Photo Courtesy of Catherine Welch
The countdown begins to flash on the monitor. The sponsorships and commercials come to a close, and your producer starts the countdown from 5. It’s hustle and bustle until finally, all is quiet, the On Air sign is lit, and all that can be heard is the news resounding throughout the studio.
I had the pleasure of working in this exciting environment during my time as a summer intern at Melissa in the Morning at WICC. WICC specially covers the hyperlocal news of Southern Connecticut and is owned, along with many other Southern Connecticut radio stations, by Connoisseur Media.
Let me take you through my first day. My alarm rang at 5 a.m. on an early summer morning. I tried to remember the route I made in my room so that I could find my business clothes and the door to the bathroom as quickly as possible, but the combination of the stark early morning and the lack of sunlight proved this to be more difficult than anticipated.
When I arrived at the studio, I was greeted by floor-to-ceiling wallpaper themed around the different studios: famous rock, pop, and R&B artists greeted me until I saw the wallpaper for WICC.
I have met Melissa before, in fact, I wrote an article about her last summer for The College Reporter, and I was not surprised that her jovial and welcoming personality greeted me when I entered the studio. Melissa asked me right off the bat what I wished to get out of my internship. I told her I was interested in investigative journalism, along with editing and producing. Melissa and her producer Eric Urbanowicz delivered on just that.
I started by writing interview questions for Melissa to use during her interviews. I sat in on all her interviews, in person and over the phone, and witnessed her professionalism, and graceful ability to end an interview so that she has time to talk to more people. I worked with Eric at the soundboard and nervously timed when to cut sponsorships and turn Melissa’s microphone on. Finally, it was time for me to conduct my own investigative story.
Melissa encouraged me to dive into news that could benefit the local community. After a recent experience with identity theft, I decided to dive into how identity theft affects the teens of Connecticut. I first conducted research, to which I formed my pressing questions, and scheduled an interview with Detective Richard Mahoney over the phone. Then, Eric showed me how to cut the segment down and focus on the pieces that were most important to air. I presented my research to Melissa live on air in early July, and walked out of the studio a little taller that day: I felt like a real media journalist.
I went on the road with WICC to local diners in Southern Connecticut, I practiced my persuasive and succinct writing to write the bios for Melissa’s podcasts, and I met and learned from multiple influential figures in Southern Connecticut.
However, the most important thing I took away from my internship is this: News has the fastest expiration date out of all perishables. Journalism is a fast-paced industry. You must constantly be on your game to discover stories, and then be able to determine if these stories have enough substance in them to be able to present. Then, you have to see who you can interview to corroborate the story —and who would actually answer your calls/emails— and finally craft the presentation of the story in an understandable and straight-to-the-point way for various listeners. The point is, the timer on the top of the screen is always ticking down.
If you’re feeling a little stressed out, here’s the good news: media is the reflection of the presenter’s individuality. While the news may seem straightforward, Melissa focuses on presenting news that would affect and benefit the community directly, while remaining bipartisan on local politics. However, there are other journalists that work for WICC that focus more on national issues and opinionated pieces.
I feel more than prepared to carve my own path in media journalism, thanks to Melissa Sheketoff, Eric Urbanowitz, and everyone at WICC, and as I gaze at the road ahead, I know I’ll never forget my time as an intern at Connoisseur Media.
Junior Catherine Welch is a Staff Writer. Her email is cwelch@fandm.edu