Sports Journalism – Friday Night Fever
At the School of Journalism, students gain valuable sports journalism experience as they help provide coverage of more than 40 local and regional high school football games each week by volunteering for the School’s local NBC affiliate KOMU-TV Channel 8’s Friday Night Fever, a weekly multi-media program covering the local high school football season.
Friday Night Fever started more than 30 years ago and represents one of the most far-reaching local TV station football coverage efforts in Missouri. Whereas most other television stations typically have a handful of people on staff to film games, Friday Night Fever offers the entire student body a chance to get in on the action.
Any student can volunteer at KOMU; younger students are paired with upperclassmen and assigned to cover a high school football game in the mid-Missouri viewing area. With an average of 25 volunteers, ranging from freshmen to seniors, KOMU is able to cover approximately 15 games a week through filming, tweeting and Snapchatting.