The GAB Innovation Fellowship Program connects a UGA student studying journalism with a Georgia broadcaster to accomplish a specific digital goal.
Dr. Amanda Bright, Director of the Cox Institute Journalism Innovation Lab at UGA, says, “The GAB Innovation Fellows program is novel because it meets your station precisely where it is at — and allows you to accomplish specific and practical digital goals. These journalism students are full of ideas and methods that connect with a younger audience, and they create products, workflows or guides to help your staff do both small and big things in the digital space.”
In the spring semester of 2024, UGA Grady student, Audrey Hamm, was connected with Eagle 102.3 FM, based in LaGrange, Georgia.
Over the course of just a few weeks, Hamm assisted the station in establishing a digital presence on Meta platforms, Instagram and Facebook. As part of her time with the station, Hamm helped the team create a schedule and strategy that best fits the needs of the station.
In return, Hamm received hands-on experience and exposure to the world of broadcasting.
Q – How would you describe the GAB Fellowship program in your own words?
A – The GAB Fellowship program was super beneficial for both parties, myself, the student and the organization, the radio station. It provided myself with flexibility and freedom to think about what was best for the company and what digital goals they really needed to accomplish. The program matched those needs with the student’s unique experience and ideas that would best fit the station.
Part of my experience was collaborating with the station to identify what those needs were.
I also really liked the organization of the program. It was over the course of the semester, or in my case over a few weeks, so it allowed me to expedite these goals. I was also allowed enough time to get to know the station personally.
I thought it was really effective.
Q – Can you describe what your role was with the station?
A – I was helping them mostly with digital content and social media.
That involved creating new templates and some social media strategy ideas. I put it all on a document for them. Overall, I put into place a plan to assist in how often the station (WELR Eagle 102.3) was making social media posts and some overall organization for the content planning.
Q – What was the process like for establishing those goals with the station, and then executing them?
A – I came onto the program a little later, so my process was a little bit different.
Dr. Bright initially had us set up a meeting with the station. We prioritized getting to know them, what their station was about and really learning what they felt that they needed and setting the goals that way. By doing that we were learning how to best help the station because we were getting the ideas directly from. From there we were collaborating to see what was feasible in the time frame and also what was the most effective solution.
As far as executing the goals, it was a lot of communication back and forth between me and the station, especially since it was a remote experience. It was trying new ideas, researching, looking at resources and figuring out what fits their station and what would be best for them. It required a lot of communication and personalization to the station.
Q – How do you feel you were supported by the station? How do you feel you supported the station in return?
A – I worked with Eagle 102.3 in LaGrange. From the start, they were super welcoming to me and responsive to my ideas. They were open to any ideas I had and were helpful in providing ideas of their own.
As I mentioned, I was only with the station for a few weeks. I didn’t know the nuts and bolts of exactly how they worked, so they were able to provide some of those key details and what they thought would be best for them. It really was a very communicative process.
I feel that during my time with Eagle’s Nest I was able to help make a difference in their digital presence.
I did a similar program with Dr. Bright in the winter, the Digital Natives Program, so I think that helped me with some of the processes and communication tactics. Dr. Bright was super helpful with providing resources. There is a lot out there on evolving digital content with news organizations over time, as new technologies and programs emerge.
It really was taking the time to just do the research and try things, not everything worked, but it’s worth it to try.
Q – How would you compare the two programs?
A – The Digital Natives program was only for a week, but it was full time. It was very intensive and there was more prep-work involved so I could be most effective in that timespan.
The Fellowship, since it was longer and more spread out, provided more time to research and put some of that research into practice, which was helpful. It also allowed time for me to create more.
I created Instagram and Facebook templates for both of the organizations I worked with, but I was able to create more content for Eagle’s Nest and receive their feedback so we could tweak the posts. There was one template I made and we used it in a post, but the owner of the station received feedback that the font was too small. Getting that feedback was really helpful.
Q – What did you find that smaller, locally oriented stations could benefit most from on digital platforms?
A – Stations should continue doing what they are already doing, being personable and local to their audience, and transfer that to a digital space. Such as behind-the-scenes content. This type of content does really well for a lot of news organizations. It can be a simple selfie while putting on a show, or showing off their station and how something works.
Also, setting time aside to create a plan and a schedule that works for the station so they can be consistent on social media is important. Having consistency will help to gain and retain the station’s digital audience.
Q – How do you think these programs aided you as a student, but also allowed you to contribute as someone who can offer new ideas to what’s already established?
A – I wouldn’t have learned as much as I did, if I just didn’t try. That’s what was unique about these programs, you already know so much just being the age you are and being in the time of your life as a student. You can really help these stations.
Going into it and leaning into what the station needed, you found that you already knew more than you thought you did. Or, you had ideas just pop into your head like, ‘Hey, what if we did this,’ or ‘What if this worked?’ It allowed me to be really hands on and direct. I wasn’t just sitting in a classroom learning about these strategies, but actually putting them into practice, which was super helpful for the learning process.
Q – What do you think you gained as a student?
A – I didn’t know a lot about how radio broadcast stations worked before this, and I was a little bit intimidated by that. I learned a lot about what a station looks like and how to build a schedule that worked best for them with the team they had: Who could prioritize social media? What days and times? What worked well?
Three of us worked on that together, and now it will just be two of them. During the time I spent with them, I was working towards helping them set up what their strategy will look like.
This program has helped me to understand digital content and social media strategy more, and made me have more of an interest in it. I loved the Digital Natives program so much, which made me want to do this program too.
This is a part of the future for news organizations, so knowing the basics of this stuff, being able to say I had experience actually doing it, putting some of these steps into practice for two news organizations, really helped me as a student.
Q – Why do you think other students, and stations as well, should take advantage of the program?
A – For students, I would say if you’re interested in this area, or going into journalism in general, especially local, this is a great program to do because you’re learning so much in a short amount of time. You’re also getting to meet people and network at different stations, which it’s always great to meet people.
It’s super useful to see what is happening in newsrooms around the state and around the country, today.
As for stations, I think it’s good to get a different perspective. From someone who’s going to university and currently learning about digital media. Also, students have resources too. They have professors, they have textbooks, they have reference projects and peers, students have a lot of exposure to different ideas that they can bring to your newsroom.
Q – Do you have any skills that you’ve gained over the course of this semester that you know you will be carrying throughout your career?
A – Social media strategy.
I did a lot of that for each of the programs and I created a social strategy document for each of them. I really learned about what works and the terminology, what ‘impressions’ means, what ‘reach’ means, which I didn’t know before. And, how to have a consistent and effective social media presence. I think even if I don’t go into a social media or digital content specific field, it’s good to know, especially in smaller newsrooms.
