7/4/2023 0 Comments Wtok tv news center 11Luckily, their CSU ties have created a unique support system in a career that involves overnight shifts, working weekends and holidays, stressful deadlines and covering the aftermath of tragedies. Hancock, Wicker and Bird didn’t have family or friends in Meridian before they started their jobs. “I’m very up front with them: I say, ‘You have to love this, and want to do this. She made $11,500 a year at her first job, and would have to use her gas card to buy food at the end of the month. Pooler doesn’t hesitate to tell her students that getting a start in TV news is tough. When you get into medium or large markets, you don’t have that luxury.” “You get to learn how to produce, do the weather, anchor, make contacts and just be a journalist. “That’s what’s great about small market television: You get to learn how to do it all,” Harms said. In her role, Wicker has the opportunity to cover everything from Mississippi’s robust high school football scene to the SEC, where she’s had the chance to cover titans like the University of Alabama and Mississippi State.īird, who wants to be a sports reporter, has thrived as what Harms referred to as a “utility player.” This has meant producing shows, working as a photographer, covering general assignment stories after tornadoes swept through their region, and even occasionally presenting the weather – something he discovered he has an unexpected talent at. “And then when they introduced Ethan, it was like ‘are you Colorado people just taking over?’” “When they introduced Sydney at the station, it was like ‘oh cool, another person from Colorado,’” Hancock said. She got the job, and moved to Meridian in late July 2021.īird started as a multimedia journalist a few weeks later, and he and his former CTV coworker Wicker became both coworkers and roommates. (Photo courtesy Sydney Wicker)Ī few months after Hancock was hired, Wicker reached out and mentioned that she was considering coming to WTOK and working as a sports reporter. Ethan Bird and Sydney Wicker pose for a photo together promoting WTOK’s sports reporting. She’s now the morning anchor, and arrives at work at midnight to help produce multiple hours of news while most people are sleeping. Hancock moved to Mississippi in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, and had never been to the state before. Their journeys to Mississippi started with Hancock, who was offered her job after meeting Harms through CSU Senior Instructor Sarah Pooler, a veteran of the broadcast news industry who regularly arranges networking events for her students. “In the newsroom, we always joke about some of our favorites in Fort Collins like Bondi and Krazy Karl’s, and Janae even put something on her professional Facebook page about how cream cheese is the superior pizza topping.” “It’s like home, it’s so nice to have people I know out here,” Wicker said. 191, where Rams make up a disproportionate number of the station’s 17 newsroom employees. Janae Hancock, Sydney Wicker and Ethan Bird all worked together at CSU’s on-campus television station CTV, and they’re back together again at their first jobs more than 1,300 miles away in market No. “This is the first time I’ve ever had three employees come to my station back-to-back-to-back from the same institution, and I’ve been in this business for 33 years,” said Jacque Harms, the general manager of WTOK-TV, the ABC affiliate in Meridian, Mississippi. Moving to a faraway city and working odd hours is a rite of passage for anyone who wants to start a career in TV news, but three Colorado State University Rams have a rare leg up: They aren’t doing it alone.
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