Two University of Iowa students struggling for air time on DITV, the UI’s student-run television network, experienced a wake-up call of sorts: why not start their own show?
Jackson Kalmar and Nataliya Oliynyk launched Wake Up Iowa City in February, a lifestyle show geared for the college-aged crowd that promotes local events and features a sports segment by Hawkeye tight end Johnny Pascuzzi.
The show, found on YouTube, highlights hidden gems in Iowa City, such as local entrepreneurs, small mom and pop shops and nonprofits, in an effort to draw people to Iowa City.
“I started this to have resume clips for employers, now it is getting bigger and we’re getting more sponsorships,” said Ms. Oliynyk, a journalism and mass communication major from Norridge, Illinois, in a blog post.
Both students say results have been better than expected.
“We’re on an uphill,” said Mr. Kalmar, an enterprise leadership major from Elk Grove Village, Illinois, in the same blog post. “Everybody saw a new show and they watched it; people tell us they are waiting for the next episode. There are a lot of people watching.”
Ms. Oliynyk and Mr. Kalmar met in a journalism class, eventually co-hosting a show on KRUI. Radio wasn’t their desired destination, however, and Ms. Oliynyk was intrigued by the new lifestyle show featured on news station KCRG, an ABC television affiliate in Cedar Rapids, and her current employer.
“I was like, OK, this is what we want to do,” Ms. Oliynyk said. “We are going to emulate this and try to make it our own.”
Like Ms. Oliynyk, Mr. Kalmar started his academic career as a journalism major, but switched majors after enrolling in business classes. The John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC) startup incubator assisted in spring boarding the popularity of Wake Up Iowa City.
“Iowa JPEC has helped with business plans and giving us access to that,” Mr. Kalmar said. “It gave me tools to bring (Wake Up Iowa City) to fruition and helped us answer questions like, who do I contact, where are we going to post this, how are we going to market it?”
The 10-minute show runs weekly. The first episode debuted on Valentine’s Day and featured fun date activities, such as a Cookie Crawl and a couples Pilates class. A month later, the students-turned-co-hosts had their first in-studio interview, with Chicago rapper TheZeffsterr.
Mr. Kalmar and Ms. Oliynyk hope to continue Wake Up Iowa City, even though Ms. Oliynyk graduates next month and Mr. Kalmar has one semester remaining.
“I don’t know where I’m going yet (after graduation), so there is a possibility I stay at KCRG and work there and continue with Jackson,” Ms. Oliynyk said. “I don’t think this is an end game, I do want to pursue this. We met with a consultant at the (University of Iowa) Magid Center For Writing and he told us if we genuinely want to pursue it, then keep going, especially since we live near each other in Chicago, it wouldn’t be crazy to meet up.”
“We have been offered decent opportunities from our work, so it has been fun,” Mr. Kalmar said.
This article was written based on a blog post by Darren Miller.
