Internship Week 1: The Baltimore Sun

By Dan Rodgers

Yes, I have another internship and that means you can expect more posts about my time spent there.

Over the summer I am interning at the sports desk at The Baltimore Sun. I will be at the copy desk, editing stories/pages and working on other things on the page. I'll try to include links to anything of note that I do during my time there.

I was there three days during my first week and learned a great deal about how the newsroom functions. I was thrown right into the fire my first night with the opportunity to help write headlines. My second and third night there I edited pages and stories. I was also put in charge of, for the most part, updating the scoreboard. It is a small portion within the section usually including scores, schedules and standings for "second-tier" sports, such as: WNBA, horse-racing, MLS, MLL, etc.

I may or may not get the opportunity to write a story, but I have enjoyed the time I've spent on the copy desk. There is a lot to learn and unfortunately not too much time.

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CBS Radio Internship

By Dan Rodgers

We had four guests today and we gave away Orioles tickets, so as you can imagine it was a busy day for me. Stacey came up with a more efficient system when giving things away, so I was able to focus more on editing all of the audio clips. I have gotten fairly good at editing the audio and posting it online during the show. I have to balance that with screening calls among other things, but it allows me flexibility when the show ends at 1 p.m.

After the show, Stacey said she wants to show me how to run the board more in depth. She has been teaching Tony, and I've been working on other projects. I only have a few days left because finals are coming up, but I really appreciate her wanting to teach me even more.

I'll update the post after tomorrow.

UPDATE: Friday was similar to Thursday. Stacey told me that next week she is going to show me how to operate the board that runs the show. I'm pretty excited even though it will only be for one week.

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CBS Radio Internship

By Dan Rodgers

Yesterday was a tough day at the internship for one reason and one reason only: someone brought donuts again and it was the final day of Passover. Besides that, we had two guests on the show, Mike Harmon and Coach Pietramala from Johns Hopkins lacrosse.

Last week, Stacey had given me the task of booking another guest for the show. I am trying to do that (I don't know if I should name the guest), but I have yet to get a response from the person's PR manager. We'll see how that goes...

I don't really have much else to say other than Mark really enjoys referring to me as Pablo on the air.

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CBS Radio Internship

By Dan Rodgers

Thursday and Friday were definitely good days (Tuesday was Passover). However, the only complaint about Thursday was that someone brought in donuts for us and left them sitting on the desk right in front of me looking completely delicious. I like to keep Passover and not eat bread/bread-related products. It was awful, they smelled amazing and Tony (aspiring sports talk show host) even caved and ate one. I stayed true and controlled myself.

We had more guests, and I edited the audio as usual. Stacey gave me the task of finding another appropriate guest for the show, I have a few targets in mind and have contacted them. Hopefully, at least one will come through.

Unfortunately, I only have a few weeks left at the internship. I look forward to leaving my mark before I leave, though I think I may have already. Mark and Damon call me so many different names, it's like our thing. Most of the times it's something like Pablo and they will throw in something else every now and then. It's funny and I appreciate the on-air recognition. They may not know it but it's going to catapult me into a career on the radio (I can only wish).

I look forward to my last few weeks and maybe they'll let me in the studio just for fun after I'm done.

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CBS Radio Internship

By Dan Rodgers

Yesterday was an exciting day for me in regards to the internship. While the day at the station wasn't anything too unusual, my work extended through the rest of the day.

Once I got home I got a response from Ryan Wagner on Twitter because I had been unable to get in contact with his PR manager. Throughout the rest of the day I emailed back and forth with his manager and finally got him booked!

It was a very exciting time for me because he is the first guest that I have officially booked. I've done research and suggested people to have on, but Stacey contacted them and got them on the show.

Ryan Wagner will be on The Mark Viviano Show this coming Monday at 11 a.m. thanks to yours truly. Unfortunately, Monday is not a day that I come to the station because I have class all day, but I'm sure everything will be great.

