okee dokey

So this idiot thought he was a reporter (because he assumed the world was spinning naturally and a man was a reporter twice in a row) today, so he didn't check the chart and looked for stories knowing someone would bale him out and give him a story when he arrived in class at 12:30. Oh yeah, and he dressed up.
When this idiot arrived in class someone said, "hey, aren't you an anchor?" and he responded, "okee dokey."
This was a great relief for this idiot (the idiot's name is tyler.) He quickly got on the phones to some important Onondaga residents for their responses to the announcement of the building of the new hotel at DestuNY USA. Unfortunately, John DeFrancisco was out and Bethaida Gonzalez is in China. He talked to Mark Stanczyk who was an incredibly nice little County Legislator for the beautiful and often talked about 9th district.
After everything was done, he was satisfied with his performance and with his groups performance and excited to carry on with his life after Thursday at 4:30.

Three Posts in One

I got my inspiration for my first election day story by watching Monday Night Football. I saw A LOT of commercials for county executive candidates during the game and I noticed Bill Magnarelli had quite a few that targeted Mahoney's lack of experience. So interviewed Magnarelli and Bill Ryan about his campaign ads. Manarelli got really defense about it, and went on a two minute rant about how he's more experienced and because he's got more experience he is hands down the best candidate. He even said the experience of the two candidates should be the determining factor in the election. Bill Ryan agreed on that same point.

My second election day story just kind of happened. I was originally going to go to the Democratic Party at night for most likely what was going to be Magnarelli's concession speech. On the way back to South Campus, I spotted a man with a Magnarelli sign standing at the corner of Stafford and Comstock. I saw him in the morning and the afternoon and thought this guy must have great endurance. Turned out he wasn't there all day, but three hours total. That's a lot for a guy who's 76 and it was about 35 degrees out all day. I interviewed him about his efforts. His name was Skip Mattson and Skip was a very politically knowledgeable guy. He talked to me for ten minutes about a wide range of local to national political issues. It was his first year supporting a candidate in this manor. A chair on Magnarelli's campaign board asked him if he would volunteer his time during rush hour on Election Day.

Today I was a producer for Team C or the 4:05 broadcast. My anchor was good old A.J. Donatoni, and my reporters were Gino Wang and Ranbir Boyal. Together we put forth a strong effort, despite near disasters finding stories. I was happy that I put together a rundown that consisted of no copy stories. In radio, I feel like listeners aren't tuning in to hear the anchors voice. So I try to get as many of the words of people who are actually involved in making the news we are reporting onto the air. The only drawback of my no-copy rundown is all my stories were essentially local stories except for A.J.'s phoner to an Ithaca professor about the economy going down the tubes.

Slipping into My Story...Litterally.

So, it had to be fitting that the OnCenter has the shiniest and cleanest floors out of any building...and that they were hosting the SANICO cleaning expo. The floors were so clean, and my shoes were so impractical, that I stumbled 4 times, tripped 3 times, and full on WIPED OUT face first on the floor, scattering the contents of my bag, my keys, and 2/3 of the contents of my Red Bull on the handicapped entrance to the OnCenter once.

I learned a lot about Microfibers when I was there. I got to speak to a sales rep named Diane (who didn't want to give a recorded interview), and she was telling me all about how microfibers are going to revolutionize industrial cleaning. She demonstrated all of these microfiber towels on my hands, and they were so good at getting into nooks and crannies, that they even snagged on my finger prints.

I also couldn't report on my favorite thing; Expo's = FREE STUFF. When I was there, the sales people were trying to stuff things into my arms and bag, even after I told them I was not allowed to take anything. I almost made it out of there with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, Clorox wipes, a frisbee, pens, pencils, a calculator, a calendar, wood floor cleaner, a mop head... you name it, I almost got it.

Are we on the verge of another Cold War?

It might not be quite that serious, but Mehrzad Boroujerdi spoke firmly about the potenital nuclear hostility between the United States and Iran. Listening to him speak was very interesting because I could tell looking at him that he knew what he was talking about. And because Ranbir mentioned to me that he is, in fact, Iranian, then that tells me he has some personal experience with the matter. I also looked at his Curriculum Vitae and saw that he's written so much about Iran. The thing about his speech that really stuck with me is when he was talking about potentially using a bomb on Iran. He brought up the question of whether the United States wants the onus on it as the first country to use nuclear weapon since World War II. Another thing that really got the attention of the crowd of people (that, apparently contained some of the losing candidates in various elections, but I didn't recognize any of them) was when he mentioned how many Americans thought that a military strike was necessary or if it would actually happen. They were both around the same number: 53%. 53% of all Americans think that a miltary strike against Iran should happen, and 53% also think that it will happen. That caused the crowed to gasp in surprise. The thing about Professor Boroujerdi is that I could tell he is a great professor and an interesting man. He somehow brought an appropriate analogy to the relationship between the U.S. and Iran. I believe he used Kramer vs. Kramer, two former lovers who now very much dislike each other and get on each other's nerves.

Overall, this was an interesting story to cover, but I did have some difficulties. First of all, I tried to ask the professor if I could speak with him after the presentation, however he had to teach a class at 9:30 so he wasn't available. Luckily, I sat right up front so my sound wasn't awful (but it definitely wasn't as good as I would've hoped). The issue of Bush potentially bombing Iran is also something that's been in the news, but there's no conclusive evidence to say that it will happen. I couldn't find an article in the American media that said anything about this possibility. I found one story in The Telegraph in London, and one in the Australian in Australia, but none in the U.S. But in the end, I finished the story and I thought it was very interesting.

