I’m your host, Daniela DiStefano

Radio GaGa at J-School

Last week I had the chance to do something I’ve been meaning to do all school year- host an episode of the Western in Five podcast!

I’ve been a contributing member of the team all year, but until now I’ve never actually been “the voice” for the show. Specializing in print this semester means I haven’t had much time to exercise my broadcast reporting skills. Working on the news podcast for the university every week means I can get back in the recording studio and take a break from writing away. There’s only two more weeks left of the school year, but I’m hoping to get in a few more pieces for the podcast before it’s all over.

You can subscribe to the weekly Western in Five podcast on iTunes U for free.

Click here to listen to Western in 5 for the week of March 22nd.

You can never have enough shoes: This weekend at the London Free Press

Photo By: Morris Lamont/London Free Press

After a relatively unproductive weekend, I took a day shift Sunday at the London Free Press. As I rode the bus downtown I went over the list of potential story ideas in my head that I could pitch. I arrived in the newsroom prepared for one of the city editors to okay one of my ideas and to spend the afternoon looking for sources and making phone calls. Instead I was greeted by one of the photographers, Morris Lamot, who told me I would be going along with him to cover Slush Cup at Boler Mountain.

As the day panned out I realized many things, one of them being that I seemed to be the only person I knew who had never heard about a Slush Cup before. (If you don’t either the best you can do is watch this video).

Check out the story from the London Free Press here.

Here’s my two cents from this weekend:

1. Always be Prepared: So I may have ripped this motto from the Boy Scouts, but I think journalists should start adopting this practice too. As a reporter you never know where the day might take you, and where you might end up to cover a story. You may need a raincoat and some wellies, or you may need some heels and a blazer. Case in point: On a fairly warm Sunday (about 6 degrees) I found myself going to a ski hill. When I got dressed that morning the last thing I was thinking as I starred into my closet was, “I should wear something warm incase I spend the whole day outside.” Not going to lie I was more concerned about coordinating my cardigan with my bracelets. But luckily at the last minute I wore my boots instead of my converse, and my wool pea coat instead of my short leather jacket. After the first hour at the hill my feet were already numb (these boots are nice but not designed for trekking through snow all day long), and I was wishing  my outfit plan included a scarf. The photographer on the other had pulled out a pair of Sorel winter boots from his trunk along with a hat and an insulated jacket. “You never know where they are going to send you, and if you aren’t prepared you can’t do your job the way you need to,” he said. Now the next time I take a shift at the paper I don’t plan on bringing a small duffel bag with different outfit options, (not that I wouldn’t enjoy that) but I will for sure think about versatility when I access my choice in the mirror.

2. Multi-tasking is an Art: My job for the day was simply to interview some spectators, contestants, and a representative from Boler so I could write a colourful story about the event. The photographer on the other hand had to shoot video for the web and take photos that would appear in the paper, as well as in an online photo gallery. I watched him as he shot some clips with the mini-cam and then quickly turned to his digital SLR to snap some stills as all the action was going on and people were moving all around him (don’t forget he was standing on an uneven snowy hill!). On top of that he even made it a point to run over to every contestant after they came down the hill to get their names for the photo captions. I was having trouble just conducting interviews while keeping track at how many people had come down the hill. Luckily we worked together back in the newsroom, sharing names and going over the facts for the story, but I realized that’s not always going to be the case. The realities of the job today are that I might be sent out somewhere without another reporter/ videographer/photographer to share the work with. This means I will be expected to step up my game and make sure I cover all the major points of the multimedia story––  even if it’s just covering some crazy teens skiing into a pond of freezing water.