Students Broadcasters Cover Campus, Develop Industry Skills at Rocket News Now

Students Broadcasters Cover Campus, Develop Industry Skills at Rocket News Now

Less than an hour out from the first broadcast of Rocket News Now, University of Toledo student journalists were abuzz - adjusting cameras, fiddling with microphones, reviewing the run-down that sequences studio banter and pre-recorded packages.

Aliciana Martinez, a communication senior tasked with overseeing the inaugural production as a co-producer alongside Anthony Kruszka, was feeling good.

"I'm feeling more prepared now," Martinez said. "I was a little nervous at first because I've never done anything like this before. But everyone seems really excited, so that's helping me feel excited to be the backbone of this production."

Rocket News Now (RNN) is produced by students enrolled in Multimedia Journalism, a hands-on course that brings together the classroom, newsroom and control room to offer students immersive experience in every aspect of news production. Students develop professional skills in reporting, writing, editing, anchoring, producing, directing and operating studio and field equipment while working in a deadline-driven newsroom environment that mirrors the expectations of today's media industry.

RNN builds on the legacy of its predecessor in UT:10, which the Judith Herb College of Arts, Social Sciences and Education's Department of Communication and Media introduced as a student-produced campus news broadcast in 2005.

With its new brand comes an enhanced curriculum that prepares the next generation of journalists for careers in a rapidly evolving media landscape. In addition to developing fundamental skills needed to work both in front of and behind the camera, students are now challenged to supplement their coverage through affiliated digital platforms and explore applications for artificial intelligence tools.

Steven Jackson, who brought more than a decade of experience as a reporter and anchor for WTOL 11 when he joined the Department of Communication and Media as an assistant lecturer in 2025, can attest to the power of this approach that extends learning beyond lectures by sending students and cameras across campus.

"As a journalist, your office is the world," Jackson said. "You're out there seeing things, doing things, experiencing things. It's invaluable for our students to get that same hands-on experience in a learning environment."

Building on a Strength in Experience-Based Learning

Rocket News Now reflects a priority on experience-based learning at UToledo, which this year introduced an initiative to ensure that all incoming undergraduate students, regardless of major, will engage in a co-op, internship, clinical rotation, research opportunity or similar experience before they earn their degree in line with the UToledo Advantage.

Experience-based learning has long been championed within the Department of Communication and Media, where students develop the industry experience that's all but a prerequisite to launching their careers - not only in off-campus internships, but also in courses that challenge them to apply their developing skills.

In addition to Multimedia Journalism, which produces RNN, these experience-based courses include Live Sports Production, which trains students as camera operators, audio technicians, graphics operators, video replay operators and production assistants in the course of live broadcasts of Rocket Athletics for ESPN+.

Campus news outlets, including an online newspaper, The Collegian, and a radio station, WXUT, offer yet another avenue to develop industry experience.

Kruszka, a communication senior, can attest: He's the station manager for WXUT, where he hosts a radio show, Toledo Sports Hour, that the Press Club of Toledo recently recognized with a Touchstone Award.

Applying Lectures in Live Broadcasts

As the clock ticked down inside the fully equipped television studio inside Rocket Hall, Audrey Pearsall, a third communication senior, was reviewing her script and adjusting the collar of the sweater she'd selected for her on-camera role.

She would be co-anchoring the inaugural broadcast with Devon Jucutan.

"I'm just reminding myself that this is a learning experience," Pearsall said. "I haven't been doing this for years. So I'm just hoping to do my best and get good feedback on some ways that I can improve."

The Multimedia Journalism course that produces RNN is structured around biweekly broadcasts that are livestreamed and later archived on the RNN website. But the classes that fall between the high-energy broadcasts are just as important.

That's when the studio doubles as a lecture hall, with Jackson personally relaying broadcast fundamentals to his students and tapping his professional network for guest lectures led by journalists, including his former colleagues at WTOL 11.

Jackson also explained the responsibilities of on- and off-camera roles in a broadcast news operation, challenging his students to act as anchors, producers and beat reporters covering campus and community news in both live reports and pre-recorded packages. This rotation is designed to introduce students to a variety of careers, allowing them to develop their practical skills as well as preferences they'll bring to their job search.

Each element came together in the inaugural broadcast, which saw Pearsall and Jucutan deftly relaying updates on campus construction, a new coach for the track and field team and a ribbon-cutting at the new Dorothy and Georgianna Saloff Welcome Center.

As soon as anchors signed off, Jackson rounded up the crew for debrief.

"I noticed a few things I could have done better, but it's a learning experience," Jucutan said, reflecting on his first broadcast shortly afterward. "It feels good to have done it."

Pearsall agreed.

"It felt good."

RNN's next livestream broadcast is slated for 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22. The community is invited to follow their coverage online and via social media at by following @utoledornn.