Class of
2004
Bio: Right now I produce our 5:00 p.m. newscast and report one day a week and on the weekends. I’ve been working for KYMA for a year now and it’s been pretty sweet. I started out on the Assignment Desk and slowly started reporting and then producing. News in Yuma is more exciting than you’d think. With the Mexican border just minutes away you get a lot of great border/crime stories. Their live capabilities are pretty good with one live truck in Yuma and another at our bureau in El Centro, California. I’d say this is a great place to start.
ATVN positions and duties: Writer/shooter/editor, Graphics
How did ATVN prepare you for your current job?
It really taught me a bunch of technical things that are important to getting a good start.
What is your advice to aspiring journalists?
Don’t be discouraged when you get shot down or you send out 50,000 tapes and only three people get back to you. That’s three opportunities you didn’t have before.
What are the top three skills college journalism students should be working on in order to be prepared for their first broadcasting job?
1. WRITE!!!!! That’s what it’s all about. Your professors aren’t lying when they tell you that. It’s extremely important. It seperates the ok reporters from the great ones.
2. Accuracy, if you’re not sure ask someone who is...and then ask another person just to make sure.
3. I hate this one but it’s the truth. Make sure you look and sound good. I’ve seen my news director toss many tapes because people sound weird and don’t look the part.
What is the most important thing a college journalist should know when he or she is trying to negotiate his or her first job?
Be yourself and be confident. Know that you can do the job your applying for and that you can do it right. Make the person you are talking to have to believe that you’re good for the job. Sound strong and confident. “Can you do________?” “Yes I can and here’s why.”
What prepared you most for your current job?
The CORE Classes. I hated them when I was there, but they sure taught me a lot of things I wouldn’t have learned otherwise
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