A Producer's Story

Today I was a producer again. It wasn't a big news day but there were a lot of good stories to choose from. I decided to lead with an anchor actuality about the DestiNY green hotel plan. Some of our other stories included the decline in holiday sales, the toy hall of fame and the recall of the toy Aqua Dots. Andrew did a wrap about the Thursday Morning Roundtables. And, Annie did her wrap about a cleaning expo at the Oncenter. During the newscast, we were top heavy again. I took out a story in the first block and it was still too much. Looking back, I should have also cut the holiday sales story. I realized at the end that a lot of my stories were too long. I added more words to them because I was afraid we would not have enough to fill time. From this, I've learned to keep it short, especially copy stories.

At the end of the newscast Matt, my anchor, only had 25 seconds to finish. Matt did a great job cutting down our kicker and weather to finish exactly on time. I definitely need to work on my timing in the newscasts. We finished our rundown about a half hour before our anchor had to be in the booth. Matt had a lot of time to read and time the script before we went in. Even though we timed him in the classroom, it did not work out like that in the booth. Today I've learned that less is more. It's better to write less in the copy stories in the first block. If you need more, use a floater!

Decision: 2007 Style

After a week of anticipation leading up to election day, I can say that attending the spaghetti supper in Syracuse was more fun that I originally thought it would be. It was neat to hob-nob with several important political figures in the Syracuse area, considering this is the best (and probably only) time to really get to talk with them. My two favorite interviews were with Bill Ryan and Bill Magnarelli (pictured, pic taken from www.voteforjobsnewyork.com), two candidates who had something interesting to say and who were not afraid to speak their minds. It was fun to actually talk with them and see what they are really like. Plus, the whole place smelled like an Italian restaurant, which was awesome. That definitely put me in a good mood to begin with and actually made everything easier.

I also talked with the pastor of the church and the men providing the musical entertainment (again, Italian music). There was so much going on that there were literally tens of stories to choose from, but eventually I settled on focusing on Ryan, mainly because I liked the sound he gave. I probably could have made my wrap deeper with a better quote from him, but all in all I think I used enough from him with two SOTs.

My only regret was not paying to eat lunch. I was starving the whole time, and in hindsight I should have paid for a nice spaghetti meal. And the dessert looked good as well. As it turns out, I did not have lunch that day, because I went straight back to the room to complete the wrap. Oh well. I have a reliable source who informed me the food was mediocre anyway.

And the winner is...

Election Day 2008 turned out to be a lot easier and more exciting than I had originally anticipated. First, I covered the Spaghetti Supper at Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic School. I had no idea what to expect and was completely overwhelmed when I got there. After a few minutes of wandering around, the Democratic candidate for District Attorney, Tina Bennet, pulled me aside and asked me if I were the student who emailed her about an interview. I told her I wasn't but asked if I could do one anyway and made a fool of myself by not knowing who she was or that she was running for something.

After that, I felt a lot more comfortable and wound up interviewing about seven or eight people. In addition to Bennet, I talked to Democrat Bill Magnarelli, Larry Sunser, who was one of the cooks "behind-the-scenes," a woman working at the raffle table, one of the student volunteers, and two older women who talked to me about how much they like coming to the dinner every year. One of the women, Carol Wilhelm, said she uses the Spaghetti Supper to make her final decision and then goes out and votes afterwards. Sunser, however, said he thinks all the candidates go "sour," so to speak, when they get into office. He doesn't believe that any of them are particularly good.

Last night, I went to the Republican Headquarters at the Holiday Inn at Liverpool to cover the Republican side of the election with WAER. The big story, of course, was Joanie Mahoney's win for county executive, which brought lots of screaming and cheering to the Holiday Inn. It was actually really exciting. I also spoke with Bill Harper, who ran for Councilor-at-Large. He didn't win, but it was interesting to talk to him because he said he kind of expected to lose and had prepared himself for it throughout his campaign. My news team also had interviews with Syracuse Common Councilor Ryan McMahon, Republican Party Chair John DeSpirito, District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick and of course, Joanie Mahoney post-victory. Mahoney said she's going to get working immediately. We asked her how she felt about being the first woman in this position, and she said she hadn't even thought about it yet, but that when she has time to let it all settle in, she'll realize that being the first woman county executive is very significant.

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

What an Election Day 08. My first story brought me to the spaghetti supper around noon, with my other 15 classmates as well. Going in I had no idea what to expect, and when I got there, I realized I was somehow going to have to think of something. I did love the old time Italian music though and the smell of spaghetti and meatballs. Because I did not necessarily know what the politicians looked like, I thought it might be an interesting angle to do a story about the actual event itself. In my wrap I include a sot from Father Paul Angellichio, and one of the volunteers who helped prepare the event.

I really learned a lot about the history of the event and the amount of preparation that goes into making it a sucess. The event has gone on for 58 years at the Our Lady of Pompei Church. It takes approximately 2-3 months to call all the volunteers and gather all donations. I even spoke to the singers, who both said that they have been performing for over 50 years! They each said their favorite part of the event was just singing for the people and watching everybody have fun. I left with enough sound, but more importantly an appreciation for the event and what it stands for.

