Internship Report, Week 3

Intern Name: Mark Hamilton
Internship Site: KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM
Emphasis: Broadcast Journalism
Semester and Section: Fall 2008, Section 001
Week Number: 3
Number of Hours This Week: 20

Week 3 Report:
As will probably continue to be the case, this week was much like the others, so I will do my best to highlight things that were different, and spare you a re-hashing of things that I do every week…

This week was notable because after last week’s stomping of UCLA 59-0, BYU has attracted quite a bit of attention on a national scale, and actually, as of this writing, they are ranked 11th in the polls nationally. All this attention is both good and bad for BYU, because both BYU and the Mountain West Conference need more national recognition and respect, but at the same time, it proved to be a distraction from the team’s focus.

In the opening quarter of Saturday’s game against Wyoming, BYU’s offense didn’t score. Both Max Hall and Bronco Mendenhall were flooded with interview requests and appeared on ESPN during the week, putting a strain on them that they haven’t known before. As a result, they have changed their policies dealing with the media in order to refocus. That made me think more about the fine line the media walks in their lust for information and interviews…sometimes it is hard to remember that these are real people, with real lives, that are going out of their way to accommodate you. We ought to respect that.

This week went well, as far as the day-to-day things go. On Saturday, up at KSL Headquarters, the game was a bit slower than normal, since BYU easily handled Wyoming. But that didn’t stop it from being one of the craziest days for me at work. I was following the Utah-Air Force game and cutting highlights from that at the same time I was cutting highlights from the East Carolina-Carolina game, and other top-25 games. I was answering phone calls, E-mailing audio highlights to ESPN and The Mtn., etc. I was literally running around doing 5 things at once. And it was great…time flies on Saturdays, even though it’s more than 8 hours. My job satisfaction there is great…I love working there, and the people I am working with.

Still waiting to hear word on the new car we’ve ordered through a car broker. I’m not sure my current car can keep up this rigorous schedule of commuting.

That’s it for this week.

Thanks!
~ Mark Hamilton