The Clock, more than just a newspaper

Starting this semester, The Clock has been installing weekly podcasts covering major stories and events around campus. The podcast is called "The Clock outLOUD!" and new segments can be viewed every Friday on theclockonline.com.

Séan-Michael Dunphy, the News Editor and co-anchor of The Clock outLOUD, started implementing video stories for The Clock's website in the fall semester of 2010. This sparked the idea for the weekly news broadcast. Dunphy says, "I thought it would be more fun to do a news show and bring a news team together."

The Clock outLOUD news team consists of Dunphy, co-anchor Ben DiZoglio, and weatherman Steve Lanciani. Lanciani is an accomplished meteorology major here at PSU, and he forecasts the region's weather on every segment. "So far he has been very accurate," says DiZoglio.

The Clock outLOUD is an organized and informative news show, but it has a laid back atmosphere. The show is recorded on Wednesday evenings and it takes about two hours to shoot. "We are experimenting and right now it is a lot of trial and error," says Dunphy. "We are heavily influenced by the movie Anchorman." 

The Clock outLOUD was created in response to the merge of our society and online media. "In many ways," says DiZoglio, "the standard newspaper is becoming outdated." The Clock outLOUD offers quick, simple, informative headlines and stories of events around PSU. 

There are, however, some obstacles that the recently assembled news team faces. Due to the lack of funding, they are using a single, standard home video camera. The quality is impressive but a high definition camera would make for a professional final product that might excite a larger audience.

It has also been difficult getting students to join the media aspect of The Clock. "I think many of the people that join The Clock are more interested in writing or editing," says Dunphy. Both of the anchors and the weatherman are seniors and set to walk in May, which means the entire Clock outLOUD cast and crew are moving on. "We need predecessors," says DiZoglio.

DiZoglio and Dunphy hope to get more people involved so The Clock outLOUD can improve and expand in the future. "We have long term aspirations of broadcasting live," says Dunphy, "and also covering live sports." These improvements will only be possible if more students become interested. "No experience is required. We will train anyone who is interested," says DiZoglio.

If you are interested in learning more about The Clock outLOUD and want to join, contact Séan-Michael Dunphy at sdunphy@plymouth.edu or drop by The Clock office in the HUB.

Also, join The Clock outLOUD Facebook group.