I am a Televisionary, but before that, I was a student reporter and director. The show I’ve worked most passionately on over that last 3 1/2 years has been CONNECT.
The public affairs program just finished its sixth semester of tapings today with an episode plagued by technical difficulties. (nothing new to CONNECT) After some minor post editing, it will be going out to our distributors at WSYR, WSPX, and Syracuse University’s OTN.
Due to some technological and personal frustrations this during the past two semesters, management has decided to change the format and style of CONNECT. As a public affairs program, it had previously tried to mimic the magazine style format of Nightline. In the future, it will aim to be more like 60 minutes with relatively unrelated in-depth segments. We will also work to eliminate on-set live interviews, a staple of the program for the last 3 years.
Previous guests have included members of the rock bands, elected officials and candidates for local government, university officials, doctors and medical professionals, and various economic specialists. All future interviews will become part of the long-form stories that CONNECT will begin to produce in higher numbers.
Also, in the change, the position for anchors will be eliminated in favor of 60 minute’s format where the reporters introduce their own segments.
These changes are being made with the best interests of the program in mind, but as a long time member, it is sad to see the program slide away from its roots.
CONNECT can be seen most easily on cable channel WSYR 9.2 (890 on Time Warner Digital).
