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Three weeks before college graduation in 2017, everything became real. Kacey Reid was ready to give up, and was certain that she would be jobless when she graduated college.
She was majoring in broadcast journalism (it is no longer a major at Georgia Southern University) [1] and minoring in communication studies. She was waiting for calls and emails back for jobs, but they just never seemed to come. The Thursday before graduation is when her life changed.
“I was applying to jobs like a psycho and applying to jobs across the country, anywhere and everywhere,” Kacey said. “Dr. Dean Cummings had some professionals come in the week of graduation and all but one cancelled: Richard Rogers.”
Rogers saw something in Kacey as she was news producing a student show and immediately wanted to sit down to interview her.
Thursday was the sit down with Roger, Friday he called his boss to get on the phone with Reid, and Saturday she had an official interview. She received a job position at WRDW/AJT News Channels 12 and 26 that next Tuesday.
How did she get into the realm of producing[2]
Since the age of 7, Kacey wanted to be a news anchor. Being a news anchor was her dream, so that is what she wanted to major in when she got to Georgia Southern University in 2014.
Everything changed during the second semester of her senior year.
Dr. [3] Dean Cummings teaches a class called “Converged News Production.” It is no secret in the Communication Arts Department that this is one of the toughest courses you will take in your journalism college career.
Kacey jumped right in and knew this was her time to shine as a news anchor, even if it was just for this class.
Then, reality set in.
News anchoring is not the only job she had in this class, she was also responsible for making news packages for certain news shows during the week.
“I told Dr. Cummings every time I had a package due that I hated doing packages. I was not good at it, and it is just something that I did not have a passion for,” Kacey said.
Each week in this class, you rotate and perform different jobs, so you can be experienced in each aspect of a real news station.
Kacey’s job one week was to produce the entire show that was going to go on air that week. She loved it. She had found her calling in news producing, and that is what she wanted to do with her life.
Her whole life she wanted to be a news anchor, but Dr. Cumming’s class changed her mind and got her into the field she is in today. [4]
Career as a News Producer
Kacey was just thrown into producing at her new job at WRDW in Augusta, Georgia. From the day of her sit down interview with Richard Rogers of WRDW, she had a week to move to Augusta, and then start her new “big girl” job.
Not only did Kacey have to get used to news producing for a major news station, she had to get used to staying up all night to produce multiple shows. Brooke Zauner, an anchor at her news station, tells us[5] how Kacey has adapted to this position.
“Kacey has been an awesome addition to our station. She is very creative, and she is a great writer. The morning shift is really a challenge, but Kacey started out strong from the beginning. She’s always positive and is truly a pleasure to work with!”
Kacey produces the 5:30 a.m. show, as well as the 6:30 a.m. show. This means she gets to the station at midnight and stays there until 8 in the morning.
She manages more than 10 people throughout the duration of the night, and this has helped her with her time management skills and her organizational skills, which she has always had, according to[7] one of her closest friends in college, Alyssa Ablan.
“Kacey was always the mom of the group. She always kept us in line and made sure we were taken care of, a trait we all wish we had. It does not surprise me how well she is doing at her new job because she has always been able to adapt to whatever gets thrown at her,” Alyssa said.
Kacey is thriving at her new job and has been there for almost a year.
Future Plans
Being such a homebody, Kacey of course wants a family of her own one day. This is her ultimate goal, while she is still achieving her goal of being a great news producer.
With her night schedule, it would be hard to raise a family and work the night producing shift, so she hopes to stay in the business and produce at other times during the day in the future.
Kacey said, “This whole experience was definitely a God thing. I was praying and hoping I would not be jobless by the time graduation came around and He blessed me with an amazing job I hope to pursue for years to come.”
