The Ashland University Journalism & Digital Media Department hosted Election ‘25, a live show that covered the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
The show highlighted all three mediums in the department: AUTV, The Collegian and 88.9 WRDL.
AUTV was represented by juniors Dashia Lanai and Miles Irvin, The Collegian by junior Makiah Francis and sophomore Aubrey Wood and WRDL by juniors Brett Alberts and Evan Koren and sophomore Louis Timura.
Chair of the Journalism and Digital Media Department David McCoy oversaw the show alongside Professional Instructor of Journalism and Digital Media Kelly Meyer, Director of Broadcasting and Operations John Skrada and Professional Instructor of Journalism and Digital Media Derek Wood.
McCoy finds that the show has a long and deep history not only in the department, but the university itself. The show started back in the 1970s and 1980s, then found its way back to the department in about 2012. At the time it was only done during the presidential election; however, the department then decided to expand to all elections that would allow the show to continue every fall semester.
“The producers and all of the people who’ve crafted this show have built a lot of content in advance,” McCoy said. “Small little informational pieces, also some longer form one-on-one interviews, which we pre-recorded on our interview set within the television studio.”
The show isn’t only an educational tool for the community of Ashland to get their election news, but a great way for students in the department to learn: “It is truly a converged approach, but I think it’s invaluable for them. They will learn a lot about collaboration, cooperation and deadlines and commitments.”
Last year the department saw two new additions to the show, Kelly Meyer joining the department and the new podcast room for WRDL.
“Hiring Professor Kelly Meyer was one of the best things that we’ve done in the history of journalism digital media department,” McCoy said.
He explained she has a long history of working on live television; thus, her talents have allowed her to further the show for students.
“Before that we didn’t know what a rundown creator was or how to use a rundown,” Producer Lauren Gulden explained.
Additionally, McCoy finds that the podcast studio, or on election night, the WRDL newsroom, was invaluable. “It gives us another multi-camera setting along with the AUTV television studio and it’s very intimate.”
There’s also a lot of behind-the-scenes effort that goes into making the show possible. Skrada ensures that the students are able to put on a live production such as the Election show: “I actually set up in our new podcasting studio and then I had to run just headset drops, minute drops, camera drops.”
Basically, a live production such as the Election show wouldn’t be possible without Skrada ensuring things “just work,” he said.
Gulden produced the show. McCoy finds her growth from freshman year to senior year has set her up to be in the position she’s in today.
“Until this year, she’s now got two years of that experience of coordinating and producing plus knowing what the talent goes to because two years ago she did it. So, she’s really the perfect person to act as supervising producer for Election ‘25,” McCoy stated.
Viewers saw a two-hour show; however, Gulden has been preparing for this show since August.
“In August we immediately start our class, it’s called JDM Special Topics,” Gulden said. “We are researching races, understanding what’s on the ballot, getting video footage to make packages and creating graphics.”
Gulden and McCoy find a lot of hard work and preparation going into this show; students prepared packages, interviews and rehearsals to put on what viewers saw as a two-hour long show.
