CUTV Live Newscast offers opportunities to students
CALIFORNIA – In its inaugural showing, the CUTV Live Newscast has become a source in the region for local news, political coverage and feature stories concerning the lives of students at California University of Pennsylvania. As the first year for CUTV Live Newscast ends, many of the students who anchor the broadcast are preparing to graduate and forge careers in broadcasting. Those who made the move to live broadcasting reflect on the achievements and opportunities that have evolved in this last year at the CUTV News Center.
“When CUTV decided to take the news live this year, it created a sense of professionalism and organization,” said Amber McDonald, who has been a news anchor for CUTV for three years and a reporter her first year with the program.
Anchor Jim Lokay agrees.
“The opportunity of doing the news live has given us a valuable learning experience that will give us an edge that other college graduates majoring in broadcasting won’t have,” Lokay said.
“When they told us we were going to do it live, I was excited. Before then, we taped the show, and we were able to go back and edit. Now, we don’t have a crutch, there is no safety net. If you mess up, you have to think on your feet and keep going.”
Director of CUTV Newscenter Jeff Helsel said he understood the benefits of creating a live broadcast.
“This is the perfect way to keep CUTV growing. By going live, we have taken this program to the next level,” Helsel said. “The students have done an excellent job meeting the challenges laid before them, and the news going live has been a complete success.”
Evidence of CUTV’s success is growing outside the boundaries of California University.
Recently, CUTV joined CNN’s Student Bureau, providing students the opportunity to send story ideas to CNN.
“If CNN producers approve the story, students will develop and report stories that will be aired on CNN,” Helsel said.
“We have received a lot of viewer feedback, including suggestions for stories. We cover both local and national news.
“Our goal is to examine the national news and translate how it affects us locally here in Washington, Fayette, Greene and Westmoreland counties,” Helsel said.
“One element we cannot overlook is how important the technical aspect of going live is,” McDonald adds. “The technical crew is an integral part of whether the newscast will be a success or not. The crew has given us the support that we, as news anchors, need to get the job done.”
The technical crew consists of many freshmen who have risen to the challenge of doing the news live.
There is a sense of urgency behind the scene to get things right. Before they go on air, students run through the newscast to practice the technical operations.
“The first couple newscasts, I was really nervous about messing up, but now it is simply routine,” said freshman Greg Beretz, who controls the audio during the news.
“I have learned so much,” freshmen Bob Macowski said. “You don’t get this kind of experience anywhere. Coming to college and getting to be involved with a live newscast is an amazing opportunity. This is what I hope to do after college, and this will look great on my resume.”
Helsel is confident that, with live broadcasting experience under their belts, students involved with CUTV have a definite edge entering the workforce.
The CUTV-Live experience provides the necessary skills to be competitive in the broadcasting industry.
CUTV bids farewell to seniors Amber McDonald (news anchor), Jim Lokay (news anchor), Fred Rihn (sports anchor), Chad Merrill (weather anchor), Chris Naille (weather anchor), Alan Petkoe (technical), Joe Dipippa (technical) and Lauren Priest (technical).
“This experience has been a lot of fun. Intense, but overall a wonderful opportunity,” said news anchor Laura Michalak.