Just For TV Teachers

I think this is a good time to dig into the archives of this humble blog and re-print the one that got the most reaction.

It originally appeared here on November 22, 2006. With the seventh annual STN National Convention just a couple of weeks away, this seems like a good time to share it again.

“LOSING HEART”

I received an e-mail six or seven months ago from a colleague in Texas. She is someone I can not remember ever meeting in person, but I may have. I meet lots of broadcast teachers at our summer camp, and at the STN Affiliates Convention each year. When I read her note, it really got to me. She basically said, “We have entered lots of STN contests, but we’re losing heart because we never, ever place.”

It was a moment that hit me hard, and reminded me of the double-edged sword scholastic broadcasting contests offer to those who choose to compete. When I was a kid, one of my best friends, Greg, used to say, “It’s a fun game to win.” He was referring to baseball, or poker, or whatever contest he had been enjoying at the time.

One of my college baseball coaches used to say, “As long as someone’s keeping score, you might as well win.” At the time he was playing badminton (no kidding) and doing his best to pulverize his opponent, which in badminton means slamming the birdie to the open court where it makes a resounding “poof” audible only to nearby dogs when it lands. Being competitive is something we Americans perfected a long time ago, isn’t it?

But back to my colleague in the Lone Star State who said she and her kids were “losing heart” because of their frustration in STN contests. What do we do about that? It seems to me one of the biggest responsibilities we have as TV teachers is to make sure every contest experience is educational, no matter what the results are. It’s not always easy. But thank goodness STN provides critiques and judges’ comments in all contests. Sometimes forms get lost, or misplaced, but in every case, a serious effort is made to make sure the contests provide a teaching moment with written feedback, even if it’s just a score and a brief sentence. Sometimes it’s much more thorough.

Preparation of broadcast kids for contests is crucial as well. As a teacher, you simply have to lower the expectations. You have NO idea who is going to enter what, and how many schools will participate. So don’t make remarks to your kids about winning. Why? Because winning is getting tougher. There are more broadcasting programs in the schools now than there were ten years ago, and many have discovered contests like the “STN Fall Nationals,” which recently received just under 500 entries from over 90 schools. If you tell a kid they are going to win or place in a national contest, you are crazy, and you are asking for heartache.

I am a total softy when it comes to contests. I want every kid to win something. It’s so fun to see the STN Closing Awards Ceremony each year at the national convention. The recognition kids receive that day is so fulfilling to those who work so hard to make the contests happen. One of my favorite moments was at the 2004 convention, the first one, when a teacher and her kids went nuts when one of their own got an “Honorable Mention” in an on-site contest. I’m guessing the teacher did not tell her kids to expect any awards that day. When they won, they were truly thrilled.

To sum it up, contests should provide teaching moments about what we need to do better. Written feedback is crucial if that is to happen. Teachers need to lower expectations, and never tell kids they are going to win. They should also make sure they celebrate any recognition students earn in national contests, because these days, it’s only getting tougher.

In the end, yes, “losing heart” happens. For the kids who keep entering, but don’t win, they need to understand that the process of competing, with proper feedback, is worth the effort. It is totally up to the teacher, and to the people running these contests, to make sure that comes through loud and clear.

I finish with remarks I heard the great Nebraska football coach, Tom Osborne, make at a banquet 20 years ago. He was talking about a conversation he had with a high school coach in his area. Osborne asked him what kind of year he had. The high school coach said, “Oh, we went 7 and 3, just missed the playoffs.”

Osborne looked at him and said, “I didn’t ask how many games you won. I asked you what kind of year you had.”

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Everyone, or at least every publication, did a top ten list for the past decade. Top ten movies, songs, albums, innovations, trends, technical advancements, you name it. So now I’ll take a stab at it.

