From Adam Dolgoff, a Senior at University of Florida at Gainesville:
My first weekend interning with the CNN weekend morning show started off with waking up on Friday at 4:00 A.M. for the first time ever. As I arrived on the 5th floor at CNN, I was introduced to many new people including the anchors: Betty Nguyen and TJ Holmes. The topics of the show included the 25th anniversary of Tetris, the America I Am exhibit in the civic center which I assisted with the field production of, Ahmadinejad's victory, and a nasty thunderstorm which ripped through Memphis, Tennessee.
Then, I met the director of the show, the technical director, the fonts and stills operators, line producers, etc., in the master control room. I sat and observed the Executive Producer, Tenisha Abernathy, and learned the router system she uses to communicate with everyone. I also watched her modify the rundown of the show using a computer program called "iNews." After about two hours I went down and observed the Associate Producer, Hannah, use iNews again to help coordinate the show.
Towards the end of the show I moved into the area in front of the newsroom where the camera operator and prompter work and observed them for the rest of the show. On Saturday, I basically did the same thing but the show was primarily on Ahmadinejad claiming his re-election in Iran.
Overall, my first week interning at CNN was very exciting and I really can't believe how much I learned.
Welcome to the morning shift Adam!
I consider 4 A.M. sleeping in! I'm one of the morning producers over at the NBC Station in Sacramento. My shift starts at 2 AM. There's no traffic on my morning commute and I get to go home by around Noon. Many parents on this AM shift like the idea of going home early in the day in order to be with their kids.