By Jessica Fowler, sophomore ADPR major
Mics are pinned to blazers, clarity and volume are checked. The producer in a separate room speaks into a mic connected to an earpiece. “30 seconds,” he says.
Text of a previously written script starts to scroll slowly down the teleprompter. “10 seconds,” the producer warns.
Last minute angles are finalized, papers on the desk are stacked and ready to go. “Standby” rings through the earpiece. A deep breath in, “Good evening and thanks for joining us…”
Born and raised in Indianola, Nebraska, population about 550, Megan Conway works as a weekday evening anchor on KLKN Channel 8 Eyewitness News. Before becoming a journalist, she wasn’t sure where she wanted to go in her career, but she always knew she wanted to be a Husker.
“I came down to Husker volleyball camps when I was in middle school and I was just head over heels for the campus.” Conway said. “And it was just like this almost wonderland type place for me as a child. The campus, the UNL Huskers, and I had to be a Husker.”
Coming to the university without having declared a major, Conway took a journalism introductory class where she realized what her calling was. A love for information and being involved in the community ignited a passion to present news about the world and tell people’s stories.
Conway enjoyed her broadcast journalism major but also developed a love for meteorology. She originally tried to double major, but having to support herself with multiple jobs, she wasn’t able to devote enough time. She struggled with the decision to choose one, but ultimately went with broadcasting as it would be easier to transition into meteorology with a broadcasting degree than vice versa.
Conway said journalists need to be tenacious and flexible because they never know what the day will bring.
She said one thing that helped prepare her for her journalism career was the Star City News class.
“People got to rotate through weather, even if they weren’t interested in it; they got to try it. Then they got to try entertainment reporting and sports, and so you really got to dip your toes into a lot of different puddles and try it out,” Conway said. “I really liked Star City News; it was a lot of fun.”
Conway also earned an internship that would later lead to her current job. The summer before graduation, she worked as an intern at Channel 8 Eyewitness News. Later that December, she ran into her old news director who offered her a job on the spot, beginning in January. Working from 3 a.m. to noon, Conway started out as a morning editor, not imagining that in a few years she would become one of the main evening anchors, a kind of job she dreamed of having.
Commercials are coming to an end, and the producer once again begins the countdown. Conway straightens her posture, focuses on the camera and smiles. The last rundown of the weather forecast is over, and the meteorologist joins the rest of the cast.
“Thank you for joining us,” Conway says. “Have a great evening.” Cameras power down.
