My first couple of weeks at NY1 have been great. So far I have gone on shoots with two different reporters and logged several tapes for the entertainment division. I assisted the reporters by carrying the tripod, selecting people for interviews, and helping them set up their shots. The topic of the first piece was about the Brooklyn Dodgers and NY Giants. I went to Brooklyn with the New York Living reporter Paul Messina. Our main goal was to ask "Old Timers" if they had any input towards the games they saw when they were younger. We went to restaurants, baseball card stores, and simply interviewed random people walking on the street.
The second reporter that I went out with was the entertainment reporter Paul Lombardi. The story was the induction of the new Maestro of the Philharmonic Symphony. The event lasted 2 hours and our objective was to interview the Maestro, musicians from the orchestra and other important figures.
At NY1, they try to rotate job responsibilities such as working at the assignment desk, writer's pod, editing bays, the ENG unit or the sports department. I aim to get a clean understanding of the way the newsroom and the different departments function. Every department has different duties and responsibilities that need to be carried out.
I also find it interesting that every reporter has to carry their own equipment. They have to first call the ENG department in order to have a news assistant assign a camera and tripod to them. The significance of the story, determines whether or not a crew joins the reporter on his or her shoot. The reporters carry their own equipment, shoot their own stand-ups, and drive themselves to the location. I find it challenging enough to gather your ideas and information for the piece. These reporters do that and more. It's a lot to handle while still concentrating on the deliverance of the story.
Overall, NY1 is a small local cable newstation that has slowly built its credibility since its inception in the fall of '92. I'm excited to learn each day and, most of all, network with important people. NY1 is a great place to learn and work. You get the chance to work on important productions while seeing the whole process from beginning to end. It is a great place to gain valuable experience that can help me with my career in the future.
I plan on taking advantage of every situation and soaking in as much information as possible because you never know where it can take you.