My Autobiography

Marc Webb is from Shelbyville, Ky. and is a junior at the University of the Cumberlands. He is majoring in communication and minoring in journalism. Webb has a passion and love for music. This love of music is what inspired him to major in communication and to seek a career in radio broadcasting.

Webb is currently the student manager for the campus radio station at the University of the Cumberlands. His two radio shows are Wake Up Williamsburg and Marc After Dark.

He also has a part time job as a broadcast technician at a local radio station in Shelbyville, Ky. When the radio station has remote broadcasts, Webb is responsible for running the board, sound equipment, music, and underwriters for the station.

After graduation, Webb wants to have a career as a radio producer. He also hopes that one day he will be able to own and operate his own Christian rock radio station.

Besides radio and music, Webb is an avid Duke Blue Devil basketball fan. Ever since the famous 1992 shot by Christian Laettner, against Kentucky, Webb has been devoted to Duke basketball. He also has an avid hatred of North Carolina basketball. North Carolina and Duke is one of the most passionate and intense rivalries in sports today, as described by this NBC Sports article.

He also loves to watch and critique movies. His favorite movies of all time are: Star Wars, V for Vendetta, The Lord of the Rings, The Prestige, and The Dark Knight.

Webb loves to read fantasy books and online news articles. The most memorable fantasy books he has read are: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and The Long Patrol. Webb does not like to read newspapers or magazines; instead, he frequently loves to visit CNN and ESPN to read their online news articles.

(Picture of Marc Webb at the campus radio station)

Cornerstone Music Festival

The annual Christian music festival, Cornerstone, celebrates its 26th year in existence

Bushnell, Ill. is the site for the annual Christian music festival, Cornerstone. This year, from June 28 - July 3, thousands will descend upon Illinois to enjoy the 26th year of the festival.

Cornerstone festival is known as a unique musical experience. Currently, 112 bands have been scheduled to attend this year’s festival. More bands are added to the list every week. Some bands that will be playing at Cornerstone this year are Skillet, The Almost, Devil Wears Prada, Red, TobyMac, Switchfoot, and Demon Hunter.

(Relient K playing at Cornerstone 2009)

(Flyleaf playing at Cornerstone 2008)

Cornerstone also features a New Band Showcase. This showcase offers a look into the most well known, up and coming Christian rock artists. Sixteen bands will be awarded with playing a live show on the New Band Showcase Stage and the grand prize winner will get to play on the Main Stage.

Joe Stockton, lead singer of the Christian band Nineball, describes his experience playing at the Cornerstone festival. “Cornerstone is a chaotic mess of music and fun. There are so many stages and so many bands to play them. My favorite part about Cornerstone is the number of bands you get to see. Being on the road, you build friendships with a number of bands. It's like a rock and roll summer camp,” said Stockton.

Cornerstone also features many other programs including seminars, games, and a prayer village.

Seminars occur in what is known as the “seminar village.” Cornerstone seminars feature a wide variety of topics including: activism, mental illness, sex, dating, digital media, and more.

The festival also showcases many games for students to play while at Cornerstone. Students can participate in volleyball, basketball, soccer, and canoeing.

Another aspect of the festival is the prayer village. At the prayer village, people can fellowship with other Christians, meet people from around the country, and take part in daily prayer.

Cornerstone festival has been in existence since 1984. Each year, thousands of people descend upon 500 acres of land in Illinois for music, entertainment, fellowship, and prayer. The Cornerstone Festival staff believes that Cornerstone is more than a musical festival; it is a beacon of joy and spirit for those who attend.

Photojournalism Project

This photograph is by Dorothea Lange. This photo was taken on Arizona Highway 87, which is south of Chandler, Arizona. It features a grandmother and a sick baby. They both are members of a migratory family. This family came from Amarillo, Texas in order to pick cotton. When this photo was taken, they were living in a trailer in an open field. This picture was taken pre-World War II, during the Depression. This picture was not featured in a publication, but it was taken for the U.S. Farm Security Administration. The FSA was investigating living conditions of families hired to work in the cotton fields and farms in Arizona and California.

