Daily Happenings at KPCC
OR
If You Give a Girl a Sweater Vest
{a journal of one of my summer internships}
Names have been changed, numbers have been blocked out but mistakes (grammatical, political and otherwise) have been left in for authenticity.
Tuesday June 8th
This morning I picked out my best First Day of Work outfit (smart brown pants, a navy “I’m determined, strong-willed, and feminine too” top, and my favorite blazer), and spent my early hours prepping myself with confidence mantras only to receive a call at 8:25 (five minutes before hopping into my car) from my future boss, John. He told me that he “completely forgot but tonight is election night.” He informed me that everyone would be coming in later in the day to stay up all night and cover the election results. He apologized for his oversight asked if I would like to come in and work on the CMS (a new acronym for me) adding, “you can write quickly and under pressure, correct?”
While half of my head was thinking “Kendra say yes! This could be your big break to prove yourself!,” my more rational side was thinking “I can write poorly (not quickly) under pressure, and… um… what’s a CMS?”
I think he sensed my hesitation because he quickly followed with “Or you could come in next week and be properly trained in our system,” to which I said a glad “yes, thank you, that would be great.”
Monday June 14th
Today was my second attempt at a first day. I arrived seven minutes early and arranged myself in the reception room so that I looked excited and eager but not nervous (like I felt). I waited in the reception room for a few minutes (looking up every time anyone came in and out of the door to see if they matched the image of my boss John that I had looked up online weeks ago) before a man named Matt came down and retrieved me. He walked me through KPCC’s recording studio chatting cheerfully the whole time. I would learn in a few minutes that I was chatting with KPCC’s online AM producer, and my AM boss. He is the one who actually reports to John.
Matt showed me to my desk (adored with a beautiful desktop Mac) and introduced me to KC, my cubicle mate and fellow intern. He sat down beside me, gave me my access code to KPCC’s administrative site and wasted no time in explaining the CMS (which I learned was short for Content Management System). My task was, and would be, uploading NPR stories. Matt spent the morning showing me how to rearranged story leads (sometimes spelled “lede” to avoid confusion if the word “lead” actually appears in the “lede” – the first of many facts I learned from KC) select reporter names, change “National Public Radio” to simply NPR (they, like KPCC, are attempting expand beyond just radio and were hesitant to refer to themselves as “Public Radio” when they no longer saw themselves as conforming to only this one medium), select categories (everything from Criminal Justice, to H1N1, to politics), upload audio, select related stories, and find, crop and upload, photos. In a matter of an hour and a half, I had learned how to work their online operating system. Sort of. In a matter of an hour and a half, I learned the very basics of their online operating system. Over the next couple of hours I attempted to upload another NPR story on my own. It took considerably longer when Mike wasn’t there to show me what to put where, and how to do what, but I eventually started to get the swing of things.
At about 12:20, KC asked me to lunch and (even though I packed my lunch) I said yes. I couldn’t wait to meet work friends! Over tacos at the Mexican restaurant down the street, KC told me that she currently is attending USC for graduate school in Radio Broadcast. Immediately, I felt inadequate and tried to emphasize the “MEDIA ARTS and Culture” part of my undergraduate title when she asked what it was that I was doing.
Eventually, John (who was at risk of turning into a faraway figment of my google-imaged imagination) introduced himself to me! He was kind, smiling and seemed genuinely excited to have me there.
It’s now the end of the day and I’m exhausted. Uploading NPR stories may be a menial task, however it is a fairly involved process. I am hoping it will start to feel less “involved” the more I understand the system. I am excited however that it is part of my job to read the news, something I never seem to have enough time for. I love reading the news (and listening to NPR!) so I am fairly sure that KPCC and I will have a long, healthy relationship.
At the very least, we are off to a good start.
Tuesday June 15th
Today was considerably less eventful than yesterday. It’s nice that they trust me enough not to check on me, however I do get a little nervous that I might delete something important. I was proud of myself today because I caught an error. Someone had inserted a picture of Texas’ basketball team instead of Texas’ football team, the team the article was about. It was a small error but a big editing victory in my eyes! Today I was introduced to a few more people around the office and I have decided that I need to speak more with Evan, the “About Town” (Arts and Culture) online producer.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful (I brought my lunch but was too nervous to eat in the break room incase this was not the “hip” thing to do at KPCC, so I sat outside around the corner). In total, I uploaded fourteen NPR stories. Four more than yesterday!
