I arrived on time, though most of the class was already there, and I was given a CBS guest sticker. We sat at the cafeteria, affectionately known as the "Station Break," where we spoke to Lou Young, a prominent journalist working at CBS who shared some of his wisdom about reporting in one of the toughest cities in the world. I learned a few trade tricks from him, which reminds me of a term I have heard somewhere, "Alpha nice," where you are nice but affirmative about your authority and expertise as a journalist to make your job easier dealing with more resistant sources. We certainly could have used these tips yesterday to make our job flow more smoothly.
We listened intently; he had the slightly cocky and edgy demeanor that many veteran journalists have.
The next part of the visit was one of my favorite parts, we visited WCBS Newsradio. Where we met the radio personalities Pat and Jared Max as they spoke live on air to the city of New York. Watching them work in person and hearing a radio voice in person is one of those things that never ceases to amaze you.
This is Pat, and hearing her do the weather and traffic is amazing.
Jared Max is the WCBS sports guy, and he left two of our future sports reporters with some inspirational words.
We then went downstairs to watch the CBS 12 o'clock news behind the cameras as it happened. It was very, VERY exciting to actually see what goes on in the control room and all the coordination and seconds-timing that goes into each newscast.
What really cracked us up was the humorous and very light-hearted conversations that the anchors had with each other during commercial breaks. The weatherman needed hairspray, the anchor wondered if the light on her face was just right, and they joked more about hairspray and other things. I guess if they're going to be so serious when the cameras start rolling and millions are watching, they might as well have a very laid-back studio.We were going to get a tour of their online news floor when I looked at my watch and realized that we are short on time for a scheduled shoot at 2pm. We left early, grabbed a Jamba juice with a booster to fight the cold, and headed back for our camera equipment.
With difficulty with delayed trains and our cameras temporary getting locked in, we finally lugged all that gear to the Bowery Mission. At the door we inquired about a guy named Matt, whom Will spoke to yesterday about the shoot. The man came down, and we were soon introduced to one of the volunteers coming all the way from Ohio who looked rather uncomfortable on camera, and it didn't help that the sound levels weren't working well on my Sony HDV camera (I was in charge of photography that day).
We got the interview, and spoke to a few people, some of which gave some really great sound bites and seemed genuinely in speaking to us. We got this guy from the Ohio group and had a great interview with him.
We did some B-roll (extra footage) of the mission and I had a total nightmare doing the stand up (the part where the reporter introduces the story on camera). I was nervous speaking in front of the camera as a reporter for the first time and in public in the city, with the cold and the constant nagging of the other two freezing reporters. It was really funny, there was pedestrians doing acrobatics, running and ducking under the camera as they walked down the street, and it really made my day when one guy offered to speak on camera if we gave him $25 bucks.I have done it, I have done my first standup on camera in public in the city. For now, Will gives his thumb of approval!
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