The next chapter in the book of Linda’s Life!

Hello everyone!!

I finally settled on a theme I liked and was able to modify it enough for my liking.

But to the main point now! This is my big announcement post and it’s also a long time coming! Some really great opportunities had been presented to me in the last few weeks and it was really hard for me to figure out which route I wanted to take with my life at this point (now that I’m officially graduating from school in mere weeks). A number of people I went to seeking life advice will tell you how much I struggled — because I always do seem to struggle with life-impacting decisions the most, LOL. But there werea lot of timing issues that added to the difficulty in decision-making as well! But anyway I won’t go into details about the back-and-forth/back-and-forth that went through my mind every single day this last month, so I’ll just cut to the chase:

Upon graduation of the NAIT TV Broadcasting program…

I will be Global Edmonton‘s newest (and youngest) news producer!

Yay!! I’ll be prepping/producing the evening and final newscasts of the weekend Global Montreal shows. (Global Edmonton produces for affiliate stations out east. Their newsroom/studios don’t have control rooms so our control room is used to air their shows along with our own). That will be three days a week and then I’ll be fielding calls/setting up interviews/doing research in the local Trouble Shooter department of the newsroom on the fourth day (the official title we’ve worked out is “Trouble Shooter Researcher,” hehe). I’ve also been told I should be able to pick up editing shifts on one of the three days I’ve got off and beyond that… more plans (read more below!)

While it wasn’t the first producing job I wanted (because there had been an opportunity to become an online news producer for Global, which while I’m told I was one of the top contenders for, and that I had really impressed during the interview, I ultimately didn’t get), I think this is a great, great, great next step for me in the broadcast industry! I’ve been told by many a-co-worker that not very many students straight out of school jump into a producing gig and especially one in a major market where the entire responsibility of the content/creation/flow of the shows rests upon my shoulders (and also the sole anchor in Montreal who I will be back and forth communicating with!)

So I’m very excited! I think this will give me great TV news producing experience and will definitely help as I grow and (hopefully :P) advance in the media industry. The only aspect of the industry that I wouldn’t be getting from the producing job that I really still want to do is obviously – report and tell stories! But I’m not letting that stop me!

I’ve had for a long time wanted to write/shoot/edit stories just to fill my own personal desire to do so – for my website (and eventually in the future some kind of journalism/media website owned & operated by Mike & I!) So now with this producing gig that leaves me technically a 3-day weekend, I intend to use those days to take action on the many local/people-oriented story ideas swirling around in my head. I’ll post the stories on this site to share with you visitors, to share with Twitter, Facebook, and the Edmonton community in general!

For now my storytelling will be done mostly through just text, maybe some audio clip inserts, maybe some iPhone video, and definitely photos and hopefully the use of neat social media tools that can enhance the stories further! I’ll have wait a little while before I’m able to accompany my written stories with serious visuals because I need to invest in a prosumer video camera. That won’t be until I’m thinking at least the summer when Mike and I have our money and other affairs (we’re hoping to move in the coming month) in order before buying a camera! I also feel that with this multimedia journalism on the side, I will continue to actively be involved in aspects of media, storytelling, and online/web, which is something I am passionate about it and I feel that I would be an asset in a digital/media position potentially here at Global in the future or wherever else my skill sets and passion takes me!

But yes, I am super excited about this opportunity @ Global!
And super excited about ramping my side projects up a notch!

I still have another week to go in my practicum – normally it would be sidestepped with the job and I’d just start training on that right away but for my last week I’m video editing all week so that’s a paid and previously arranged commitment. So after next week I’ll be graduating and officially start training on news producing (and I’ve already gotten a taste of it throughout this practicum as well, which has been great!) and my official, official start date where I’m completely on my own as the new producer is May 26 but I’ll start training as soon as May starts! :)

As the new header above states, (multi)media is my passion and I’m excited to take my side projects just a little bit further this year.

So stay tuned for more on this next chapter of my life!!
(Both professionally, and personally. Exciting changes!)
:)

Linda!

6 Comments

  • Patrysha says:

    Wow! Congratulations…makes me remember the days when all I wanted to be was the next Barbara Frum…until I drifted in other directions…looking forward to your stories

  • Mack Male says:

    Congrats Linda! And the new site looks great!

  • Karen Unland says:

    Congratulations, Linda, both on the Global gig and on your resolve to use this space to tell more stories. You’re an inspiration.

  • Linda Hoang says:

    Thanks so much Patrysha!

    Yeah my life has been taken in a few different directions already but the media industry aspect of it has stayed the same. More changes to come in the future though I’m sure… Looking forward to the future! :)

  • Linda Hoang says:

    Thank you Mack! :)

  • Linda Hoang says:

    Aw thank you Karen, that really means a lot coming from you. EJ online’s transformation and your willingness to incorporate new social tools and encourage interactivity to a whole new level is really impressive to watch! :) YOU are the inspiration!

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