Fast forward 8 hours to 9:00 p.m for my second story. It brought me and Jon Erwin to the Empire Room at the State Fairgrounds for the Democratic election night party. This time, it was just me and Jon who made the trek. In the beginning, there were not a lot of people inside. Those that were seemed to be gravitating more towards the bar. Again like the spaghetti supper, I didn't know a lot of the faces, so what I did was when News10 would interview someone live, I would go to the television and read the graphic on who it was. That's how I got my first interview, Mayor Matt Driscoll. He said he really thinks the race for Onondaga County Executive had more buzz because there has only been two of them in 45 years, and because Joanie Mahoney has a chance to make history, being the first woman to hold the position.

Around 11:00, I'm dead tired, but in comes Bill Magnarelli, who is ready to concede to Joanie Mahoney. He gets up on the podium and I knew I wasn't going to pick up any sound holding my microphone up in the audience. I didn't want to get yelled at by Professor Nicholson, so I ran in front of the podium and laid down with my microphone held up in the air. After eight or so minutes he finished, with my arm really hurting. He didn't get into the details of the race, rather it was more of the congratulations Joanie type speech. So I knew I still needed to try to talk to him and ask him some questions that needed to be asked.

About 30 minutes after all the big stations were done talking with him, I tapped him on the shoulder and asked him for a few minutes. I asked him among other questions why he thinks he lost, what would he have done differently. He told me he wished he had started earlier focusing in on Joanie's inexperience. He said he thinks the fact that she was a woman with an opportunity to make history, as well as his Albany connection was the one-two punch. So around 11:30 me and Jon were finally out of there. An extremely long day, but well worth it. By far my favorite day in RTN this year. I learned a lot and had fun doing it.

spaghettifinal.mp3...

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Oh Democrats!

Spaghetti Supper.m...

When I walked into the Spaghetti Supper yesterday morning, my eyes widened. I knew this was going to be like shooting fish in a barrel. In my wrap, I covered how the event brings politicians of both parties together. It feature quotes from Deb Moynihan, running for the county legislature in the 19th district, and Bill Magnarelli's brother Tom. Tom Magnarelli captured it the best, "Any kinds of animosities or differences that seem to kind of create a gap seem to melt over a dish of spaghetti."

Moynihan also said that she wanted people to realize she would be as committed as a legislator as she is in everything else. I also talked to her mom who echoed similar sentiments. Moynihan was also looking to use this election to make a name for herself in the political spectrum because she is such an unknown. Later, at the democratic party celebration, I interviewe Lovie Winslow, the democratic candidate from the 19th district. She was still against raising taxes in the county. She also said she expected the democratic party to have multiple victories and take a majority in the county legislature. The 19th district election was portrayed in the media as an election based on race since Winslow is black and Moynihan is white. Supposedly Winslow was going for the black vote while Moynihan was going for the white vote. Winslow said the election was actually more based on the issues than on race.


Back to the Spaghetti Supper. I thought it would be interesting to get a look at the event from outside the political spectrum. A sixth grade teaher and two of her students were selling cookbooks and calendars to help raise money for field trips. One of the kids said they wanted to go on "big field trips" like to Albany. Another lady had a booth set up near the entrance that was trying to raise awareness and money for scholarships for kids to go to school at Our Lady of Pompei.

Right before Joanie Mahoney left, she had time for a quick interview with me. She said that the Spaghetti Supper was great for the politicians to be able to sit next to each other and just have fun and it was good for the community to help raise money for the church. She said the politicians will continue to come to Our Lady of Pompei on election day because it is such a tradition. There are other events throughout the area, but this is the one to which everyone goes. Mahoney also discussed that she has been campaigning as if she has been down in the polls and that the poll in the Post-Standard is misleading. She said she still needs her voters to come out. Mahoney, after hesitating a bit to think, said that she responded to Magnarelli's negative ads by staying positive and focusing on the issues. She wanted people to know the negative ads were out there because she believed if they were left unchallenged, people would think they were true.

Later on in the night I went to the Democratic party celebration. There were few people there at the beginning. Diane Dwire, the Chairwoman of the Onondaga County Democrat Committee, said she was excited to see the results of the party's hard work. "Everybody put there whole heart and soul into it," Dwire said. She expected multiple successes for the party especially in some of the towns in Onondaga County. Dwire also said that the vacancy left by Pirro at the county executive position is the reason why their has been so many debates and discussions about the issues.

Later I briefly talked with Lovie Winslow, as mentioned above, and Kathleen Joy, the Onondaga County Legislator At-Large candidate. Finally, about 15-20 minutes after Mahoney gave her victory speech, Magnarelli came in and conceded. He is still going to be a state assemblyman. One main theme from his speech and introduction was the Albany effect in elections. This is describing the lack of success that state politicians working in Albany have while running for local offices. Magnarelli said he was looking forward to working with Mahoney in the future.

Before I left, I talked with District Attorney candidate Tina Bennett who gave the quote of the night. In response to me asking if William Fitzpatrick's financial problems helped her in the polls, she responded, "Definitely because people don't like corrupt politicians now do they?" I proceeded to ask if she is saying Fitzpatrick is one she said no but said that constituants don't want politicians who act like politicians.

Spaghetti Supper

Moynihan Hoperul -...

The story I decided to report on was Deborah Moynihan. She ran for the 19th district legislator and I had what was a very interesting interview with her yesterday at the spaghetti supper. What I couldn't fit into my story which I found interesting was how hard Moynihan says she worked on her campaign. I could tell from her bloodshot eyes that she must not have been getting much sleep lately. She told me about how she went door to door throughout her election to talk to voters. Moynihan says she met with 1140 voters, and mailed about 7500. She said she had done way more than her opponent Lovie Winslow who had the worst attendance record among legislators. Also she told me that she was the first ever candidate the 'paper' endorsed against the incumbent. I enjoyed how enthusiastic Moynihan was about the election and it really seems like she loves what she is doing.

