Touring WSAZ NewsChannel 3

Continuing our efforts to become more informed about the local community, exploring employment opportunities at different sites in the Huntington area and more about broadcasting journalism, Mountain State Centers for Independent Living staff, consumers and a volunteer toured WSAZ NewsChannel 3 on June 22, 2005.

WSAZ NewsChannel 3 Promotions Coordinator, Cheryl Myers, acted as our tour guide as we traveled through the news room. We had the opportunity to speak with Michael O'Neil, Executive Producer, who talked to our group about the reporters, their work outside the station gathering stories for the news cast and how they put the stories on tape for the news anchor to read.

Amber Stewart, Operations Engineer, has worked for WSAZ for 21 years. She gave us a tour of the master control room and explained what happens there. Ms. Stewart also showed us how she was getting a tape ready for the Oprah show to be aired that day.

We toured the production control room with Director Mark Watts. The directors and producers work in this room and do sound control.

Meteorologist Glenn Willey has been at WSAZ for 13 years. We had the opportunity to see him broadcast the weather report and tour the WSAZ NewsChannel 3 Weather Center and Forecast Lab.

We had the opportunity to observe News Anchor, Rob Johnson, present the mid-day news. Rob's father, Boz Johnson, was a news anchor at WSAZ NewsChannel 3 for 25 years and is currently enjoying retirement.

We learned that Mr. Food, Art Ginsberg, is pre-recorded and is broadcast in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Mr. Food did a segment on the mid-day news about ice cream scoops. Mr. Food will be appearing live at the Taste of Charleston Event at the Charleston Civic Center on September 3-4, 2005.

We had a great time at WSAZ NewsChannel 3 and send a big thank you to the staff for their hospitality and informative tour.

View photo of MTSTCIL group touring WSAZ NewsChannel 3.