Final Blog of the Semester, Personal Reflection Time

For my final blog of the semester, I have decided to mix things up a little bit. Throughout this blog, numerous Westminster alum have taken the time to tell me how my broadcasting skills will transfer over to various fields of work. In this blog, I am going to discuss how I incorporated these skills into landing my summer internship.

This summer I wanted to gain some actual real work experience. I am currently a broadcast communications/public relations double major. With that in mind, I wanted to find an internship that effectively blended the two fields. After searching with little to show, I happened to stumble upon the Pittsburgh Zoo’s website. The zoo offered a number of internships including a marketing/public relations position. I decided to apply to see what would happen.

Eventually I woke up one morning to a voice mail asking me to set up an interview with the zoo. It was at this interview that I realized how transferable my broadcast skills truly are. The first thing I noticed was how surprisingly well I was able to conduct myself in the interview setting. Trust me, I was dying on the inside. But thankfully due to my time as anchor I was able to put on a smile and keep my composure.

Next I realized how important my overall communication skills were. Throughout my time as a broadcast major I have interviewed dozens of people. Now I was one being interviewed. Still though, I had no trouble formulating my answers to their questions. I believe I spoke both fluently and collectively. This is a skill that I really believe my broadcast background has truly impacted.

Buy the skill that I believe really set me apart from the other candidates was my technical background. Through my double major I have picked up skills from the both PR and broadcast side of things. I know how to target an audience while being able to create an actual audio or visual piece to correspond with a set objective.

One of the zoo workers interviewing me loved that I knew so much about incorporating multimedia into a project. He asked about what video editing programs am familiar with, if I knew how to write for the web, and how adept I was with a camera. I truly believe that these broadcast qualities set me apart from many of the other candidates.

So when I finally got the call a week or so ago telling me I had received the position I was ecstatic. I guess my time in the dreaded newsroom has really paid off. The skills I have gained while working for Titan Radio News and The County Line really are transferable to almost any field I could possibly imagine.

Katie Hilliard, Assistant Director of Westminster AV Services

A few week’s ago, I interviewed Gary Swanson, director of Westminster’s AV services. For this segment of Denizen’s House I decided to stop by AV services once again.

One year ago Katie Hilliard graduated from Westminster with an interdisciplinary degree focusing the fields of media arts, public relations, and broadcast communications. While a student at Westminster, Katie was actively involved with AV services. Upon graduation, her hard work with AV services resulted in a full-time job as the AV department’s Assistant Director.

Katie’s broad range of skills and talents fit perfectly with the AV department’s numerous functions. Whether she is playing around with some new graphic, laying out a fresh new poster design, or simply just looking into new forms of classroom media Katie is constantly adapting to ever-changing career field.

After interviewing Katie, I realized how many broadcast skill truly can be applied to fields outside of the broadcast world. Like Swanson, Katie described how essential troubleshooting is in any job. Additionally she discussed how essential it is to be able to pick up and learn news skills. As graphics director for The County Line Katie was forced to constantly learn how to use and master various graphic programs.

But the skill Katie mentioned that resonated the most with me was the leadership skills she picked up working with the broadcast department. Through her graphics director job, Katie had to be able to give out clear directions, supervise others, and make sure everything went smoothly. After hearing her bring up this point, I realize how crucial leadership is to the broadcast department.

This major offers a variety of leadership positions. Students can become the program or news director of Titan Radio News, producer of The County Line, or even manager of the emerging online site WCN247.com. These positions are there for the taking for any student willing to step up to the plate. Through numerous group projects in both broadcast and non-broadcast classes I have learned how beneficial it is to have these leadership skills. Being able to take charge and organize a group is one skill that can definitely be applied to any field of work, and really any area of life in general.

Bill Sadler, Admissions Office Intern

Bill Sadler is recent graduate of Westminster, having graduated just last fall. While at Westminster, Bill interned at WKBN of Youngstown. At WKBN Bill honed in on his reporting/anchoring skills. As a member of The County Line staff, Bill frequently created excellent news packages in addition to serving as an anchor.

Following college Bill decided to take a break from the broadcasting world. He landed an internship with the college’s own admissions office. Here Bill put his news skill to work interviewing potential Westminster candidates and constantly maintaining the image of the college as a prestigious, small school with a great staff.

Bill mentioned two really big factors that contributed to his success at the Admission’s House. One of these factors was the ability to work under the pressure of a deadline. I can relate far too easily. Working in a newsroom can be extremely stressful. You are trying to pump out as many far-reaching and accurate stories as you can while constantly having to watch the time tick away.

Bill described the need to recognize this same deadline pressure while working as an admission’s officer. Students only have so long to get in all of their application material to Westminster. On the admissions side of things, the staff needs to be able to quickly and efficiently review these applications in order to provide enough time for these prospective students.

The other factor that Bill mentioned was his overall communication skills. Bill attributed his broadcasting interview skill to much of his success at the admissions office. Similar to creating a news package, Bill needed to be able to muster up the courage to effectively interview complete strangers.

Talking to complete strangers is no easy task. I have learned that one of the most difficult aspects of news is making that initial contact with an interviewee. You don’t know this person, you don’t know what kind of mood they are in, and you definitely don’t want to get shut down. Broadcasting however is a discipline of learning how to interact with people, no matter their mood. Interviewing skills, though difficult to master are truly a facet of broadcasting that can be applied to almost any area of life.

