Mid-quarter Review Essay

Chelsey Cunningham

BISMCS 402

4/24/15

Mid-Quarter Review

On the first day of class I felt unsure about which UWave department to join. I knew that the tech department and the business department weren’t for me, which helped to narrow things down. I had a strong interest in the broadcasting aspect of things and didn’t know which category that would fall into. I spoke to programming and promotions and realized that programming was the best fit for my personal interests. At this point I decided that promotions would be my second department to be involved in by default. I knew that attending events would be difficult with my rigid schedule but I would find the time to at least go to a couple of them. The first week I wasn’t sure where to start because the programming director Tom said there wasn’t much to do yet. I decided to join CC on her show “Pop Talk” to try out co-hosting and get a feel for what this station is all about. My experience on “Pop Talk” was very fun, conversational, relaxing and helped to give me a feel for how UWave Radio operates. The second week I was still unsure about how to get involved with the programming department so I asked Tom for a project. He assigned me and Sera the task of creating new playlists, the catch however was that Finn had to re-work the software to allow us to get started. He told Sera and I that he would get back to us as soon as he had figured out how to do it. By the third week he still wasn’t sure of how to do it so Sera and I took it upon ourselves to partner up on a new project. We heard about the idea of a potential UWave Radio blog and we decided that this would be a fun and beneficial project to take charge of. We both expressed interest in the marketing of the social media for UWave so this seemed like another way to market. That same day I caught wind of an event I could attend so I committed to going. This event is for the University of Washington Bothell campus 25 year anniversary event. During our group meeting I proposed the idea of a fun and interactive photo booth for the event. Two months ago I helped King 5 with a sporting event and we had a photo booth. I was in charge of it and it was a successful marketing tool. This opportunity is a win-win because it promotes the UWave brand while also creating a fun environment for people to have fun with friends. We will have students dress up with fun props and we will include a UWave radio poster as the backdrop of the photographs. I think our society is very photo motivated and thought this would be a great opportunity to create more of a buzz around UWave Radio and to attract students. The group seemed hesitant at first when talking about financial and spacial issues. After I explained alternative solutions and further ideas the programming department actually came around to liking this idea. The ideas of blogging and creating this photo booth have been my strengths thus far. These areas feel natural for me and I think that I could play a part in helping UWave promote themselves in alternative ways. I would say that the playlist task is more programming oriented and the photo booth is more of a promotional take on things. As far as my weak areas so far I would say this includes my limited schedule for events and my slow start at taking initiative in the first couple weeks due to shyness. Another weakness I can admit to would be the lack of evidence I have provided in my portfolio. Everything I have done so far can be confirmed with members by word of mouth but I still need to produce proof of what I have done. Something I might do is document the photo booth event through pictures, post the blog link when we get it up and running, post the list of songs included in the playlist and include emails regarding the event(s) I will be attending.

One of my goals for the rest of the quarter include following through with the projects I have signed up for and doing my best to produce quality work. Another major thing, like I just mentioned, would be providing proof of my work in some way or another for my portfolio. I am excited to attend an event so that I can represent UWave Radio and get a hands on feel for how these events work and to gain a better understanding of the purpose that these booths serve. Sera and I plan to meet on Fridays after class to go over the ideas of the blog. We hope to include photos of the program directors with descriptions of their roles, Uwave promotional information along with sharing features for other social media platforms. A main goal with the photo booth is to create a strategic system of promotion. We will provide the photo booth photos through our blog the day after the event. This will also be the day of our blog launch which will be a two-for-one situation. The purpose of making these photos available through only one platform creates incentive for people to check out our blog and share it on Facebook. We are hoping that by each photo we could create a sharing feature for social media so that people can share it right then and there, rather than saving the photos to their desktops or “screen-shotting” the photos. I am confident that this will be a positive strategy for promotion. Another idea I have that is blog related is to print out new UWave Radio flyers to post around campus. The reason for posting new ones would be to include the blog and promote this new outlet of information for people to better understand the UWave culture. When I was interested in UWave Radio last year I know that I tried to get my hands on as much information as I could to see if this was a good fit for me. A blog could be a useful promotional tool to showcase the many benefits and positive sides to the UWave team.

In relation to my career and graduation goals this class is very helpful. Blogging experience is a crucial stepping-stone for journalism. My previous coworker, who was a producer, claimed that blogging was a beneficial way to improve writing. She also said that it could help me find “your voice” in my writing while finding my journalistic style. She gave me several tips about blogging and how to get started. I feel that I can apply the teachings of my old co worker while also creating an additional component to add to my resume. Putting together blogs and promoting them through social media is skill set that is heavily valued in most media jobs these days. Another aspect that applies to my career goals is the co-hosting on Thursdays with CC on “Pop Talk”. Broadcasting on air is new to me and I have been eager to find opportunities for practice. Since there is no broadcasting program at UW this is a beneficial way for me to gain practical experience. Again, this is a great thing to add to my resume since my experience is limited. I’m excited to go to the event and represent UWave Radio at the 25^th anniversary event because this will be an opportunity to build connections, promote a growing club and practice my photo booth skills. So far this class has been helpful, engaging and full of growth opportunity. I look forward to the current and future endeavors planned for the rest of the quarter.

Artifacts

Comments