Dorothea Lange was a very influential American photographer and photojournalist. She is most well known for her Depression era photographs for the use of the FSA. She went to school to study photography in New York City, and one of her teachers was the famous photographer Clarence White. Her photographs did not end after the Great Depression. She also did many photographs of American Japanese as they were being rounded up in camps during the Second World War.

There are a few news values within this photo. First news value is impact. People during the Depression did not always realize the hardships that many migratory families were facing. This photo definitely impacted people of the Depression era, but I also think this photograph impacts people today who view it. I also think conflict comes into play. The people in this photo are in conflict with the hardships of nature, and the people owning the farms at this time. They are in conflict with nature because many of the immigrants fled to Arizona and California due to the Dust Bowl that occurred in the Midwest. They are also in conflict with the farm owners because of poor living conditions and poor wages.

This second photo is by James Nachtwey. This photo was taken after the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti. The man in the photo is taking refuge behind a garbage dumpster by a hospital. He was refused entry to the hospital because the workers there viewed him as mentally unstable. This picture was not featured in a publication, but was featured on Time Magazine’s official website as part of a slideshow of Haiti photographs. The slideshow was called Haiti Out of Ruins.

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake ravaged the people of Haiti. According to Fox News, 3 million people were in need of emergency aid after the earthquake. The quake also sent 33 aftershocks ranging from 4.2 to 5.9 in magnitude.

James Nachtwey, the photographer, grew up in Massachusetts and went to Darthmouth College where he studied Art History and Political Science. He had no interest in photography until he began seeing many chilling photos of people in the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights Movement. He is a self taught photographer. He has been a contract photographer for Time Magazine since 1984. Nachtwey has also received numerous awards for photography. He has even received the award, Magazine Photographer of the Year 7 times.

I believe this news source has many news values. First, is impact. This photo is very moving and upsetting. This photo definitely impacts the people who view it. Second news value is conflict. First, this man is in conflict with nature. He is conflict with nature after Haiti was devastated by nature, through the earthquake. Second, he is in conflict with the hospital staff. He was not allowed to have refuge inside the hospital, so he is forced to seek refuge behind a dumpster. Third, this photo is a little bizarre. This man is seeking refuge in the middle of trash and debris. Finally, this photo is current. The earthquake happened a little over 3 months ago on
January 12.

The third photo was featured on ESPN as they were covering the NCAA National Championship game. This photo was taken by Kevin C. Cox of Getty Images. Featured in this photo are Brian Zoubek, of the Duke Blue Devils, and Avery Jukes and Shawn Vansant, of the Butler Bulldogs. All three players are reaching for a rebound. This picture was taken on April 5, 2010 at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Duke won the National Championship game 61-59.

I could not find any biographical information on Kevin C. Cox. But, I did find quite a bit of information on the company he contributes to, Getty Images. The main purpose of this company was to move photography into the digital age. The goal of this company is to inspire communicators and give them tools to create their own inspiring work. Getty Images is used in advertising, newspapers, feature films, and blogging. Kevin C. Cox is a frequent contributor to this company.

This photo has many news values. The first one is prominence. This photo features two prominent college basketball schools, Duke and Butler. It also features prominent players on each of the teams. Finally, this picture features a very prominent event in college basketball: the NCAA National Championship game. Another news value is proximity. This event happened fairly close to Kentucky. It occurred in Indianapolis, Indiana. This photo also features conflict. These two teams are in conflict with each other. They are not only battling for a rebound after a missed shot, but they are battling each other over who will win the National Championship Game. They are in complete and total competition with each other. Finally, this photo is current. The event took place on April 5, 2010.

The fourth photo was taken by Baron Wolman. It is featured on the front cover of the Rolling Stone Magazine. The photo is of Tiny Tim. The issue was number 13, and was published on July 13, 1968.

This photo was featured the same year Tiny Tim released his debut album. His debut album included his first hit Tip-Toe Through The Tulips. It also featured a version of I Got You Babe. This photo was taken right as Tiny Tim was rising to fame.

