Behind the Scenes with Evie

Good Morning! Thanks for visiting the morning show blog. On a daily basis during the news, we bring you stories from across southern Illinois. Here, we're doing a blog series... sharing the stories of our News 3 This Morning team. Today's blog features Associate Producer, Evie!

Behind the Scenes with Evie
Evie Allen began at WSIL as an intern, and is now an Associate Producer for News 3 This Morning!
Keep reading to learn more about her journey!
• Describe your daily routine as part of the morning show crew...

As an Associate Producer for the morning show, I usually get up around 2am. I start my day at News 3 at 4am. When I get to the station the first thing I do is check to see what video needs to be edited and from 4am to 5am I cut and edit video for the days shows and then at around 5am I load what is called Aurora. Aurora is the system that receives all the video me, Ross and Josue edit. When I get in there to load the Aurora machine with all the video we edited, I check what is called a run down (lets me know the list of videos we will run that day) to make sure all the video has been sent to Aurora. There is a lot of video to load because we have 3 half hours of news so if video is missing I check with Ross and Josue to see where the video is.

From time to time I have to go out and shoot breaking news or news that happens before reporters come in. Also from time to time I work the cameras on the floor but most of the time I am in the control room making sure ALL the morning show videos are ready to air. My shift is from 4am to 9am. To sum it up, that is most of what I do as an Associate Producer (A.P.) but there is more to my job. Which brings me to the next question.

• What's the most stressful part about your job?

During the week I am in charge of 2 on air segments, so the most stressful part of the job is fulfilling my A.P. duties and working on material for my two segments. Don't get me wrong it's a good stress. I love my job but it gets to be hectic and a lot is going on in my brain.

On Mondays when I come in at 4am I do my usual A.P. duites, and then after the shows at 7am I begin planning for Tuesdays Schoolhouse Update. Now my regular shift hours are from 4am to 9am so Mondays I usually stay later than 9am. I will stay later to make sure I've got everything I need for Tuesday. Then I spend the rest of week looking for the next Tuesdays and Wednesdays stories and events. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I concentrate more on weekend events for my Weekend Events Calendar segment that airs on Thursdays. Sometimes I come in earlier than 4 so I can clean-up my scripts or add any other events to the calendar. Once 4am hits I am expected to help Ross and Josue edit video. So sometimes it seems like I never have enough hours in the day.

It can also be stressful setting up interviews and then there might be a cancellation for some reason like weather or a teacher is sick or maybe not enough time to shoot my interviews. That's when I have to come out with a back-up plan. So sometimes the pressure is on because this is a deadline business.

Tune in to News 3 This Morning to see Evie's reports on education and local events!

• What's the most fun?

The most fun I have is working with the people I work with and I enjoy my duties here. We get along and we have a great team. The people are funny and real laid back. That relieves a lot of the stress that I have. I also find it fun editing video. We are in charge of what will air and it's almost Art sometimes the way we edit these videos. I also have a lot of fun with my segments and going on interviews. I like people, so it's always fun to meet new people. Some of the stories are really fun too.

• What's something viewers might be surprised to learn about you?

Well, I come from a family that is heavily involved in Church ministry. And in 2004 I became a licensed minster. I am an Elder at Good Fight of Faith Church and I'm in charge of bringing a sermon from time to time at my church. I am a devout Christian and if I could do anything right now it would be full-time ministry but for now I'm happy right where God has me. :) Another surprise is that I am dating Aaron Thompson the graphics guy. We met here during my summer internship in 2009 before I was hired on.

• Why did you first become interested in TV news?

I think I first became interested in TV news when I was told I had a "news" look. I havn't been in News that long. I graduated from SIU in 2010 but I only did 2 years in the news program. I became more interested once I tried it and was told I had potential. So I pursued it and I felt better in this field than my original major (social work). And that is what led me to today. I can't say that I've wanted to be in news ever since I was a child. I always had dreams of TV stardom though. I wanted to be a famous singer/dancer. My idols were Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson. As I developed as a person I seemed to have fallen into news and I'm enjoying the journey. Channel 3 is the first station I've worked at outside of SIU's Channel 8.