Imagine walking away from an educational convention not just with new knowledge, but also winning a staggering 34 awards. That’s the reality for the Talon Student Media staff. The Patriot Talon Nathan Editor-in-Chief Nathan Witt talks about the victories in writing, production and design.
Danny Mogle, faculty adviser to UT Tyler’s student media, explains why communication programs are vital in preparing students for a digital future that’s still unfolding.
TRANSCRIPT
LANDESS:
When the 2024 convention of TIPA, the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association, was concluded recently, UT Tyler’s Student Media came home with 34 awards. I’m Mike Landess. UT Tyler Radio Connects with UT Tyler junior Nathan Witt, editor-in-chief of the Patriot Talon, and Danny Mogle with the UT Tyler Communication Department. And you guys are on fire, Nathan. Give us a snapshot of the awards you guys walked away with.
WITT:
Oh, I mean, we touched every single medium and category. We had awards for writing, for audio production, video production, photography, every single type.
MOGLE: Design.
WITT: Yeah, design, tons of design awards. Web design awards. Yeah, I mean even radio, actually. We took home a live competition radio award.
LANDESS:
Amazing. Now, you’re an officer with TIPA now. Is that right?
WITT: I’m vice president now.
LANDESS: Yeah, what does that mean exactly?
WITT:
It’s kind of like an advocate position, advocating for the interest of students within the organization and really just trying to make sure that this conference, this TIPA conference we do every year, is as valuable as possible for the students involved.
LANDESS:
The Patriot Pulse magazine, Inspired Minds literary magazine — for a product of the digital age, Nathan, those efforts, although beautifully done, are arguably from an analog age. Thoughts on that?
WITT:
So I can’t even give myself credit for it. One of the greatest pieces of work that I witnessed over TIPA was this magazine. Oh goodness, where was it from?
MOGLE:
Yeah, every school, or many schools, had their magazines, and I think what we’re discovering is what a really good magazine can be. You know, we think of print as being yesteryear, but dynamic print with dynamic photos and the way information can be presented is very exciting.
LANDESS:
Well, Danny, let me just, that’s Danny Mogle speaking right there. And I just want to point out that our generation is used to that tactile being able to read the Sunday paper, kind of a thing. How does that relate to Nathan’s generation, which everything is digital?
WITT:
I think we long for it, honestly. I think that there is something really nice about — anytime I witness someone reading one of our magazines — it’s always waiting for class or sitting out in the lobby or something, and there’s something very satisfying of that tactile experience that you’re referring to of flipping through a magazine, experiencing UT Tyler in this very physical way. And I think that my generation is slowly starting to come around. You know, for a while, like collecting vinyl records has become trendy again. I think all that stuff is coming back into vogue.
LANDESS:
Yeah, I think that is interesting. Danny, you’ve been working with these students to help introduce a video newscast. Tell us about the challenges and what went into the Patriot television newscast.
MOGLE:
Yeah, when you say challenges, that’s an understatement. I mean you have to have people who are good at shooting video. You have to have people who are good at writing television scripts, and television scripts are a great, a big difference than writing for a newspaper. You have to have people who know how to work audio. You have to have people who know how to shoot video, how to edit video. It’s a lot of skill sets that you’re asking for, and they pulled it together marvelously.
LANDESS:
What’s interesting is that I mean you could theoretically, you could almost run an entire television broadcast, or at least a program, on your iPhone. I mean, because, or whether you’re going Facebook Live or any other version of that, your background is primarily in print, with stints in video and certainly television sprinkled in. For years, television was considered to be a medium of some magic. Does it still have that for today’s college students? I’ll ask both of you that. You start, Danny.
MOGLE:
Well, video is absolutely what these college students are used to looking at. And, more specifically, it’s really short form video, video that you might see on a platform such as TikTok or Google Shorts or whatever. They’re very visual-oriented storytellers, and they see things visually, and they execute things visually, and almost everything that we do, our path is to do it visually, sometimes visually only, sometimes visually first, but to have a visual component in it.
LANDESS:
How about TV? Does that still have any kind of a draw at all for your generation, Nathan?
