To begin, I would like to thank you for having me here today. I count it an honor and a blessing, and I hope I can adequately explain the television news business and how I do my part to bring you information.
Mr. Newkirk asked if I would speak for 10-to-20 minutes, but in my business we have a tendency of taking a 15 minute interview and condensing it down to 30 seconds. I'll try to make it a little longer than that. Also, please forgive if I look down to read. I'm used to speaking into a camera when no one else is around.
I'll give you a little extended background on myself to start. I'm 28-years-old, and from a little town called Coffee Springs, Alabama. It's almost on the Florida line and an hour from Georgia. Most small towns have at least one red light, but mine is lucky to have a stop sign.
Mom was a banker, and Dad was an Alabama State Trooper. How I wound up taking an interest in the news is something that baffles all of us. I guess it's because I was an only child growing up 15 miles out of town, and I had to entertain myself. But, it was during high school when I started my first radio job at WKMX in Enterprise, Alabama. After a year, I got my first speaking position at WGEA in Geneva, where I went to school.
Shortly after graduation in 1994, I found myself in basic training for the Air Force in San Antonio. The next four years kept me in Texas at Fort Hood working in satellite communications. How I joined the Air Force and spent my short military career with the Army is something I've yet to figure out. However, I had three great things happen to me during my time there. First, I met my wife, Amy, on a visit to Georgia. Secondly, I got the opportunity to spend a few months in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. And finally, I got to continue my broadcasting career by doing color commentary for a minor league hockey team on the radio.
Those four years flew by, Amy and I got married in 1999, and we moved to Phenix City where I worked for 107.3, WCGQ. After seeing all my friends graduate from college, I decided to go for it myself. I spent two years at Chattahoochee Valley Community College, graduated in May, 2002, and then committed what most of you might call the ultimate sin... and went to the University of Alabama. I spent two years there, and graduated a little over a year ago with my Bachelor's Degree in Telecommunications and Film.
While there, I ended my 11 and a half year radio career and picked up a new one in television. I've been in TV for over three years now and was blessed with the 2003 Alabama Associated Press Best Television Reporter award. As a person who's traveled a bit, I was thinking about giving a new city a try after college, but my wife persuaded me to send my tape to Channel 9 because she's from LaGrange, and Columbus is perfectly centered between our families.
Needless to say, here we are. My boss thought it would be a great joke to stick this very faithful Alabama graduate in Auburn at the East Alabama Bureau. But I'm the one who's had the last laugh because Amy and I have fallen in love with this area, and we're very proud to call it home. More so, I'm grateful to spend my days letting others know what's happening in East Alabama.
Before I get into the mechanics of the job, let me give you my personal news philosophy. I live by this everyday, and it's a simple and moral thing to do: Tell the truth. Go to the source and get the truth. Even if someone won't go on camera with you, ask them to tell you their side of the story. If I don't get both sides of a story, I don't pursue it. I do everything I can to be unbiased in my reporting. Yes, I have strong political and religious views. However, you won't see them on the air. My stories are about the people I talk to. They're not about me.
I'm the kind of person that likes lighthearted and positive stories. I'm not crazy about covering accidents, deaths, or extremely sad situations. However, I know they need to be told. You've all heard how there's nothing but bad news on TV, but I try to change that for the most part. I'm a sucker for fun stories. I'll give you a quick example. I did a story last year on a gentleman who uses horses to clear out construction sites, especially when he wants to preserve the trees and natural beauty of an area. If it's visual and fun, call me.
With that out of the way, I don't really know if I should call what I do a job. It's sometimes hard to imagine doing something you love and getting paid to do it. But, I'll give you a typical day for our station.
We start the day off with our assignment manager and reporters gathering ideas. We usually try to come up with three or four story ideas per day. Usually they're things we see on the wire, things we've dwelled on, community events, or our best source, which is the general public. You wouldn't believe how many of the best stories I have come from someone just calling, or stopping and talking to me.
After we have our meeting, we then begin making calls and getting interviews lined up. We also make our beat calls, which is a list of law enforcement agencies and other authorities to see if anything has happened during our off-hours. If nothing major has happened, we continue to get our other stories in place. Sometimes we get lucky and people are willing to cooperate with us, or like a lot of times, people don't want a camera in their face. I can certainly sympathize with them. While I don't mind a video camera in front of me, I'm not the craziest about taking still pictures. In my family, all we have to do is show up at the door and someone starts taking pictures.
Of course, people who are supposed to be in front of the camera, the police, the mayor, usually help us out. I find the toughest part of this job is getting John Q. Public to make a 10-second comment. But when they do, what they have to say is worth more than gold to us. Not only are we letting their voice be heard, but they're giving us a story in return.
After we get our interviews, we get the video we need to complete the story. That includes getting footage while chatting with people, going to different locations, and then we have to do our part on camera. When that's all over, we go back to the station, listen to our interviews, write down the best things people say, and then write the story. As I mentioned earlier, a 15-minute interview has to be trimmed down to just a few seconds. I would say 99 percent of the time I'm given a minute and 15-seconds to tell my story. When you have a visual story, or an insightful interview, it can be aggravating. We sometimes wish for more time, and we occasionally get it. But we have to remember there are others asking for time as well. So it's basically give and take.
After we get our scripts approved, we go to the back of the station and edit everything together. That's one of my responsibilities I really enjoy because that's where everything falls into place. The voices and the video are made into one, and the story is complete... at least for that day. We may have to follow up on the same story the next day, or as I'm sure you notice, for a few days after that.
After we finish putting it all together, we go on the air live if it's called for, and then we post our stories to our web site. In my opinion, that gives me the freedom to go into more details on the story. I don't have a time constraint on the web site, so if there's a local story for which you want more information, I encourage you to go to WTVM.com.
All-in-all, it's a fun job, and I can't think of doing anything else. We, the media, are not looked upon favorably sometimes, but at the end of the day, it's rewarding to know we did the best we could to provide you with your daily dose of information.
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