What's coming up Thursday...

photo courtesy: http://ruthteal.com/

Hi everyone! Hope your Wednesday is off to a good start... we're already working on Thursday's show! Here's a quick look at a few things we have planned for June 23rd...

• Marion author Ruth Teal tells us about her book "Silver Linings: Podering on God's Presence". She has a book signing this Saturday from 1-3pm at the Carbondale Barnes & Noble. 
• There are also lots of events planned as folks in Carterville, Cambria, and Crainville say goodbye to the old Carterville High School... "Celebrate Our Towns" is a series of events, including a book launch, a parade, and a final open house. We'll have the details in a live interview.  
• Looking for a new dog or cat? We'll introduce you to 3 furry friends in our "Pets of the Week" segment.
• Thursdays also mean "Eat This, Not That!" See what nutrition info Kevin rounds up to keep us eating healthy!

 

CLICK here to watch online weekdays from 5:30 to 7:00 am!

 

 

Tech Tuesday, SI Music Fest!

Hello everyone! Hope your Monday is going well so far. It was a fun show today on News 3 This Morning. Hopefully you caught our weekly Housecall & Smart Money segments. Our Housecall experts answered some common weight loss questions, and Smart Money taught viewers how to disaster-proof their portfolio.

Here's the inside scoop on what we're working on for Tuesday's show... it is, of course, Tech Tuesday! Nintendo is coming up with Wii's successor, so we'll tell you all about the latest & greatest gaming system. Also, there's s new short cut that lets you easily follow your favorite celebrities on Twitter. (did you know Kevin & Emily tweet?)

Maestro Ed Benyas... photo courtesy sifest.com

Also, Ed Benyas stops in to tell us what's in store for this year's Southern Illinois Music festival. The theme is clever- "Bach to the Classics", and it runs from June 5th through the 25th. And as you watch your forecast every 10 minutes, you may notice a new face every now & then - Meteorologist Nick Hausen is new to our weather team- and he'll be getting some hands on training for the morning show... so he can fill in for Clint whenever necessary.

Join us starting at 5:30 a.m. for News 3 This Morning in High Definition!

Click here to watch LIVE online & join our Cover it Live chat!

Awkward Moment!

This just goes to show, TV news interviews are unpredictable! Not sure exactly what the story is with this video, but it's got hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube. Enjoy & have a great day!

Dare Day on News 3 This Morning!

We're all well aware of Christmas and Easter... but there are some non-traditional holidays that we occasionally recognize on News 3 This Morning. Today- National Dare Day took the spotlight. It's apparently a day to dare, and be dared... and Kevin and I each accepted a challenge. (We can thank our producer Weston for the great ideas). It was a total surprise on the news as to what task we would have...

Click here to watch the video, and click here to see a post-show dare for Emily... her first time licking a 9-volt battery!

Blog of the Week!

Hey News 3 This Morning viewers! Perhaps you've noticed our Tech Tuesday segments where we talk about various high-tech headlines... well, now we're adding a new element to Tech Tuesday, where we highlight a local blogger. Turns out, there are quite a few interesting blogs by folks in southern Illinois! If you'd like to nominate a blog for "News 3 This Morning Blog of the Week" -please email news3am@wsiltv.com or post a link to the blog on our Facebook page. The Blog of the Week is featured Tuesday mornings around 6:25.



Blogs of the Week...
6/28/11: Living Life for Less
6/21/11: I Do in Southern Illinois
6/14/11: Craft Friendly
6/7/11: Evan & Gabby's Tiny House... Evan & Gabby
5/31/11: Muppet Mindset... Ryan Dosier
5/24/11: Shawnee Hills Outdoors... Gary Marks
5/17/11: A Love for Travel... Trisha May
5/10/11: The Beer Philosopher... Shawn Connelley
4/26/11: Everything in Moderation... Sherri Murphy

Behind the Scenes Video Series

Hi everyone! We hope you've enjoyed the various blog posts that share some details on each member of the News 3 This Morning team. Over the past month, director Matt Howell has put together several different stories that show you- in video form- what it's like to put together a newscast from every angle. We've aired each of these segments on News 3 This Morning, but in case you missed them- here's another look!

