Coyote Nation TV aired their first live show in Oct. 3, with anchors junior Julia McCommas and sophomore Katherine Derryberry. They went back to their every-other-day format this year from monthly shows last year.

“It was exciting to be back in the studio and to finally experience daily shows,” McCommas said. “I felt that the show went great. It had good energy, my co-host and I worked well together.”

The staff spent weeks working making sure everyone was familiar with the tools and scripts needed to produce the show.

“We worked on getting our first show together for several weeks before,” McCommas said. “We also ran through all the technical work and positions during the summer at our boot camp.”

Although they had weeks to prepare for the first show, they only had a day to prepare for each of the shows that followed.

“Having a show every other day is stressful, but we work well together so we always get it done,” Derryberry said.

The frequent shows that the staff produce make them different from other schools in the district.

“Because our shows are live I think that it makes us stand out from other schools,” Derryberry said. “But a disadvantage to that is the lack of being able to restart the show when we mess up.”

On top of making sure the shows have the least amount of mistakes possible, CNTV staff keeps their focus on having a light-hearted show.

“We got a lot of positive feedback after this first show,” McCommas said. “We tried to keep the tone positive and fun throughout.”

Not only do they spend class-time preparing for shows, but they put in hours outside, as well.

“Some nights I would go get interviews, spend a while editing them and then have to be back at school at 7:45 a.m. [the next day] to prepare for the show,” McCommas said.

Through the hours of work, McCommas stays dedicated to the show.

“We don’t sleep,” McCommas said. “Even though it’s hard work, I stay motivated because I like the satisfactory feelings that I get when I finish a project.”

Although she thought of quitting, McCommas turned her struggles into learning experiences.

“There have been times when broadcast was stressful and not as enjoyable, but not everything I do in life is going to be easy and fun all the time,” McCommas said. “If this were easy, anyone could do it. Our teacher Ms. [broadcast adviser Candace] Bagwell pushes us to do our best and it’s easy to see that she cares a lot about us and our program.”

As the year progressed, Derryberry had changed her work ethic for the shows.

“One of the most important things I learned this year was time management,” Derryberry said. “It’s really important not to push off script writing because I can tell when someone doesn’t take enough time on their work. If co-anchors haven’t rehearsed and worked on their script together they stutter and don’t flow well.”