Building Up

Tonight, I followed up on a lead I got when reporting yesterday at Cool Stuff. An employee there told me he was laid off in the construction industry and has since been hired in the retail industry at Cool Stuff. He said construction companies are laying off more experienced workers in favor of cheaper ($10/hour) employees. I went back to Cool Stuff today and he was working there. He did want to give the name of the company that laid him off, however. But he did give me a tip that many laid off construction workers hang out at the Black & Gold Bar on Business Loop 70. I headed there and found some people in the construction business but none were willing to talk on camera. So, I went to a few construction sites around town asking what the workers there thought about the industry. I finally found a good interview subject at the Alive in Christ Lutheran Church in south Columbia. I was able to get a good interview with him explaining what he thinks about the state of the Columbia construction industry. He gave some good insight on why jobs may be falling. I still needed one more person on camera. I looked around town for more construction going on because the construction at the church was just finishing up for the day as I arrived. I found people still working on the Brady Commons project on campus and began to shoot that. Just as I put the mic on one of the workers there to interview him, a supervisor came up and said "no interviews." So, at 7 p.m. I didn't have many options left. I headed back to the station and began to edit a mini-pack.

Ryan Takeo said he had scripted an on-set with a mini-package for me. I got to work and had everything ready to go by 9:40. The on-set went pretty well, except I jumped the gun a little bit starting off. Gordon told me about that in the critique. I have to wait for my cue to start talking from the floor director. Tonight, I just went off when Jim and Angie were done talking. I know now to wait for the floor director's cue. I thought the package turned out well. I wish I would have had another source, but I think it still turned out OK.