On Wednesday, April 6, 2016, Mr. Malossi and students from the high school journalism program visited the News 12 facilities for a tour. Tour guides from the News 12 staff showed students around the television studio with a few distinct highlights: the main air studio; the graphics department; the newsdesk; and the weather station.

Students were delighted to meet Rich Hoffman, the News 12 meteorologist. Hoffman provided a realistic insight into life in “the news” and how time-consuming, yet rewarding, the job can be.

“I get up around 3:30 in the morning,” Hoffman said. “I look outside my window and see what the weather is like. Then I arrive at the studio and design all the graphics. There’s no staff behind me here. It’s a lot of work, but I love it.”

After speaking with Mr. Hoffman, journalism students appeared on the weather camera in front of a huge blue screen, which was interesting, but not as much as the graphics department, which featured large paintings on the walls of various Hollywood and comicbook heroes. After a presentation from the lead graphics talent at News 12, the students toured the newsdesk and the cubicle area, and then it was back on the bus to BHS.

After the morning announcements team was profiled by Ken Grimball of News 12 a few weeks back, it was nice to see where these local news stars had come from.

“It was a wild ride from start to finish,” said senior Gabriela Iacovano, head editor of The Eagles’ Cry.
Senior op-ed editor Joe Folchetti “I liked when the weatherman took over the whole trip and spoke for twenty minutes about the news industry. He gave us real insight into that life.”