You may have satellite radio in your car, but 2008 Northland Mass Communications graduate Mark Askelson has you beat in the technology department.
Mark Askelson of WDAY-TV speaks to New Media classes
His truck has a satellite dish on top.
Just a couple months after graduating from Northland’s Mass Communications program in 2008, Mark landed his first media job at WDAY-TV in Fargo.
As a master control operator and engineer at WDAY, Mark records network feeds, airs local commercials when the ABC network takes breaks, and rushes to the scene of breaking news driving the WDAY satellite truck.
Mark stopped by the Electronic Media Management class on his day off Thursday to talk about his job.
Forum Communications, parent company of WDAY-TV, is a great example of a local “converged” media company. Forum is an all-around player in media, with a portfolio of newspapers (Grand Forks Herald, Fargo Forum), TV stations (WDAY and WDAZ), radio stations (WDAY-AM), and several websites (CarsHQ). It’s the perfect example of how the lines between all forms of media are blurring.
Within a converged media company, a person who is hired on as a photographer for a newspaper may end up with a video camera in his or her hand, shooting video for the paper’s website.
Northland Grad Mark Askelson is interviewed for PioneerCast
Likewise, a radio personality may blog or tweet while on the air, and a newspaper reporter may do a TV-like news package for his/her paper’s online audience.
All of these media professionals are already creating content on a daily basis.
New media allows their work to be seen on multiple platforms, and by a larger audience.
Tags: Media Convergence, northland community and technical college, Thief River Falls