Election day

WHEREFINAL.mp3

Election day is one of the most important days of a year, but 70% of the registered voters in Syracuse simply don't seem to care. According to election supervisors at the polling station in Civic Center downtown,
only 30% of the eligible voters in Onondaga County actually vote. Most of these people are between the ages of 40 to 60.

When I was at the polling station, the election supervisors told me they get paid 150 dollars a day to be there to assisst the voters with voting. But some of them feel kind of guilty because there were so few people and they were seriously bored. Also, one of the interesting things that didn't make it in my story was that of the four election supervisors at each polling table, two must be Democrats and two must be Republicans. They said such arrangement is to ensure the integrity of their supervising. Basically, it was a 2-2 pair up so that when one person goes to the restroom, the other can watch over the two from the other party and make sure that they are not doing something naughty. I thought it was really funny, and it's something you wouldn't know unless you get into direct contact with these people.

Election Day Coverage

goldsteinvoting.mp...

On Election Day, I went to the Spaghetti Supper and the polling place at the Goldstein Student Center. At the Spaghetti Supper I had a difficult time finding people to talk to. I ended up talking to a lot of volunteers for the event. I found out that many of the volunteers are members of Our Lady of Pompei church. Some of them have been volunteering for years. Tom Magnarelli, Bill Magnarelli's brother, is a member of the chuch and attended Our Lady of Pompei school. Magnarelli has been volunteering at the event for over 15 years. Magnarelli told me that the Spaghetti Supper is a tradition for his family.

I also spoke with Nick Pirro, the former county executive. Pirro had a lot of supporting words for Joanie Mahoney. He said that Mahoney brings the best energy and ideas to the campaign. Pirro hopes the next county governor takes advantage of the existing county government and helps it to progress foward.

Later on Election Day, I went to the Goldstein Student Center on South Campus. I was able to speak to a few young voters about their opinions. One voter thought this was a primary election. She was hoping to vote for either Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama. She was suprised to not recognize any of the names on the ballot but voted in favor of her party.

Election Day in CNY

It was a RTN 311/364 reunion in Pomepeii's Cathedral School yesterday, but instead of sitting down for a four hour lecture, the class got to interview and mingle with a 'whos who' list of Syracuse politicians. "Are you student reporters? From SU? In Professor Nicholson's class?" As soon as I walked into the school I was asked these questions by several different people and that made approaching people easier since they already had an idea of why I was there and what I was going to ask. I found that our class stood out like a sore thumb - with our reporter notebooks and recorders giving it away, but most people who weren't busy enjoying their spaghetti were approachable and happy to answer questions.

I interviewed Michele Pirro Bailey who was running for the vacant position of Family Court Judge. She won, defeating Democratic rival Mark Waldauer by a substantial percentage of the vote. Bailey treated me like a professional reporter and provided thoughtful answers to all of my questions. Bailey was confident that she would be elected, and even cited her experience as a mother of two as a qualification. The hardest part about conducting the interview was that I didn't really have any hard hitting questions. I'd only researched the major players (Nick Pirro, Bill Magnarelli, Joanie Mahoney, etc.) and I regretted that strategy as soon as the interview with Bailey got underway. I really wish I knew more about her history, her campaign, and the issues she plans to implement as Family Court Judge but I still survived the interview and got a great sound bite that I used in my wrap. I tried getting an interview with her opponent Mark Waldauer, but I had no idea what he looked like until it was too late. Another case of not being prepared!
For my second location I went to the Goldstein voting booth and learned just how sketchy poll inspectors can be. I didn't have a permission letter to get into the voting room, but I managed to sneak in (suit and tie finally pays off) and began looking for people to interview. I went from table to table, ward to ward, until I finally got somebody willing to speak to me. Most of the people I asked for interviews told me they were forbidden to talk to anyone, but luckily one guy said yes and I had a story. Election Inspector Harry Robinson let me know that there had hardly been any students there to vote since 5 A.M. that morning. He noted the weather, the fact that many students aren't from the Syracuse area, and the location of the polls as reasons why student turn out was so low.

(picture from http://pirrobailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/bailey1.jpg

"We're here to have Spaghetti and support a good cause."

Africk- Spaghetti ...

Going into today, I was really nervous about my stories. I knew that I was going to the Spaghetti Supper, but I was scared that I didn't know enough to interview a politician. The whole idea for my story started on the drive up to the church. While trying to find aparking spot, people in my car spotted some kids and an adult on the corner of the street, yelling to vote for Bob Antonacci. At first that was a backup story, but it quickly became the basis for my story. One of the first people to greet everyone walking in (after William Fitzpatrick) was Bob Antonacci himself. I decided to talk to him because I already knew that I could break the ice pretty easily. It turned out that the kids rallying on the street corner were actually his children, as Noel told me later. But Antonacci himself was very friendly. What didn't make it into my wrap was the fact that he has an even more personal connection to the church. Not only did he go to school there, worships there now, but his mom actually ran the Spaghetti Supper in the '70s. He was the guy who actually said the quote that's in my title. It was also interesting that there's seldom been a CPA as County Comptroller. You'd think that someone handling the money of the county should have a background in accounting.

