Kelly Rivas

Betty Mendoza and Rick Montañez, both senior communications majors with an emphasis in broadcast journalism, are the first pair to try a morning news show for LVTV as their senior project. There will be two shows for the spring semester, which will air three times a day. Mendoza and Montañez both designed the set, reviewed cues with their crew and taped the first show March 14.

Jaclyn Gonzales
Staff Writer

The scene was entertaining and hectic as the camera crew began preparing the studio for the taping of “Wake Up La Verne.” Last minute adjustments were made to the set. Ceiling lights needed to be angled properly. The off-white background curtains had to be creased. Microphones and scripts were checked once more before taping.

Beatriz Mendoza and Rick Montañez nervously prepared themselves. They read their scripts, laughed at minor mistakes that were made and had fun before going on the air. When it was time to record, they took their positions at the table, waited for the cue from the floor manager and began taping their first show.

“Wake up La Verne” the senior thesis project of Mendoza and Montañez, began airing Wednesday on LVTV-3. It airs weekdays at 7:30 am, 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 am. A second show will be filmed and air in mid-April.

This is the first attempt at ULV to create a morning news show. It will provide news, entertainment and introductions about interesting people in the Inland Empire and surrounding counties. The show’s first guest was Miss La Verne 2006 Sandy Fernandez.

“The show will be news-based; it is kind of a cross between Good Day LA and something like the KTLA morning news,” Montañez said. “With a little Regis and Kelly mixed in. It’s hard to compare something when you are trying to make it unique.”

Both students were dressed in professional attire, wearing dark-colored suits. The appearance of the clothing and the set showed how the assignment was taken seriously. Although there were no rehearsals before the day of the taping, they only made minor mistakes that required a retake.

Originally they were working on separate projects for their thesis, but it did not work out, so they changed gears.

The faculty had a brainstorm session and the idea for a morning show came up, said Don Pollock, professor of communications and adviser to the project.

Much consideration was taken on how the responsibilities for the behind the scenes of the show were divided. For the first show, Montañez produced and edited most of the news segments. Mendoza will have more responsibilities for the second show.

“We both have had our hands in designing the set and feel of the show,” Montañez said. “We had to come up with a detailed contract that includes our assignments and due dates. Everything had to be outlined, including how much money we expect to spend and a complete time breakdown of the shows.”

The project was assigned for Senior Seminar and it was up to the students to devise an idea.

“We had known about the project about a year ago. It is very time consuming and tedious,” Mendoza said. “There was a lot of responsibility for two people and you have to pay attention to detail.”

During their interview segment, they spoke to Miss La Verne and asked her of her experiences in the pageant.

“The show went really well,” Fernandez said. “Rick and Betty showed a lot of professionalism. I really enjoyed being on the set with them for this show. I see great potential for both of them. I can already see Rick on CNN.”

Both Montañez and Mendoza are familiar faces at LVTV with the First Edition News. They have also written for Campus Times and reported for KULV radio.

Montañez and Mendoza are both communication majors with emphases in broadcast journalism.

Mendoza hopes to go into Spanish news broadcasting and possibly producing.

“It’s important for ULV to have a show like this,” Fernandez said. “It gives the community an opportunity to see what is going on at the University and therefore be more involved. It’s also just a fun show to watch in the mornings with young hosts and facts about the city and the University that people might not have otherwise known.”

Jaclyn Gonzales can be reached at jgonzales4@ulv.edu.