The Top Ten Stories Relating to Scholastic Broadcasting 2000-2009

10. The Copyright and Fair Use Dilemma As more scholastic TV programs popped up across the nation, including many that air only in-house, the use of copyrighted music, photos, and even video clips posed an ongoing dilemma for the teacher in the classroom. Kids have easy access via the Internet to all sorts of content, but when to let them use what became a daily challenge for teachers/advisers.

9. The Contest Explosion Contest opportunities for middle school and high school broadcast students have become so common, it’s impossible to keep up with all the opportunities to compete that come around almost every week. Yes, it’s made it easier to find recognition, but it has also watered down the meaning of a “national contest.”

8. No More “Student Emmy” Speaking of meaningful national recognition, the “National Student Television Award of Excellence,” often referred to as the high school “Emmy,” was a singular honor presented by NATAS. It started in 2004, and went away in 2008. Now there are still regional high school “Emmy” awards, but nothing matches being one of the seven winners at the national level, and having the legendary Av Westin say nice things about you at the classy award ceremony.

7. Camp STN It began in the summer of 2000 and has continued to be a unique experience among all the summer workshops for broadcast teachers. Demanding, hands-on, exhausting, rewarding, it’s been described as the “best week of training TV teachers can experience” by those who have attended. Many of the founders and leaders in STN first attended Camp STN and learned what the organization is all about. The Springfield, MO camp has gone on the road to Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas, and in 2010, California to train middle school and high school advisers.

6. The Journalism/Production Divide One of the outgrowths of the scholastic broadcast explosion is the gap between students and teachers who would prefer to concentrate on journalism and those who prefer to focus on film and production. It is an ongoing challenge in the classroom, and yes, it is an ongoing threat to those on the journalism side. Finding teens who are excited about covering meetings, events and straight news topics is difficult when these same teens see many of their friends making movies and music videos. It may be great for the production side, but journalism is taking a hit.

5. Schooltube The emergence of schooltube.com as a home for student video has helped hundreds of schools get exposure for their work. “Student-produced, teacher-approved” says it all in a world where there are plenty of portals for teens to share pointless, tasteless, unmonitored content. It was slow going at first, but Schooltube, with the support of the elementary and secondary administrators from coast to coast, is here to stay.

4. RTNDF’s High School Broadcast Journalism (HSBJ) Project In 2003 the HSBJ project was created to develop and nurture electronic journalism programs and promote First Amendment education in high schools across the country. Since then, thousands of teachers and students have benefited, and received training and even grants to support their efforts. Carol Knopes of RTNDF has been one of scholastic broadcast journalism’s real heroes in the last decade.

3. The STN Convention The first one was in 2004, and ever since the national convention hosted by the Student Television Network has been THE place to go for teens who are serious about broadcasting and video production. The event grew from 500 or over 1,600 in just three years, and it is the only event of its kind, focusing on video students dedicated to broadcast journalism or video production. The convention features the nation’s most competitive on-site contests for video students, and entrusts the hosting of its closing awards ceremony to the students themselves, making it a one-of-a-kind finish to a high-energy weekend.

2. The Digital Revolution It was felt in all areas of our society, including the broadcast classroom. The last ten years saw digital cameras and non-linear editing systems become the norm. The affordability of digital gear allowed many more schools to begin producing their own shows. It will be interesting to see where the next decade of digital innovation takes us, but rest assured high school and middle school producers will be along for the ride.

1. Convergence Not a new term by any means in 2010, “convergence” was hardly on our map in the scholastic setting back in 2000. We are still catching up with the professionals, but now most high school newspapers are going online, incorporating video clips into their coverage, and many (but not enough) high school broadcast programs have developed websites where they can make their work available. We are learning that it is all about delivering content, getting information to the consumer, in whatever form is appropriate. The days of being a high school PRINT journalist or BROADCAST journalist are about to disappear. A journalist in 2010 has to do it all.

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Getting older is fine. Feeling older stinks.

Seems like yesterday I was standing in my English classroom, which was also now the new “Media” classroom, preparing to teach TV for the first time.