Baron Wolman is one of the most well known photographers of the Rock and Roll years. He took many famous photos of artists such as Jimmy Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin, and others. He was also known as the chief photographer of Rolling Stone. After only a few years, he decided to leave Rolling Stone to pursue his own endeavors. He went on to take action shots of the pro football team, the Oakland Raiders. He did other work with the NFL including taking aerial shots from a blimp. He has also started working with nude shots as well.

This photo has some news values. The first one is prominence. At this point in Tiny Tim’s career, he was not widely known or famous. But, after this photo was taken and printed, Tiny Tim’s career began to take off. Shortly after this, Tiny Tim did become prominent and famous. The second news value would be bizarre or unusual. First, Tiny Tim is sitting in an old and rather unusual chair. Second, he is holding flowers, which could be a representation of his first song, Tip-Toe Through The Tulips. But, the photo is taken in a strange way because of the way it portrays Tiny Tim with the flowers. It is almost like he is hugging and patting the flowers, not just simply holding them.

The final photograph was taken by Robert Capa. This photo is of an American soldier landing on Omaha beach on D-Day, on June 6, 1944. Life magazine printed this picture along with 9 others on June 19, 1944. They called these ten pictures, Slightly Out of Focus, because the magazine claimed that Capa’s hands were shaking while he was taking these photographs. Robert Capa denied this claim. While he was on the beach, Capa took a total of 106 photos but only 10 photos survived because of a dark room accident.

Robert Capa came to Omaha Beach with the second wave of soldiers. The purpose of this wave of soldiers was to bring reinforcements, support weapons, and headquarter elements. This battle left 3,000 American soldiers dead and only 1,200 dead for the German forces.

Robert Capa was best known as a combat photographer. He took pictures for 5 wars including: the Spanish Civil War, Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the first Indochina War. He first started taking pictures of World War II for the American magazine called Collier’s Weekly. He was soon fired from this job and he quickly switched over to Life magazine. His most famous work occurred on June 6, 1944 when he swam ashore on the second assault on Omaha Beach. In 1947, Capa founded the company Magnum Photos along with Henri Cartier-Bresson, William Vandivert, David Seymour, and George Rodger. Robert Capa died while taking pictures in the Indochina War. He stepped on a landmine.

This picture has many news values. First, there is the news value impact. This photo does a great job of showing the impact of not only war, but the impact of D-Day on June 6. This photo also has conflict. It is between the United States and Germany in World War II.

Eliminate the BCS in College Football

Every year, the same debate arises: should the bowl system be eliminated in college football? Some people are for this change, such as former USC head coach Pete Carroll, and Mike Leach, former Texas Tech head coach. Even President Barak Obama is ready to see a change in college football. However, these people are not the norm. In fact, according to rival.com, 85 percent of coaches today prefer the college bowl system.

The Bowl Championship Series is the current playoff system for Division One College Football. The BCS is made up of five games: Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and the BCS National Championship. These bowls feature the top 10 teams in the country. Besides these games, there are 27 other bowl games that feature teams that were not good enough to make it to the BCS.

According to the BCS official website, “The BCS is a five-game showcase of college football. It is designed to ensure that the two top-rated teams in the country meet in the national championship game, and to create exciting and competitive matchups among eight other highly regarded teams in four other bowl games.” However, this system does not create exciting matchups and it does not always assure that the two top rated teams play in the championship.

With this playoff system, there are many problems that the bowl system faces. First, the BCS is run by a confusing computer system. According to College Football Poll, the computer system uses a series of polls and averages to decide where teams rank. “The percentage totals of the Harris Interactive Poll, USA Today Poll, and the computer rankings are then averaged. The teams’ averages are ranked to produce the BCS Standings.” The BCS committee then puts teams into different bowl games based on the generated computer data.

The second problem with the BCS is it does not always have a defined, clear-cut champion. With this system, teams that have had an amazing college football year are not always allowed to play for the National Championship because their computer ranking is not high enough. For example, last year five teams finished the regular season undefeated: Alabama, Texas, Boise State, Cincinnati, and TCU. Only Alabama and Texas were allowed to play for the National Championship because they were number one and two in the BCS system. The other three teams, Cincinnati, Boise State, and TCU, were forced to play in smaller bowls because their computer ranking was not high enough. These teams were not allowed to play in the national championship game, even though they finished the regular season undefeated.

