Tuesday, November 19, the journalism class, who recently launched the Surge student news website, went to the offices of Cox Media for a behind-the-scenes look at the headquarters of the Dayton Daily News, WHIO TV, WHIO News Talk Radio, K99.1 FM, and activedayton.com. The trip was coordinated with news manager Anthony Shoemaker, who led the tour, as well as reporter Amelia Robinson.

The morning began with an exclusive invite to the Cox Media 9 a.m. news meeting. The students sat in on the meeting where they listened to editors and managers from each news outlet talk about the day’s news. The staff discussed the previous day’s performance, as well as upcoming stories for TV, radio, web, and print, and marketing promotions.

“I liked just being there [the meeting] and seeing it happen for real. It was definitely cool,” said sophomore Taylor Harmon, who is in her first year of journalism.

After the meeting, the class toured the newsroom where they visited various departments, and talked with journalists and digital designers. Among the people they met were long-time DDN journalist Meredith Moss and DDN editor-in-chief Jana Collier.

The student journalists also received an exclusive tour of the radio department by assistant program director Christ Hartley, and saw inside the booths where stations 95.3 and 99.1 are played and created. The students also saw Nancy Wilson from 99.1.

“I liked seeing the broadcast rooms and seeing how everything worked,” said senior Cody Shuster, who has been part of the journalism program for four years.

The tour ended in the television studio where the class was able to see how the green screen was used and sit in on the live news broadcast. The students sat in the studio while John Paul and Kirstie Zontini did the 12 o’clock news.

“My favorite part was the green screen. I loved it. Especially when we made Rylie disappear,” said freshman Elanie Prater, who is brand new to the journalism program.

It was definitely the “write” trip.