Central Michigan University

CMU, 9&10 News expand partnership

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Topics in this story: Arts and entertainment, College of Communication and Fine Arts, Communication and the media, School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts

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Media Contact(s):

Lindsay Allen
989-774-7327

Program Contact(s):

Rick Sykes
989-774-3895

Kevin Dunaway
231-775-3478 ext. 3358

Ryan Raiche
RyanRaiche@fox33.com

A relationship between Central Michigan University and a local television station has expanded to give CMU's aspiring broadcasters professional positions and valuable experience working on newscasts - all while they are still in school.

CMU's School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts and WWTV/WWUP-TV in Cadillac have broadened a five-year partnership to now train student interns as producers for the station's newscasts, pay them for their work and, potentially, hire them on as employees.

"The idea is that they'll become staff members if they are successful and if positions open," said CMU BCA faculty member Rick Sykes, adviser to the university's "News Central 34" nightly news program. "It's a great opportunity and an enhancement of our existing partnership."

Kevin Dunaway, the station's news director, said CMU's BCA students "always work hard" and "are usually ahead of the game, and those are the types of candidates we are looking for.

"CMU has a great broadcasting program," he said, noting that the station has CMU interns most every semester. "CMU's BCA students typically have a better hands-on experience than most other places we draw our interns from. We have a great amount of respect for how they train their students at CMU."

The original partnership between the university and the station provided production internship opportunities to CMU BCA students who had completed related course work. In 2005, the relationship expanded to include a general-assignment reporting position for an experienced "News Central 34" reporter or anchor who, upon selection by Dunaway, would endure a reporter "boot camp" and eventually become a weekend reporter for the station.

CMU alumnus Ryan Raiche, who completed the boot camp, became a general assignment reporter for the station while still a student and is now a Traverse City Bureau reporter for TV 9&10 and its sister station, WFQX-TV in Cadillac, typically appearing on WFQX's 10 p.m. newscast.

"The partnership between CMU and TV 9&10 got my foot in the door," said Raiche. "It provided me the perfect opportunity to prove myself - not by being the perfect reporter, but by showing potential. Any internship is helpful, but the partnership with TV 9&10 is more than any internship."

To learn more about CMU's School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts - including Moore Hall Television, the Michigan Association of Broadcasters' College Station of the Year for the past seven years, visit http://www.bca.cmich.edu.

For more information about 9 & 10 News, visit http://www.9and10news.com.