Monday June 21st
It had been six days since my last time at KPCC and frankly, I was nervous that I had forgotten everything that Matt had taught me. But no, thankfully I remembered everything and diligently started uploading NPR stories.
I have gotten fairly good at eavesdropping (our cubicles are all pretty close) and I have concluded that the man directly across from me is cranky, rude and probably has high blood pressure. I have absolutely no idea what the woman diagonal to me does, however she gets a ton of calls and I often catch her laughing at her computer. My favorite person to eavesdrop on is KC, my fellow intern. She is in charge of “cop calls” meaning that she checks the “wires” and makes routine calls to the different stations to either confirm stories or get the latest news. When she’s on the phone, she is calm, composed, conversational and often funny. I on the other hand tend to blurt things out that I don’t mean or do a nervous high-pitched laugh (I’ve called one person and she wasn’t even a cop). I cannot decide if I am extremely envious of her or extremely glad that I do not have to do that. I vacillate between the two depending on how many NPR stories there are to upload.
Tuesday June 22nd
This morning as I was putting my lunch together I got a call from John. He asked if I was free today to COVER A STORY. I of course said yes and he said “Great! Ill send the information right over.” After doing a celebratory two laps around my kitchen, I ran back upstairs, and started to freak out.
Short Circuiting In My Head: I have no idea what I am doing. I have no idea how to be a journalist. I have no idea what “covering a story” really means. I decided that the only thing to do is act the part. So I undressed from my business casual pink skirt, black top attire and put on what I think journalists “out in the field” wear (nice pants, collared shirt, sweater vest with hair tied back nicely and neatly). I then sat down to look at what John had sent me.
| 11:30 a.m. LOS ANGELES - Radio Korea Media Group will host a public viewing party for the World Cup match between South Korea and Nigeria. In front of Radio Korea, 3700 Wilshire Blvd. Contact: RK, xxx-xxx-xxxx; William, xxx-xxx-xxxx or cell, xxx-xxx-xxxx; Lindsey, xxx-xxx-xxxx. |
I immediately called all of the numbers but no one answered. I then google-maped my address to 3700 Wilshire Blvd. and set off to cover my very first story.
Initially I thought that it would be a small gathering, +/- 40 people in a crowded bar but I could not have been more wrong. People in red were everywhere. There were over a thousand fans. Music was playing and giant screens were showing team Korea warm up.
I took pictures, I got names and I even talked my way to the top floor of the highest building to get an aerial view of the fans. I was a real journalist.
After the event, I rushed over to a pre-decided wifi hotspot (I had googled hotspots in the area right after I had google-maped my location) to upload my photos and my story. I quickly learned that one of the values of “new media” is that it is “fast media.” I needed to get my photos, captions and story to him as quickly as possible before any other news station had the time to report it.
Today I learned that I could write quickly under pressure. I learned that I could go out “in the field” and be a journalist. And I learned that this was something that I could see myself doing for a long time.
Monday June 28th
It was a little bit of a let down coming back to NPR stories after getting sent out on an actual story. Matt did compliment me on my photos and copy (another word for the written part of a story… thing they thought I knew but didn’t #207) which was wonderfully affirming!
In addition to NPR stories, I listened to one of our radio shows (The Patt Morrison Show) and wrote an article for the web about the broadcast. I was instructed to treat the broadcast like a press release or an interview and to get good quotes. The only problem with getting good quotes from a radio show is that I cannot ask them to “please repeat that” or rewind my recorder. This project ended up being more difficult than I expected because, in addition to not being able to rewind, the main man being interviewed mumbled. He also was a politician so equivocations came out more often than the facts. The broadcast was about the Supreme Court 5-4 ruling about the Chicago gun ban and Patt Morrison was asking how we as Californians would be affected. I ended up with poor quotes and little to no knowledge of how the ruling would affect Californians. Luckily, John came to my rescue and told me that I could just use an AP (Associated Press) story and insert my best quote.
Today was a hard day and I felt like I made a lot of mistakes. I hope this will all go into the “learning experience” category and will someday be mentally retrieved for a good purpose.
Tuesday June 29th
Today was a little bit better than yesterday mainly because I finally got the chance to meet with Evan, the About Town producer. He and I went for coffee and talked about everything Arts and Culture. He gave me an overview of what they were looking for in the section and asked me about my interests. I told him that I have lived around Pasadena my whole life (“In fact I was born right there down the street!”) and that I loved anything arts, culture and otherwise about the area. He told me that he would love my help and he would put me in touch with his intern Holly via email (she is only in the office on Mondays and Wednesdays).
