LUTV Blog Post 4: One More To Go
I anchored my last sports and weather but I have one more day to anchor a newscast and then it’s on to produce again. Hooray!
My first time anchoring sports and weather
On Tuesday, I anchored sports and weather for the last time. I’ve only done it one time before and I was nervous about doing it again. The first time I did it, I was helped by my classmate Matt who was the producer for that day. I needed help with writing the sports segment because I had little to no knowledge of the subject. Both sports and weather were not easy at first because I had to learn how to prepare the graphics/format and write them.
The weather segment was easier to write than the sports segment. I think it’s because anyone can understand weather. A subject that not everybody understands is sports. Most people seem to be interested and knowledgeable about sports but I am not one of them. I somehow avoided sports my entire life because I never enjoyed playing or watching sports. So I’m glad I had my classmate’s help to write my first sports segment. At the same time, writing sports with no knowledge of the subject wasn’t that bad. The trick is you write sports and weather like you would write other news stories. You look up that information and put all of the important points in your own words. So the process of writing for sports was easier than expected. The hard part for me was making sense of what I was reading. Sports has jargon that only sports fans understand. Matt acted as a translator and he also offered me many suggestions to make my stories better.
After that newscast, I was complimented on my ability to sound like I knew what I was talking about. I was also praised for my performance on camera because I didn’t get to practice before going on air. Along with that day being my first time doing sports and weather, it was also my first on camera period. I didn’t look forward to being on camera because I thought I would be really bad it but it actually turned out to be a positive experience.
My last time anchoring sports and weather
I was a little apprehensive again about anchoring for sports and weather for the second time. I relied too much on Matt the first time that I wasn’t sure if I could do it again without him. He wasn’t scheduled on my second day of doing sports and weather. So I had to just do it, and it turns out I didn’t need him. Once I sat down for class, I started looking for sports stories right away. I wrote weather and programmed the graphics for that segment first just to get it out of the way. Then I wrote my sports segment. I was super focused because I wanted to make sure I understood the stories as I wrote them. I think I wrote them in a very understandable way that an alien who didn’t know what sports was could know what I was talking about.
Another added stress was the exam I had at 1pm in my other class. I studied the night before but I always get nervous before exams. So overall, I was not in the best mood that day but I don’t think you could tell based on my performance on camera. I learned from my experience on camera that anchors are actors. No matter what is going on in an anchor’s life, they have to be a character on television. They have to be confident and friendly/likable. They also have to sound comfortable and speak slow/clearly.
One of the biggest reasons why I don’t like being on camera is because I don’t like the way I look or sound. I don’t know which is worse. My look is probably acceptable because I am female and ethnic but I don’t have a great voice. No matter how loud I speak, I don’t think I’m loud enough. I also mumble and mispronounce words. Plus, reading a teleprompter is a skill on its own.
Despite all of these things, I read an article called Hate Your Voice? A Vocal Coach Speaks Up On Why You Shouldn’t and it made me feel better about my voice. If I were to consider pursuing being an on-air personality, I could always improve my voice to sound comfortable and have energy. I agree with the article that there’s more to anchoring than just having a great voice. You also have to be a great communicator.
Almost done with anchoring
I have to anchor one more time and then I am done. I can’t wait to get back to producing. I want as much practice as I can get producing because I want to be ready for an internship if I can get one for next semester. I need more news experience and I hope that will happen. My fingers are crossed!
Below is Tuesday’s newscast where I anchor sports and weather for the last time.
