by Matthew Strasburger | University Communication and Marketing
Part of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications’ Experience Lab, Nebraska Nightly offers students the real-world experience of producing a live broadcast every week.
For Jay Quemado, a junior from El Paso, Texas, the program solidified his calling in TV broadcasting.
“It’s electric,” said Quemado, who is co-leading the broadcast this semester. “There’s really no other way to describe it. It’s a wild ride being a co-lead, but I’m having so much fun with it.”
Part of the college’s Experience Lab, Nebraska Nightly is a weekly live news show delivering student-produced news segments on topics concerning the university community. For Quemado and their journalism colleagues, it is a crash course, hit-the-ground-running experience that offers a taste of a broadcasting career.
“You get real-world news application here,” Quemado said. “We’re guided in a high-level sense by our professionals in residence, but it’s really our broadcast — and we’re trying make it the best we possibly can each week.”
With real-world experience comes real-world pressures, especially when it comes to coordinating the 40-person team that comprises Nebraska Nightly.
“It’s a tricky balance because they’re all my friends and we love to joke around and have fun, but this is all of our broadcast and it’s something we want to put on our portfolios and, eventually, have an impact on our careers,” Quemado said. “So, we do have to give it 100 percent when we’re working.”
Their hard work is made easier — and better — by the Nebraska Nightly studio itself, a brand-new facility that opened in late 2022.
“The studio is state-of-the-art, and using the equipment to its fullest potential and seeing the potential realized in all of my fellow students is so incredible,” Quemado said.
Beyond just working in the high-tech newsroom, helping other Huskers find a passion for broadcasting is a huge motivator for him.
“News production is not everybody’s cup of tea, but once people figure it out and go, ‘Whoa, this is really cool!’ and they get that lightning in their eye — that’s what makes me feel good about this.”