Today, We have Don Banks in a half hour and Keion Carpenter at noon. Listen in on your radio or on the 105.7 The Fan website.

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CBS Radio Internship

By Dan Rodgers

Today was a fun day at the station. We had a really interesting guest, Jonah Keri. He is the author of The Extra 2%, a book about the turnaround the Tampa Bay Rays made going from worst to first a few years ago. I plan on getting the book and so should you.

I overachieved again and completed all of the editing and posting during the show because I wanted to make sure I had time to record (which I did, look below).

Besides the usual posts and guests, there isn't much else to say about today...

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CBS Radio Internship

By Dan Rodgers

So today was a really interesting day. I had an interview for a paper and a midterm today, so I wasn't trying to stay late.

Due to my determination, I was able to complete all of the audio editing during the show and posted both podcasts also. Stacey was really surprised and told me to leave. However, during the show I also had the task of tracking down Ryan Wagner.

Wagner is one of the winners of MLB's Dream Job. He gets to sit in the "Man Cave" and watch every single MLB game this season. That sounds like heaven to me. Wagner is from Baltimore so Stacey wanted me to track him down because he would be a good guest to have on the show. The only contact information I found was his Twitter account (@rwags614). I would recommend following him if you are into Twitter.

He messaged me back and said he wanted to come on the show. Stacey let me handle everything so far in terms of booking him, so I am in contact with his PR manager.

That was probably the most memorable part of today...besides the fact that it's opening day!

Baseball is back and I couldn't be happier.

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CBS Radio Internship, March 25

By Dan Rodgers Sorry about that, not quite sure why I didn't post. It was probably because I had to run out of town right after the show. Friday was a really interesting show though. We had no guests for the first time sice I've been here, but we had some really interesting topics. Unfortunately, I can't remember the topics but I do remember that the phone lines were so jammed the entire show that afterwards the hosts said they felt bad for me. I thought that was kind of funny. Today I already posted two interviews from yesterday on the website. Besides that, we have at least one guest today and I'll be continuing my project that I've done the past few days. I'm sifting through the interviews that Mark got from Sarasota when he was down at spring training. I am saving them to the website so the person in charge of the site can post them in the correct place. I guess that's all for now. I won't be recording today because I have a lot of homework but I hopefully will on Thursday or Friday. Rodgers That

CBS Radio Internship, Tuesday/Thursday

By Dan Rodgers

The past two days have been complete opposites. On Tuesday we had four guests and we were supposed to have one more that we couldn't get ahold of. Thursday we only had two guests and it was much less hectic.

On Tuesday I got to do a lot of audio editing because of all of the guests and that was fun. I posted all of those to the site and then left because I had school work that I had to take care of.

Today is St. Patrick's Day and the NCAA tournament is on so it's been really fun in the studio. Someone brought donuts in for another show and there were leftovers for us. Stacey has been playing hilarious Irish songs all day, including the Muppets version of Danny Boy.

I plan on doing a sports update and I'll post that when it's done a bit later.

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CBS Radio Internship Day 8

By Dan Rodgers

Today was a great day at the internship. I didn't and still don't feel to great, but it's a really good work environment. The people are all so nice and they really make you feel welcome. Random, I know...but needed to be said.

A much less demanding show today because we only had one guest and no prizes to give away. I didn't even have to post anything to the site because Stacey did it during the show. I worked on writing myself a sports update. Sports updates are done at the top of the hour and essentially consist of top news stories that day.

After the show, Stacey let me go into a studio to record it (she's awesome). After I recorded my update, Stacey came in and listened to it. She critiqued me and recommended some things that I work on and let me go for the weekend. I will be posting my updates to podbean.com and linking them here. Listen to it and let me know what you think.

Podcast below, allow time for buffering:


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CBS Radio Internship Day 7

By Dan Rodgers

Today was one of the better days at the station. After we had a rush of callers due to the topic of "best looking female athlete," I edited the audio as usual.

