Greetings Channel 5 viewers and 89.1 FM listeners! It’s Sophia here, one of Channel 5’s newest team members. I’m a recent Tech grad and I am absolutely thrilled to be working with great people and doing something I enjoy. Although I’m a new full time member at Channel 5, I got my feet wet last fall during my last semester as an intern at KTTZ-TV…and it looks like I didn’t wear the folks at Channel 5 out too bad…because I’m still here!
Now that I’m getting into the swing of things, I decided to attempt my first blog. My first thought that came to mind was, what exactly makes a fabulous blog? I visited with some skilled bloggers and a common response I heard was “make it personal”. I thought to myself, “hmmmmm…I can do that…but what about all the great stuff I’m doing at work?” And so lucky for you, my blog to start off the plethora of blogs will include tid-bits of info about myself and the great things I’m involved with at Channel 5. So sit back, grab your reading glasses and a bucket of popcorn because this first one could be a doozy.
To start off, I pretty much always knew I wanted to work in the television business, and that passion was reinforced when I was in high school. I participated in a broadcast journalism class at New Braunfels High School where the students produced a morning television show every day. This show included announcements, the Pledge of Allegiance and feature pieces about outstanding students and staff. We also covered athletic events and got the school pumped for upcoming games. It was an awesome experience I’ll never forget. Once I hit the college years I majored in broadcast journalism and that got me where I am today!
You don’t have to be around me very long to figure out I’m best friends with a dog and a couple of horses…my dogs name is Hunter, and the horses are Pistol and Shyanne (western, I know). Hunter is a lab cross and I know everyone thinks this about their own animals, but he truly is a special pup! He’s the dictionary definition of loyal and knows plenty of neat tricks to wow my friend-filled audiences. His favorite is the army crawl...and he's currently learning how to "say his prayers". Not only that – he’s pretty darn cute! My life outside of work revolves around keeping Hunter entertained, which includes long runs in our neighborhood, playing endless rounds of fetch at the park, and he LOVES following me on the trails while I ride my horses. And if you're wondering what I do with the horses, I ride for my own pleasure and sanity, and from time to time I enter ranch horse shows and team sortings with them.
Now back to work stuff! First of all, everyone at Channel 5 had a wonderful time at the Cinco de Mayo festival last Saturday. There's nothing like a bit of sun and culture to make for an outstanding team 5 bonding experience. I had a great time outreaching to the community and passing out Channel 5 t-shirts (we ran out!), and of course everyone's favorite, candy! I was delighted to hear the positive feedback about our awesome local programming, which you can check out every Thursday at 8 pm.
I’m currently involved in producing feature pieces on our great local show, Keeping It Local. If you haven’t yet seen my work, you can check out a 2 part series I did on the Haven Animal Shelter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHaNgPlVJzk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFPw7RG3YoE&feature=relmfu
I’ve also had the great opportunity to be a part of another locally produced show, Inside Texas Tech with Chancellor Kent Hance. On this show the Chancellor and Robert Giovannetti take an in depth look at current events going on at Texas Tech. My segment is called “Inside Traditions”, where I feature traditions at Tech and I even look into the history of those traditions. My first traditions piece is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tqeY3wTC7g
Since I am known as the “animal lover” here at the station, the word is my next Keeping It Local piece may feature a very special horse sanctuary in Abernathy, TX. Seeing how the Haven pieces came so naturally to me, everyone at the station thought it would be best to keep me on the animal and agricultural pieces for now. I’ll make sure to keep everyone posted on how that shoot goes! It should be a very fun and rewarding experience. Until then, feel free to shoot me any story ideas! If you'd like to get in touch just shoot me an email at sophia.halbrook@ttu.edu.
Until next time, happy trails.
Sophia