FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                    April 9, 2007 

NORTHWESTERN MASS COMMUNICATIONS SENIOR
LANDS ARKANSAS TELEVISION STATION POSITION 

            A Northwestern Oklahoma State University mass communications senior will be putting her knowledge to the test when she moves to Arkansas upon her graduation in May and begins her career in television.

            Allison Woods of Medicine Lodge, Kan., will begin her duties on May 21 as a general assignment reporter at KNWA (NBC) and KFTA (FOX 24) in Fayetteville/Fort Smith, Ark.

            “She is a very talented individual, and I am excited that she landed a career in television news,” said Jesse Schroeder, NWTV 7 adviser. “Television news is a very hard industry to break into, and Allison has done it.”

            Woods had sent applications to various television stations in several cities, but it was the Fort Smith FOX station that contacted her first.

            “I got an e-mail from their news director,” Woods said. “It was my first response from any station, but on my way down to the interview with FOX news, I got a phone call for a position in Wyoming. Then two days later, I got another call from a station in Nebraska.”

            Feeling self-assured with another job offer, Woods arrived for the interview in Arkansas on March 23 with confidence, but was not sure what to anticipate.

            “I was really nervous, but excited,” she said. “I met everyone there, and they were very relaxed – much more than I expected. During my interview, I sat down with almost everyone who worked there. I also got to sit and watch the 5 p.m. newscast from the production room. That night, a couple of the producers and an anchor took me out to dinner. The next morning, I met with the station manager. He showed my husband (Scott) and me around Fort Smith. Two days later, they made the offer.”

            She was on campus in Alva when she checked her e-mail and found the news that she had been offered the job. An emotional Woods quickly shared the news with friends and family and immediately called her husband.

            “He’s (Scott) been the biggest supporter,” Woods said, while also giving much credit to her mom and dad. “There’s no way I would have completed college without his help.”

            Her family had encouraged her to go to school to pursue her dreams of some day working in television, but she said the staff and students at Northwestern helped her achieve her goals as well.

            “I always wanted to go into television, but I was confused,” Woods said. “Mr. Schroeder encouraged me. He helped me practice, and he knows what it takes. One day he told me ‘Allison, you have got what it takes to make it. You just need to work on it and believe in yourself.’”

            Woods specifically credits Schroeder for the success she has had in television, but appreciates the help and support of her other instructors as well.

            “Melanie Wilderman [Northwestern News adviser]. Man, on writing…she really helped lay things out for me,” Woods said. “Mr. [Terry] Floyd [KNSU Radio adviser] was my adviser. He was comforting; he always made sure I was on the right track to graduate.”

            Woods also appreciated the warm, friendly student-teacher relationships at Northwestern.

            “Even though it’s teacher and student, I feel like I can express my opinions with them and talk with them personally,” she said.

            She also is thankful for her Northwestern friends and classmates who were so helpful to her when it was time to send out resumes and prepare a demo tape of the news segments in which she had been involved.

            “Making a demo tape was the most stressful thing I had to do,” she said. “Josh Bellamy, Lavanya Jaganathan and Mr. Schroeder were so helpful in making the demo tape and getting me my dream job.”

            Her success also reflects well for the mass communications program and the communication department, as well as Northwestern in general.

            “It proves we have what it takes to help people succeed in the media industry,” Schroeder said.

-NW-

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