I had two sections, one with 32 students, the other 33, and my only background was in print journalism in college and high school. Twenty years and two months later, we have a studio, a dozen cameras, 14 edit bays, a separate classroom, and every piece of equipment we need to do our little show. In fact, we are currently working on “HTV Magazine” number 174, which seems impossible.

My hair was dark brown in the fall of 1989, I wore glasses, and I was still coaching baseball. Now, the ever-thinning hair is grey, I have contact lenses, and I have not filled out a line-up card in 15 years.

I still get up excited to work on HTV and The Friday Show, but now I automatically awaken way too early, around 5 a.m. I’m dead by 8 or 9 at night. Those Saturday HTV work days are no longer as fun as they used to be. The kids seem to have a little less time to stay late or come in early. Maybe I don’t insist like I used to. Mellowing happens.

The novelty and excitement of producing a TV show has faded a bit because, thanks to Youtube and other online portals, anyone can upload video to share with the world, and it seems the dumber it is, or the more shocking it is, the more young people will watch. In general, across the nation, fewer kids want to do serious journalism. They would rather create the next big, pointless clip to “go viral.”

The equipment is changing again, and I have been through a lot of that since 1989. We have 12 GL2 camcorders, and are thankful for them. We will be one of the last programs on earth to go HD or to use tapeless cameras, I imagine, due to budget concerns, or maybe due to my concern that schools need to worry a little less about the bells and whistles and focus on finding, training, encouraging and championing reporters who will tackle tough stories, kids who will dare someone to take away their freedom to report the truth and question authority. I am probably itching for more First Amendment battles than most advisers, because I hear about very few of those in scholastic broadcasting these days. Many of us are not pushing the envelope like we should. Some of us aren’t even opening the envelope in the first place.

There have been moments to celebrate in my program in 2009. A memorable “convergence” bus tour where we saw a lot of the eastern and southern U.S. and shared it all with those who followed us online. A great ten days I’ll never forget. I probably have one more of those in me before I head into the sunset.

HTV won the “STN Excellence Award” last March, and we were all very thrilled, then we experienced the letdown of being a Pacemaker finalist, but not a winner. We have won ten times in the past, but not in 2009. It was another reminder that broadcast contests should not be your reason to exist. If it is, you will get your heart broken frequently by decisions made by judges whom you will likely never meet.

I have been bolstered more than I expected this fall by my Broadcast I class, which shows tremendous potential. They have enthusiasm, talent, and so far, the dedication to work after school until the job is done. The HTV staff has been improving each month, and their understanding that they have not done their best show yet gives me plenty of hope for them in the weeks and months ahead.

So as 2009 draws to a close, I look back with with a lot of great memories, and the realization that as I venture further into the twilight of my teaching career, we still have plenty of great stories in our future here at Hillcrest, stories by teens, for teens.

See you on the other side of the new year.

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I am the director of “Camp STN,” a workshop for broadcast teachers which began in the summer of 2000. Last fall, my camp partner, aka “Martha, my wife,” and I hosted a weekend conference for high school broadcasters here in Springfield, MO as a way to promote our camps while providing some fun, educational experiences for about 200 kids and teachers.

This year, the “Four-State Conference” continues thanks to Drury University and the broadcast leader there, Brian Shipman. While the 2008 conference was at a hotel, and lasted 2 1/2 days, Brian has trimmed it to a one-day event, and the response was great. He had to shut down registration about two weeks after it opened, and he will greet about 270 teachers and kids tomorrow.

Regional events for scholastic broadcasters make sense. Print people have been doing them for years. They allow schools to stay closer to home, avoiding the expenses of more ambitious trips, especially in tough economic times. They also allow the hosts to get creative. Drury offered three “pre-conference contests” in Broadcast Journalism, Music Video and Movie Production. Teams received prompts, audio tracks and such on Wednesday, and they will turn in their finished products tomorrow morning, 72 hours later, when they check in. There were also mail-in categories for news, feature, humor and such.

