Palmerton students visit WFMZ studio

Palmerton students sit on the WFMZ broadcast couch during their visit to the studio.

Mr. Brandyn Miller, Palmerton Area Senior High School teacher, took six students to visit WFMZ was part of the BroadcastNow Contest. BroadcastNow is a broadcast journalism video contest that exposes students to careers in tv/film/radio/broadcast. To prepare for the contest, the students needed to interview various WFMZ staff members to learn more about their careers, how they got started, what type of education they have and what they do at work each day. The students will then use this information to create four 30-second interviews with staff about various careers and a three-minute overview of what it’s like to work at WFMZ.

Mr. Miller said, “I am using this program for our second year Digital Media Production students as a way to help them develop their understanding of the type of environment these careers work in as well as what a day-to-day schedule might look like. During this visit, the students hit the ground running and immediately started filming b-roll through the hallways and interviewing the news anchors. We then toured the studios and sets, visited the weather center, met with various employees including directors, reporters, photographers, master controllers, IT, engineers and news anchors. It was an amazing day that provided a wonderful opportunity and experience for our students.”

Mr. Miller and his students will be submitting their videos for judging in March, and the videos will then be posted publicly to get views. Winners are determined by the quality of video and the viewers/distribution. Students will then attend the PA Broadcasters Association conference in May 2024 to find out the results.