My 9-to-5

I have two days of work under my belt and despite the fact that I'll probably never learn how to correctly pronounce Seoul (who knew it actually has three or four syllables as opposed to the ONE I'm accustomed to?!?!), I'm having a great time at KBS. I spent my first two days in Korea trying to wrap my mind around this city, understand the electronic bidet on my toilet, and comprehend why sometimes the name of my city starts with the letter "G" and sometimes "K". After two days on the job, I'm now trying to figure out how I managed to land an opportunity as personally rewarding and professionally fruitful this.

When I accepted the job at KBS, and even by the time I got off the plane in Seoul, I really wasn't sure exactly what I'd be doing for KBS World Radio. I knew they planned to utilize my command of English for some proof-reading and announcing, but I had no idea what other opportunities might be offered. I was under the impression I'd be working in the news department . . . not so. I'm actually working for the general "English service", producing a variety of programming ranging from newsy commentary to sports analysis and Korean language lessons. I do anchor newscasts, but just once a day, and it isn't my main role at KBS. However, a mini war of give-and-take is already commencing between the general programming and news departments since everyone has become aware of my journalism background. My predecessors may have had backgrounds in broadcasting or audio engineering, but apparently none of them had any journalistic training. So, the news department is very interested in pulling me in for more work, while the department I was hired to hopes I'll remain under its tutelage and therefore spend as little time as possible in the news department.

I'm a little torn, personally, because news is my passion and incites a rush within me that most feature programming just doesn't. Furthermore, the journalist in me hates walking into a newsroom twenty minutes before a newscast, being handed scripts writers have labored over for hours, making a few corrections, and heading to the studio to deliver a newscast I had no responsibility for creating. In the last two days, this system has meant reading copy I know could be written more efficiently and effectively if only I had more time to make rather simple adjustments. Thankfully, the chief of the English news department has been very open to my suggestions, as well as patient with my excruciating pronunciation of Korean proper nouns!

I don't mean to sound dissatisfied with the job I was hired for. I really, really enjoy the English service team and find the opportunity to produce my own show very enticing. It's just that in the news department, I see a mediocre service that could fairly easily and quickly become a top-notch provider, and I want to sink my teeth in and make it happen! At this point, my energies are focused on the job I was hired for, of course, but I've offered to help the news department whenever I'm not busy with general programming or on weekends and holidays. Regardless of how things pan out, it's exciting to have my hand in both types of production and I believe the proposed expansion of the English service means there will be plenty of opportunity for me to have an influence on the success of both departments.