Tyler Teal

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Welcome back to the Conversations with COJO podcast. My name is Emily Atrill,
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and I'm joined today by Tyler Teal, a photojournalist from KARE 11 in Minneapolis.
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So first off, Tyler, could you kind of talk about where you're from and when you graduated?
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Yeah, so thanks for having me on. I really appreciate you guys.
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Originally, I'm from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I graduated,
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I believe, in the winter of December 2015 from SDSU,
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And yeah, honestly, I'm probably not the most interesting guy.
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There's a reason I have my job. I'm always behind the scenes.
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But I always loved home and I, you know, you still miss home a little bit to this day.
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And, you know, as far as being a graduate from States, I probably could have
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been a better student. But the things I really remember, I had really good professors
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that really helped me out along the way, both Jim Paulson and Jim Helen.
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You know, Paulson was, he led the communications and journalism program and
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really kind of got me started with, you know, shooting and editing.
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And Jim, I always had him for a few writing classes and he was a really good,
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you know, a very good helping hand. A lot of help from Jim, actually.
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You know, I've never been much of a writer, but he had a pretty cool program set up that,
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you know, we had a kind of a sports writing, I don't want to say issue,
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but, you know, we would go kind of cover a team or a story and then he would
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kind of send it out to some more,
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some of the smaller papers, but the local papers around the state,
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you know, and I think he got paid like five bucks per article or something.
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So it wasn't so much a money-making machine, it's just kind of good experience
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and good to see what certain parts of the industry are like.
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So, you know, and honestly, those guys, they helped me out so much that I never
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really thought I would even really be in journalism.
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You know, the way the business and industry has changed recently.
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Just really all around the country, you know, and a big kind of focus on MSJs
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or MMJs, multimedia journalists.
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I have never been a person that's wanted to be in front of the camera.
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And that was something that kind of, it almost pushed me away a little bit.
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And so I kind of got a later start in the business, I suppose,
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before really finding out like, you know, there are a ton of kind of behind
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the scenes positions that are just as essential as people in front of the camera.
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Yeah, that's really cool. Could you kind of talk about what made you want to
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like get into this kind of your career path and how that got you to the station that you're at now?
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You know, as far as a career path, like I said, I was a bit of a lost soul in school.
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So that's why a huge thanks to, you know, both Professor Paul and Professor Helen.
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And I kind of got a bit of a later start.
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Like when I was at State, my internship was in Sioux Falls at KDLT before it
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was kind of bought up and turned into Dakota News Now.
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My summer internship there was essentially a sports photographer.
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And you know sometimes in those smaller markets you're
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covering you know baseball tournaments and I
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think even like on Sunday nights I went and I shot racing at Hucett Speedway
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and I think you know what however many hours you needed it was a free internship
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and it was I really I did like the aspects of being in a newsroom but you know
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once again I really never wanted to be an MMJ.
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I think writing is a challenging skill, but it's so important.
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And it took me a while to figure out that there's other ways to write,
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whether that's using natural sound, using interviews.
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There are different ways to write. But I think one thing that all of my professors,
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when I was in school, I'm sorry, I'm mid-30s. I'm kind of an old man now.
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You know, one thing they always said, whether it was writing or video,
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you know, say things in journalism didn't work out.
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They were skills that you could really apply to just about anything, right?
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Whether it's some kind of PR gig, marketing, you know, jobs or positions with,
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with like the city, with state run programs.
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So I think just in my head, I always thought, well, even if I don't end up in
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journalism, you know, this is something I could use elsewhere, right?
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So after I graduated, being a bit of the lost soul that I was,
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I actually just right after I graduated, I went back to working out of my family's
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business, my family's greenhouse.
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And, you know, I probably worked there for two or three years.
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And, you know, life always has a funny way of working out.
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And a news photographer position opened up at KDLT that, you know,
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it wasn't only shooting sports or shooting highlights.
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And just as a as
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a person that just always grew up on tv movies
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just any kind of video really i've just always loved video and editing and there's
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there's something about gathering content and then kind of putting it together
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in a coherent story that i just i really i really fell in love with that.
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And starting out at KDLT, you know, I think is Sioux Falls, maybe a 110 or a
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one, somewhere between 110 and 112 as far as like market sizes.
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And it was just, you know, the pay may have been a bit of a challenge,
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but starting out in a smaller market like that is such a great chance to learn.
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Their mistakes will be made, but it's a great opportunity to learn and really
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find what you love and what you love about the job to continue doing the job.
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And so I also had my girlfriend at the time, well, to this day, she also worked in news.
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So I really tried to get my life together to kind of catch up a little bit because
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she was taking a job in Indianapolis.
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So I started out at KDLT and I was there for a year and then I took a job at,
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as a photojournalist in South Bend at the CBS affiliate there.