Aside from my talk with Antonacci, I had a great time speaking with a bunch of politicians. Mark me down for speaking with Bill Magnarelli, Bill Ryan and Nick Pirro. Between the last two, they've attended over 50 Spaghetti Suppers. Ryan said he came to 48 consecutive suppers, and Pirro said he attended each time he was elected. The whole dynamic of the event was fascinating.
Something about politics triggers some form of excitement in my mind. While I may not know the most about any one race, it was still fun to learn about the different races from the actual candidates running in them. Overall this was the most fun day of reporting yet because I learned so much and still got a great story out of it. (Pictures from http://www.ongov.net/Executive/ and http://arborheights.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/spaghetti.jpg)

Politics and Pasta!

For my two stories today I covered the polling place at the Whitman School and the Spaghetti Supper. I got up early to get to Whitman around eight because I thought there might be a decent amount of people there voting before work or class. I was wrong. Only six people had voted by eight, one of them was the chancellor, none of them were students. The election inspectors told me that they didn't expect many people. What I found interesting, that didn't really make it into the story, was that the lobby was pretty full of students basically ignoring the polling station that was set up. One of the election inspectors was particularly upset at the coverage of the Daily Orange of elections and how to register.

students voting.mp...

From the Spaghetti Supper I used sound from Father Paul Angelicio and Bill Ryan that focused on the actual dinner. I also got a chance to talk to Joanie Mahoney's sister - in -law. She told me a lot about how all campaigns in the Mahoney family ( Joanie and her father's) are team efforts from the entire family. Even though this was one of the main themes of the Mahoney campaign to me hearing from another member of the family almost made it more genuine. She even talked about how they take all the kids to go vote with the parents on election day. One last thing is some sound that I got from Bill Ryan on his big billboard that was the main part of his campaign. He was genuinely excited with the reaction he got to it and was clearly attached to its theme, that he is a "street fighting man" ( this is what he had been called in the Syracuse New Times earlier in the year).

Family First...

(Bob Antonacci with his family- www.antonacciforaccountability.com)

While covering Election Day, I found stories with a family angle. I did two stories, one at Our Lady of Pompeii Spaghetii Supper and one at a polling station in Goldstein on the SU South Campus. At both locations, people brought their children of all ages from infants to teens. It seemed families wanted their children to learn about democracy and politics and also to be involved in it!

At the spaghetii supper, Onondaga County Comptroller Candidate Robert Antonacci's family were outside the school still campaigning for their father. Bobby and Jackie were holding signs with their cousin and aunt asking for votes and honks. I spoke with the kids and both said they did not have opinions on the issues their father supports but think he deserves to win. Bobby also told me that he helps his father by putting up signs and repairing them as well as doing little things. When I went inside, Mr. Antonacci was more then willing to talk to me. He said he needs his families support when it comes to campainging and doing his job. He admitted to not making it home some nights for dinner but he wife said it is part of the job and that is when she just need to step up and be there for the family. Everyone in their family seemed really supportive and willing to make any sacrifice for Robert.

I spoke with a voter at Goldstein. Unlike many other voters, he did not come alone. At his side was his six year old son and eight year old daughter. He said he believed it is important to educate your children and get them involved as soon as possible. Both children said they learn about voting in school and think it is important. When I asked them why they said because people might get bored of the same old president. Although neither child said they wanted to be a politician, they both said they will vote someday.

Family Affair Fina...

Spaghetti Supper!

Election Day was exciting! When we arrived at the school and was waiting in line for the Spaghetti Supper it hit me that this was a huge deal to lots of people in the community. I hadn't prepared an angle or questions before I got there, because I wanted to let whatever hit me take me in the direction I was going to go. As I went down the steps and into the cafeteria I realized that community and family had a huge impact on the candidates and the election itself. There were lots of kids there with their parents, as well as volunteers who clearly were participating because of their love for where they live and those who want to make a difference in it. So, I knew I wanted my angle to go along those lines, and I was standing around figuring out who I was going to interview. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to face two men who asked me what I was doing there. (I guess I looked a little out of place with my business casual dress and microphone and recorder in hand.) I told them that I was reporting for NCC News and a student at Syracuse University, and they said, "We were hoping you would say that." They then proceeded to tell me they knew some people and could introduce me to some of their friends. I asked who their friends were and how they knew whoever they were. "Oh, we went to high school with Joanie Mahoney." Needless to say, I was pretty surprised and happy with this answer! It went along with what I wanted my story to capture, so I started up the interview. They explained what views they appreciate of Joanie's and why they were there, and then one of them said the magic words: "Oh, much love, much love there." Before these guys tapped my shoulder I had just recorded natural sound of the local band playing "That's Amore." All of a sudden it all tied together. I was really pleased with how it all fell together and also thought it was really great that two former high school classmates would keep in touch with Mahoney and continue to support her through her political endeavors. It was a very exciting day, and I'm proud of my wrap, so overall I could say that it was a success.

And the anchor person on TV, goes: La de da de da

I covered the Spaghetti Supper and the polling station on the 9th Ward. Since everyone in class covered the spaghetti dinner, i'll talk about the 9th ward.