WITT:
Absolutely. You know, I think in the magic that you’re talking about there’s an authority still to being on TV and to putting the news on the TV, and I know that that’s something that our staff have not taken lightly. As Danny was kind of referring to, I think the game has just changed. The magic is still there. I think now the focus is making that magic bite-sized, consumable in short format,
LANDESS: 21st century.
WITT: Yeah, yeah.
LANDESS:
I get that. We featured you last year, Nathan, on UT Tyler Radio Connects, as a student success story. And you have continued to add on to those successes, one after another. That’s quite a resume for a nice kid from Mineola. Tell us about that.
WITT:
Well, thank you. I don’t know. I don’t know how it happened. I think it’s just putting your head down —
LANDESS:
What drives you?
WITT:
Oh, I think that finding really like the love, and understanding the purpose in what we’re doing and finding an appreciation for that. You know the Talon – we have this slogan, “The voice of the student body.” And when I first heard it, you know we’re fresh out of 2020. It seemed, at least, that society in America had never been more divided, and this idea of being a unifying voice for the student body, to be a platform for the unheard was just something I really cared about ,and I think you follow the things you care about, and it puts you in the right places, and I’m fortunate some people have recognized those kinds of things.
MOGLE:
I could tell you why he succeeds — is because he figures things out. He figures how to solve problems. He figures out how to put people together with the purpose of solving a problem. And Nathan has done really good on his own, but what he does really well is he puts people together for our common cause, and when you do that, your power just expands many, many times.
LANDESS:
Well, it’s interesting that, as a for instance, one of the things you’ve worked on, Nathan, here. You’ve worked on the UT Tyler Radio podcast, starting with Catherine Ross, Ph.D. — “Ask Dr. Ross” and now you’ve got your own. Tell us about that.
WITT:
Oh, I love that. Yes, I would love to. So it’s one I’m making in collaboration with Garrett Polk, who also works here at the radio station. It’s called “Roots to Branches,” and he and I are sitting down and talking to kind of two different people in different places in their lives. People at the roots, right? People, college-age students who have gone through adversity to get somewhere great, and we talk about how did they get there, what was that experience like, what is their trajectory.
WITT:
And then Garrett talks to people who are industry leaders, professionals at the top of their game, and kind of has them look back at their roots, and says what did it take to get there? What are the things that keep you there? It’s really exciting, and I will say that kind of thought process is how I have gotten to the place that I’ve gotten with. The success I’ve seen is like trying to learn from others and understand OK, how did people I look up to and I respect, how did they make it work? So I’m excited to be able to bring more voices to light with this podcast.
LANDESS:
Footnote: listeners this is a junior in college, just so you know. Now, accolades from TIPA are nice, and response to your magazine, newspaper broadcast and podcast efforts are certainly commendable, but where do you want to end up? What’s your dream career look like, Nathan?
WITT:
You know, I think that’s something I’m still trying to figure out. There’s certainly a couple of paths down the road that make sense. For the most part, I’ve got this nonprofit I work with in Mineola. It’s been my passion project for the past 4 years, and ideally it’s continuing with that and turning that into at least some kind of income that I can build a family off of and spend the rest of my life doing that stuff.
LANDESS:
What was the line that you have about being a grandfather? How did that go?
WITT:
Oh yeah, “living a life worth telling my grandkids about.”
LANDESS:
I like that, I like that.
LANDESS:
Danny, I’m giving you the final word here. When you see what these young people you’ve been working with have been able to do, what they’ve been able to accomplish, the recognition from their peers, are you hopeful for the communication programs and what they provide for college students?
MOGLE:
You know, I tell my students all the time there will be jobs in 3 years that do not exist today. There will be jobs in 5 years. But if you have the ability to communicate clearly, concisely, cleanly, you can do anything. You have many, many choices and stuff, and these kids make me proud all the time.
LANDESS:
Thanks for listening as UT Tyler Radio Connects with Patriot Talon Adviser and Communication Instructor Danny Mogle and Talon Editor-in-Chief Nathan Witt. For UT Tyler Radio News, I’m Mike Landess.
(Transcripts are automatically generated and may contain phonetic spellings and other spelling and punctuation errors. Grammar errors contained in the original recording are not typically corrected.)
