we were out of the tunnel the storm had come and gone.  Now this left us with a challenge, what was our story now?

We had a solution; we would find “storm damage.” Problem number two, other than a few broken branches and tree limbs, there wasn’t any damage. We rode around for hours and hours looking for a tree on a house, a car, or something.

Finally we were given the two addresses, one in Newport News and one in a small city by the name of Poquoson. Huge trees had fallen down at both of these locations. One fell in the street and the other on an old truck. We got our story, finally.

We still couldn’t leave the peninsula just yet. We parked the truck in a parking lot next to Wendy’s (and got some good food while we were there). Jason prepared his script, Drew put together the package and we prepared to go live at 10pm.

While we waited we were, approached by women asking about a car accident, harassed by kids wanting to be on TV, and unfortunately we even got mooned by teens in a passing car.

At the end of the day everything came together, we got home safely, and I even got to do my first stand up

The time has finally come; I’m where I always wanted to be… the news department.

With much anticipation and high expectations, my first day in news was much more than I expected. I went to a news meeting where a few of the producers, reports, photographers, and anchors got together and discussed the stories for the evening. Reporters and photographers were given assignments to go out and cover.

I got to go out with Jason Marks to Newport News and Hampton. I had to go out on a pretty rough story. We went to the home of a family who lost a family member a few days prior. 22 year old Darntrell Belle was the victim of a homicide, 15 bullets took his life. The man behind the trigger had been causing a lot of trouble in the area. According to police, whom we got to speak with when we first arrived on the peninsula, he was a dangerous guy.

The hard part about the story was going to the home of the victim. Jason hadn’t contacted the family before our visit, so there was a 50/50 chance that they would talk to us or even answer to our knock on the door. Someone did answer a relative of the victim. On behalf of the family, she kindly declined our offer to speak about the incident. Jason wasn’t expecting this “no” so easily. Shortly, more family members came out of the first floor apartment, including the mother, sister, and grandmother of the victim.

This is when things began to turn around. They were all very hurt as I assumed they would be. I even began to tear up when Darntrells sister broke down at the sight of her brother’s picture. I couldn’t imagine how they felt at this moment.  I kept my composure and remembered that as a reporter I will be faced with moments like this time and time again. I can’t let my emotions take away from what I came to do, find and tell a story. Anyway, after a while Darntrells grandmother decided that she would do the interview.

It was hard, yet enticing to witness this interview. The questions that were being asked brought out so much emotion in the grandmother, who held hands with her daughter and grandmother for support. Throughout the interview all three women chimed in. They let out feelings of anger, pain, sadness, and frustration as they spoke of their lost loved one.

Before I left I gave the grandmother a tight hug, held her hand, and told her “it’s gonna’ be alright.” Though this was a challenge for me emotionally I am very thankful that I was able to go out on this story with Jason. I learned so much from Mr. Marks, from which questions to ask to how to convince people to speak with you. Not only that, but I learned…  I can handle it.

Quote of the day: “You’ve NEVER heard of a TWG ?!” – Susan

So my producing debut in the control room was not disastrous, thank you Jesus and Susan for remaining calm when I thought I was going to have a heartattack. I’ve never been so intrigued by a timer until I had the headset on and was in charge of making sure that the hosts heard the information that I was providing. Part of me wishes I could film the control room during tapings just because of the some of the comments made- they could totally give The Office a run for their money.

Afterward I did some administration stuff before I left. I’m getting better at setting up and breaking down The Hampton Roads Show set and setting up the mics BUT only because of the great people that work on the show. Everyone has been really welcoming and willing to include me which is a nice feeling.  Not to mention these are possibly the most enthusiastic people that I’ve seen at the crack of the dawn and their energy is contagious!

“…. So when you’re famous we can say we met you.”

Throughout my time here at WAVY I have given numerous tours around the station. I gave my first tour when I was working in promotions, and continued to give them throughout my time in other departments. With each tour that I gave, I learned something new about the station. Every group asks different question, some that I knew and some that I would have to go and ask someone about later. Now I don’t know everything about this station, but I guess I know enough to be dubbed the “Tour Guru” by Kristen.

My familiarity with tours led to myself and another intern being assigned the task of creating a station tour guide pamphlet. Aside from the tour information, they wanted a section that included history about WAVY-TV. I learned all about the station’s beginnings and the people who used to work here.

