Local Television News 2023 Style

 

On July 27 Charleston’s WCSC-TV rolled out the red carpet for six visitors from SC State’s Department of English and Communications. 

Pictured from left in Channel 5’s studio are Rosalind Hanson, Dante Mozie, Rolando Davis, Dr. Janice Hawes, Patrick Harwood and Justin Smith. 

The invaluable learning experience came at the invitation of main anchor Ann McGill who spoke on campus to communications students and faculty in April (read about that here). Professor Dante Mozie followed up on the offer and it all came together on this summer day in July. 

WCSC, located in West Ashley, is a CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television, one of the nation’s largest broadcast companies with 180 TV stations across the U.S. 

Along with Charleston’s WCSC, Gray also operates South Carolina stations in Columbia, Greenville and Myrtle Beach, and regionally in Savannah, Charlotte and Atlanta. 

Our visit was very well organized with the precision of a tightly produced newscast. That’s no surprise since that’s the station’s expertise. 

Morning executive producer Jesikah Lawrence (center) led the tour. Jesikah is a West Ashley High School and University of South Carolina graduate. 

She showed us the newsroom, which became busier as the morning progressed. 

As news director, Jennifer Martin (center standing) runs the operation. Here she speaks with Patrick Phillips (right), the station's web and social media manager. Keep reading and you will hear more from Martin and Phillips. 

Our visit to Channel 5 began at 9 a.m. By the time we left at 12:30 p.m., the newsroom was humming. 

Beginning with a 6-7 a.m. program, there are newscasts to prepare for and deliver throughout the day and night. 

And there are stories to cover across the station's viewing area from the Lowcountry to Orangeburg, from Georgetown to Beaufort. 

Jessikah Lawrence showed us lockers that hold vital gear, such as video cameras and this device called a LiveU backpack. 

LiveU allows reporters to go live from the scenes of news stories without requiring satellite or microwave transmission trucks that used to be needed. 

This image, courtesy of LiveU, shows how the backpack can be used in the field. 

Field cameras, like this JVC model, are similar to what our SC State communications students use in broadcast production and reporting classes, and for our "Bulldog News Now" (BNN) program. 

There are several private editing rooms next to the newsroom. The editing software Channel 5 uses, Edius, is similar to what our students use, Adobe Premiere Pro. 

SC State students enrolled in video production courses are able to access Premiere Pro. 

May 2023 communications graduate Benjamin Gadson (right) accepted a videographer position at Channel 5 soon after commencement. He stopped by during our visit to the station. 

He is pictured here with WCSC-TV main anchor Ann McGill after her April talk on campus. 

Benjamin told us he is enrolling in graduate school at the University of South Carolina, this while he continues to work at the Charleston station. We are all so proud of you Ben! 

Below: Ben Gadson on the job! 

An old-school assignment board is on a newsroom wall. Next to each reporter and anchor's name is a short "slug" that indicates what story is being covered that day. 

We were allowed to sit in on the morning news meeting at 9:30. The assignment editor, using a computer program, went over the stories being covered on this day and by whom. 

It was pretty informal and brief too. The coverage lineup, of course, often changes throughout the day, especially when there is "breaking news" such as crime, fires, accidents, quickly-called news conferences, etc. 

Ann McGill and Jesikah Lawrence arranged for several news professionals to speak with us. 

Patrick Phillips is in charge of WCSC's website and social media output. He stressed how people today have so many ways to gather and view news, information, and entertainment that today's local TV stations must be active and proactive on Facebook, Twitter (now X), Instagram, and other social media platforms. 

Patrick posts content throughout the day on Facebook, for example. Some of the items are news (local and elsewhere) and others are questions to followers such as how they are dealing with the extreme heat wave currently underway. 

Using different software, he is able to monitor interaction and interest in each post. Competitors, such as the other TV stations in town, are measured also, as are the Post and Courier newspaper and Charleston City Paper. 

Local news is competitive so Patrick wants to make sure Channel 5 is No. 1, which on this day on Facebook it was, by a wide margin. 

Producers are the behind-the-scenes journalists who manage newscasts. 

Dayna Drake (left) began working at Channel 5 in June 2022 after earning bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Ole Miss. She is in charge of the 5 p.m. newscast and is involved with some of the others ones as well. 

Dayna told us how she was not familiar with the complex software program Channel 5 uses to create the lineup or story order within its newscasts. She says Jesikah (right) trained her and within a few weeks she was comfortable with it. 

The ENPS (electronic news production system) program lists each story one by one and includes graphics, fonts, effects, which anchor reads which story, and everything we viewers would see at home. During a live newscast, Dayna makes sure everything runs smoothly and on time. Stories can be taken out or added if needed. 

For a news reporter's perspective, we heard from Nick Reagan who joined WCSC in April 2020 after reporting for several years in his home state of South Dakota. 

Nick is an MMJ or multimedia journalist and the breaking news anchor. He shoots and edits his own stories. Today's lighter-weight video cameras and previously mentioned LiveU backpack units make it more feasible, especially financially, for station's to have some if not all reporters be one-man bands out in the field. 

News Director Jennifer Martin (pictured) and Assistant News Director Thomas Gruel do, among many other things, the hiring (and firing) of news personnel. Thomas spoke about how Channel 5 strives to create a positive culture for its employees. 

Jennifer told of the challenges of reaching and engaging people in today's multi-screen universe (televisions, tablets and smartphones). "We have to reach viewers in their spaces," she said. "We have to make sure we are accessible in the digital and streaming space. This is how people watch today." 

The old days of "appointment TV" are long gone, they admit. "We are at the convenience of our viewers," Jennifer said. 

Our final bit of "seeing how the sausage is made" involved seeing the noon newscast live and in person. Half of our group sat quietly on a sofa as Raphael James anchored the program. 

Long gone here are the days when camera operators were needed on the studio floor. The cameras are mounted and fixed in position and operated from the control room. The anchor have a device at their feet to run the teleprompter. 

Joey Sovine, one of Channel 5's five meteorologists, handled the weather report. 

Halfway through the newscast, our group switched spots and we next saw the inner workings of the control room. 

This is the nerve center of live television. A handful of professionals direct the program, push the buttons to run video, switch studio cameras, monitor audio levels, run the commercials, and more. 

Cools heads are needed during these pressurized moments when something can go wrong any second! Everything is so technical and so carefully timed and crafted. 

Everything seemed to go smooth as silk, happy to say. For these TV news professionals, it's one "show" down, another one coming up soon. 

Many thanks to our professor Dante Mozie for arranging this special visit with Channel 5's Ann McGill, and also to Jesikah Lawrence for hosting us. 

It was an information-packed three and a half hours at Live5News for us from SC State. In this blog post, I have tried to unpack some of the highlights.