Long Form Coverage in an Educational Environment: Lessons Learned

At the University of Oklahoma, one of the best partnerships is between the OU School of Meteorology and OU’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. This collaboration allows students interested in broadcast meteorology to gain experience in a nationally acclaimed award-winning University newsroom. Meteorology majors can minor in Broadcast Meteorology through Gaylord College and taking part in a student-produced daily news program, OU Nightly. As the minor and OU Nightly have become more popular, we have seen continued growth in students who are interested in Broadcast Meteorology.

In late February of 2023, the Storm Prediction Center started highlighting a risk on Sunday February 26, 2023, in Central Oklahoma. Our student leaders at the time approached the News Director and Weather Advisor about going live for coverage that night if the risk materialized.

The first severe weather cut-in that day was at 6:44 PM, and wall-to-wall coverage began at 7:34 PM on streaming platforms and local public access. Norman, OK, is included in the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area, and there were several tornadoes in the metro that night. Because OU Nightly was concentrating on Norman, we were the first media outlet to alert viewers to the risk rapidly approaching Norman.

Using lessons learned from the first night we proceeded to have long form wall-to-wall coverage two more times in the Spring Semester of 2023 and will continue to do them when needed going forward. During this presentation, we will go through lessons learned and what extra skills the students were able to exercise and develop during their time at OU.