February 28, Media Professionals to Share Secrets to Career Success

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Communication Studies will present the “Media Now: Making it in the Real World” conference 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, at UAB Heritage Hall, Room 102, 1401 University Blvd.

February 11, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Communication Studies will present the "Media Now: Making it in the Real World" conference 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, at UAB Heritage Hall, Room 102, 1401 University Blvd.

The conference speakers will present college and high school students with information about careers in journalism, publishing, television, radio, public relations and online media. Radio personality Paul Finebaum will be the conference keynote speaker.

Finebaum has written and commented on sports for more than 20 years. He began writing columns for the Birmingham Post-Herald in 1980. He then joined The Mobile Register as a columnist in 2001. Sports Illustrated magazine named him as one of the nation's top 12 sports talk-show hosts in 2004. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News.

Finebaum began his career in radio in Birmingham in the 1980s. He launched his popular radio program at WERC-AM in 1993. The show has received many honors, including five consecutive Associated Press awards for "Best Sports Show" and four consecutive awards for "Best Sports Anchor."

The "Media Now" conference also will feature panel discussions. The panelists will include Gary Stokes, assistant vice president for development at Alabama Public Television; Tanya Ott, news director at WBHM-FM; Will Pearson, co-founder of mental_floss magazine; Nicole Allshouse, anchor and host of the ABC 33/40 show "Talk of Alabama"; Glenny Brock, editor of Birmingham Weekly; Mary Colurso, arts and entertainment columnist for The Birmingham News; Birmingham News editorial writers Joey Kennedy and Eddie Lard and Birmingham News photographer Michelle Williams.

Other panelists will include Krystal Swann of WVTM-13, Donna Francavilla of Frankly Speaking Communication LLC, Conal Byrne of HowStuffWorks.com, Holly Lollar of O2 Ideas, Jason Collier of Diamond Studios, Lana Guess Thompson of Thompson and Associates and Alex Santos of Neatorama.com.

The "Media Now" conference is sponsored by the Alabama Press Association, mental_floss magazine and al.com and organized by the UAB Department of Communication Studies Advisory Board.