I’m the new host of a cable TV show: VA Butler Healthcare’s Veteran Connection, on Armstrong Channel 10 in the Butler, PA area. The first episode debuted yesterday, and it’ll be on the Channel 10 rotation through the month.
On the show I interview Butler-area Veterans about their healthcare and other experiences, and VA Butler staff share information about the programs and services the medical center provides. We have lots of terrific material planned, and everyone is excited about having this new way to get useful information out to the community.
We filmed the first episode back in September. At the start of the day I was strangely nervous and stiff, but everyone from VA Butler and Armstrong was calm and sweet and reassuring, and we all loosened up as the shoot progressed.
Really, once we get going it’s quite fun — everyone I interview has interesting things to share, so it doesn’t feel like work in the least, more like a little chat over coffee, but really well-lit and with Lavalier mics on everyone. It helps a lot that Amanda and Lauren from VA Butler keep everyone on track, and Carmen and Matt from Channel 10 make the technical aspects perfectly smooth and polished.
We have our second shoot later this week, and I want this one to be very smooth and fun. I found a nice Teleprompter app for the iPad, and I’ve been practicing. I think I’m doing pretty OK, but you can see in the photo that my housemates remain unimpressed.