Spotlights
Spotlight on Creativity
May 2008
May's Spotlight on Creativity is local, young professional Derek Finger. As a Penn State alumnus, Derek has climbed the ranks in the television industry since earning his degree. Derek began his career in television at WTAJ in Altoona, PA, as a photojournalist, shooting and editing footage into news packages. Derek soon moved to Scranton, PA, and worked for WNEP shooting footage from the Pocono Mountain region and covering local Scranton and Wilkes-Barre news. He worked in Scranton for nearly three years until he learned there were openings in Philadelphia television, which had always been his dream to work in.
Derek joined WCAU, NBC10, which is part of the fourth largest television market of 210 markets in the country, in October of 2003. He shoots and edits stories from all over the region; from the Jersey Shore to central Pennsylvania to southern Delaware. Whether he is assigned to a reporter or shooting a story solo, his objective is to capture footage that a viewer does not have access to. Derek edits the footage he shoots and creates a news package ranging from 20 seconds to two minutes and his work reaches televisions throughout the Philadelphia Region.
Your name:
Derek Finger
Current Location:
Bala Cynwyd, PA
Hometown:
Boyertown, PA
Firm/Company:
WCAU, NBC10
Occupation:
Photojournalist/Editor
Favorite Philadelphia neighborhood:
Olde City. I love the history of Philadelphia, and Olde City combines the rich history with contemporary shops, restaurants and nightspots. Maybe it's the old brick houses and streets, but it just has this feel to it that not many cities possess.
Best advice you've ever been given:
The best advice I've been given probably was from my father and that is everything has a happy medium. Things in life will swing like a pendulum from extreme to extreme but if you keep a level head, keep yourself within that happy medium, things will usually work it out and life will balance out.
Your favorite thing about living in the Philadelphia Region:
I think many people don't realize how much we have in this region. We have a great, thriving city, one of the biggest in the country. We have within an hour's drive north, a Pocono mountain region with camping and skiing/snowboarding. We have an hour's drive southeast, a great shoreline at the Jersey shore. We have just northwest of the city some great towns in the suburbs with large open areas and farms. We have everything one could want within a relatively short distance.
Your favorite thing about working in the Philadelphia Region:
With my job, I am out all of the time either with a reporter or by myself covering numerous stories. The great thing about working here is that we cover a number of different stories from tragedy, to sheer happiness. Although my job might not always be nice and positive, it is never the same day to day. This region provides me with a number of diverse stories such as a little league baseball team overcoming long odds to actually play organized baseball in north Philadelphia to the professional baseball team, the Phillies, making it to the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. I go into work everyday not knowing what I'll be covering and that's really exciting.
What is your advice for young professionals trying to break into your industry?
If I had to offer one piece of advice to someone looking to break into the industry it would be to explore other careers in television besides on-air. My experience in working with interns and production assistants has been that most want to 'be on TV'. One must realize that the people you see on television are only the tip of the iceberg. There are 15, 20, or 25 times that number behind the scenes. People don't realize that the reporter is all that you see on your screen but you don't get a newscast without the engineer, the photographer shooting the video, or the producer deciding what goes into a newscast.
WCAU, channel 10, is the NBC owned-and-operated television station serving the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania market. WCAU was the first TV station in the country to have a local 11 p.m. news broadcast and a four-person evening news team.
Learn more about Derek's work in the Region: http://www.nbc10.com.