WAER Student/Volunteer Opportunities

INTEREST MEETING:
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 9 @ 7:00 P.M. 
NH-III, ROOM 250 - TIRICO ROOM

  Thank you for your interest in volunteering at WAER.  The WAER Newsroom, studios and field experiences in news and sports coverage have provided valuable professional development experiences for thousands of students over the decades.  Many Syracuse University students in a variety of majors know the value of gaining real world experience and how it enhances their education - not to mention their future job prospects. 

THE WAER NEWS DEPARTMENT

  Students and Volunteers in our news department become contributing members to the daily news coverage we provide on radio and online.  The main experiences include:

Reporters: covering stories out in the field and over the phone in our newsroom.  Shifts can run any time, accommodating classes and other responsibilities.  We like to have reporting shifts run 3-4 hours to get a story completed.  Weekends are an option on an as-assigned basis (again around other responsibilities). 

Web Editors:  We utilize 1-2 people a day to create web content.  Much of our web page is stories we covered for radio; the editors turn them into web versions.  We also do some web-only stories and are always open to creative ideas about interesting topics. 

Afternoon Producers:  A job that mirrors responsibilities of a TV news producer.  The shift needs to be afternoon hours, sometime between about 2:00 and 6:00…with a little flexibility.  This position involves writing; some computer audio editing; creating promos; assisting the anchor/host in a number of capacities; helping with web content; sometimes finishing story versions for the next morning; etc. 

Hosting/Anchoring All Things Considered in the afternoon:  students work as producers (see above) while training to handle the on-air shift.  I ask for a year-long commitment (both semesters) on this one.  You will train in aspects of hosting and anchoring, then get on the air for one day per week once you are cleared.  That has taken people anywhere from two months to a little more than a semester. 

THE WAER SPORTS DEPARTMENT

  WAER Sports - The Original Home of the Orange - has been covering SU sporting events since the 1940s.  Students and volunteers broadcast games, including announcing, engineering, hosting;  write and announce daily sportscasts;  produce feature sports journalism;  host, produce and engineer post-game call-in shows; create talk-show programming on interesting topics, teams and individuals in a variety of sports contexts; edit and produce content for our online sports audience.  

Sports Cast Staff: Students train to write and announce a daily sports update, then go on to learn other interviewing, audio editing, announcing, play-by-play, technical and web skills.  Knowledge and experience build on one-another to gain more involvement.  Cleared students have daily responsibilities, and eventually cover all tasks of broadcasting SU Football, Basketball and Lacrosse games, home and away.  

  Sport Talk Staff:  Students learn the basics of talk shows, including: announcing, engineering, producing, scheduling guests and interviews, producing stories, etc.  Students serve all functions necessary for post-game shows and a sports magazine show "Sportsnight"

OTHER EXPERIENCES

WAER also offers music announcing experience through our innovative Real College Radio program.  Another largely student-run endeavor, music announcers choose their own selections, while learning announcing skills and technical aspects of broadcasting.