A third problem is the bowl system celebrates mediocrity. Teams can finish .500 in the regular season and still make the playoffs. Last year, eight teams had a .500 record going into their respective bowl game. Eight teams made the playoffs that didn’t even have a winning record.

For all the problems that the bowl system faces, there is one simple solution to fix these problems: play a tournament. Every other major sport, both college and professional, uses a tournament for the playoffs. Even the other smaller divisions in college football have a tournament.

One solution would be a 32 team tournament. The top 25 teams at the end of the regular season would automatically make the tournament, and then a committee could choose seven at large teams to also enter the tournament.

This type of playoff system has many advantages over the bowl system. First, a tournament would crown a true national champion. The national champion would be decided on the playing field instead of having a computer system choose it for them. Second, a tournament would weed out the mediocre teams. Teams that do not finish with a winning record would have no chance of making the tournament. Third, a tournament would take relatively the same amount of time as the bowl season. The bowl season currently lasts about one month. If you played one round of the tournament each weekend, the tournament would only last six weekends.

Overall, the current bowl system has many flaws. Each one of them could be easily fixed by transferring the college football bowl system to a simple tournament style playoff. Pete Carroll said it best when he described the current bowl system, “I think it stinks. I don't think it's the way it should be.”

Haiti Relief

On January 12, 2010, massive devastation struck the people of Haiti. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook the impoverished Haitian countryside. Buildings collapsed, rubble filled the streets, thousands of people were trapped helpless under debris, and countless others lay dead or injured in the streets. At 4:50 p.m., Haiti cried out to the world for help.

Coy Webb, Kentucky Baptist State Disaster Relief Director, and four men, Jim Brown, Bruce Poss, Ralph Shealy, and Don Gann, answered the cries of Haiti.

The Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief is an organization that works with other Baptist Disaster Relief programs under the coordination of the North American Mission Board. Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief has over 7,000 trained volunteers and 40 disaster relief units, according to Webb.

Webb and the team left Kentucky on January 17, just five days after the earthquake. Due to all commercial flights being cancelled in and out of Haiti, the group was forced to travel to the Dominican Republic. Once they were in the Dominican Republic, Webb and the team traveled by vehicle for eight hours and crossed into the Haitian border.

When Webb and the team reached the hardest hit city, Port-au-Prince, the damage and devastation was overwhelming.

“We witnessed tremendous devastation. We saw people shackled by fear and hopelessness,” said Webb.

Webb’s goal, for the trip to Haiti, was to assess the damage so he could begin sending other teams to help this devastated country.

“Our task as the assessment team for Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief was to assess damage and needs in the devastated area, determine where disaster relief ministry could provide a positive impact, and to lay logistical plans for deployment of disaster relief volunteers,” said Webb.

While in Port-au-Prince, Webb and the team were responsible for coordinating relief efforts. The group met with other relief leaders and discussed plans for the ongoing relief effort to the people of Haiti, and planned strategies for disaster relief teams that would follow them.

Along with planning, Webb and the group also got an opportunity to directly assist an orphanage and two hospitals.

“We [Webb and the team] did deliver a truck load of food to an orphanage that was without supplies, and we delivered food, water and medical supplies to two make-shift hospitals that were ministering to victims,” said Webb.

Not only did Webb travel to Haiti to help the physical needs of the people, he also wanted to help their spiritual needs as well. Webb wanted to help spread Christianity to the hurting Haitian people. He strongly believes that Haiti is a mission field.

“Haiti remains a significant mission field and the earthquake has opened doors for believers [Christians] to share help, healing, and the hope of Jesus Christ,” said Webb.

Haiti is predominantly a country that practices Voodoo. The Haitian people mix Voodoo with Catholicism.

“Roman Catholicism is the official religion of Haiti, but voodoo may be considered the country's national religion. The majority of Haitians believe in and practice at least some aspects of voodoo. Most voodooists believe that their religion can coexist with Catholicism,” according to Traveling Haiti.

Two men that traveled to Haiti with Webb, Jim Brown and Bruce Poss, believed that Webb’s contribution to the team and Haiti was invaluable.