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And then from South Bend, I took a job after about a year in Indianapolis.
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And I worked there for almost, you know, three, three and a half years, I think.
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And then, you know, we decided Minneapolis was kind of a good...
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My partner Monica is from the Chicago area and I'm from Sioux Falls.
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We kind of decided Minneapolis was a really good, just kind of intermediate spot for both of us.
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And it just so happens, you know, that like, Care 11 is one of,
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you know, is one of, if not the standard for photojournalism.
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And it's something that's, you know, if we rewind a bit to my days in college,
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you know, with Jim Paulson.
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Really him teaching not only writing and, you know, just news packages,
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but really focusing on story.
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And, you know, care has always been such an example of every piece coming together
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in a story to just really hit home.
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And something we always talk about here is.
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Your video should prove what their writing
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is saying right and that's something
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it took me a really long time to even get
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close to that point and it's something you know you still work
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on every day but it's just you
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know I'll never forget you know in college watching
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some of those old care stories and um
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that's just something that really stuck with me and it
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was always a big personal goal to get to
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a place like this so yeah so
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you brought that up is there anything else from your
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time at kojo that you still like use in
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your work now you know i think and the program was a little bit different when
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i was there but i i just think you know jim paulson was he was so good you know
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stern the fair right but he was just really good at you know really teaching,
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to connect video and writing right and even if i had even if i struggled with writing.
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I just always loved shooting and i think he always really preached you know
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trying to kind of marry those two things together right.
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And like I said, I really should have been a better student.
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So hopefully this is an example.
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You know, when you're in school and trying to figure out what you want to do,
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it's not always the easiest thing.
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So hopefully at least maybe I could be an example. You know,
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if someone doesn't quite know exactly where they want to go or what path they
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want to take, you know, sometimes things just take time to kind of reveal themselves almost. Right.
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But I think the thing I remember most, and it's bad to say, but I was never really...
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Involved in like the journalism program or like the journalism club excuse me
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but you know i i just think the the people the the other kids that i was with
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and the professors i think just,
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communication was always very very well done right like there were a lot of
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good relationships where you know people just helped each other out right and
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i think that's something that i'll,
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always take away from my time at state.
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Because like I said, your guys'
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packages are much farther ahead than anything I ever shot was, right?
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You know, I think I'll always remember going down to Nick's Birders and that
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could have been a phenomenal package. You know, there's so many opportunities there.
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You know, people to talk to actual, you know, good visuals, good sounds, good mats.
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I remember talking to one old gentleman that was, you know, I used to live in
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Golden, Colorado. and that could have been a story in and of itself right there, right?
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But I think really all we pulled from that was a little bosa,
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you know, a little bit of video, a little bit of a quick soundbite.
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But I just, I think there were always a lot of opportunities at stake.
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And, you know, certainly stuff that I should have followed through more with,
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but there was never a shortage of opportunities there. Yeah.
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I'm sure every day is different for you, but could you kind of like walk me
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through what a day-to-day would look like?
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Yeah, certainly. So like a day-to-day, at least for me, you know,
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and I work more of a night-sided shift, but it's pretty much all the same, right?
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Every day is so fluid and you really, that's something that's exciting about the job too, right?
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Like every day there is an opportunity for a story and, you know,
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certainly some days the news cycle might take things in a different direction.
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But as far as my personal day, you know, I usually get in about two o'clock
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and the first thing I try to do is kind of get my house in order.
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You know, I try to get all my gear together, you know, check gear,
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clean my lenses, you You know, get batteries.
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If you need a DeGero or a live unit, you know, get that.
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So it's always to kind of gear up and load.
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And then about 2.30 is the afternoon editorial meeting.
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Excuse me, we're kind of working through some coffee this morning.
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So about 2.30 is the afternoon editorial meeting.
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And then usually you get your assignments right. So you might be,
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most days you'll be with a reporter.
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There might be some days where you'll be, you know, like the floater or the
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third night shooter where you're kind of running solo, you know,
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and then usually you get to spend a couple hours gathering content for your story.
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You know in some days it might be a
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little more forgiving where you know you get everything
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you need in a couple hours you kind of come back you can have lunch
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and as the reporter kind of logs and
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starts to write I try to kind of start logging my video and going through my
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video you know looking for what good audio or naps that I have maybe looking
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for like a good kind of a an introduction or like a handshake shot, right?
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And sometimes that might be as simple as, you know, the people you interview
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or that you talk with people that are kind enough to share their time with you,
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you know, a good handshake or an introduction, it might just be them,
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you know, a good, good head nod and saying, yeah, sure.
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You know, maybe they just have a really quick bite that, you know.