Another thing Brian is trying–unlimited entries, and unlimited numbers of participants on each team. Let me clarify. If I entered a team in “Spot Feature,” I could enter two kids, or four kids, or whatever. No micromanaging here. We could enter several teams if we wanted. A music video crew could include 15 kids if you want. Judges will just look at the final product, and evaluate its effectiveness no matter how many worked on it. Of course, we know too many cooks spoil the stew, so I am guessing most teams will not be “over-populated.” My Spot Feature team is just a photographer and reporter.

The conference will also feature presentations in the AM and PM, and get this–Drury is providing all three meals, including a Golden Globes-like awards ceremony that takes place during dinner. The day begins at 9 a.m. and wraps up at 7 p.m., time for most schools to return home if they choose, thus avoiding the cost of a hotel. Conference registration is a whopping ten bucks per person.

The Four-State Conference is working here in the midwest because it’s in the fall, when we still have time to provide motivation for our seniors, something that is almost impossible in the spring. It’s also an alternative to the large, national convention hosted every November by JEA/NSPA, where yearbook and newspaper people run the show.

Regional events make sense now more than ever. They can help stir up excitement for broadcasting, and thus more excitement for the STN national convention in March, the one big event truly designed for scholastic broadcasters. If you have a region where teachers are excited about broadcasting, you might give this approach a thought.

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The sixth annual STN Challenge contest is just around the corner. It’s simply one of the toughest, coolest contests out there for scholastic broadcasters. I should know. I started them.

In 2003, which seems like the Ice Age in the ten-year history of STN, we wanted to put kids to the test in a brand new way. It was decided that a strict, five-day production contest, with the proper topic, could really give kids a taste of news pressure that they might not experience the rest of the year.

So we came up with a topic that asked teams to cover the problem of obesity among American teens. Over 30 schools entered, which was about twice as many as we anticipated. In the end, about 22 of them actually made the contest deadline. The judging began and we announced the five finalists on the STN website, which was a cool way to recognize five deserving teams, and to stir up interest in the final results.

Since there was no STN convention in 2003, and I was already making presentations regularly at the JEA convention, we set up a special hour in Portland, OR to honor our winners. What a great hour that was as we watched the top three entries, and in the end, Waianae High School from Hawaii walked away with the top prize. It would not be their last.

I remember the kids who produced the top three stories coming up front to talk about their entries. There was a lot of pride in that room, and a lot of appreciation from peers of both the honored students and their teachers. The STN Challenge had done exactly what it was intended to do. It had inspired students, in teams of four, to work together, often late into the night (or morning) to meet a tight deadline. It had also fueled their creative powers and lit a fire under them that often continued to burn the rest of the year. (”Hey, we did the STN Challenge…we can handle anything else you wanna throw at us”)

With all due respect, I have to ask you this, STN teachers: With all this contest offers, and the many lessons it brings, and the bonding opportunities it presents, how can you NOT enter your kids in the 2009 Challenges? Give it a shot. I promise it will be worth it.

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An early August blog, just because…

Two years ago I had a conversation with a former professional journalist whose first, distinguished career had been in print. It was at the annual STN Convention, which I chaired from 2004-2008. My “source” now monitors scholastic broadcast journalism as part of her job, and she is about as sharp as any person I’ve ever met. She told me something then that still resonates today. She said, “Kids are learning to tell stories thanks to STN. Now they need to learn how to go out and gather stories.”

That has stuck with me ever since. I do believe STN’s convention, where our theme was simply, “Tell the Story,” helped focus teen journalists on having a beginning, middle and end to their segments. We also teach that at “Camp STN” every summer to teachers as well as kids. After that conversation about the gathering process, I began think about it. A lot.

