A Day in the Life: An Intern at WLS-AM 890

I am an intern on the Steve Dahl Show for WLS-AM 890 in Chicago, Illinois. Specifically, I
intern for Jennifer Keiper who is the news anchor for the show. The show runs from 2-6p.m. and
she does news on the hour, at the half and when it breaks. I assist her in her duties and learn more
about the news process and producing it in a radio format. Here is a typical day in my life as an
intern.
12:30 p.m. This is when I start my day. When I first get into the studio my supervisor and I go
through the news wires. Our station is affiliated with Westwood One News so we go through the
list of stories and she gives me about 20 or so. I then take the stories, re-write, reformat and then
put them under the correct time slot so that she can use them in her news cast. During this time
we are also keeping an eye out for any breaking news and my supervisor may ask me to research
or get the answer to something.
2:30 p.m. This is the time when I do miscellaneous activities. It all depends on what my
supervisor needs. It can involve research, setting up interviews or getting audio. If I have any
time aside from what she immediately needs I can work on my own stories. By the end of the
internship I will have my own tape of different stories that I have compiled throughout the
internship. So, this time I can work on that.
4:00 p.m. This is the first time when the local news broadcasts. At this point I need to watch and
record the first 15 minutes (this is the most important part of the news) of the ABC broadcast for
Chicago. I need to write down people who are interviewed, get their name, title and the time they
spoke at. After I do this I then edit the audio that I got. I create clips with clean cuts and save
them in the proper format so that they can be used. I do this at 4:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 5:00
p.m. after that the news switches to the national news.
5:30 p.m. This is when Ill make sure I have done all of my editing correctly. I will also do
miscellaneous tasks like getting stories and clips off of the wire for those who do the news for
the rest of the night. Ill also help my supervisor with anything she needs.
6:00 p.m. This concludes my work day!
This is just an average work day. It will vary throughout the internship based on the day, what we
have to get done and what news breaks. As the internship continues I will do more complex
work, be held to a higher standard and have to meet tighter deadlines. ~

Work Assignments:
Earlier I spoke on how I get assigned work from my supervisor. But how does she and other
members of the team get assigned work?
My supervisor is assigned time constraints for her cast. The rest is up to her as to what she does.
Things she takes into consideration are having a balance between national and local news, other
news casts and trending topics. For maintaining a balance between national and local news, she
makes sure not to have too much of one and too little of the other. She also looks at news casts
on the station that come before her spot so she doesn't repeat stories. In addition, she thinks
ahead and gives some stories and soundbites to later news casts (the same is done for her from
earlier news casts). Then, she looks at what is most important. It's important to stay very current
in the field of media and that sets the tone for the work she does.
The on-air personalities are assigned a work flow from the producer of the show. This includes
the topics they should discuss on the show, some background on them and the amount of time
they should spend on each topic.
Ultimately, things are very time dependent because there is a schedule for the show and there are
commercials/sponsors who have to have their ads heard. However, in the end people who work
on the show have a fair amount of flexibility in when and what they do.

How I Get My Work:

At my internship my supervisor assigns me responsibilities and gives me feedback on my work.
One of the ways work is assigned is through a routine need for certain things. For example, as I
mentioned in my first post the first thing that I do when I go into the office is go through
WestWood One News where my supervisor selects stories which I reformat, rewrite and submit
in the correct time slot. I also always record audio clips from the 4:00p.m., 4:30p.m. and
5:00p.m. broadcast of the ABC nightly news which I then edit and place in the correct time slots.
Other work I do depends on how busy of a news day it is and what they need help with. For
example, I'm currently working on getting stories and audio for the Fourth of July because that is
a slower news day and they'll need more stories to fill time.
In addition, I am also assigned to do stories for my air-check tape which I will have compiled by
the end of the internship.
It really just depends on the day. For example, if there is something that needs to be covered I
will be sent out to do some reporting and get audio.
My supervisor also keeps in mind the skills she wants me to build from the internship. So, if she
thinks that something will be helpful to work towards that I am assigned that as well. For
example, the other day I learned how to use a multi-track editor for audio to compile multiple
Man on the Street Interviews.

In terms of evaluating my work I am always getting feedback. This is because the work I am
doing is being used by not only my supervisor, but other people at the station. So, I will get
feedback from people who use anything I created. For example, I helped one of the other anchors
compile some stories for his news broadcast and received positive feedback on my work on that.
My supervisor also makes sure to give me more detailed feedback because I work most closely
with her. She lets me know when I do things well, if I have done something incorrectly and how
I can fix it, and how I can improve my work.
Overall, my supervisor has planned out the work that I do as an intern so that I can meet all of
the objectives she has laid out for the internship.

