Boston, Mass. – For Campbell University Defensive End Jeremiah Robinson, interning at PBS affiliate WGBH in Boston is not that far removed from playing football. Both require skill and a willingness to dive into the unknown.
Robinson, a Communication Studies major from Atkinson, N.C., is one of three interns working on one of WGBH’s most popular productions, “High School Quiz Show,” an academic game show, formatted a lot like “Jeopardy,” and its online companion on FaceBook. The show’s objective is to challenge the knowledge of local high school students with questions that range from “tricky” to very difficult, Robinson said.
Highlighting the show are guest appearances from A-List celebrities like Alec Baldwin, Katie Couric, Queen Noor of Jordan and comedian Steve Carell. The celebrities ask questions of the contestants via video. One of Robinson’s responsibilities is to line up the celebrities for the show’s returning season. Although, he wasn’t at liberty to name names, Robinson said he’d learned a lot about the process.
“It’s not that easy. I’ve had to learn to become more of a people person and explain my point very quickly to publicists and agents,” Robinson said. “I’ve had to learn how to write a proper and professional request.”
Robinson has also learned a lot about broadcasting from the meetings he has attended. “I’m required to go to all of the meetings, big or small,” he said. “During the meetings I try to learn as much as possible. They use a lot of the terms we’ve already learned in class so I find that I’m familiar with a lot of what is being discussed.”
Still, Robinson said he and the other interns are carefully debriefed after each meeting by the show’s Executive Producer Hillary Wells.
“She makes sure we understand what has been discussed in the meeting, what we’ve learned and asks for any input that we have,” said Robinson. “Some of the changes in the online companion show have even been based on our (interns) input.” Robinson is completing the internship, May 23-July 28, through an independent study he is conducting with Dr. Dean Farmer, chair of the Communication Studies Department. He hopes to pursue a career in broadcast production when he graduates in December 2011.
Robinson is the son of Earlon Munn and Denise Robinson. To find out more about “High School Quiz Show,” go to the WGBH website at http://www.wgbh.org/quizshow/.
Photo Copy: Campbell senior Jeremiah Robinson in the studio at WGBH TV in Boston.