PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — This final blog marks the end of my internship at WAVY-TV 10 as the Sports Intern. It’s a bittersweet moment — sad that it’s over, but proud of all I’ve accomplished. I’ve learned so much throughout the summer, and I’m excited to take all the skills I’ve acquired and sharpened back to school with me and into my career. I’m very thankful for the sports team for taking me under the wing and giving me room to grow.
I’ve done plenty of brag-worthy things, but the coolest event of the summer was the Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway by far. We were there for the whole day, as a big rain delay postponed the event by a few hours. We were able to get down with all the cars and talk to big names like Dale Earnhardt Jr. The atmosphere of the stadium reminded me of why I love sports, and how lucky I am to come from an area with such hardcore fans. We interviewed a few different racers and got b-roll of the qualifiers. The race was originally set for 8:45 p.m. but it ended up starting around 11:30 p.m. Regardless of the rainstorm we were stuck in, it was my favorite event of the summer.
Of course we did our usual tasks, such as heading to Harbor Park to interview and talk with Tides players during batting practice. I really enjoy the friendship between everyone who goes and the other stations. It feels like a community there, and I’m always meeting new, friendly people.
We also did some feature stories on younger kids, including a 14-year-old who just won a national championship in sporter shooting for air rifle and the ODU Women’s Soccer Monarch sister program. For the ODU story, we interviewed three girls aged 6-9. It was such a cute story, and I loved watching those girls holding the microphone and answering our questions.
I also had to check off a lot of tasks from my checklist. I shadowed sales, digital, and promotions. The sales block was very interesting. Seeing how the money and advertising works behind the scenes is something I never truly understood until I was able to talk to people and shadow a meeting.
The digital side was also a lot of fun. I’ve helped around in digital a plethora of times, so it came to me much easier than sales did. I enjoyed trying to come up with creative condensed headlines for the website and seeing how we work with other stations in Virginia and around the country to publish stories.
Promotions was another department I shadowed, and it was also another favorite of mine. I’ve seen all the promotions and advertisements growing up in Virginia Beach but seeing how it was done and the creative standpoint behind it was super intriguing. I left the promotions shadowing knowing that that is something I would be interested in doing in the future.
I also shadowed Weather and Engineering. The weather department was interesting. I got to see the base models they use and understand how to read them. I also got to see the model shift in real time to show a potential hurricane coming in our region. Engineering was also interesting, as it’s the backbone of the station. Seeing and understanding how to troubleshoot and how everything is converted to go on television was something I never really thought about until I was doing it in person.
I’m grateful for this internship and all the things I got to do and learn. Thank you WAVY!