After I had gotten my interview with Commissioner Ed Szczesniak about the handicapped voting systems, I went downstairs and got to hang out with the people who'd been operating the polls all day. I learned several things from them, most importantly being that Onondaga County was still drastically understaffed on election day. The people sitting at the tables said that Onondaga County was still in need of a lot of people to check books and verify voter registration on election day.
They all seemed really stirr crazy and bored. All of them had been at the polling place since 5:30 that morning, and had only several breaks since I had spoken to them (which was sometime around 5:45), and they still had to sit and wait until 9PM to finish.
No wonder no one wants to do this job. Even though they get paid, all of the time and boredom hardly seems worth it. The people I spoke too seemed so excited to have someone else other than themselves to talk to.

So, to sum up, sitting in the basement of the Civic Center for 14-15 hours is enough to drive anyone crazy.

The Campaign

The story I covered was The Campaign for Syracuse University which launched Friday. The University's goal is to raise one billion dollars for the endowment. The money will come from people in the community, alumni, and corporations. It will be put to new construction, grants for teachers, and the community. Some information that did not make the story I did for class was the little white signs on the sidewalks around campus are part of the campaign. For example, one by Bird Library reads, "In 2003, the S.U. Men's Basketball Team won the National Championship." They allow people on campus to learn about the rich history of the school. They are also designed to help attract prospective to students to the school by showing them all the accomplishments of the University. Also there will be many murals across campus depicting the campaign and all the different schools within the University. Some of the buildings being funded by the new endowment include the dormitory that will be built next to Dellplain, Newhouse III, and a new building for the law school. The plans for that law school building and the residence hall are on display at a Warehouse Exhibit that just opened on Thursday.

About Herman Schatz

Last week, I wrote my blog about Governor Spitzer's announcement at Syracuse University. In the blog I included a picture and a caption about Herman Schatz. At the start of the announcement, a man ran up to Spitzer and gave him a hug. Obviously Spitzer knew the man because he embraced him and said "now my day is complete". Although I included the man in my blog, I knew nothing about him. After doing some research I found out that Herman Schatz is a local celebrity of sorts.

Schatz is described as a developmentally disabled man. He is known as a "political groupie". Schatz greets politicians with a broad smile, a question about their height or birthday and sometimes a hug. Schatz memorizes politicians' personal data and tries to collect their autographs. He is known to have memorized a set of political and government phone numbers. And, he calls these numbers several times a day to find out who is coming to town. Schatz makes sure he is at political events and sometimes show up hours in advance. Not only do locals know of Schatz by name, but so do visitors. Such visitors include Bill and Hillary Clinton. In 2003 Herman Schatz turned 50. Many politicians attended his party at Syracuse City Hall and others sent gifts. Herman Schatz has been in the Post-Standard numerous times.

My Blog

Being an anchor is definitely a tough job. Fortunately, Team A was an amazingly supportive group, and my producer and reporters saved me from drowning again.
My story was about Chrysler’s job cuts. What I did not include in my story was that originally Chrysler was going to cut 13’000 jobs earlier this year, but they re-evaluated the market and decided they were only going to cut 12’000. Also, although it said on the A.P. wire that Chrysler will be cutting job at four plants, it is actually cutting jobs at plants all over the U.S, but “focuses” on four of them. Chrysler is taking four models out of its line- Dodge Magnum, the convertible version of Chrysler PT Cruiser, Chrysler Pacifica and Chrysler Crossfire, but it’s also adding two models in its new line-up- the Dodge Journey and Dodge Challenger.

Also, the guy that talked to me on the phone was David Elshoff. He’s Chrysler's communications guy. Although this is completely trivial and irrelevant, I still feel the need to let you know that this guy was EXTREMELY friendly and approachable. He actually called me back and apologized for missing my calls twice, and after that he eagerly answered all of my questions.

That's it. This is my blog.

Start the Day Early

As a reporter this week, I covered the Thursday Morning Roundtable debate for Onondaga County Executive between Democrat Bill Magnarelli and Republican Joanie Mahoney. I went with Lara, who was also on my newscast team. As she mentioned, I covered the tone of the debate while her piece focused more on the harder aspects - the policies and platforms of the candidates. So if you want to know what didn't fit into my wrap, just listen to hers! Alright I'll mention a few tidbits that didn't get into my wrap. The majority of the audience was definitely over 50 years of age, but those that asked questions seemed very well informed. Also the two candidates themselves - Bill Magnarelli seemed very laid back and relaxed (already excepting defeat?) while Joanie Mahoney was more upright and mater of fact. Also, I apologize for Lara for asking me if I think we should ask people questions and I kind of shrugged my shoulders. (Sorry!) We had the idea that we would each cover one candidate in our wraps, but Professor Nicholson said that would not work. So he said one could cover tone, while another the harder aspects.

So nobody who covered TMR in the past ever mentioned how early it started! Me and Lara had to be there at 8:15 in the morning. But the advantage was of course that we were able to get to class on time. So I got my wrap done pretty early - 3:30, for a Team D newscast. I was ready to go cart it, but the other teams needed to cart stuff up and I had last priority. So around 4:00 the machines finally opened up. Unfortunantely, both machines weren't working properly, and the demagnetizing machine was not working as well, and whoever had been working with them last didn't say anything. Uh oh.

So I had a bad feeling inside something would go wrong inside the booth. So I printed out a hard copy of my script and made some alterations just in case I needed to do a live shot. Sure enough, I needed to. I'll be honest I was really mad. One, because I worked really hard on what I thought was a good wrap, and two because I didn't think I tackled doing a live shot all that well. I wish I had know earlier so I could've had time to find another cart somewhere. My wrap aside, the newscast went very well. Andrew did a great job first time in the producer seat. Kudos to Amy Johnson for stretching at the end. And Lara of course was the model of consistency. Well done guys.

