"Live. Local. Late Breaking."

WLKY's slogan is definitely accurate. Especially the second word: Local. Out of 206 stories total in the past six weeks, 198 of them were local. Eight of the stories were national, and there were zero international stories. Wouldn't you think during the period where the government shut down, that there would be multiple stories and reports on it? I only witnessed two stories discussing the government shutdown. I know WLKY wants to deliver local news to "Kentuckiana" but there are stories that are important enough to feature, rather than useless pieces of "news," if you could even call it that.

Crime, Crime, and More Crime

Have you ever liked a radio station, but they replay the same songs a thousand times? That's how it was when I watched WLKY for the past 6 weeks. Every night, I would tune in-- hoping to hear some important news, but each time, it was just a crime story. Over the course of a month and a half, WLKY reported 108 crime stories, accounting for over half of their total stories. I honestly got tired of the same types of reports and not only were they the same type, but the subjects were the same too! There is no need for 10+ segments on the David Camm trial...Yes, he's accused of killing his wife and kids, yes, he's saying he didn't do it, yes, he's found not guilty... we get it. I was honestly just disappointed at the repetitiveness.

Class Discussion ; 3D Printers

The idea of 3D printers absolutely amazes me. I don't understand how someday, there will be a way to print out 3-Dimensional objects made of anything. So many questions are running through my mind when thinking about this.Can we print food? Money? Clothes? One thing we discussed was the fact that it may be possible to print out drugs or guns. That isn't a good thing whatsoever. First of all, the drugs that people would print would most likely be illegal and printing guns would be dangerous! I'm sure normal people would print guns for hunting purposes, but who's to say that psychotic killers couldn't get access to a 3D printer and print guns to kill people? Simple 3D may exist already, but there is so much to think about when it comes to inventing the more complex versions.

Response to Sydney Blocker's Blog

Sydney's blog is my go to blog to comment on because I love reading Sydney's posts. They always seem to be written very well and the topics are always interesting. The one in particular that I enjoyed this time was her response to "the invention of the teenager." I also wanted to research more about how the group of people between childhood and adulthood came to be.

As Sydney said, after talking about this in class, I had in my head that the idea of a teenager spawned off of rock music. Now that I know it actually originated before then, makes me want to look up more and learn the history of it. Considering, I am a teenager, I'm curious to the title of my age range was invented.

Sydney's blog post can be found here: http://sydneyblocker.blogspot.com/2013/11/class-discussions-teenager.html

Class Discussion ; Internet

Internet is by far my favorite form of mass media that we learned about. I couldn't find one person under the age of 45, that doesn't use the internet at least once a day or every other day. The use of the internet is inevitable. Whether you're using your computer, tablet, or phone, internet use is not hard to access if you have a data plan or WiFi. The progress that the internet has made since 1969 is outstanding. So much has changed and now a lot more things are possible to do than just to type the first message: "LO" (meant to say 'log on')

The internet has changed the music, book, newspaper, magazine, movie, and television industry for one simple reason. The internet can provide everything those mediums do all at once. Not only is the content provided in one space, but it's all free. There's no cost to finding these things on the internet (other than subscriptions to sites like Netflix or Hulu.) I would give up all of those mediums if I could keep the internet, because the internet will give me everything the other forms of media do for little or no money at all.

Class Discussion ; Television

I found the Television lecture to be the most interesting because I've always wanted to learn more about the history of t.v. I find it crazy that there were 1 million t.v.'s in 1948 and in 50 million t.v.'s in 1959-- that's only 11 years later! The number increased by 500%.

My favorite part of the lecture was the impacts of television on society. I knew television had a big impact on us, but I never realized how big the impact was. Keeping us indoors, influencing our spending habits and behaviors, and political advertising are just the three major impacts. I actually found this topic so interesting, I used the information I learned to help me with English homework, when I had to write an 'informative paragraph.'

Class Discussion ; Movies

Who doesn't love a good movie theater visit? There are many reasons why movies are still popular. Going to a theater to enjoy a movie is pegged as an activity to do with friends or family. Watching a movie in a theater alone is deemed a little strange. Personally, it makes me feel bad for that person. To me, it's like watching an elderly person eating alone in a restaurant: it's just sad. The overwhelming experience is a big reason because of the fact that it can't be done at home. Yes, you can watch a movie at home with friends, but unless you are rich, you probably don't have a movie theater room in your house. The humongous screen, surround sound, the darkness, is really difficult to recreate. Lastly, the cultural experience. For some reason, people are so obsessed with being the first to do something. You won't be one of the firsts unless you go to the theater. No one wants to be that friend that is singled out, so people will go see a movie just to fit in. I wouldn't say I'm one to follow under peer pressure, but I am a part of the group that wants to see movies when they first come out because I can't wait until it comes out on DVD!

Class Discussion ; Radio

Listening to music is a common thing teens do in their free time, myself included. I didn't know the invention of the radio was in the late 19th/early 20th century, until we discussed the history of radio in J1. I found it really interesting that any station on the right of the Mississippi River had a 'W' as the first letter in their 4 letter code, and on the left of the Mississippi, stations had a 'K.' I never paid attention that before, but not that I know that fact, I can't help but notice.

Although the radio is still around today, thanks to niche stations and radio hosts having viewers call in, it has certainly become less popular. Just based on myself and many of the people I know, most people would rather use another source for music. Pandora, 8tracks, Spotify, Youtube, etc. are just a few examples of websites/apps that allow an individual to listen to the music of their choice, whenever and wherever. Radio isn't portable like a small laptop, tablet, or smartphone.