Aine Geraghty
01/22/15
Sarah Ruane
was the absolute coolest lady I have ever had the pleasure to speak to. An
interview was arranged for us this past Tuesday, and we met in the school
library for a chat on her career as a journalist. Previous to our conversation,
I had a preset characterization of those in the field in journalism field; they
were very serious and centered every conversation around what was the biggest
story in the news at the current time. But Sarah delivered me a happy surprise.
While being very straightforward and factual in her answers to my inquiries,
she gave off the witty vibe that is so very often seen in her brother, Colonie’s
own Kevin Ruane. Her aura matched that of one of your mom’s
cool friends, the one that would babysit you, buy you a milkshake and introduce
you to My So Called Life. Completely in awe of her already, I knew our
interview would be beyond enjoyable.
Sarah grew
up in Voorheesville, New York and attended high school there as well. After
graduating, she went on to get a four year degree in broadcast journalism at
Ithaca College. She explained that declaring her major specifically broadcast
journalism only meant that in her senior year she mainly did TV and production,
but still took print journalism classes as well. Surprisingly though, she
shared that she never really participated in any writing or reporting
activities outside of her normal classes. She did, however, get an internship
in her junior year at News Channel 13. “It
was a lot of watching,”
she explained, “Watching them put
the pieces together, and then I sat on the set while they were anchoring. It
was mostly observation based.”
Quite like myself,
Sarah found her love for writing originally in the fact that she had no
interest in math or science. “I didn’t
have an interest in them like I did in English, in reading and writing. And
then I don't really know where the news came from. I always just liked it. I
don’t
know, that probably made me a nerd when I was little.”
She
just seemed to find interest in the fact that the writing was creative without
being fictional. It doesn’t really come as a
surprise that Sarah found herself writing though, seeing as her brother is now
an English teacher and her parents were always big readers who encouraged their
kids to do the same. “We both sort of
just found our way there,” was her
explanation for how she and her brother’s
occupations came to be. But with a background of supportive English professors
in her own school years, Sarah always had writing and reading laced into her
life one way or another.
After
gathering as to how she came to be where she is today, I had to know where
exactly this place was. Sarah’s
normal work day as the Assignment Desk Supervisor and Internship Coordinator
involves an arrival at seven, and a morning meeting at 9:15. The two hours in
between gives her the chance to organize and plan for the rest of the day’s possible events
and stories. After the morning meeting, which ends roughly around 10:30, Sarah
gets on a conference call with all the other assignment editors from across the
state. “We
kind of just let each other know if there is a cool statewide story,”
she
explained. The idea of different stations actually helping each other
out, for the common goal of getting the news out, was refreshing. It’s
nice to know it’s
not all about the ratings. The rest of her day is mainly about keeping watch on
the police scanners for stories, and making sure the stories that are already
out there are being taken care of. Lastly, there is a viewing of the other
stations broadcasts. “It’s
good for the producers to see exactly how the other stations are, we call it
stacking their shows, which basically just means what order they're putting
things in.” And before her
departure home, Sarah tries to take a look ahead at the next day’s possible stories,
so she isn't “walking in cold every day.”
She
doesn’t
usually end up leaving work until five though, so she can stay for the reporter
deadline in case they need help on a piece. The job does get hectic a lot she
confessed, but then went on to say that “that’s
just the nature of the entire business.”
The
police scanners she sits in front of never stop going off with a variety of
reports and the phones are constantly ringing, which does bring
some stress to the
job. But despite the craziness of the job, Sarah never wishes she had a
different career. She explained that the days that are the craziest “are
the days that we all hope for.” And
while she doesn't mean her and her colleagues wish for horrible events to occur
in a Lemony Snicket type manner, the slow days are the ones that the reporters
so desperately want a story for.