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You know, you can use when you introduce them just so that, you know,
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when you get to that point in your story, whether it's, you know, up top,
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closer to the beginning or in the middle, like you want to be able to really
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put two and two together that,
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you know, this is, this is John Doe that I need to know, right?
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And there should be a nice, clean introduction for him.
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And sometimes it is just a simple nod. And yeah,
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sometimes it's, it's a really good matter a really good interaction so
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i think that's something the the more
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i've been in this job i think just the more
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i've learned the importance of you know
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really knowing what you shoot and when you get back and the reporter starts
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to log it's just as important you know for a news photographer photo journalist
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like it's just as important for you to log what you shot and you know i think early on,
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like when I was at KDLT, and even South Bend for that matter.
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You know, sometimes it was just spray and pray, you know, you wanted to shoot
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as much as you could to make sure that you covered, you could cover your bases
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for whatever they write.
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But I think coming to care, you know, you really, it is such a team effort between, you know,
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myself and the reporter to really try to find the focus of your story,
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to be on the same page so that whatever they write, you know,
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you have shot video of and you can prove what they write, right?
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And certainly not all days are as easy as they sound.
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And some days it might be a heavy court document story.
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But it's just so important to try to be on the same page and really work together
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so that, you know, you just, you really cover everything, right?
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And that you're not, you know, forgetting, you know, if they write to someone's
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family, it's like, oh, I don't have video of the family. Like,
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you need to make sure you have video of the family.
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So as far as that, and like I said, apologies, I'm a rambler.
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You know, as they log and write and I try to go through video,
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you know, it's, you know, usually 8 o'clock hits.
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You know and here it's it's really nice because usually you might get an hour
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and a half to two hours to cut your package and,
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Whereas, you know, when you're starting out on the job, you know,
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my earlier stations, you maybe had an hour.
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So it's something that, you know, about eight o'clock when editing starts,
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you know, here, it's been very nice to have more time to edit.
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But that's also, it's not every day, right?
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You know, I think last week with the U.S. in the Olympics, you know,
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there was a lot of Minnesota men and women on both of those teams.
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And you know with local players
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they they'd like to see some local reaction right you
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know and whether it was men or women's for their gold medal
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matches you know you're at the bar with
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people for the whole game and you might be live at four five and six well the
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game for the women didn't end until i think almost three or 3 15 maybe so for
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that first live bosa i mean you might have a half hour to get everything in,
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kind of crank that out quick, knock out your four o'clock live shot,
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and then your package at five.
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And God bless the reporter I was with that day. He's someone that just a good
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mind about him and knowing for those fan reaction stories, don't really get
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in too much to the details or the weeds.
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Just tell me about the moment of the people watching.
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We don't really need to know these specific you know highlights you know that's
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what your sports department's for,
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so just kind of tell me what it's like in the bar with these fans
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and the moments they're waiting for so some days you get and like i said sorry
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some days you get more time to edit some days it's going to be a slam right
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so you just kind of have to be ready to ready to roll with just about anything
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yeah i don't know if you have something that comes to mind right away but do
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you have a favorite story that you've covered?
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You know, there have been a couple that really stick out. And I think that's the thing with news.
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There are days where it is, you know, it is a test of patience, right?
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Because there's just, there are some stories that are more visual than others.
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And it doesn't necessarily mean one is more important than the other.
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It's just there's going to be days where you have really good visuals.
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And there might be days where you only have courts.
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But as far as maybe a favorite story from my time at CARE, You know,
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one sticks out in mind that it's more of a feature and that I love working with
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Heidi Wigdahl. She's such a fabulous reporter.
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She just does such a fantastic job and just someone that really,
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really thinks of, you know, the
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people you talk to and the people you do stories on are very real people.
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And you are there for sometimes the best days of their life,
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but more often than not, you're there for the worst days of their life.
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But I think this story, it wasn't as straightforward as you might think,
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but it was one family had ties to a local high school and they wanted to donate
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a Steinway piano to the school.
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But their ties to the school were from their family friends that lost to their
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son that went to that school.
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So it wasn't necessarily one or two specific characters that drove your story.
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It was kind of layers and each person kind of, or each group of people kind
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of, you know, played a, I don't want to say played a rule, but it just,
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it wasn't so much as one specific character driven as it was, it was kind of layered.
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But I really enjoyed that you know
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and then there's there's times where you
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know there's there's kind of a difference between long form where you have time
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on your side compared to like general assignment or just being on the desk where
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like a day turn is a little more it's things are moving but you know a couple
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months ago we talked with I believe I think she was from Nigeria.
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And she drove a bus in one of the, you know, suburbs in the metro.
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And as she was driving, she saw a kid like drowning in the, in one of the lakes.
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And, you know, it was something where when you talk to this woman,
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you know, she said, you know, I'm an immigrant.
