Ever wondered what it’s like to be behind the scenes of the news? I know I have. Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking to Riley Villiers, a broadcast journalism major here at BU and one of the producers of Good Morning BU. She told me all about the show and how it works, as well as her role as a producer. If you haven’t heard of it, Good Morning BU is BUTV10’s live news show. It runs every Friday from 10-10:30 AM and is made up of a team of over twenty people. They meet on Thursday nights to copy and cut video for the show, as well as organize news stories by order of importance. The show runs in four blocks and is made up of interviews from local to national guests, sports, and information from the White House, etc. They take their job seriously: the team rehearses before the show and directly after there is a breakdown of what went right and wrong.
Photo credit: Source
After hearing about the show, I asked Riley some questions:
What is your favorite thing about Good Morning BU?
“How many women are involved!” The entire on aircrew is female as well as both of the producers. She told me, “All these women just want to build each other up.” As a writer for Her Campus, this sounds great!
Why did you decide to get involved in the first place?
She originally came to BU as a print journalism major, but her father told her to give broadcast journalism a try. Riley begrudgingly went to the interest meeting for Good Morning BU and ended up liking the idea of live news more than she initially thought. She quickly realized how great the people were. After accidentally missing the first two meetings, they still let her join as an interview researcher. She ended up loving broadcast journalism, even switching her major. Interestingly, she thinks that a crucial reason why she ended up liking the show so much was that she enjoys working under stress. I wish I could say the same thing…
What are some of the most interesting people you’ve interviewed? What about stories you’ve covered?
Interesting people include a transgender contestant from Survivor, which was an incredibly powerful interview, as well as a professional voice actress: “You could listen to her voice all day.” She enjoys that she is able to meet such a wide range of people from Good Morning BU. In terms of the most interesting news story, she enjoyed covering the midterm elections last year in a three-hour live election show. Also, they recorded a live reading of Game of Thrones which was very fun to film.
What is your main role as a producer?
Riley (as well as the other producer, Naba) will pick the stories for each show and decide what story goes where, what the reporters should go report on, and what will make the show the most visually dynamic, from the graphics of the show to interviews to stories. They can communicate directly with the two anchors during the show in earpieces they wear and make sure everything goes smoothly. Sometimes the problem is as simple as telling the anchors they need to adjust their hair!
Caption: Anchors Erin Nabney and Natalie Bennett.
It was a pleasure speaking to Riley and I definitely encourage any readers to check out the show! Make sure you tune in to BUTV10 on Friday at 10!
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