How I got here
As promised yesterday, I'm going to document the process that led me here. When the internship comes up in conversation, I frequently hear "Why?" or "How'd you land that?!" So, here's the story thus far:
Last summer, I was working security for a ConAgra plant out on I-70 near Junction City. The day consisted of 8 hour stretches of sitting in a small room, and occasionally checking trucks into the plant. Needless to say, the radio and I became fast friends. From noon to 8pm daily, I'd have the radio on, and the local radio station (the only one that would come in) carried Tony Snow's old talk show on Fox, and Sean Hannity's show on ABC. One day on the show, the subject of interns came up, and the very simple thought occurred to me, "Why not?" I needed an internship, and I didn't want to just troll around the Manhattan (KS) area for some coffee-pouring internship.
So, I called the show. Elisha, Hannity's call screener/associate producer (a 20 year-old from Oklahoma) answered, and told me to send an e-mail to Mr. Hannity's producer. I sent the e-mail in the summer, and didn't hear back from him for awhile. Well, I'm not that easily dissuaded, I'm afraid. I sent another e-mail a month later, and this time heard back from him. He asked a few questions and then asked me to schedule a time to fly out to NYC for an interview.
In the first week of October, I flew out. I've been to the City before, but going from Manhattan, Kansas to the actual Manhattan was a culture shock. Mom was wonderful enough to put me up at the Hotel Pennsylvania just across the street from Madison Square Gardens, where the offices lie. Those of you who know the City know that midtown is crazy. After dropping my luggage in my room, I took a walk outside to find dinner, and was immediately confronted by an army of the mentally insane, loud street venders, and musicians with bizarre hair briskly walking around with their instruments. I'd insert a "We're not in Kansas..." joke, but that would just be too cliché, so I won't expect you to laugh.
Here's a few pictures I grabbed while in the city:
The next morning, I got dressed, and made my way up the tower to WABC's offices. It was a good two hours before I could be seen, but I was entertained anyway. Paul McCartney and Col. Oliver North were in the building, so I was too wide-eyed to mind.
Finally, I got to walk through and start my interview. It was a lot of "Why are you here?", "Where do you even plan on living?", and "Tell me about yourself." type of questions. It lasted about 45 minutes, and I don't remember much of the actual interview, but as it was ending, I was told that with Hannity doing his show by remote most days from Long Island, his producer wasn't sure what the internship situation would be like this next summer.
So... that scared me to death. Before I could reply, he said, "Let's get you connected with our fall intern. She'll give you a walk-through, and then you'll sit in on a pre-taping of an hour of the show."
I did a quick tour of the offices. Quite a bit of the space is taken up by WABC 770AM, ABC's flagship station. Because of its power and the surrounding population density, that station alone reaches millions of people (well into Pennsylvania, even). Also in those offices is WPLJ, a Top40 station, and an ESPN station, 1050 AM.
We enter the station's main recording/broadcasting booth, and we're connected to Sean (who is out on Long Island) by a high-quality line. That day on the show, he was hosting Ann Coulter (I know), and interviewed that woman from Georgia who convinced her captor to free her after reading to him from "The Purpose Driven Life" (and giving him crystal meth). Occasionally, Mr. Hannity will pre-tape the third hour of the show. On days that his TV show is going to require extra time, this will free up quite a bit of space.
As we sat in the studio, and watched the taping, Mr. Hannity's producer entered the booth, and asked how things were going. After some conversation, I asked him if I would be okay to move forward with internship plans here. He nearly balked at the idea of committing to his interns so early, but I again told him that this was the only place I wanted to be and that I was committed, so he gave in. He told me to e-mail him a couple months before the summer to start finalizing plans. A few months went by, and in March, I wrote an e-mail again, got final confirmation, and started planning the trip.
That's the story of how I got here.
Last summer, I was working security for a ConAgra plant out on I-70 near Junction City. The day consisted of 8 hour stretches of sitting in a small room, and occasionally checking trucks into the plant. Needless to say, the radio and I became fast friends. From noon to 8pm daily, I'd have the radio on, and the local radio station (the only one that would come in) carried Tony Snow's old talk show on Fox, and Sean Hannity's show on ABC. One day on the show, the subject of interns came up, and the very simple thought occurred to me, "Why not?" I needed an internship, and I didn't want to just troll around the Manhattan (KS) area for some coffee-pouring internship.
So, I called the show. Elisha, Hannity's call screener/associate producer (a 20 year-old from Oklahoma) answered, and told me to send an e-mail to Mr. Hannity's producer. I sent the e-mail in the summer, and didn't hear back from him for awhile. Well, I'm not that easily dissuaded, I'm afraid. I sent another e-mail a month later, and this time heard back from him. He asked a few questions and then asked me to schedule a time to fly out to NYC for an interview.
In the first week of October, I flew out. I've been to the City before, but going from Manhattan, Kansas to the actual Manhattan was a culture shock. Mom was wonderful enough to put me up at the Hotel Pennsylvania just across the street from Madison Square Gardens, where the offices lie. Those of you who know the City know that midtown is crazy. After dropping my luggage in my room, I took a walk outside to find dinner, and was immediately confronted by an army of the mentally insane, loud street venders, and musicians with bizarre hair briskly walking around with their instruments. I'd insert a "We're not in Kansas..." joke, but that would just be too cliché, so I won't expect you to laugh.
Here's a few pictures I grabbed while in the city:
The next morning, I got dressed, and made my way up the tower to WABC's offices. It was a good two hours before I could be seen, but I was entertained anyway. Paul McCartney and Col. Oliver North were in the building, so I was too wide-eyed to mind.
Finally, I got to walk through and start my interview. It was a lot of "Why are you here?", "Where do you even plan on living?", and "Tell me about yourself." type of questions. It lasted about 45 minutes, and I don't remember much of the actual interview, but as it was ending, I was told that with Hannity doing his show by remote most days from Long Island, his producer wasn't sure what the internship situation would be like this next summer.
So... that scared me to death. Before I could reply, he said, "Let's get you connected with our fall intern. She'll give you a walk-through, and then you'll sit in on a pre-taping of an hour of the show."
I did a quick tour of the offices. Quite a bit of the space is taken up by WABC 770AM, ABC's flagship station. Because of its power and the surrounding population density, that station alone reaches millions of people (well into Pennsylvania, even). Also in those offices is WPLJ, a Top40 station, and an ESPN station, 1050 AM.
We enter the station's main recording/broadcasting booth, and we're connected to Sean (who is out on Long Island) by a high-quality line. That day on the show, he was hosting Ann Coulter (I know), and interviewed that woman from Georgia who convinced her captor to free her after reading to him from "The Purpose Driven Life" (and giving him crystal meth). Occasionally, Mr. Hannity will pre-tape the third hour of the show. On days that his TV show is going to require extra time, this will free up quite a bit of space.
As we sat in the studio, and watched the taping, Mr. Hannity's producer entered the booth, and asked how things were going. After some conversation, I asked him if I would be okay to move forward with internship plans here. He nearly balked at the idea of committing to his interns so early, but I again told him that this was the only place I wanted to be and that I was committed, so he gave in. He told me to e-mail him a couple months before the summer to start finalizing plans. A few months went by, and in March, I wrote an e-mail again, got final confirmation, and started planning the trip.
That's the story of how I got here.
posted by Brett at 12:42 PM
