Business program fits TV professional’s schedule
Mary Lu Saylor, a business student enrolled in the adult evening program at Southern Wesleyan’s Greenville education center, is assignment manager for WSPA, where she coordinates crews, gathers information and manages logistics essential to a regular newscast.
Few people watching a television newscast realize the amount of planning and activity that takes place hours in advance, or the frenetic pace that goes on, unseen by the cameras.
That’s where Mary Lu Saylor comes in.
Saylor, a business student enrolled in the adult evening program at Southern Wesleyan’s Greenville education center, is assignment manager for WSPA, a television station serving the Upstate and Western North Carolina.
“I work from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. catching up on what’s happened overnight and organizing what will be covered during the day,” said Saylor, who coordinates crews, gathers information and manages the logistics essential to a regular newscast and the television station’s website.
Some events take a huge amount of planning, according to Saylor. When the Democratic National Convention took place in nearby Charlotte, she worked alongside officials, networks and other stations coordinating remote equipment in an environment that would be filled with media from around the world. Along with handling enormous amounts of information, Saylor deals with details ranging from getting a flat tire repaired on a station truck to decisions concerning accommodations for reporters and crew traveling to locations outside the local TV market.
Saylor has spent 28 years in broadcasting, 22 of them at WSPA. She has done practically every job in the newsroom. Saylor began with videography, became a videotape editor, then moved into management, working at the assignment desk. About three years ago, she was promoted to assignment manager. Last year, Saylor was asked by the station staff to do a live shot down the street from her home when a reporter couldn’t make it to a crime scene.
Saylor says that Southern Wesleyan has helped her sharpen management skills on the job. Apprehensive at first about committing to a college degree program, she discussed educational goals with her husband Dale, who is an adjunct math instructor for Southern Wesleyan, and concluded that education was a priority for her profession and also for the direction she says God is leading her.
“I’ve developed a huge heart for missions,” Saylor said. “I want to do what God wants me to do.” Saylor became involved with missions outreach through her church, First Baptist North Spartanburg and MissionNext, an organization devoted to matching Christian workers with various missions agencies. She is one of a team that’s organizing a MissionNext forum coming to Spartanburg May 4 and 5, 2013.
Saylor appreciates the individual attention she gets from Southern Wesleyan’s staff and professors and how classes fit into her hectic schedule. “The convenience of having one night a week – it all seems to be pretty manageable,” said Saylor. “People in the office have been good to work with – there’s always time for you.” Saylor remembers how engaging some of her professors were from the beginning. A self-admitted “people person,” Saylor is fascinated by her Southern Wesleyan classmates, many of whom work in some of the Upstate’s most dynamic companies, including BMW, Michelin, General Electric and Grainger.
Saylor summarizes her education as being “about more than just getting a piece of paper.”