TV and radio stations, like many other businesses, have undergone many changes within the past year in order to follow COVID-19 guidelines. Completely transforming a production to allow for remote reporting as quickly as possible comes with many challenges, but Arizona journalists have noticed the positive impact of being forced to think outside the box. 

 

KJZZ, a public NPR station that broadcasts to the Phoenix metropolitan area, is among the radio stations that had to find ways to adapt to new guidelines. 

 

“It was a little bit like diving into the deep end,” said Lauren Gilger, one of the hosts on KJZZ’s daily magazine show, The Show. “It felt very scary for the first couple shows.”

 

The Show has two hosts, and the best way to keep everyone safe was to have one person host from the studio and the other host from home. Gilger has been doing most of her hosting from home since the pandemic began.
 

“I’m sitting in my back room and hoping that my toddler doesn’t make too much noise when I’m live,” she said. “It seemed like a bigger challenge than it was when we started doing it.”

 

After figuring out the best way to have only one host in the studio, Gilger realized that there are upsides to hosting remotely. If someone lives far from the studio or has a child, it may be easier for them to work from home. KJZZ has become more flexible since having to find new ways to do the same shows. 

 

“It’s worked pretty well, so I’m guessing even as we go forward it’ll stay some form of hybrid because it’s nice to be able to be in the field and it’s easier for lots of people to not have to commute,” she said.

 

Gilger misses doing in-person interviews the most. Being able to see a guest “eye-to-eye… you can see the person’s expression, you can see how they feel about something,” she said. “You get a better product when you can look the person in the face.” Without being able to read body language, it’s harder for reporters to gauge how guests feel about certain subjects. 

 

Conducting interviews virtually has been a challenge for some reporters, but an essential tool for others. 

 

“I think the ease of zoom and virtual interviews will have a positive impact in the long run,” said Jim Jacoby, Television Production Manager at Cronkite News. “The biggest benefit is being able to interview people we wouldn’t get to interview otherwise.”

 

Arizona State University’s Cronkite News is operated by the Cronkite School, and is the world’s largest student journalist media organization. Over 130 students work alongside 16 full-time editors and professionals to produce TV, digital, and social media content for Arizona residents.

 

Jacoby runs the television production graphics lab, a professional program that takes care of all the technical aspects of daily newscasts for Cronkite News, including graphics, audio and camerawork. 

As a faculty newsroom leader, he’s witnessed the transformation of Cronkite News throughout the pandemic first-hand. 

“Mostly how it’s changed has limited the number of reporters in the studio at any given time,” said Jacoby. “The last two semesters, we’ve done newscasts in the studio, but with a very small crew.”

 

Last summer, at the beginning of the pandemic, Cronkite News was completely remote. “We did a post-produce newscast,” Jacoby said. “Reporters would go on Zoom and record their intros, and my team would edit it all together. There’s no studio interaction at all.”

 

Slowly but surely, students were allowed to come back into the studio for the fall semester. However, figuring out how to social distance in a newsroom wasn’t the only hurdle Jacoby encountered. 

 

“The biggest challenges are we can’t really travel for stories,” he said. “We can’t drive to Tucson, we can’t drive to Flagstaff or even go to New Mexico or Southern California like we usually do.” 

 

On top of his responsibilities at Cronkite News, Jacoby is the faculty advisor for ASU’s student radio station, Blaze Radio. 

 

“Every student involved in the Blaze is very dedicated and excited,” he said. 

 

Any student at ASU can join Blaze Radio, but during the pandemic, the organization had to figure out how to allow students to keep making content without ever coming into the studio. 

 

“Despite all the changes I think it’s been a pretty good year and it’ll only get better,” said station manager Jordan Spurgeon. 

 

Spurgeon has only been station manager for one semester, but he witnessed the quick shift from in-person to remote content creation beginning in March 2020. 

 

At the beginning of the Fall semester, the Blaze Radio board of directors held a Zoom meeting to teach new members how to create a DJ shift using Adobe Audition, an audio editing software. This way, anyone who had the time was able to safely create their radio show.

 

In the absence of live shows, podcasts flourished.

 

“I think Blaze always wanted podcasts, and then people realized, ‘oh, well my radio show is just prerecorded anyways, I can just turn my show into a podcast’,” said Spurgeon. “That’s really grown on the website which has been really cool.” 

 

Before the pandemic began, a big part of Blaze Radio was the social component. 

 

“The studio and the room next door was always full [of] people talking and meeting and hanging out and just having fun,” said Spurgeon. “Being in the studio and meeting those people is some of the greatest memories that you have. I just am bummed that people are missing out on that.” 

 

Dan Siegel, the assignment manager for 12News, shares a similar opinion about not being able to see his coworkers.

 

“I see them on Zoom. I see them on FaceTime,” he said. “It’s okay, but it’s not the same as being able to look someone in the eye…not being physically connected does take away from the joy of why we’re in this business sometimes.”

 

As the assignment manager, Siegel listens to police and fire radios, sorts through news releases, and coordinates getting reporters and photographers to locations. Since most of what he does happens through phones and computers, it was easy to transition to working completely from home.

 

“We have gone to a complete remote assignment desk,” he said. “If you asked me more than a year ago, ‘Could you run a television newsroom from your home?’ I would have said ‘You’re crazy.’”

 

Even though he can do his job successfully from home, Siegel has encountered some challenges. 

 

“It is not as smooth as if we were all together, especially in breaking news scenarios,” said Siegel. “You’re used to having face-to-face conversations and putting eyeballs on people you’re working with.” Getting work done is “a little harder and a little slower when through text chains or a series of phone calls as opposed to five people huddling together at the assignment desk.”

 

Siegel thinks people who have been working remotely will be able to return to the newsroom in mid-July.

 

For many Arizona journalists working at TV and radio stations throughout the pandemic, not being able to see their friends and coworkers was more difficult than the challenges of working remotely. After over a year of social distanced reporting and remote production, newsrooms have become more flexible, and they may never be the same once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. 

 

“Hopefully, the time of being a remote newsroom will make us a better newsroom in person,” said Siegel. “I’m looking forward to seeing everyone face-to-face.”