It takes a lot of parts and pieces to put together a newscast.
A small group of Westmoreland Jr./Sr. High School students learned that and much more when they made the trek up Smith Hill Road to visit WKTV NEWSChannel 2, the NBC and CBS news affiliate in Utica, on December 13. 
Media Production students Isiah Peck, Andrew Scalise and Nilan Bielby, along with Angelo Carletta, Michael Alloggio, Zachary St. Peter and chaperones, Mr. Cieri and Mr. Cardillo, were given a special, behind-the-scenes tour of WKTV by the station’s news director, Jeremy Ryan.
The group spent time in the newsroom, control room and studio as the finishing touches were made on the noon newscast.
“The amount of technology in the control room is impressive to say the least,” Mr. Cieri, Director of Management Information Systems at the Westmoreland Central School District, said. “Our students quickly learned how the control room is the nerve center of the newsroom. We were shown, firsthand, how a story goes from an idea to production and how what you see on television becomes a reality.”
The tour was particularly special and relevant for the group’s Media Production students. The class, which is co-taught by Mrs. Weissenberger and Mr. Cieri and assisted by Mr. Cardillo, computer aide at the Westmoreland Central School District, produces a daily broadcast of Jr./Sr. High School news from its very own studio featuring an anchor desk, teleprompter, green screen and control room.
Every morning, before going “live,” the class’ designated team leader follows a precise schedule. He or she first conducts a team meeting to discuss the previous day’s broadcast and what went well and what can improve. He or she then assigns each classmate to a specific job for the upcoming broadcast. There are two or three anchors, sound and graphics techs and a teleprompter operator - - all overseen by the team leader. A few practice runs precede the actual five-minute broadcast.
The process is very similar to what occurs at news stations like WKTV.
“On a much more limited scale, our Media Production students are performing many of the same functions as the staff at WKTV,” Mr. Cieri explained. “Each day, they meet and then edit the news and prepare special backgrounds. Also, just like it happens at WKTV, students in the control room have to communicate closely with one another, as well as with the students anchoring, for everything to go smoothly.”
“It was so neat to be able to experience the similarities in a bigger setting,” Mr. Cieri added.
The trip culminated with watching a portion of the noon newscast in the studio, just feet away from where anchor Katrina Smith was reading the news, live.
A fitting display of “everything coming together.”
“Jeremy Ryan was such a gracious host and really took the time to provide us with a thorough and purposeful tour of their facility,” Mr. Cieri said. “He answered any question we had, and having the opportunity to interact with staff was a bonus.”
The Westmoreland Central School District thanks WKTV for its hospitality!