Behind the Scenes with Kevin, Emily, and Clint...


Behind the Scenes with Associate Producers Ross, Josue, and Evie...


Behind the Scenes with Producer Weston and Aaron on Graphics


Behind the Scenes with Director Matt

Behind the Scenes with Kevin

Good morning! Hope your week is going well so far. It's time to wrap up our Behind the Scenes blog series with some wise words from the one, the only, Kevin Hunsperger! Take it away, Kevin!

Behind the Scenes with Kevin

Kevin has spent 7 years at WSIL! He's reported for 13 years throughout his career.  

• Describe your daily routine...

My alarm goes off at 2:55 each morning. I brush my teeth, get dressed (I have my clothes picked out the night before), and hit the road. I shower and pack my lunch the night before too to maximize on my beauty sleep. Now that we're in HD, I need even more.

I arrive at work around 3:15. I check my email, Twitter, and Facebook for any overnight breaking stories or things that need updating. I also scour the wires for medical news. I produce the two medical blocks in the 5:30 and 6:30 shows and like to use fresh content that wasn't used the night before.

Emily, Weston, and I work together to write stories and decide on other content for the show. We usual discuss ideas as we go along too. During this process I always eat a bowl of plain oatmeal with blueberries and chocolate whey powder. I wash it down with a diet Mt. Dew. I don't like coffee, so the diet Mt. Dew is my caffeine boost for the day.

By about 5:15 I wander to the mirror and shave, brush my teeth again, and put on makeup. Yes, I wear makeup. Probably not enough though. Ha.

You all know the rest as you watch each morning. Emily and I work together on moderating the Cover it Live chat room and posting comments. After the show, we all meet to discuss the things that went right and wrong and then start planning for future shows.

Some days I then go out and report, or I just record my voice for a health story that's been provided by ABC or CNN that runs as our To Your Health segment at 5 p.m.

• What's the most stressful aspect of your job?

The most stressful times are when Emily isn't here and I'm setting up the chat and keeping an eye on things. Sometimes I get behind on posting comments and our dedicated Cover it Live chatters get a little impatient, but they've come to expect that from me.

• What's the most fun?

This job is so much fun. I have worked at WSIL for more than 7 years. I've been anchoring the morning show for almost 6 1/2 years. I love this shift and I love my coworkers. We have so much fun together, but when it's time to get serious, we do just that. Because this is a 90 minute show and it's in the morning there's more time to have a little (or a lot) of fun.

This past November Kevin showed southern Illinois what it feels like to be tased- live on the air!

His facial expression says it all.

• What's something viewers might be surprised to learn about the morning show?

Probably not too many other surprises for people to learn about, since I'm the last one to write a blog. But I can't tell you all how great this team gets along and looks forward to bringing you the news each morning.

• When did you first become interested in TV news?

I kinda fell into news by accident. Well, maybe not by accident, but it was not something I had studied in college. I went to Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau. At that time (early 90's) there was no broadcasting department. I was majoring in Mass Communication with the intent of going into radio. I worked at the campus radio station, but there was a decline in enrollment and the introduction class got dropped. I wanted to stay on course and graduate on time, so I switched gears and did Corporate Video (which involves shooting video and editing). I had such a hard time with the editing that I quit that program. Now I do it all the time, ironic. I also did some reporting for the student newspaper. Anyway, since I had a little bit of everything under my belt, my degree is Mass Communication with an emphasis in Media Studies.

It was around the time I was graduating that I thought I'd try out the news thing. I got a job in St. Louis as a freelance newspaper reporter for the Suburban Journals. But I really wanted to go into broadcast journalism and was lucky enough to be hired as a "broadcast assistant" at KMOV. That was just a fancy title for TelePrompter operator. While I was there, I learned all I could about news and how things worked. I went out on stories with reporters and rewrote their scripts. I voiced packages and learned to edit. Then I knew that was what I wanted. After about 18 months of that I landed my first on air gig in tiny Florence, Alabama. The rest as they say, is history...

Thanks, Kevin!

Don't forget to tune in weekdays from 5:30 to 7:00 am for News 3 This Morning in HD!