Morning Shifts

My live shot last week was hilarious. As I was trying to write my scripts at 2 am, my three producers decided they were going to blast the "Soulja Boy" song and dance the dance in the middle of the newsroom. This is why I love working the morning show, your forced to keep yourself entertained at 2am. Everyone I work with is great. The picture above is my live truck. I'm sitting in a car behind it waiting to go on air. I was so excited because the sun finally came up during my shift, which has never happened. Maybe that means the weather is getting warmer too? Unfortunately now that I've finally gotten used to that schedule, in two weeks I start working the 10:00 show. That shift is from 4pm-10:30pm, which is much more reasonable. Today I have lots of basketball to watch but I also have lots of work to do on my HFR (hold for realease) package for sweeps! YAY. Before all of this I'm going to try and muster up the strength to go to the gym...keeping up my workout plan!!...slipping on the diet part, but I'm trying!

Health blog

I am verrrry happy with how today's interactive health website meeting went. As some of you know I will be managing the Fitness page. This is a picture (poorly drawn on the whiteboard) by yours truly on how I'm hoping the page will eventually look. Currently, I am in the process of adding information to my database on places to work out and exercise around Boone County.
In the meantime I'm also opening my eyes and ears at the gym a lot more. This page has motivated me to work out about 5 days a week. I'm also trying new exercises. Usually I swim. I could swim for hours without stopping and feel great. But when it comes to running..no way. So I've turned over a new leaf and started running a mile every time I work out. I do not know how you people do it but God bless ya, because it is not easy for me. I'm also really into those giant core balls now. I do two hundred sit ups when I use it, and while it feels like a form of torture...I've already seen results! So I'd love to hear what YOUR doing so I can try it and include it in the website as well as my blog.
Alright...well I'm also morning live reporter tomorrow for the morning show so I go into work at 1am, so if you have any ideas on where I could go or any stories that need telling, let me know!

Kepping up!

It seems like I haven't had enough time to keep up with everything lately! Currently I am trying to stay awake because I have to report live for the morning show, which is a 2-7am shift, but I like to get there early....I figured blogging would be a productive way to keep me awake? I've also been very sick the past two days, so that is not helping.
Well the past week has been crazy. I'm working on my HFR (hold for release) package that will air during sweeps. I have had two interviews bail on me and I'm feeling discouraged about it, like every other day I have to start over. It's about job shifting, so if anyone knows of someone who has been laid off due to the economy and has taken another, less professional job, please let me know.
As for the web project..o boy. I need a good solid week of nothing but time to devote to this just to get things off the ground. It's hard explaining to people I'm interviewing what exactly the project is, because the website itself won't be up and running for a while, but we will have a prototype done hopefully soon. I've actually learned a lot about fitness, and this project is definitely motivating me to hit the gym more often...and no more eating out. Bottom line, time is not on my side so I'm going to have to figure this one out.
Working dot com at the station and editing and producing for the web is really fun. I'm still nervous I'm going to drastically mess something up, but I'm becoming more confident every Thursday. My goal for this week my goal is to create something using flash. I'm guessing I'll start with some sort of map, I'd really like to come up with something creative I can put on my resume tape as well.The good thing about working the afternoon shift is not many reporters are back yet, so I have a lot of time to devote to the web and special projects. I'll keep everyone updated on my shifts this week I promise.
Well I'm off to look for story ideas to go stand outside in the freezing cold reporting live for the morning show! Wish me luck I'm going to need it!!....aaand lots of caffine!

Building a New type of news source?

Today I had my first meeting with a group of professors, graduate students, and journalists for a project on building a local health website. The new site will focus on health issues strictly directed towards Boone County, Missouri. Under this umbrella includes topics like domestic violence, suicide, fitness, nutrition, hospital care, and a multitude of other topics. My specific task is a reporter for this interactive website where I am assigned a beat..hopefully that will be fitness. Then I will get to design my own page within the website and create different links and stories that fall under that category.

All of this is a little overwhelming right now, but I am already starting to brainstorm. My hope is to report stories in a way that uses audio, video, web content, and still photography. Right now I'm picturing slide shows, behind the scenes video blogs, and an area for local citizens to share their concerns with the community. My biggest goal right now is to someday see this website take off in our community and spark an impact..such as support groups, fundraisers, etc. I would like to connect people who are going through similar experiences, such as battling cancer, or suffering from domestic violence.

So I'm wrapping up some blueprints about that right now in my mind. I'm simultaneously trying to come up with a story idea for my morning live shot tomorrow. I'm going to bed in about 2 hours to wake up at midnight, head to the station by 2am and report from 4:30-7! Then it's off to the gym, class until 1 and nap time!

So if there are any citizen journalists out there here is what I'm looking for:
-local story ideas for my morning live shot
-fitness issues going on in Columbia and what you'd like to see on an interactive website

I'll be blogging about my shift tomorrow night..then my web shift Thursday! I think it may be time to move into the station...or at least bring my sleeping bag.