Internship Update: Events, Events, & More Events!

The past few days featured a lot of work outside of the station, particularly in front of my computer screen. Admittedly, the title for this post is a bit misleading, because I haven't actually attended a plethora of events... yet. But my work for the week involved a lot of online digging similar to what I do when planning an on-air story and all of it had ties to local events.

My first big internship assignment was to research and create a schedule of events throughout Maine this summer. Sarah and I plan to attend many of the events in-person and share them on her social media accounts via pictures, video, etc., or, at the very least, profile them online as a part of her forecasts.

I combed through a variety of websites about Maine events in an effort to find and include as many noteworthy, appealing, or just plain bizarre festivities as possible. Events that made the cut ranged from town fairs to lobster festivals to free farm days (and everything in between). The end result was a 13-page document filled with ideas for social media content that will have local appeal.

From here, Sarah and I will use the calendar as a reference point, especially when prominent news and weather events are hard to find. Beyond that, viewers like to be able to relate to TV personalities, and connecting with them by showing interest in local events is the perfect opportunity to do just that. And, of course, who doesn't like fair food?! All around, it's an assignment I could get used to this summer!

Summer Internship: Getting Started at WMTW-8

After a month-long hiatus, I'm finally back in the newsroom and couldn't be happier about it! This past week marked the start of my summer internship at WMTW-8, which broadcasts out of the Portland, Maine, market.

As a part of my internship, I'll be doing social media and web work for my longtime mentor, Sarah Long. Sarah is a meteorologist and web coordinator for WMTW who operates professional accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and the station's web pages. My role will involve updating and maintaining her accounts, as well as accompanying her to noteworthy events for the purpose of grabbing social media content.

Sarah and I met at the station this past weekend to discuss the plan for the summer and it quickly became apparent that we both have a lot of big ideas. Over the next week, I'll be researching interesting events and functions throughout southern Maine and putting a calendar together for us to refer back to throughout the summer.

I also met the weekend news/production team while visiting the station and immediately felt like part of the crew. They're a really welcoming group and I felt at home right away, which can be hard to come by at times in the TV news industry. In addition to the social media components of my internship, I'll likely have the opportunity to shadow the weekend anchors and reporters as they research and pursue story ideas. More to come on this later!

All things considered, it was a great first week and, more importantly, nice to find my way back to a live TV studio. And any first day that ends with pizza is certainly a win in my book. Here's to a great summer as the newest intern at WMTW!