Being a tour guide also reminded me how lucky I am to have this internship, but as a woman in my tour group reminded me, “No honey. You’re not lucky, you are blessed.” I couldn’t agree more, I will always be grateful to WAVY for this opportunity. I had a tour group of exchange students from Russia who gave me Nesting Doll that they brought from Russia. I already know that this doll will sit on my desk when I am older, a constant reminder of where I first got my start in news.

Tomorrow I will be giving my last station tour. I am in disbelief that my internship is days away from coming to an end.

Week number seven has come and gone and I can not believe this internship is almost over. I am wrapping up my last two weeks here at WAVY working on the Hampton Roads Show.

I spent the first week sitting in the control room, where the commentary of the show is reality TV worthy. Between Susan and Kyle’s comments, a day didn’t go by where they hadn’t made me laugh.  Being in the control room taught me again how ever-changing TV can be. Things were being added last minute, and the final details of the show were being created as the tapes were already rolling.

Quote of the week: “Red or white? …Vodka.” –Susan

I also go to go out on some shoots. I went with Craig and Chris to Atlantic Shores and Ocean Breeze. Craig let me interview some of the people that were going to be on the Hampton Roads Show talking about their favorite Olympic Memory. Through out the interviews I was reminded how much I love listening to people tell stories about their past. Everyone has a story to tell, you just have to be willing to listen. Our second stop of the day was Ocean Breeze, and unlike Chris, I was not dressed for the occasion. Chris advised me that a reporter should always be prepared, but I don’t think a bathing suit will ever be included in my “just in case” bag at work. I actually used to work at Ocean Breeze, and my old bosses had to do a double take to recognize me in a blazer and heels. Note to self, always pack a pair of flats.

Second Quote of the week: “If any one tells you that you can’t do something, tell them you know how to build a house. That’ll show ‘em.” – Eric Pyburn, who since my first day hasn’t missed an opportunity to make a joke towards me.

Today’s Hampton Roads Show was definitely entertaining! The Hurrah Players performed on the show with so much energy at 8 in the morning- just kicking their feet and snappin their fingers to the beat like it was nothing. It almost felt like they had come straight out of High School Musical or a Kidz Bop commercial because they had rhythm and were just singing along  with huge smiles!

After setting up I followed Susan to the control room and watched her do her thing…until she slyly rolled her chair to the side and said.. ” your turn”…now Susan makes her job look really easy but I knew it wasn’t so the nerves started kicking in. She walked me through everything but made sure that I was still the only one doing it… AH! Nerve racking.. I have never been so nervous to touch three buttons before.. but I didn’t fail or ruin the show and that was definitely a relief!

After the show there was an interview for the show tomorrow which needed to be filmed. Susan needed me to run prompter because noone else was there, it put me on the spot but I was glad I had already done my rotation in production ( Thanks Justin!)

Today I spent a lot more time with Susan and her personality and sense of humor definitely keep you on your toes, because you never know what she’s going to say next..like when I was leaving today and she told me I was going to have to do the show all by myself tomorrow : 0

Keep you posted on that one

Oprah aha Moment of the Day: Don’t take things to seriously. I know I’ve said this before but it’s really true, as I was in mid freakout when Susan handed over the headset she told me the same thing. A lot of the time I want to do things perfectly the first time and when your learning that won’t always happen, I’m learning/ trying to accept that, I think my tendency to want to control things and be a perfectionist make it a little more difficult. Baby steps…

Quote of the day : ” I’m just talking to myself, I do it all the time” - Susan

Last week my internship journey led me to meeting Mayor Sessoms of Virginia Beach, learning how to help victims of identity theft have a voice, interviewing neighbors of an abandoned house, and much more. I followed Ava Hurdle, Andy Fox, and Anne McNamara sharing the adrenaline rush hunting down stories with them. In a week, I feel like I have learned a second college education that is not text book driven, but hands on. The amount of knowledge that I have gained from these talented reporters and also the camera men is incredible! I truly enjoy hard news stories and learning how a story unfolds with asking the right questions. I also have had the chance to do another stand up ! I am thankful that all of my questions do not annoy the reporters and camera men and it is awesome to have conversations about common interests about news with reporters. I have learned the ettiquette of being a reporter that will help me in my future. This ettiquette includes how to ask the right questions to political authorities learned from Ava, how to get victims to talk on camera to hear their story and also be aware of your surroundings by Andy, and how to be compassionate towards stories but don’t let your emotions become too involved by Anne. All reporters and camera men have had great advice for me and I continue to love working in the newsroom now working with the night news crew. I’ll keep you posted!

-Lena