We do need to teach our kids to go out and find the story. So I took that to heart and put my staff to the ultimate test with our recent spring break bus tour, where we journeyed 3,400 miles in ten days, finding stories wherever we were, and uploading them to our website. They are all still there in case you are interested: www.htvmagazine.com.

Getting kids to gather stories involves teaching them how establish instant rapport, and how to have conversations on the spot, often with adults who will be hesitant to open up. Gathering also requires research so you know where to go to actually do the gathering. Story meetings between teacher and student are invaluable as you prep your crews for their field work. We also have to teach our young broadcast journalists to be ready to respond to what they find. The expected often turns into the unexpected, so you have to be flexible in the field.

Maybe most of all, we simply have to get our students INTO THE FIELD. It’s hard if your school limits your class, confining it to the school building or campus. Even then, you can teach news gathering. Send kids to the science class where they are conducting an experiment, or have them cover the back-stage happenings at the school musical. The school can be our “field,” and there are stories to gather .

Now part two of this late-summer blog, inspired again by a former journalist who is now teaching broadcasting at the collegiate level. He is also a very sharp observer of high school TV practices, having judged national contests for STN and others. A point he made to me last fall was one I had to roll over in my mind a lot. He said he instantly picks up the sense that “this story was produced to win an award” when he looks at scholastic features. He talks about the way kids will find a story about suffering and disease, or a tragic injury or death, and milk it with dramatic music, slow dissolves, cheesy writing that screams “this is an important story” without adding much substance. Kids don’t get into the “why” or “how” as much as they do the “look-at-my-important-emotional-story, and all of my sad visuals…now give me my award.”

That was a conversation I took to heart as well. You can imagine in 20 years how many stories we have produced with those kinds of themes, but hopefully, not too much melodrama. But he was right, I think, about the “I’m-going-to-win-an-award-thank-you-for-sharing-your-sadness-and-suffering” approach. Kids come up to me all the time pitching stories about the family at church suffering through an illness or tragedy. (By the way, stories about church friends require less “gathering” challenges than other stories…there is a built-in trust there, and it can lead to a lukewarm piece because your reporters will tip-toe around the family’s feelings out of respect)

There is another point to make here. Ultimately, it falls on the judges of scholastic contests to weed out the story going for glory, especially if it is not real effective. But judges of high school TV competitions are not always in touch with high school TV, so they are easily won over with stories like the ones described above. They get overly impressed with the access the teen reporters got to a tough situation. Sometimes that access was easy to attain. Sometimes the teacher got that access for them. So judges really need to focus on the actual storytelling, and not speculate too much about the work that went into getting close to the story and its stakeholders. It goes back to the first part of this blog. Gathering the story is the job of the reporter. That is what they are SUPPOSED to do.

Do sad stories have a place in our shows? Of course. The world is full of sadness, and lessons learned from the suffering of a friend or family in your community can certainly uplift, and educate the viewer. It is in the telling of those stories that we find illumination, and golden moments that naturally impact us. When the production of the story is dressed to impress, with poor, state-the-obvious writing, overuse of effects, and all the elements you can find in so many teen features, then it’s not time to give it an award.

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Seems like it was just yesterday I was wishing the class of 2008 a happy life, and sending them on their way. Now the ‘09 gang leaves, and soon it will be “hello” to the 21st staff of “HTV Magazine.”

Perspective is often best achieved from a distance. I don’t know how to evaluate the class of ‘09 just yet. Some things are certain. They were smart. All eight of my HTV seniors are “A” students, full of potential. They were creative, and when they had to, they could find and gather stories fast. They proved that on our spring break bus tour, when they often had two hours to shoot, and then had to have the edited piece done by noon the next day, no matter how much site-seeing they planned to do.

They were not the most competitive group I’ve had. They were proud of winning our show’s unprecedented tenth broadcast Pacemaker in November, despite little fanfare from our local media. They were also happy to earn our fifth STN Excellence Award in March. But individual awards were just not a priority. We chose to sit out a number of contests because of timing, or expense, or lack of interest. That’s how I handle it. If the kids don’t seem to care about a contest, we pass. Each year is different, and each staff is different. This group seemed to be fine with just doing their stories and doing their part to maintain the tradition of HTV.

