Personal Reflection: Final KOMU Reporting Shift

Last Wednesday, I reported nightside (1:30 pm-12:30 am) at KOMU. Last week marked the start of December, so I proposed a holiday-themed story for my shift. I came across a brief blurb in the Glasgow Missourian newspaper about this holiday season being the last for a local Christmas tree seller. This man is 78-year-old Clell Solomon, owner of Tannenbaum Farm in Howard County. After some research, I found Clell's contact information and made a call. He was happy to do the story, so I headed out about an hour from KOMU to meet with him.

I have to admit-it was not difficult to humanize this particular report. The story was based around this man, who has built a lifetime on his love for Christmas trees. However, I wanted viewers to be able to understand his love as well as get the opportunity to understand his effect on others. While his "claim to fame" is providing the Christmas tree for the Missouri Governor's mansion, Clell said this isn't his most memorable accomplishment. He mentioned the best part of his job was seeing families come back year after year to buy their tree, which allows him to see children grow up and bring their children and their children and so on. I wanted to include this angle of the story so I interviewed a long-time customer who started buying a tree when his 15 year-old was just a baby. 

In this report, I could have done a better job focusing the camera, as some images came out soft. I also could have made my script writing more succinct. However, I feel I attained my goal of personalizing the story and getting viewers to care about Clell Solomon and his trees. You can read and watch my story here.

It is hard to believe I started reporting and producing story packages just months ago. I feel I have improved beyond my personal expectations and look forward to learning even more in the new year!