“Coy was an asset to our assessment team. He brought insight and ideas on how Southern Baptist could help bring the light of Christ to these people,” said Poss.

“Coy is a real friend and colleague. His advice and insight was invaluable,” said Brown.

Since their trip, Webb has assisted in sending many more volunteers and teams to help the country of Haiti. Two hundred volunteers from 16 state Baptist Conventions including Florida, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, California, Louisiana, New York, Arkansas, Indiana, Wyoming, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and the Virginia Baptist Mission Board have traveled to Haiti.

(Coy Webb)

WCCR Has A Worldwide Audience

WCCR is Now Streaming Online

University of the Cumberlands campus radio station, WCCR, is now available online. The online website features live streaming of all the radio programs throughout the day, a daily program guide, and biographies from all the DJs. The official website for WCCR is http://www.ucumberlands.edu/wccr/.

Dr. Keith Semmel, chair of the communication arts program and general manager for WCCR, believes streaming online could be a very valuable recruiting device for potential communication arts students.

“My one goal for the online streaming was to have it used as a recruiting tool. Potential students, whether they were interested in communication or radio, could have the opportunity to listen to the radio station,” said Semmel.

Senior DJ, Russell Ridenour, believes that having a live online stream is a big stride for the radio station.

“Streaming online is a big step for WCCR. We can now reach listeners that may be the friends and family of the faculty and students that do the shows. Plus, we can reach other countries and expand even further than the U.S.,” said Ridenour.

By streaming online, WCCR has gained a worldwide audience. Listeners have called in and requested songs from many different states including Kentucky, California, Texas, New York, and Tennessee. WCCR has also gained an international audience. People from Norway, Taiwan, Brazil, Germany, China, England, The Netherlands, Japan, and Canada have all listened to the station. According to Stretch Internet, Norway has the second biggest percentage of listeners behind the United States, with 4.3% of listeners.

The live radio program lasts from 8 a.m to 7 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday. WCCR also features over-night and weekend programming. The website’s daily program guide is a time listing for every program on the radio station. The website biographies feature a detailed analysis of each DJ and his or her own show.

(The interior of WCCR)

Journalism Is Now A Major

University of the Cumberlands Offers New Major


Journalism and Public Relations is now being offered as a major at the University of the Cumberlands. Mr. Jeremiah Massengale, Ms. Marianne Worthington, and Ms. Jamey Temple will be the primary faculty members responsible for teaching the new major.

According to Mr. Jeremiah Massengale, director of the new journalism and public relations major, the staff and faculty had certain goals they wanted to achieve with this new major.

“Our biggest goal was to prepare journalists for a future in the industry. Our goal was to have students have a high degree of professionalism, ethics, and to be very objective in their writing,” said Massengale.

The new major has added many new classes to the curriculum, including: Introduction to Journalism and Public Relations, Public Relations Writing, Public Relations and Advertising, Editing and Layout for Print, Magazine and Feature Writing, New Media and Online Content, Public Relations and Management, Media Technology and Society and a Senior Colloquium.

According to Dr. Keith Semmel, professor and chair of communication and theatre arts, each teacher will mainly teach a different group of journalism classes. “Jeremiah will mainly teach the Web Journalism classes. Marianne will be mainly be teaching the Journalism and Publication writing and Jamey will be teaching the Public Relations classes,” stated Semmel.

Both Massengale and Semmel are hoping that the journalism department will one day grow so that the faculty and the number of classes can increase.

“I would love to increase the faculty. The faculty we have right now are stretched. By increasing the number of majors and faculty, it gives new possibilities to students for internships and opportunities,” said Semmel.

“We don’t have any plans to add any more required classes, but we are hoping within the next few years to add some special topic classes like photo journalism, ethics, and opinion writing,” stated Massengale.

The new journalism department and the campus newspaper, The Patriot, are also keeping up with the emergence of online media, social networking, and online journalism. The Patriot, features its own fan page on Facebook, in order to update readers and keep in close contact with staff writers. The campus newspaper can also be read online through a Word Press Blog.

(This photo is featured on The Patriot's official facebook page)