NBC 6 Cafe at The Shops at Sunset Place

South Miami, Fla.- This past Friday on July 21st, 2017, the NBC 6 cafe truck came to The Shops at Sunset Place. They offer breakfast and coffee with the viewers and commuters. This gives the Morning News Team an opportunity to meet and connect with them. Y100 Miami was also there playing music and giving away Shawn Mendes tickets. This was a very successful event and I recommend you attend any of the future NBC 6 Cafe events. From left to right: Weatherman Adam Berg, Traffic Reporter Kelly Blanco and Co-Anchor Sheli Muniz. Not Pictured: Anchor Eric Harryman

WTVJ NBC 6 Morning/ midday News Anchor Eric Harryman

Interview Date: June 26, 2017

MIRAMAR, Fla.- Every morning, people wake up and rush to work or drop off their children but before they leave the house they need to get their daily dose of news.  However, this morning I rushed to the WTVJ NBC 6 News Studio to sit down with Morning/Mid-day Anchor Eric Harryman. Every weekday Eric, along with his co-anchor Sheli Muniz, light up the morning and inform viewers about what’s going on down their street, in their neighborhood and all around the world.

            Eric Harryman always knew he wanted to be involved in the news but struggled to find the right medium for him. One day, while working at his college newspaper writing columns and interviewing over the phone, he was asked to do an in-person interview. He felt comfortable working with this kind of interaction and this sparked his interest in television.

            Prior to working in South Florida, he worked in Idaho, Colorado, Virginia and California twice. When he worked in Sacramento, he worked closely around the political activities and learned a lot about the political perspective.

Eric believes his connection with viewers is not just as an anchor but also as a family man. He says at work he puts on a suit, presents the daily news and then goes home to be a loving husband and father to his three children.  Being a father gives him a different perspective on certain stories.  He recalled reporting on a school lockdown from the same perspective as those worried parents wanting desperately to know if their child’s school was okay.  Another story he brought up was from his days reporting in California. He dropped off his daughter to kindergarten and heard on the radio of the incident that would become the Sandy Hook Massacre. He pulled his car over to decide what to do. He was overwhelmed and distraught by this awful event and spent the next 13 hours covering the horrific events as they unfolded. Reporting on this shooting had a significant impact on him and it made him very emotional on this subject.

             Working in South Florida, Eric enjoys the diverse market in a population where many speak Spanish. The various languages spoken in this market have created fierce competition and pushed the station, and other stations around South Florida, to include each and every demographic viewership area into their reporting. With Miami drawing a large number of immigrants, there are many global issues that are more locally relevant.  An example of one of these idiosyncrasies is the Wet Foot Dry Foot policy, which Eric only learned about when he first came to this market. With major events occurring such as those happening politically in Cuba and Venezuela, people have turned to news in the United States to help understand what is going on and have their voices heard.

Eric believes in the importance of the morning and evening news and its impact on creating positive change and awareness in the community. In one example, a story he did resulted in the creation of a recycling program that hadn’t existed prior.  Another story involved a teenager who found a new medicine because of Eric’s reporting. 

With the fall of newspapers and other news outlets, Eric says that Social Media has become a major benefit for connecting with viewers and allows them to watch the news as it’s happening. As a 44-year-old journalist, his career has spanned the birth of all of these new and emerging platforms. Hashtags allow viewers to participate in the reporting by posting their own content and commenting on already reported stories. 

Something viewers wouldn’t know about Eric is that he used to skate for Disney on Ice. On the ice rink, he met his wife. He used his ice skating to help pay for school in the early 90s.

            Some advice Eric would give to student journalists is to be prepared for the adventure.  You will start working with little money and will probably have to move around to different markets. During this intense weeding out process you will pay your dues but it is important to maintain your passion as you climb up and have bigger and better positions in the markets.

Eric’s first live shot was a free ham giveaway at a local grocery store. Though one may find a story like that trivial, Eric said he presented it with the importance of any other major story.  It’s all about connecting to your viewers and giving importance to those stories that affect their everyday lives.  

           

    

Happy Summer! Here is a photo of the Miami skyline on a beautiful warm Miami summer day. What you see in this photo is Miami's Central Business District in the background with the American Airlines Arena, home of The Miami Heat right next to The Freedom Tower, one of the most important monuments to Miami's history.

