The Waynesburg University Department of Communication enters the spring semester having to make decisions for next season regarding some of the positions in student media.

The positions that are up for grabs for next semester are the Yellow Jacket executive editor, WCYJ-FM general manager (GM), & WCTV general manager. As of right now, the positions are mostly occupied by seniors who have had experiences working in those areas of student media. There is one more executive editor position in the English & Foreign Languages Department, which is the Muse & Stone executive editor.

Is it all the same in regards to what the position will consist of? No. However, there are some aspects that are similar in a way.

For example, in an interview with part-time Communication Instructor and Faculty Advisor for the WCYJ-FM, Douglas Wilson, he spoke about being the GM of the radio station. “The Student GM is responsible for making sure students covering air-shifts properly,” Wilson said. “Then they report back to me as the Faculty Advisor and Professor Krause the head of the Communication Department.” 

Wilson said that is expected for all the new GMs who are selected. They are expected to run day-to-day operations just like a real-world business and report back to the owner, or in this case, the faculty advisor and the head of the department the position is associated with. 

In another interview with the Chair of the Department of Communication and Assistant Professor Richard Krause, he spoke on the process of how the new board members will be appointed. “The process itself will vary from media outlet to media outlet,” Krause said. “As a board, we work to streamline the process to make sure that we get the right person. But we also want to be efficient in the time we invest.” He believes that the decision could be made at the end of February. 

There are benefits to working as a GM or an executive editor. They can add this to their resume showing that they have experience running their specific occupation. 

“As the leader of this department, I have tried to implement things that I didn’t get to in college,” Krause said. “I think the whole experience of the media board is that they gain a lot.

The most interesting part about the positions is that students don’t have to be a Communication Major to have the position. Krause said, “If you are interested and you did this when you were in high school, you don’t have to be a major to do this.” 

Now these experiences come with expectations as well. Just because these are campus occupations does not mean that there isn’t a standard to hold.  

“They need to be prepared,” Krause said. “We are trying to give the students a good experience, but at the same time, we have expectations. They got to have a vision.” 

Applications will be available starting Monday, Feb. 5, at 8:30 a.m. on myConnect and are due on Friday, Feb. 16, at 4 p.m.