From the Peanut Gallery

Metro Sports Connection Episode 1 is this year's first Access Montgomery Television studio production made with the help of a group of Rockville High School students. These students are taking advantage of a special training class given by Access Montgomery on Monday afternoons.  The class gives them access to the television studio equipment available at AMTV, including a green screen studio wall for special effects. The initial broadcast schedule for the program is:

Today I got to meet the students from the home schooling program. I watched as they learned so many new things. Such as how to fix audio on a television and how to put in graphics on a television. Towards the end they were even putting on their own talk show. They switch jobs so each of them get a turn doing each thing. These jobs include: host, camera, audio and more. I was lucky enough to get to join one of the talk shows and get interviewed. It was really fun because I have always wondered what it would be like with the lights and cameras on me. And at first the lights were a little overwhelming and hard to see but I got used to them very fast. It got me thinking of a career as a television host or even a news anchor. This home schooling program seems like a great experience for these kids to interact with others just like them. If I were home schooled I would join this program in a heartbeat.  

Hello, All!  To watch the Pet of The Week videos that Peanut worked on, use the following links:

King Julian

Cirrus

(A note to Mac users, I had to install Microsoft's Silverlight plugin in order to watch the videos.)

Sorry for not updating in awhile! I have been so busy with the "Pet of the Week" segment this is the first time back in awhile that I have not been working on it. It was so much fun putting it together and I was so grateful for the amount of responsibilities I was given while working on it. The producer, Marian Merewitz helped me so much while working and taught me things never in a million years I thought I would be able to do. I learned how to edit parts of the show  and how to make everything look perfect. I was not interested in production when I started this internship but now that I have seen this whole new behind the scenes part of it I am looking at it completely differently. The first show aired on March 8th and it was such an amazing feeling to see something that I helped create actually on my television screen.

I am about to start a new project and I can't wait to hear what it is! I will update and tell you all about it when I get details on what I'm doing next!

Getting this internship at Access Montgomery has already been a life changing experience for me and I have only been here for three weeks.  Before I started I knew I wanted this internship because I want to be a publicist but I did not know very much about what a publicist actually does.

While only on my first day I was told I could look into other fields of communications such as: advertising, journalism, and television and could not believe I was allowed to try out so many things at only sixteen years old.  Already I am in the process of helping another producer begin a "Pet of the Week" project with the Humane Society.

Also, today I was able to watch an actual live performance being taped for one of their weekly shows in their control room. I had never experienced something like it before. There were so many things that needed to be done and it looked so stressful but everyone working in it made it look so easy. There were many different television screens all used for something different. They had people working sounds and changing the screen shot.

The part I found most fascinating was that the show was already perfectly timed out before it even began. They had specific times when to switch the topic of conversation and when to switch to a different person.

From only being here for this short period I have already been able to start practicing being a publicist by getting contact information for activities outside of Access Montgomery.

Applying for this position was one of the best decisions I ever made and cannot wait to continue learning more things.

On behalf of Access Montgomery TV (AMTV), I want to welcome you to your new blog, designed for AMTV's youth programs.  From the Peanut Gallery is named for our current intern (whose nickname is Peanut).  Our intern will start the chat by telling you more about current experiences at AMTV. 

We want to hear what you have to say, so log in often so that you can keep in touch and chat about what's on your mind...projects you are working on....projects you would like to work on...what's new at school...things you like about TV or don't like about TV...great movies and film...questions about AMTV....things you want to learn...etc etc.!  From time to time, I'll place a note on your blog to let you know about new opportunities at AMTV.  If you know someone who might be interested in this blog, please send them a link and invite them to join in the discussion. 

I am excited about this new mode for keeping in touch - please write to us often - we want to hear from you!

Marlyn Ferguson
Manager of Outreach & Publicity
Access Montgomery Television