Informational Interview:
This week I interviewed and observed my supervisor Jennifer Keiper. You can read the full
interview under my e-portfolio tab.
One of the main things that I learned from conducting this informational interview was that I
should consider a backup career. While there are jobs in the field, you need to be able to stand
out to be successful.
"Say youre in school for business that might open the opportunity to become a business
reporter or a business contributor. I think sometimes people dont equate that. They think oh Ill
go work for a company. You might have very good broadcasting skills, and be able to relate to
an audience well and do public speaking events and I think that students have to keep that in
mind." -Jennifer Keiper
That piece of advice is certainly very helpful when I consider things like minors and graduate
school. It's important to know that doing everything like every other journalism isn't necessarily
beneficial. You have to be able to stand out.
I think this is what helped get my supervisor to where she is now. She was able to market her
skills to rise above the rest.
I also thought that the advice my supervisors past employer had given her was something to note.
Its not so much the voice Im interested in [for radio]. Its the work ethic. You need someone
who is really ready to hit the pavement.
It's important to know that your attitude matters just as much as you skill set. If you want to get
where you want to be you really have to have the whole package. That is certainly something
that I learned from observing my supervisor. She does not just do her work as an anchor, but she
helps out the other news anchors at the station, knows how to report, put things on the web and
broadcast. She also always has a very positive attitude and works very hard. That, in my opinion,
is how she has been able to be as successful as she has. As I continue through the journalism
world her advice from the interview and her attitude will be things I strive for.

Connections:
While I've been working at WLS-AM I have made a myriad of new connections.
One of those connections in my supervisor. She has worked with other news stations in the city
and having her stamp of approval can offer me more opportunities in the future.
One way that has already taken effect is that she introduced me to people she knows at Fox News
in the city. Having met these people if I were to seek out an internship there I would have that
connection already.
I have also met the spokesman for Amtrak. Having people like that allows for easier
communication when you need an interview or a comment further down the road. The same goes
for the veteran I interviewed. Interviewing these different kinds of people creates connections
which I can use in the future.
The other connections I have made consist of my colleagues who work at the station. These
people have all offered their advice on navigating the journalism field and pointed out things that
they wish they would have done differently.
All of the connections I have made will have a great effect on my future as a journalist and help
me further my career.

Internship Advice:

With any experience in life, we often think about things we might have done differently or things
we would have wanted to know going into these experiences. So, what advice would I give to an
intern right before they actually start?
The first bit of advice I would give is to be familiar with where you are working. By this I mean
research where you are going to work. Get a feel for the work they have produced and the history
of the company. For example, working at a radio station prior to my internship I looked at all of
their social media sites and researched the people I would be working with so I could have a
better idea of what I was going into. You aren't expected to be a superfan, but you should know
the basics and a rough history of where you're working.
The next piece of advice I would give is to be enthusiastic. You should always show that you are
interested in what you are working on. You should also be enthusiastic in the work environment.
You are an intern, so you probably won't always be doing thrilling things. However, it is
important that you maintain a good attitude.
Keep an open mind. Don't be afraid to take on tasks that you aren't familiar with! You are an
intern and you are there to learn, so if you don't know how to do something then ask. Everything
is a great learning experience as long as you keep an open mind things will be okay. I've done a
lot of things I haven't been familiar with at my internship. However, my boss always helps guide
me and in the end I have learned a lot of really valuable new things.
If you do your research, be enthusiastic about your work both at the office and outside, and you
keep an open mind things will be great! All internships are great opportunities and offer even
greater learning experiences.

Career Goals:

Throughout my time at my internship there have been a lot of things that have been very
motivational. However, the things that have stood out the most have been when I have been out
in the field.
One example of this, was when I went out with one of my colleagues to cover a gas leak. It was
really cool to see how he compiled what we found out from being on the scene and called into
the station to report on it live. It was very inspiring to see how easily he was able to compile a
story so quickly and then deliver it live.
Another example of an event from being out in the field was I covered a Black Lives Matter
protest. I collected natural sound and images from the protest. Later I edited the audio and
submitted the images for the website. This was an inspiring experience because I was able to, in
a way, do what I watched my colleague do with the gas leak.
I think that these things were inspirational because they really are the reason why I love
journalism. It's fast paced, exciting and always changing. You never know what to expect and
you need to be prepared for everything. These and other experiences in the field have helped to
guide me in my future as a journalist.

What Courses at UIUC Helped Me:

At UIUC I took several journalism classes before taking on my internship. The classes I took are
as follows: MDIA 100, Jour 200, Jour 210, Jour 250, Jour 311 and Jour 215. While all of these
classes have assisted me in some way throughout my internship some stand out as being the most
beneficial.
One of the most beneficial courses that I took was 'Jour 215: Multimedia Reporting.' I would
probably not have gotten this internship had I not taken this course. That is because I would not
have been able to say that I had experience editing audio, video and pictures. All of these things,
and especially audio editing, are crucial to my internship. In addition, the professor who I took
this course with was very strict and pushed students to work incredibly hard. While difficult, this
class brought my journalistic skills to the next level and ultimately helped me be qualified for my
current internship.
I also feel that 'Jour 210: Newsgathering Across Platforms' has been helpful because it really
created a strong base for reporting skills that I use. It also gave me the basics on media ethics and
the first amendment. All of which have been important throughout my internship.
Overall, had I not taken these courses prior to my internship I don't think I would have gotten it
or been able to be successful in my work.