Journalism school grad interns at the 'Today' show

Showing artists like The Black Eyed Peas, Janet Jackson and Nelly to their dressing rooms doesn’t sound like a bad gig. Neither does rubbing elbows with Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira on the “Today” show. One recent broadcast journalism graduate had the summer of her life when she got to do just that—assist with the show’s Concert Series as part of her internship.

Chelsea Rabideau, a recent UM graduate who was raised in Billings, received her internship with the “Today” show shortly after making her stroll down the graduation aisle. Even though Rabideau walked, she still had one class to finish before she would receive her diploma – her internship.

After sending an application out on a whim, and subsequently being interviewed by the “Today” show, Rabideau was hired as one of 11 interns.

Rabideau made the move to New York City in September and worked at The Today Show through the end of October. While there, she lived with another journalism school graduate who had an apartment in Astoria, Queens.

Although she was not paid, she did receive college credit for her work, as well as a subway card reimbursement.

As an intern, Rabideau’s duties included everything from answering viewer calls to her favorite job—working the Concert Series. “It was fun because we could be down there in the midst of the show,” she said.

Toward the end of her internship, Rabideau was given the opportunity to become more hands-on in the show’s editing by logging tapes, assisting on shoots and dubbing (or making copies) of tapes. One of her dubbed copies even went to Madonna.

Rabideau felt she was selected for her internship for two reasons. “A little of it was being from Montana and a lot of it was from the extensive amount of experience I’ve had in the broadcast program. I feel like through my experience here at the University, I was better prepared than most other interns,” she said.

Since coming back to Montana at the beginning of November, Rabideau has started working as a weekend reporter for KECI-TV in Missoula. Even though she adored her internship, Rabideau said she isn’t ready for the New York City lifestyle just yet.

“All of the other interns wanted to get into NBC/Universal’s page program and give guided tours. I wanted to come back to Montana, where I already loved the lifestyle. I want to get into it (the industry) step-by-step,” she said.

-- By Brianne Burrowes