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- Category: Campus News
Lincoln, Pa. - Mass communication students had the chance to get career advice directly from television and radio professionals during several campus visits and field trip to off-site studios in Philadelphia.
Trip to Philadelphia
More than 15 Lincoln University students learned first-hand how professional television and radio stations operate during a recent trip to Philadelphia. Students enrolled in COM-331 Digital News Reporting and Production toured the WPVI 6ABC studio in Philadelphia and iHeart Media and iHeartRadio on March 24.
At WPVI, students met with Vice President and General Manager Bernie Prazenica and Public Affairs Manager Anika Hawkins. They also spoke with students who were recently hired by WPVI and interns in the news department.
The students, mostly juniors and seniors, met with 30-year-radio-veteran Lorraine Morill who is the Public Affairs Director at iHeart Media group in Philadelphia.
Both tours ended with an hour-long scheduled question-and-answer session where the students asked anchor men and women questions about the industry. Some of the topics included diversity and the reliance on social media for the new generation.
Lincoln senior Briana Miller said, “Going to WPVI opened my eyes more to the field of journalism, so much that I actually would like to pursue a career in being a news anchor.”
“Visiting iHeart Media influenced me to give a career in radio a chance because it can lead to many other opportunities.”
The advice repeated throughout the day was that students need to have a portfolio of work to show prospective employers and that the students should start now. The professional broadcasters in radio and television said to gather the work samples beginning during their freshman year so that the student has time to fine tune their work in time for internships junior or senior year.
About 130 students major in mass communications.
Mass Comm Day on Campus
On March 23, Ron Martin from WGAL 8NBC in Lancaster was among several broadcast industry professionals who visited campus for Mass Comm Day. Organized by Dr. Jamila Cupid, Dr. Nicole Files Thompson, Dean Cheryl Renee Gooch and the Mass Communications Department. Martin, an HBCU alumni, graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., with a degree in communications.
The Media Center worked in concert with the Mass Communications Department for the day-long program.
Al Box from the Media Center said, “I was glad the students had a chance to see all the possibilities the broadcast industry has to offer, and understand that no job is too small.”
“Working hard and staying humble is the key to success in any field.”
The Media Center houses Lincoln University’s radio station, WWLU 88.7 FM, which also streams live. The Media Center also houses the closed circuit TV system (LU-TV), which has 4 channels for students to showcase their projects and air programs.
The Media Center has state-of-the-art digital and HD equipment in both its studios and control room with Panasonic multi-format cameras for that professional touch. There are five workstations with Final Cut-Pro 7 and four stations with Adobe Audition for students. The Center loans out professional digital and HD camera equipment, tripods and audio recorders.
By Shelley Mix. Photos by Al Box.