The rest of the day I uploaded NPR stories.
Monday July 5th
After my meeting with Evan, Holly emailed me. Today she and I met (I can already tell we will be great friends… I ate a big salad during our meeting and she told me she liked eating too) and discussed About Town. She told me roughly about her role in About Town (she is basically the assistant producer and does all of the audio editing, photo compiling and organization surrounding the weekly cultural event). After our meeting she sent me two possible stories: “Chico’s Angeles” (“crime fighting Latina drag queens”) or the Hammer Museum’s “Houseplant Vacation.” I wanted to cover both but would be out of town for Chico’s Angeles, so I picked the Houseplant Vacation to be covered on July 31st. I can’t wait!
I spent the rest of the day attempting to upload all of the leftover NPR stories from the weekend.
Tuesday July 6th
Today was a GREAT day as Matt, my AM boss asked me to help with the New Media Blog “Without a Net.” I was able to finish NPR stories early (there were only six today) so after that I surfed the web attempting to find anything blog-worthy. I spent a lot of time reading past blog posts so that my post would fit in (both in content and in writing style). After looking around and choosing a few different options, I remembered reading – get this, a QUOTE from a ROBOT—on my daily email from the New York Times. I rummaged through my inbox and recovered the article about Bina48, a robot designed to look, talk and act like a human.
See the blog post HERE!
Monday July 12th
Today I went to work and was overwhelmed by the amount of NPR stories. They had gathered over the weekend (I don’t know how/why/who is responsible for them over the weekend) but there was no physical way that I was going to be able to finish them all. Luckily, another intern, Collin, came and helped with the uploading. Together we were able to finish them. Then I started working on AP stories. This is only slightly different than NPR stories. While it’s still uploading, it is slightly less labor intensive, as AP stories are shorter and often don’t need a photo.
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I’m starting to feel like I am developing “The Mondays”… isn’t it too soon?
Tuesday July 13th
I’m writing this a day late as I did not really finish my KPCC work until 1:30 this morning. Monday I was feeling discouraged and even a little bored with my menial tasks (the novelty had worn off) but then Tuesday, John called again and asked if I could cover “The Fans of the All-Star Game” in Anaheim. I was thrilled. He told me I needed a good camera (meaning at the very least an SLR, which I most certainly did not have) and that I could borrow one from the office. Instead, my parents decided to give me my graduation gift early and we went and BOUGHT my VERY OWN SLR CAMERA!! (This all happened very quickly, in the matter of a couple of hours! My parents and I had been talking about a camera for a while [actually since my last story] but this was the deciding moment!) As a proud owner of a Canon SLR Rebel Ti I went to Anaheim Angels stadium and took pictures of the fans! (I also took pictures of the Border Angel protest outside of Angel Stadium, but these never made the web as I could never seem to connect with the woman who requested them)
I tried to talk my way into the stadium, but they would not let me in. For a brief second, I considered compromising my morals and masquerading as a worker as I paid someone off for their red STAFF shirt, but I of course did not do this. t, I ran back home (in the ideal world I would have gone to another wifi hotspot but I had all of my new camera software and just needed to spread out) and began the endless task of trying to figure out my new camera. This is when the night got long.
First, I had to empty space on my computer (this involved uploading a third-party software to tell me what I could/could not delete). Then I had to upload all of my camera software. Next I had upload all of the photos, select a handful out of over 100, edit them, write captions for them, compile them in a slideshow, embed them into the CMS and then write a story*. I was up until 1:30 in the morning, but it was worth it!!
*I wrote my own story but it never appeared on the web as they sent their official reporter to write the actual story. This was unfortunate and flattering as I guess they see me as a photographer now too...?
Monday July 19th
Today was another normal day of uploading NPR stories. I was asked again to do a “write-up” for a broadcast. Pete Carroll (former USC head football coach) was back in town and on the Patt Morrison show. This write-up went much more smoothly than the last. I got good quotes (he was extremely eloquent) and I was able to write a cohesive story. My PM boss James even told me he was impressed with my copy. I felt good about today.
Tuesday July 20th
Today was almost the exact same as yesterday except replace Pete Carroll with Brian Bilbray and replace “good quotes” with “tangential stories” and “eloquent” with “equivocated.” He talked for twenty minutes about Illegal Immigration and I still have no idea why he believes what he believes (even though Larry Mantle attempted to ask him about his stance in numerous different times and in many different ways). Congressman Bilbray would answer every question “Well Larry…” followed by a long story that made little to no sense and only made me more confused. I did not get a good copy and I left feeling discouraged both about work and about politicians.