P.S. - First person to post what band I'm referencing to this week gets a free lunch.

Team A-ha

No, I'm not a huge fan of the band referred to in the title, but that one song "Take On Me" is pretty sweet, you have to admit. If you don't know it, listen to it. You won't be sorry. But I digress.

My story yesterday was coverage of the SURE 2007 program at the SUNY ESF campus. There were several speakers there throughout the day to deliver speeches on how the state of New York can grow in its renewable energy use in the coming years. I was there for about two hours, and heard the entire presentation given by Dr. Tom Amidon, who graduated from ESF in 1974. He talked about how the sugars in wood will be used prominently in the future to produce ethanol at lower costs and more efficiently. One interesting thing I learned that didn't make the final wrap was the paper industry's incentive to support this process. The estimated profit for complete paper industry application is $3.3 billion per year, according to the PowerPoint provided by Dr. Amidon.

Long story short, the wrap was done with time to spare. Whether it's of the best quality is another story, as there was a lot of information I wanted to include but couldn't because of obvious time constraints. Relatively stress-free day for me, at least until the final hour before the cast as there were things that needed to be done in a short amount of time. Nevertheless, through the magic of teamwork (as to which Ranbir, Gino or Faith could attest), things were done well and done on time.

First Time for Everything...

First time anchoring! What an experience. When I first got to the newsroom on Thursday, Noel had a few interesting stories that we were hoping to use for my phoner. I wanted to investigate the Hollywood Writer's strike, but the TRF professors that I wanted to interview were not available. A couple other stories fell through for the same reason, so I had to keep looking. Under Richard's suggestion I decided to follow a story about Bill Meyer adding more veterans to the honor roll at the War Memorial. It had just been added to syracuse.com, so I knew it was a fresh one, and it did have relevance to the community. It was actually funny because when I called I spoke directly with Bill Meyer, and when I told him how I found out about it he was very surprised. He didn't know the story was already on syracuse.com. Point proven: websites are interacting with the news more and more today. Now even Bill Meyer knows! Although the story was a little dry, I was happy with my writing for it. When it came time to get into the booth was when it got a little hectic. Both reporters didn't have carts, and I didn't know what I was doing. But as Professor Nicholson pointed out, I did stay calm under pressure and delivered as best I could. It was definitely a learning experience!

Simple Gifts

You might not have realized what my wrap was about since I got it done so late. A ethnic/folk music group had workshop at Onondaga Community College conducted by Simple Gifts. In the wrap I gave examples of the music the group played. Also, Karen Hirshon (the woman with the white hair in the picture) says people should listen to all types of music because there is too much beautiful music in the world. She used to be a traditionalist when it comes to music and only listened to classical American music but then she realized there is not enough time in a life to discriminate against certain types of music. The group writes their own songs, come with lyrics and some without. They gave examples of music from all over the world such as Greece, Macedonia, Quebec, West Virginia, Romania, Ireland and Scotland. They listen to a lot of CDs, many of which are never used, and write music based off of what they hear. They play over 10 instruments throughout there songs. They play instruments such as hammer dulcimer (basically the inside of a piano where the person hits the strings with hammers), fiddle, recorder, plugged flute, guitar and banjo guitar. Simple Gifts instructed music students in the workshop, so the used a lot of music theory. Luckily, I have a background in music, so this made it easier to see the differences in the types of music they played. One of the most interesting things I left out of my wrap was that they are not a full time group and do this more for the love of music. They hope to expand people's music horizons. They even go to elementary schools to try to get kids involved early. Another interesting aspect of the group is that the two that play all the instruments and write the music did not study music in college. Though only two of the member conducted the workshop, all three are giving a free concert tonight (Friday Nov. 2) at 7 p.m. at Onondaga Community College. If you have a free evening tonight, I definitely recommend this group.

***Photo: This is a photo of Simple Gifts from their website***

A Little Stressed Out

Well today was interesting. I didn't really know what to expect going into my producer week, but I guess it really helped that I had an experienced team with me. They have all been producers before so they showed me the ropes a little. I've also worked with Amy and Matt on several newscasts already and this was the second week I worked with Lara. This made it really easy because I knew how to communicate with each of my teammates. I think that communication really helped us. Even though we were the last newscast of the day, we really came down to the wire and if we didn't know how to talk to each other it wouldn't have worked nearly as well as it did. In the end, it worked out almost perfectly. We were over a little in A Block, but we were over so precisely that taking out one story kept us exactly on time.

I think the hardest part of the day, besides getting the last minute touches together, was helping Amy find a phoner. I had some ideas and she had some ideas, but they were all old news. We went through a bunch of ideas before Richard helped us find a good one, and the Spitzer lawsuit we ended up doing turned out great. I have to give her props for staying calm in the situation. I also have to give out some props to Matt. I messed up when carting his wrap, so it didn't work. But he came in and read it as good as he could without his sound. And just so I don't leave anybody out, Lara did a great job too!

I learned a lot this week. Things can always go wrong, it's about planning for when they do. It's hard being a producer and when you get into that booth, the environment becomes a whole lot more stressful.