However, this time Stacey showed me the station's log. This is a program that records everything that goes out over the air for every station at CBS Radio Baltimore. Not only does it do this, but it keeps the previous four months as well. It updates almost instantly so I was able to edit audio from the 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. time slot just after 1 p.m. Basically, it was really cool.

After the typical editing and posting to the website, Stacey told me that she will show me her sports updates on Thursday. She said I can put things together and I might get the chance to use a studio to record. I'm pretty excited about this and it's awesome that she is giving me the opportunity to look into another area at the station. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to record stuff and post it here. Look for that later.

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CBS Radio Internship Day(s) 5 & 6

By Dan Rodgers

Thursday and Friday were what you would call a "typical day at the office." I answered phones, edited audio clips and posted the podcasts to the 105.7 The Fan website.

Stacey let me leave right after the show was over today which was nice because I had homework and it was the weekend.

One thing I did want to mention is that there are some crazy people that call into the show. One guy was getting upset because he took forever to ask his question on the air and then they hung up on him and answered it. He called me back and complained to me and wanted to ask another question on the air. Some of these people are crazy, but it's funny to see all of the reactions from the people in the studio.

Until next week.

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CBS Radio Internship Day 4 (Yesterday)

By Dan Rodgers

I forgot to post yesterday so here it is. I woke up extra early for work because it snowed out and I wanted to see if my car would survive. Well, she did and I made my way into work...to the surprise of my supervisor, Stacey Brown. I walked into the studio that I work in and the Norris and Davis Show was ending. Stacey sounded so surprised when she announced that "even the intern came in today."

A bunch of board operators and on-air talents among other people didn't show up because of the weather...but I did.

Besides that, it was a typical day of screening calls and editing the audio from guests. However, Stacey trusted me enough to post the podcasts online without her watching over me. That was pretty cool.

One really funny thing was that a bunch of kids kept calling into the station and I was told not to put anyone on the air that is under 18. The kids recognized that and started changing their names and ages. They even started making up occupations to make it sound more official (they said they worked at McDonalds). I wasn't fooled. Everyone thought it was hysterical and it was funny, but kind of annoying because those kids were relentless in their calls.

Hopefully they won't call in on Thursday.

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CBS Radio Internship Day 2

By Dan Rodgers

Today was my second day on the job, er internship. I got into the action during The Mark Viviano Show. I answered phones and screened calls during the show while Stacey Brown did the usual stuff producing, running the board and doing sports updates.

Nothing too crazy about screening calls, however, Stacey did give me a few tips:

• Filled me in on the regular callers
  
• What to tell people if you can't hear them
  
• How to take care of prize callers

In the final hour of the show (11-12), I got to edit the audio clips from the two guests that were on the show. Eric Gordon, a physical therapist of the Gordon Institute, and Keith Cavanaugh of the Terrapin Times.

At the end of the show, Mark announced that caller five would receive two tickets to the Monster Jam. That was probably the craziest part of the day. Stacey waited for the third caller and then picked them up and took down their information. I then proceeded pick up the eight other phone lines and tell people that we already had a winner. It was amazing how many people kept calling in, even a few minutes after the rush was gone.

After the show, Stacey and I went back to her office and she showed me how to post the two edited audio clips onto the 105.7 The Fan website. We posted the two podcasts and then I left for the day.

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CBS Radio Internship Day 1

By Dan Rodgers

Tuesday February 15, 2011 was my first day on the job. The job being my programming internship with CBS Radio Baltimore's 105.7 The Fan. I do work in the promotions department with them as well, but this internship is to earn credit for school.

Since today my first day, my supervisor had me observe the Mark Viviano Show and in her words, "watch the chaos."

After the show, I went into the office and watched/kind of helped my supervisor, Stacey Brown, edit audio from the show to post online at 1057thefan.com.

It wasn't a very hectic day for me, but I look forward to Thursday when I'll be given some responsibilities during the show.

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