Chris Norris, Erie Seawolves Director of Entertainment

Chris Norris graduated from Westminster one year ago as an up-and-coming broadcast communications major. Chris’ true passion however was baseball. Chris played ball all four years here at Westminster. Keeping his passion in mind, Chris landed a premier internship with Cleveland Indians while at Westminster. Chris helped shoot games, operated the scoreboard, and took part in the everyday operations at Progressive Field. As part of his capstone project, Chris created a professional promotional video for the tribe.

Following various career stops, Chris landed a job with the Erie Seawolves. The Seawolves are a minor league baseball team focused on quality entertainment for families of all ages. Chris is currently the director of entertainment for the Seawolves. His job entails “producing videos/graphics for the video board, assisting the Wolf Pack on-field promo team, directing staff in the scoreboard control room, and helping with team marketing.”

After interviewing Chris, I found that there is hope for my newsroom skills outside of the actual newsroom. Chris described to me how important his background in news was with his job with the Seawolves.

One of the most important skills Chris said he picked up from news was his writing ability. Chris was one of many anchors for Westminster’s weekly news program The County Line. With the Seawolves Chris has to help write out daily scripts for on-air promotions and the game’s announcers. By learning how to tightly write scripts for The County Line, Chris is able to transfer that skill to the ball field in the form of more concise and punchier language.

I can totally relate to Chris’ experience as an anchor. I have anchored for The County Line for the past two semesters and have learned the dread of Thursday morning script writing. Writing for news can be so aggravating at times. Everything needs to be shorter and tighter, while relaying as much important information as humanly possible. There have been times when I have literally sat in front of computer screen stumped at how to describe an entire news story in 15 seconds.

I can however see the positives of developing a tight writing style. Nearly any job, in any field requires writing of some kind. Whether it is a job at a bank, a ballpark, or research lab good writing is an essential skill. Entering into my senior, I may only have a handful of times left anchoring. I will now try to not dread so much those Thursday morning script writing sessions. Instead, I will try to appreciate this essential newsroom that will hopefully land me someday outside of the newsroom.

Gary Swanson, Director of Westminster AV Services

Gary Swanson graduated from Westminster College a little over 20 years ago. Swanson majored in telecommunications, which in our modern world basically means broadcast communications. After college Swanson didn’t stray too far away from the campus, eventually landing a job in Westminster’s Audio Visual department.

In my interview with Swanson he mentions troubleshooting as one of the biggest skills he picked up as a telecommunications major. After about five seconds on my computer before it froze, I couldn’t agree more. Technology is always breaking. I cannot count the number of hours and nights I have wasted away bent over trying to figure out what has gone wrong with some piece of equipment I own.

I can only think back to my time spent traveling with the remote TV crew, filming the college football games. No matter what, it was guaranteed that something was going to go wrong. I don’t care if it had to deal with two-legged tripods, or dealing with kinked wires, something always went wrong. But no matter what, the game got on the air.

Identifying and solving problems is an essential aspect of being a successful broadcaster. But more than that, it is skill required for any kind of job. Employers do not want someone who is going to fall apart when something goes wrong. Employers want people who can get things done, when they need them done.

Swanson is currently the director of Westminster’s Audio Visual Services. Part of his job involves not only incorporating new technology into the classroom, but also dealing with the multitude of problems that inevitably go along with that new technology. Being able to critically think things through is so essential to thriving in a workplace of any kind.


So maybe the next time I’m in the news room and the printer won’t print out my scripts, I will not freak out. Maybe I will instead stop and say, I am glad this happened. Knowing how to deal with this kind of annoyance might help land me my first job.

What is Denizen’s House?

I love being a broadcast communications major. I love interacting with people, telling stories, and love the minimal number of tests given. But one thing I truly dislike is news. Following my time as a radio news producer, and chugging away numerous hours of my life into Adobe Premiere for television news, I have learned to fear the newsroom.
Despite this developed dread of police reports, deadline phone calls, and lost e-mails however, I believe I have gained incredibly valuable skills. These are skills that will transfer over into any job, in any field of work.
As part of my senior culmination class, also known as capstone, I have decided to dive into this subject of skill transferability. I will be interviewing various broadcast majors who have landed jobs in fields outside of the broadcasting bubble. I will then ask the interviewee questions about what broadcasting skills have specifically helped them in their new field of work.
Hopefully from this process I will gain a little better insight into where my broadcast skills could possibly take me in the professional world.
As for the title of this blog (in case you were wondering) the word denizen has many definitions, but the one I am most familiar with is “anything adapted to a new place or condition, as an animal or plant not indigenous to a place but successfully naturalized.” So in simple terms, a denizen is a creature that has learned to adapt to its environment. This is exactly how I see broadcast major who have adapted to their own non-broadcasting environments.
So here in short bulleted form is my main mission, and the format of this blog.



Mission: Discover the transferable skills I’ve learned throughout my time as a broadcast major in order to apply them toward various different fields of work, specifically outside of the news world.

Format: Conduct a weekly audio-based interview segment (2-3 minutes in length) with a former broadcast major who currently works outside of the broadcast field. An additional interview analysis/summary would accompany this audio roughly about 300-400 words in length.