I had excellent leadership on the staff. Mehleena, you did great as News Director. Alex, ditto as Line Producer. Sarah, you left a tough act to follow as Chief Photog. Thanks to Fran, Rob, Curtis, Lauren, and Chase as well. I think your willingness to go the extra mile on many of your stories spoke volumes for those who will follow you.

Now I welcome 14 seniors to our staff next year, and only four juniors. We’ll see if it’s a rebuilding year, or a re-loading year. Either way, my job won’t be boring, I’m sure.

To those who drop by to read this blog now and then, have a great summer. I’ll be back a bloggin’ in September.

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We have had our share of contest success the last 20 years. Hillcrest students have captured Emmys, Pacemakers, “Excellence” awards, film festival honors, Best-In-Shows, Stories of the Year, the Sweet 16, and so on and so on and so on. All these national awards, what do they mean? I guess they mean in each case, we submitted something that someone, somewhere liked a little more than the other entries. I guess.

But what if we created contests for our TV kids that addressed areas the “usual contests” don’t necessarily target? Sure, some of the issues addressed by these might appear somewhere in a national contest’s criteria, but I’m talking about some really tough, meaningful contests that teachers can sponsor for their own kids at the end of the year, things teachers can judge the best. Some suggestions:

*Journalistic Integrity Contest. Say it, prove it, and be ready to defend it. As a student reporter, lesson number one is, “accuracy.” Don’t fudge, don’t cut corners, don’t cheat the viewer by providing only part of the truth. (Never prompt someone to give you a soundbite in your words, never stage news footage, never mislead by altering intended meaning in the edit bay) Play fair, all the time.

*Year-Long Improvement Contest. This one begins the first day of class and concludes at the end of the school year. Students must enter their first and last stories of the year. The winner is the one whose entry displays the most improvement. Hopefully, this will be a tight race.

*Magic Moments Contest. Stories that touch us the most have those golden “moments.” They can be soundbites, visuals, or occasionally, even a great voiceover. Teachers should be looking for those all the time. Students should be striving to find them and include them in their stories.

*Characters Contest. If “moments” are important, great characters usually provide them. Give an award to the most memorable character to appear on your show this year. That will only emphasize for future staffs the importance of people to any news program.

*It’s Not About ME Contest. This one goes to the best team player, the student who is always willing to help others, the one who makes the show the best it can be. It can be the kid who keeps the hard drives humming, the cameras clean, the assignment board up to date, or the reporter who does not insert him or herself unnecessarily into the story. It can also be the producer who always helps others find great topics. This contest should have a lot of candidates by year’s end if the staff is focused on what really matters: The Show.

Okay, there you have some brand new contests you can run, and everyone on your staff can be entered in one or all of them. The good thing about these contests, I hope, is that they honor the heart of what we are trying to teach our young journalists. No national recognition needed, thank you.

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Thanksgiving should mean more than food and football, so here is one TV teacher’s list of things he’s thankful for in 2008, and forgive me if I stray from the classroom now and then:

