I had a great first day at work.
The first thing I did upon arrival was fill out scads of paperwork. Once I was done with that I met a producer who had had a little training in my position, and he showed me the ropes for most of the day. He was great, very laid back, and happy to go off and do his own thing when he saw I had a handle on things.
I spent most of the morning learning how to use the robust content management systems and the ancient application that they use to manage the news. Things sort of tapered off right around lunchtime.
I’d planned to go to a huge Chinese restaurant I pass on the way in, but instead I drove to downtown Augusta and got a huge hotdog off a vendor. It had mustard, ketchup, horseradish, cheese, and sauerkraut on it.
It was the best. Hotdog. Ever.
I took it, a bag of Cheetos, and an orange soda back to North Augusta and over to the golf course, where I sat in my car and ate and then took some pictures of the few bushes and flowers that were blooming along the road.
Then it was time to go back to work.
As soon as I arrived, my supervisor gave me a belated tour. Then I was given a key to the building and a code for making long distance calls. And then it was time for the news meeting, where all the producers get together and discuss the lineup for the evening news. I sit in on this so I know what’s going on and have a handle on which stories are important for the website.
The meeting was really fun. I don’t know if I’m more outgoing now or if this environment is just right for me or what, but I never felt awkward. And that is really saying something. Everybody just seemed to be my kinda people.
After the meeting I headed back to the office I share with the graphic designer to get to work on putting stories online. By this point my email address had been passed around and now reporters were sending me their stuff.
When it came time for the news, it was pretty hectic. I had to record the broadcasts digitally for video clips for the website, and upload text content at the same time. Since the text is written for TV, it usually doesn’t flow very well for reading, and often includes special codes that mean things only to the directors/camera operators/on-air talent/etc. So I have to remove all the excess, clean up the prose, and finally publish the piece using the CMS. It’s not difficult but it is time-consuming. Those last two hours of work were a little crazy.
All in all, I am very happy with how my first day went. I met a bazillion people, producers and reporters and others, whose names I hope to eventually learn ;> I learned a lot and feel comfortable with the job. My supervisor has already ordered me some business cards!
This job is really cool. I think I’m going to have fun :)