WCVB 5 Evening News Anchor Maria Stephanos

Interview Date: February 16, 2017

Needham Heights, MA- “I got here because I loved it, because I loved telling stories, because I loved interviewing people”, Maria Stephanos said. She was never a “beauty queen who would stand up on a stage” and wanted to be a news anchor who grew up loving the news and telling stories.  For more than 25 years, Maria Stephanos has evolved into one of New England’s most well-known News Personalities through her connections to her viewers and experiencing the unimaginable with 9/11 to the 2013 Boston bombing as a journalist, citizen and mother.  

            Stephanos says when she was a young girl growing up in Massachusetts, when legendary singer Elvis Presley died.  She remembers seeing her parents consume the news, which made her think, “This is incredible!”  She was fascinated by how a medium such as TV could deliver “urgent and immediate” news and impact someone so much, and from that moment she knew this was what she wanted to do when she grew up.

            Stephanos says that before she was a journalist, she used to work as a waitress at the iconic Cheers Restaurant, and said, “[it was] the best training I’ve ever had for this job”.  At Cheers, she had to walk up to people, charm them, remember customers’ names, memorizes orders, and try to get them to give her big tips. She said this experience “was the best training I could ever have for this job as a Reporter/Anchor.”  Stephanos said that many people “that fill these halls went to Emerson,” such as her co-anchor Ed Harding and his son, her colleague investigative reporter Mike Beaudebt, and her own daughter. She said, “it’s such a great network of people, it makes a huge difference” adding, “it’s really who you know in this business and most people I know are from Emerson.” She feels really proud to be an Emerson graduate.

             Stephanos says that the reason she left Fox25 after being there for more than 18 years, was because she was at a point in her life that she wanted to do something new and take a risk. She grew up watching WCVB5 and she felt that she was fortunate enough that a lot of people were interested in her. Choosing WCVB5 was the best decision she ever made.

              In balancing her professional and personal life, she says that she feels the phone helped so much. She would FaceTime with her kids, helping them with homework, all while working at the studio at night. She also found a way to cook all the meals, clean all the laundry be a parent, a wife, and News Anchor/Reporter simultaneously.

              “I can crochet a blanket, cook like a crazy lady on the weekends, I can’t sing, I have the worst voice you’ve ever heard in your life.” says Stephanos but she says she’s very open to share anything. She enjoys the interaction with her viewers and how she gets to know them and vice versa. 

              As Stephanos’ career evolved, she became more sensitive to people’s tragedies because she sees how hard it is for people when horrible things happen. She covered both the horrific events of 9/11 in 2001 and the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings. For 9/11, she was in the newsroom and knew something was going on but couldn’t comprehend that planes were hitting the towers and coming from Logan International Airport. Since all planes were grounded across the country, Stephanos and a photographer were assigned to drive to Washington DC, and according to Stephanos she said, “it was the most quiet, eeriest ride I ever had in my life.”  When she got to the nation’s capital, she saw “armed guards everywhere, AK47’s everywhere” and she knew the world would never be the same.  When she came back from covering events in Washington DC, she went to the home of Cindy McGinty whose husband Mike was in one of the towers. She came to Cindy’s house and told her, “I don’t have my camera with me, it’s back in the car. I would like to talk to you about Mike.” Cindy said, “Bring your camera in and let’s talk.” Sixteen years later both Stephanos and Cindy are great friends. Every year Stephanos helps through an event for Cindy in Foxborough called Family Fun Day. She made sure that Cindy was a part of her life and has enjoyed watching Cindy’s sons grow up. This is how Maria was able to cope with the tragic events of 9/11.  She was able to see it first hand through the eyes of an individual who lost her spouse and was able to be with her, and to Stephanos this was very meaningful.

               Stephanos’ husband was a participant in the 2013 Boston Marathon. His legs locked up, which resulted in him being an hour late to finishing the race. Once her husband crossed the finish line, and gathered with their children the first bomb went off right near them and then the second bomb went off shortly after that.  Stephanos took her kids and her husband and starting running from the massacre unfolding. Once she had her family safely in the car, she tried calling the station but couldn’t get through. She eventually was able to let them know that “bombs went off at the finish line. I’m at the marathon.”