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I've never learned how to swim in my life.
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I'm deathly afraid. I'm terrified of water, but just something happened where I had to help that boy.
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And I think it's moments like those, you just see there's a lot of good in people.
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And a story like that, it's a quick day turn, right?
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But it's just, it's incredible to meet people and just like really,
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really talk to them and listen to what they have to say, right?
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You know, or like another one.
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You know, and I guess, like, I don't know. These were basically the three stories.
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We just won the Station of the Year, which was really cool to be a part of that.
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And these were my three stories on the tape.
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And they just, like, all three of those really, they really stick with me.
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And the third one, it was, you know, he was just a kid.
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But he was, like, 11 years old, and he was shot and killed.
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Kind of caught in the crossfire or something. and we ended up finding and talking
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to the good Samaritan that tried to pick that kid up to get him to the hospital to save him.
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And, you know, it's one thing to go to a spot news story or a breaking news
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story, and there's certainly information that needs to be presented,
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but if you can go to a story like that and find and talk to people that are
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actually impacted, you know it's something that it's going to be.
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More relatable, right? And I think something like that, you know,
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to just say, hey, you know, someone was shot and killed at 10 o'clock in the
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morning on Wednesday, it doesn't really,
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you're not really doing service to, you know, that individual,
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to that neighborhood or that family.
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And I mean, even to your city or community, right? So when you go to something
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like that, If you can actually talk to those that are affected.
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There's going to be a far more impactful story, right?
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And I think talking to that good Samaritan there, and he showed us his car,
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and it's sad, it's tragic, but there's still blood in his car.
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And he just tried to say, I did everything I can, and I just wanted to help
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that kid out, and I did everything I can.
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So I think every day when you meet and talk with different people,
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it makes the job interesting, it makes the job valuable, and it's tough to pick favorites, right?
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Because some days it might be a better story than another, but every story does
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matter, right? Yeah, definitely.
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I guess one last question for you. Is there anything you would recommend to
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someone who wants to start working in this field?
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You know, I would just...
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Any like one specific thing or like I guess
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if you have any pieces of advice it doesn't have
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to be one specific thing you know honestly it's
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it's a very it's a very challenging time for this business right especially
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there's all there's always mergers acquisitions happening and you know corporate
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folks like to run things tighter and tighter so sometimes like sometimes it
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might not look like the most appealing job, right?
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Like, especially in smaller markets where like pay can be tough in smaller markets.
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But I would just tell people like experience that you gain from going to smaller
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markets is it's just invaluable, right?
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You know, when I worked in Indianapolis, it used to be a second or third stop for people.
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And when I got down there, it almost turned into a first stop where kids were
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coming right out of college and taking a job in Indianapolis,
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which I think is like a market 25, mid-20s.
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And I can't blame them because, you know, you get out of school,
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you know, everyone has different financial situations.
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So, like, I don't blame people for wanting to go somewhere where they pay more.
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But I just think starting in those smaller markets, you learn to really be involved
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with people in your community to find stories. because, you know,
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story pitches are tough.
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Story pitches are tough in and of themselves.
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But I just, I really think starting in those smaller markets,
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it's not only good for you as a professional, but it's also important to those
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cities and communities, right?
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Like, it's, we live in a time where, you know, journalism and reporting is really
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on a hot seat. but it's more important than ever,
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To be there, to be there for these people in your cities, in your communities, it's just so important.
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And I know coming out of school, those markets, 115, where they might pay $15 an hour.
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I know that's not appealing, but what you can learn and take away from those
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smaller mid-markets, it's just so valuable.
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And the other thing I would just say, don't be afraid to try different roles if you want.
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You know, I remember there was one gal that I went to school with.
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You know, a lot of people wanted to be sports broadcasters, play by play.
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You know, they want those ESPN jobs.
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Well, those do not appear everywhere. Right.
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But there was one gal that she really wanted to be a producer. She wanted to write.
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So i would just say you know don't be afraid to reach
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out and try different roles you know if you're interested in
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reporting but you're not crazy about being maybe
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on camera or just going out all over the place maybe producing is more of a
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role you know like for me i i always i always loved video and editing but i
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never wanted to be in front of the camera you know and i remember you know some
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classes where we got to kind of do like a newscast it wasn't quite what your guys's was,
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but I really liked like the director's role, right?
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I just loved everything behind the scenes.
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So I would say, don't be scared away by, you know, like, oh,
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well, I don't want to be an anchor. You know, I don't want to be on camera talent.
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You know, there are many, many, many jobs in this business and it takes everyone, right?
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Like everyone is rowing in the same boats.
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It takes everyone. So I don't know if that helps you at all.
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Yeah, it definitely does. So thank you so much for joining me today.