*My wife, who understands all those TV deadlines, and has learned to tolerate them (and me).
*My daughters, who put up with dad and his issues.
*My mom and dad, on whose shoulders I stand everyday.
*The old west side gang, my best friends in life. We inhabit four different cities, but thanks to e-mail and phone calls, we keep in touch. You never have friends again like the ones you had when you were 12. At least that’s what Stephen King and I think.
*My colleagues toiling in states far away, and their continued encouragement and insight.
*The HTV alumni, who continue to give back to our program.
*The current staff of “HTV Magazine,” which continues to improve. I admire their effort, and the results are starting to reward their dedication.
*People who taught me about the high road, and why you should always take it. I try.
*Broadcast teachers who give time and effort to their kids despite no stipend, almost no equipment, and frustrations with administrators, peers, and parents.
*Those administrators, peers and parents who make it a point to support our kids’ efforts. We have plenty at Hillcrest.
*Colleagues in the HHS “West Wing,” and all the fun we have. Now if they’ll just fix our heating and A/C someday.
*The Student Television Network. I helped start it, but it’s grown far beyond the 25 or 30 charter members from 1999.
*Teachers who train kids to think for themselves, and reach for the truth.
*To those who measure success not by plaques or trophies or press coverage, but rather by the quality of the story and the integrity of the show.
*Technology that works as advertised, and vendors who stand behind their product. Customer service isn’t dead, but sometimes, I think it’s a thing of the past.
*Professional journalists who care about the future of their profession, and reach out to train kids and teachers.
*RTNDF, a great, great organization.
*The end of the recent presidential campaign. Enough.
*Network TV shows that actually entertain us. Kudos to “Heroes,” which is getting back to its basics; “Chuck,” which is getting better all the time; and “24,” no matter what they do with it when it returns–in its worst season it’s better than most shows on television.

I could go on and on. I have a lot to be thankful for, including my health, having a house, food, and clothing, and of course, a DVR…gobble up!

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It’s been a while, but now I think I’ll let the power of the mighty bean do its magic. Some random, caffeine-inspired observations will now boil over….

*Where do we send kids to get objective reporting these days? Based on this past election cycle, every broadcast news outlet seems to have a point of view behind its coverage. Same for most print sources. Objectivity, where are you? We miss you.

*Is anything worse than the local, “issues-based” call-in radio show? That’s where you get to hear the Sean Hannity Wannabes in action. Most of them just spout talking points they hear the night before on cable, or they bravely go after underpaid (or non-paid) local officials who cast a vote that rubs them the wrong way. Just play some songs and quit posing as the crusading activist you will never be.

*If you have a good coffee maker, keep it. Forever. My wife and I have gone through about five in the last two years. All we want is one that brews a pot of coffee in a reasonable amount of time, and doesn’t make noise like a NASA launch.

*Stars abusing botox are adding some humor to my life. Looking at some of the frozen faces celebs are sporting reminds me of a funny line by Joan Rivers, on a commercial, I think, where she asks, “Am I smiling?” At least she embraces her efforts to cling to her youth. Of course, I think botox was just the beginning for Joan. Her original face was lifted away during Reagan’s first term.

*The CMA Awards show was fun, but it’s time country music spotlighted its own artists and quit relying on posers. The Eagles are fine, but not country. I would rather have heard Hank, Jr. or Trisha Yearwood. Kid Rock is barely country, but he did have one of the night’s better performances. Kenny Chesney won the big award again, but he’s turned into a country version of Jimmy Buffett, and I don’t know if we need that. Carrie and Brad did a nice job hosting, but I have to say Carrie was especially poised, hopefully because she graduated with a degree in “Broadcast Journalism.” I just hope she doesn’t start a radio talk show…ever.

*We just found out that “HTV Magazine” won its tenth Pacemaker Award from the National Scholastic Press Association. It’s one of the top two national awards for overall shows. The other is the “STN Excellence Award,” and that one comes with a written critique, which the Pacemaker doesn’t. Kudos to STN for providing written critiques for all of its contests, giving us “teaching moments” we sometimes miss in other competitions.

*Our HTV facility is under renovation. Has been since June. We were originally told it would be done in August, before school started. Now it looks like it will be mid-December. For my seniors, every week is another one they’ll not get to use the new studio as their time at HHS winds down. That saddens me, because they have had to deal with the many inconveniences for months, and will get to take advantage of the renovations for only a semester before leaving.

All for now. See you next blog. It will be rant-free, I promise.

Bonus Tip: Stay away from the movie theater when “Twilight” opens lest you get trampled by teenage girls.

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