                As she was talking to the station about everything she was seeing.  She saw some EMTs and asked them what was happening and they told her “Maria, there are limbs everywhere, there are body parts everywhere it’s bad.” From this point on, she knew it was bad and recounted the information as she was heading back to Foxborough. She didn’t stay at the marathon finish line because “I had two children with me, they were younger and I didn’t want to turn my back on my kids. So I picked being a mother over being a reporter first.” When she got back to her home, she dropped off her husband and kids, changed all while talking to the studio about what was going on. She went back into her car, drove to the studio while they were live on the air.  As soon as she arrived at the studio, she recounted the story again and went into reporter mode. However, it was hard for her because “my kids were there and I was there and my husband was there and you knew something horrifying just happened.”

                 Though she has been through a lot, she’s been able to cover it all through journalism. She offers inspiring advice to future journalists “You love it. That’s it, it is as simple as that, you have to love it and if you love it, the rest will come. I believe that as I breathe.  You don’t have to look a certain way, you don’t have to sound a certain way, you just have to really love it

WPLG Local 10 News Reporter Ian Margol

Interview Date: May 27th, 2017

Pembroke Park, Fla.- Everyday, Reporters around the country go out on the streets and report the news. Ian Margol, a Reporter from WPLG, an ABC Affiliate in Miami is leading a a new frontier  by being the youngest reporter in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market while working in his own backyard.

      In a sit down interview with Ian, he says his interest in Journalism started back at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He originally wanted to study Criminal Psychology. That  all changed, when he took a journalism course and felt it was a natural fit for him.

      While he was taking his journalism courses, a producer from CBS 48 Hours, a crime and justice show series, came to speak to his class and offered the students an internship opportunity. Ian felt that working with a crime and justice show with a twist of journalism was perfect combination for him. He interned with the show for three years. He then became a Freelance Associate Producer in his senior year of college, which would set the stage for him to work at the CBS affiliate in the Atlanta area, years later. He didn't have any job offers following his graduation. When suddenly KKCO in Grand Junction,Colorado, called him to offer him a job opportunity at the station. One year later, he moved to WSAV, a NBC affiliate in Savannah, Georgia. Two years later, he would end up at WPLG now nearing his first year at the South Florida station.

    Today, the press is being scrutinized for everything the media reports. He says that every day he does his very best to report two or more sides of a story. He says that unfortunaley local news is being categorized the same way as national news which has recently been coined as "Fake News." He says that fake news originated from small pieces of facts that would evolve into fake stories. Today, he feels that fake news has turned into something based on whether one would agree with it or not. He says that it is defined in its own way and that journalists have a very important job and responsiblity to get all the sides covered fairly and then allow viewers to come up with their opinions.


    When it comes to balancing his personal and professional life. He says that it has resulted in him having to make major sacrifices and keeping them separate from each other. An example of this is when he was recently vacationing in New York City, when a car crashed into Time Square. While he was there, he went to the scene and broadcasted from the area as the investigation was going on. Stories like this have contributed to a recent one year review by the Local 10 News President who has said he is capable to work anytime.


     Although Ian is well know throughout South Florida. Many viewers would not know that he grew up playing ice hockey as well as being a Panthers fan. He also has a rescue dog named Charlie and, finally, he never expected that he would return to South Florida after finishing high school at Cooper City High School.

     The advice that Ian would give to journalism students is to first relearn everything you learned in college. He said to "Get ready for a whirlwind" and added that journalists have never been this structurized. Ian learned this from his first two markets. He also feels that having very strong people skills is important and that one should take advice from everyone. He also says that it's important to give balance facts, because the truth will turn some people off; Lastly, he says the job of journalists is to keep government, leaders and peers in check. At the end of the interview Ian summarized the intentions of journalists by saying "Journalists' jobs are not to push any agenda or glorify or leave out certain group of people, but it is to just give the facts."

4th Of July at the Frost Science Museum 2017

Downtown Miami, Fla.:4th Of July Special- Last night I went to the Phillip and Patricia Frost Science Museum to watch the fireworks. Normally when I go, it is usually very quiet, but when I arrived last night, it was wicked packed at the museum. Everywhere you look there were families who were there to watch the fireworks and lots of food. The museum extended their hours to accommodate the people coming to the event. The highlight for me was watching the fireworks at the top of the museum. From this viewpoint, you can see the fireworks from Coral Gables, Key Biscayne,  Miami Beach and right across Museum Park at American Airlines Arena. I would recommend to anyone who lives or visits South Florida go and visit this musseum during the Fourth Of July.