The Tale of the Hidden Recording

Election Day is right around the corner, so Republican Joanie Mahoney and Democrat Bill Magnarelli, the candidates for the Onondaga County Executive, held a mediated debate at today's Thursday Morning Roundtable. I'm really glad I got to hear/see them debate because to be honest, I knew more about who is endorsing them than what their plans are. Some things you wouldn't know from my story, you probably know from Matt's. Matt discussed how the overall tone of the meeting was light and subdued. There were some minor mud-slinging comments (like when Magnarelli called one of Mahoney's comments "naive") but other than that, Magnarelli was really funny and put the whole room, including Mahoney, at ease. He cracked jokes about how she uses some of the same phrases over and over again, like "the best and the brightest" and "cool."

Some other things you wouldn't know from my story is that Mahoney arrived late to the debate. While she was arriving and settling in, my recorder already started picking up sound from Magnarelli and the mediator, Syracuse University Professor Grant Reeher. It wasn't until I played my tape back later that I realized Magnarelli was talking in a low whisper to Reeher about his thoughts on today's front page of The Post-Standard. He said didn't like it and asked, "But how they could be that far off?" with a somewhat defeated tone of voice. He then told Reeher that he wasn't going to change any of his plans for the rest of the election, not with only five days left. (The article said that Mahoney was ahead of Magnarelli by 22 percentage points based on phone calls The Post-Standard made to Onondaga locals.)

I couldn't believe I had accidentally caught all that on tape! I couldn't use it in my story because it was too muffled and was not meant for public hearing, but I'm sharing it with you anyway. Oh, how I love modern technology!

Feelin' the heat...

A day that started out so well ended with me searching for answers on what exactly went wrong. I was a reporter this week and s]o I spent countless hours looking through calendars for every business or organization in Central New York. I settled on a story I saw on the 11 PM news that mentioned that the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) was accepting applications starting Thursday.

HEAP is a federally funded program that helps people pay their heat and utility bills.The HEAP office in Syracuse is in the County Office Building so I ran over there right after getting out of morning classes. It was a really nice day out so I didn't mind the walk. There was about 20-30 people in the waiting room once I got there and I immediately started looking for angles to take on the story. I interviewed a few people waiting in line but didn't use them in my story because it?s hard to fit in full sound bites in a 50 second piece. I did get an interview with the HEAP coordinator, Cary Gould, who was very warm (pun intended) and easy going. He let me know that the program served over 21,000 homes last winter, and this year he expected to help more despite an unseasonably warm fall. Gould said that individuals who make up to $22,000 a year can receive assistance as well as a family that brings in $43,000 a year. Gould also dispelled some myths about who can receive assistance. He said that people who don't have a disconnect notice can get regular HEAP, but not emergency HEAP. He also dispelled the "myth" that a 401k account prevents people from getting assistance. He said that they only look at your income, the number of people in the home, and what percentage of your income is used to pay the utility bills. Gould also said that people receiving public assistance or food stamps don't have to go to the offices, but can simply call.

With all this wonderful information and plenty of time to spare, I returned back to class and started on my story. I tried to use two sound bites from Gould, but I quickly found out that my story would be too long if I did. I cut it down as much as I could, but I completely forgot to mention that my story was a bit long to my producer. Sorry Noel :-( With about 10 minutes left before the newscast I went to cart my story and it came out sounding like I was talking from inside a cave. I really felt like I let the team down...and I'll make sure that I never feel that way again!

Jordan was very cool under pressure and having her as anchor really saved the little we had in our newscast. Noel did a good job with the rundown and it's not her fault that her reporters failed to come through. Tyler was Tyler- optimistic through out. I think he brought great energy and did a good job adlibbing his story in the booth. I think we had the potential to do great, but communication was a problem that we can all work on for future classes. The biggest thing I took out of today's class was that it's just that...a class. This is where we're supposed to make mistakes so we learn what NOT to do.

Bone Marrow Drive

Today was the most exciting newscast I have been a part of, and I can safely say I was a big reason it was so exciting. As you will hear in two Tuesdays, I had to read my wrap in the studio, which was interesting to say the least.
But before that tragedy, I had a very nice day. I arrived in class and Noel told me about the Bone Marrow Drive. I went to Panasci Lounge and talked with a nice girl who was ready to donate. She seemed like quite a nice young lady. She was anemic so she couldn't donate blood, but she said she would because it was worth it to save a life. She also compared the bone marrow drive to signing up for the United States draft (Why, I have no idea.)
The actual drive was really quite cool. The chair was named Helene Kahn, whose brother has leukemia (the most common disease that requires donated bone marrow.) She was really nice and very helpful when I asked to record her instructions as Natural Sound.
I screwed up pretty badly with the carting, but other than that, I'm not too upset.

Spitzer Gets Sued

We've all heard about Governor Spitzer's plan to allow illegal immigrants to get drivers license and all the people, in and out of government, who are against it. The Republican's have done something about it by filing a lawsuit to try and stop the legislation. I wanted to try and localize the story a little so I called the office of Senator David Valesky, who is a Democrat, to ask how the new plan would effect Central New York. I talked to the Chief of Senator Valesky's Staff, Cort Ruddy, and he told me that the plan would really have no benefit or real impact for Central New York. This is what made it into the story, what he also talked about, that I couldn't fit into the story, was that Valesky's office felt that it was a Federal issue. He really stressed this point, he put in that it was great that the Governor was thinking on a national level, but made sure that I knew the issue was a Federal one and one that has to be looked at on a national level. I also couldn't fit in that he voted for stricter licensing policies in September, which was essentially against the Governor of the same party. One last thing was that didn't get in was that Ruddy said that Valesky had no comment on the actual lawsuit.
Over all I think the newscast went really well. Even with the problem with the cart everyone recovered well!