Is JSUTV’s “Metro Morning Live” as lively and fun off the screen as on? You bet!
On a recent morning, about 30 minutes before the show’s 7 a.m. start, host Rob Jay was joking with co-host Maura Moed in the show’s offices at the Mississippi e-Center@JSU on Raymond Road.
While she put on makeup, Jay kept up a steady patter.
Is it hard to arise so early in the morning to do a news show?
“I don’t like to get up,” Moed acknowledged.
“Nobody does!” added Jay.
But only a few minutes later on the set, both were chipper, engaging and as Moed told the audience, “I’m excited every day!”
It shows. During the hourlong broadcast that features a mix of news, weather with Edward St. Pe’, sports, live guests and lots of banter, Jay and Moed looked like old hands at live television which in the case of Jay, at least, is true.
Jay, 50, spent 22 years as sports director at WLBT-TV. A JSU alumnus, Jay graduated in 1985 with a degree in mass communications. Although he has been covering Mississippi sports longer than Moed has lived, it still claims his passion.
“It’s a lot of fun,” says Jay.
Moed, 25, is a newcomer to TV broadcasting. She is a former model who was hired as a consultant to do play-by-play broadcasts of JSU women’s basketball.
“I love it,” said Moed, a San Antonio, Texas, native.
But if Jay and Moed look good on camera each day from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. five days a week, it takes some dedicated professionals behind the scenes to pull it all off.
Spencer McClenty, new media coordinator, works as a camera operator and floor director behind the camera, along with Mel Claverie. The pair are like twin guardians of the stage, making sure that everything goes smoothly, from adjusting microphones and lighting, to alerting Jay and Moed to when segments start and end.
Off to the side of the set is the control room, where broadcast veteran Keith Collins, JSUTV production manager, directs the show. With 30 years in TV news and production, Collins seamlessly orchestrates the show from the background.
He is aided by Assistant Production Manager Jamichael Chambers, Kari Thomas, who shoots and edits video, and Greg Smith, audio technician.
The show itself, though, is only a small part of the day for the cast and crew.
“Mostly, it’s not a big glamorous job, just putting out information,” said Moed. After they are in front of the camera, their day is just starting.
Moed and Jay choose news events to attend and people to interview for the next day’s show, shooting and editing their own segments. In addition, they write their own scripts. “We do everything,” Moed says.
Collins says a lot of work goes into getting “the morning vibe” for the show — from how stories are edited, which ones are selected to air, even the topics, jokes and barbs Jay and Moed share.
And it’s only the beginning. While “Metro Morning Live” only started Aug. 28, it’s part of a larger strategy for JSUTV, says Collins.
“Our slogan is ‘Your Passion, Our Promise,” says Collins. In Mississippi, he said, “We love sports, we love food, we love health, we love art… We want to go out and tell those stories.”
JSUTV, an affiliate of America One Network, is on Comcast Cable Channel 14.
For more information about JSUTV, call 601-979-2862 or email jsutv@jsums.edu or see: https://www.jsums.edu/universitycommunications/jsutv/