Monday July 26th
Today I came to work and found that NPR stories had been backed up since last Tuesday. This was extremely overwhelming. I attempted to make the best of it but found that I work slower when I know that there is no hope of ever getting to a second task. Both KC and Collin helped and we ended up having to delete some of the stories from last week as they were quite literally “old news.”
The most exciting thing that happened to me today was that I finally got up the courage to talk to Patt Morrison. She doesn’t know it yet but we’re soul mates. She’s a vegetarian!!
Tuesday July 27th
Things at KPCC have turned into a routine. I actually woke up stressed today. I did not want to upload NPR stories. I convinced myself that coffee would help but this only made me more depressed as I feel like I am too young to dread work and become addicted to coffee. My mother reminded me that this is all part of “paying my dues” but sometimes I feel like I am going a little crazy. And actually today I felt like I was going half blind! My right eye kept fuzzing over. I am hoping it’s just my contact.
The most exciting thing that happened to me today involved making arrangements for the upcoming Houseplant Vacation! I was warned that it’s often hard to get in touch with the people that I need to interview at events like these so “start calling early!” Evan told me. I looked online, found Media Relations and they gave me the curators direct line and told me that if I did not reach her to call back for her more direct line. Within hours, Allison, the curator had called. She was kind, friendly and extremely informative, making my job an absolute breeze. She told me that she was free to talk at any time on Saturday.
Saturday July 31st
Houseplant Vacation
See the story HERE!!
Monday August 2nd
I got to work today excited to work on my Houseplant Vacation project, however Holly was working on a project of her own (she ended up doing Chico’s Angeles) and she needed the editing computer.
So it was back to NPR stories.
The most exciting thing that happened to me today was learning how to make sushi in the break room! My new friend Joe explained it to me as he ate his own hand made salmon-avocado roll.
Tuesday August 3rd
My Houseplant Vacation story has been put on hold until Chico’s Angeles has been published. In the meantime, I’m working on uploading NPR stories. I have discovered little tricks to the NPR stories, and once I even helped KC for a change!! (She is usually the one helping me) One of the more valuable things that I have learned from this internship is something that no one really taught me, it’s just something that I have noticed. I have little power to change the actual story, but I do have the power to change the photos and related links. If, for example, I did not particularly like Sarah Palin, I could (I don’t) link to some of the opinion stories about her, or post an unflattering photo.
I have learned the power of photographs while working here. I would be lying if I said I was never tempted to choose extremely unflattering ones (ones where leaders look like bullies or Jan Brewer has a double chin) but I, as an unbiased reporter, try very hard not to let my own opinion infiltrate the news. I hope that Dr. del Rio would be proud!
Also, today I posted my second blog post! It’s titled “Too Much Tweeting Can Lead to Depression?” and is accompanied by my very own work of “graphic design”!! I am by no means a graphic designer but I am very proud of my little artwork.
To see this blog post, click HERE!!
Monday August 9th
Today FINALLY I got to work on my Houseplant story. I had already picked my forty photos (out of over 200) and today I spent the morning editing them. When Holly was free she showed me how to upload the audio (I borrowed Evan’s Marantz) and then she showed me how to edit it in Soundtrack Pro. This was extremely exciting as I felt like my dowry was increasing by the minute! I now know how to edit audio!! After that, Holly took charge (they need to make sure everything is semi-uniform from one reporter to the next and Holly is the medium) and I observed her for a bit.
I did have to upload NPR stories today, but my excitement for the Houseplant Vacation made this very manageable.
Tuesday August 10th
I spent the hours before lunch today trying to make sure all NPR stories were caught up. Today is my last day. Honestly, I am extremely sad to be going. I am not ready to leave. I have had an amazing time interning here. I have loved the people, I have loved learning and I have loved being a journalist (in my small way). I know that I complain about NPR stories, but for menial work they weren’t that bad. I know I said this in the beginning, but I do like being informed (however there is only so much one can read about the oil spill).
I do feel like I have made some good connections (I got along really well with my boss and everyone here) and I really hope to find my way back to KPCC sometime soon. (I have actually been compulsively checking their job postings).
After lunch I sat down to write my copy for the Houseplant Vacation. It took me a long time to get started but once I did, it just came out beautifully. I am really proud of my houseplant story. They edited it a bit (but that’s writing) but I am proud of my work.
I am sad to leave, but I am happy to have had such a wonderful experience.
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