Posted on by tylershuey

Profile story proposal

Explanation: I intend to do my profile story on Slinky the Clown, the local clown for Pullman. I thought this would be a really interesting and fun profile knowing that this is not something we think about everyday.

Intentions: I want to know what this guy’s everyday life is like and how he goes about being a clown as his profession. I want to know the different kind of perfromances he does and how he got into the business, as well as how long he’s been doing it. I also want to know about the clown perfroming industry as a whole and if its in decline at all.

Why Now: The timing is quite ironic because it is Halloween season and many people hate the sight of clowns right now. I want to touch on how he potentially deals with slow business during this time of year and if he goes to any haunted houses locally as an “evil clown”.

Next Steps: My beat is arts and entertainment and a clown corresponds quite well with that category. I am interviewing him in person on Wednesday at 3 p.m. He will be in his clown suite and will show me some of his equipment. That will be my B-roll footage as well as shots of his house and property. He said he isn’t performing anytime soon so we can’t get B-roll of a perfromance.

My three potential sources are:

  1. Slinky the Clown, (509) 332 1435
  2. Steve Bell, Pullman Senior Program Coordinator, (509) 338 3307
  3. Glenn Johnson, Pullman Mayor, (509) 338 3316
Posted on by tylershuey

Moos departure leaves uncertainty for WSU athletics

The direction of WSU athletics took a major step backward when Athletic director Bill Moos left for the same position at Nebraska at the end of last week.

Moos didn’t just leave for another AD job; he’s going to a prestigious scene of college sports, especially football, in Lincoln NE. The former Cougar AD signed a five-year contract with an annual base salary of $1 million plus incentives, about double his salary at WSU.

“It’s always been my view professionally that when someone is looking at another job, they’re either running away from something or running to something,” Moos said at his introductory news conference. “Believe me, I have nothing to run away from but wholeheartedly wanted to run to this job.”

Sources close to the situation told the Seattle Times that there was growing friction between the WSU President Kirk Schulz and Moos regarding the athletic departments significant budget deficit and that Schulz thought Moos wasn’t active enough in fundraising efforts. One source also said Moos had asked Schulz for a contract extension twice, but was not granted it.

The athletic department’s fundraising numbers improved every year that Moos was the AD at WSU from $6.75 million in 2010 to $13.1 million in 2017.

 

“I’ve seen the different reports that there was this conversation or there wasn’t,” Schulz said at news conference Tuesday. “I know he did a lot for us here and we had a really good working relationship in his tenure as athletic director.”

The other part of this equation is the future of head football coach Mike Leach. There were plenty of rumors saying Leach would inevitably follow Moos down to Lincoln, due to the good relationship they both have with one another.

“He’s the best AD I’ve ever even met,” Leach said at his weekly news conference Monday. “He in particular made it particularly easy for me to come here because he’s the AD everyone wanted to work for.”

Leach said he was committed to staying at WSU, even with a valuable counterpart leaving.

“I don’t have any plans to do that and they already have a head coach there and he’s a pretty good one in Mike Reilly, I’m sure Bill and Mike know each other too,” Leach said. “I plan to (stay) and have from the beginning, obviously I want the best possible athletic director.”

The last part of that quote could be an instrumental part regarding Leach staying in Pullman. Leah lauded Moos about them always being in sync and on the same page and those are qualities the head football coach is looking for in the next AD.

Although Leach is not a part of the search committee, President Schulz said he would keep the head coach “personally updated” on the search. Leach said he looks for honesty in all circumstances with everyone moving in the same direction in the athletic department.

Meanwhile, WSU introduced interim athletic director John Johnson at an introductory news conference Tuesday. Johnson said he will not be a candidate for the permanent position though he hopes to stay on staff for the new AD.

“Typically in searches…when the interim person is eligible (for the job) other folks may not apply,” Johnson said, explaining why he will not contend for the permanent position. “I think (a wide applicant pool is) very important.

President Schulz and WSU hope to name a new athletic director by February 2018.

 

 

Outline:

  1. Introduce news, what happened, whose affected?
  2. Why it happened?
  • Where does the program go from here?

 

Sources

 

Here’s a link to the Mike Leach news conference I attended on Monday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7nxDshnz9Y

Posted on by tylershuey

Political/Criminal beat note

Upon looking at those pieces of legislation, I knew it was going to be hard to find one relating to my beat of arts and entertainment. There were a few that I saw and I ended up choosing the one about Theatrical wrestling at schools in Washington state. This seemed like an interesting and unique topic as it regards to a certain type of entertainment and theres funding involved. My angle would be to figure out support behind it and how this bill came about and what it will do in the future. I have already reached out to some sources and am waiting to hear back. Here are their names and contact info:

  1. Representative Zack Hudgins of the 11th District (360) 786 – 7956
  2. Alexis Myers- Seattle Times writer ‘aomyers@u.northwestern.edu’
  3. Rey Jaguar of Lucha Libre Volcánica, still trying to find his contact info, could get from Myers.
  4. Thinking of interviewing a local drama or theatre person to comment on where the bill might be put into place in our area.