News 7 Writeup

Lyndon State College is unlike any other college because of its intense hands-on Television program. News 7 is based on campus and is organized and run by the students themselves. This station operates almost exactly like a real news organization, broadcasting a newsbreak at three o’clock that tells viewers what to expect for the later half hour news show from 5:30pm to 6 o’clock Monday through Friday. There are many different aspects to working in the newsroom from reporters, field camera operators, anchors, a director, producer, and a team of behind the scenes students who help broadcast the show. Everyday reporters and cameramen/women find and go out on their own stories and leads that then get put on the evening broadcast either that very night or the following night. Once back they edit their footage and add voice-overs. After that the next step is setting up the newsroom.
In the hour before the show the newsroom becomes frantic. Technical difficulties, timing issues, and conflicts all arise and must be fixed by the 5:30 deadline because ‘the show must go on.’ Besides all the stories being loaded into the data base and the ‘rundown’, basically the playbill, being rearranged there are a number of jobs that students occupy that are all essential for the show to run. ‘Behind the scenes’ jobs include audio, who sets the levels and brings the sound in and out during the show, ‘Playback’ who loads each video and plays it at the correct time, and the two camera operators who frame up each shot and move around the studio during the show. Each job is equally important and without one of them the show could not happen.
         News 7 covers the surrounding towns of the Northeast Kingdom and has an impact of the people who tune in. As a rule of thumb the stories we cover cannot be about Lyndon State itself unless it has a big enough impact on the greater community. This is because the majority of the statistical population that watches the broadcast is the elderly non-college community. We cater to stories that affect their lives such as town meetings in other towns that may result in changes that they may not have heard about otherwise. Anyone who watches the show can critique what they have seen online, and many people do. Lyndon State has received many awards due to our television program.
About 90% of students who graduate from Lyndon State College through the Television program get jobs right out of college, many of which are spread out throughout the United States.

Audio:  Ryan Holmes
Pictures and Soundslides: Bryan White
Write up: Richie Hansen