INBA Podcast: Why you should join INBA

John Kendall is the assignment manager at WEEK-TV in Peoria and is on the INBA board. This is from a livestream that John did with Margaret Larkin, talking about the benefits of joining INBA. Listen or read the transcript below.

Margaret Larkin: The INBA…how did you get involved with that?

John Kendall: Tanya Koonce was a big part of why I became part of INBA. Also Mike Miletich and Jeff Burnett. I think I knew of INBA back in college, but I really never did much with it. But I kind of knew a lot of our newsroom was part of it, and I talked with Tanya a little bit about it. She was another one that I have learned a lot from, and when she was with us at WEEK. I’m glad to call her a comrade and a friend. But she and Mike were like “Hey, the meeting’s in Bloomington. Why don’t you come over for the day?” And I came over to the meeting and met a lot of people that I didn’t know, but a few that I did.

I was able to learn and grow from there and was able to network. I was nominated for the board by Jeff out of the blue. And I’m like, “I’m not even a member yet. I’m here as a visitor.” I lost out on the board, but I felt like I was learning a lot.

And during the group gatherings and just throughout it I was just speaking to people I was meeting with, yourself included, and H [Wilson] and Rachel [Lippmann] and Emily [Manley], who are all part of the board. And things kind of went by, kind of happened, and some people left the board, and Rachel called Tanya and said, “If John’s still interested, we’d be more willing to have him on the board to fill out a term.”

And Rachel, Tanya, and I spoke over the phone, and I felt more than honored to be part of the board to help fill a term. I was recently reelected to the board because I feel being on the INBA board and a member of the INBA itself helps the new generation and not just a new generation, but us journalists as a whole, to learn how to become better at our craft.

We always ask, how can I be better at my craft? INBA allows us to do that at the spring and fall meetings. Here we had Maggie [Vespa] speak, and we learned about opioid overdoses and why they’re causing a major problem, not only here in Peoria but across the state. The meeting we were at in 2022 in Bloomington, we were talking about electric vehicles and the way electric vehicles are now part of every day life, not only here in Illinois, but the world.

That was just so helpful, being able to understand and ask questions, not only to professionals who work with you every day, but professionals who work at other stations. We’re also asking the same questions. I’ve been able to become good friends with a lot of people through INBA, and that’s just helped grow me as a better journalist and as a better person as well.

I’ve learned a lot from those people and how good journalists do their job. Emily Manley and Rachel Lippmann in Missouri, how you do your job nowadays up there in Chicago. And I can see my good friends Mike and Maggie, who are INBA members as well, and how they and others help college kids.

And it’s not only just networking. You submit your stuff, in the spring meeting, not only for SIMBA awards, but you also can get your stuff looked at by a professional. Where else can you do that? You bring your stuff on a resume reel and they say, “Hey, that right there looks pretty good,” or “I would maybe take that out.” And that little 20-minute interaction with them can maybe be the difference of you waiting 6 to 8 months like I did to get a job, compared to, “Hey, I like your stuff; here’s my business card; why don’t we talk when you graduate.”

Margaret Larkin: so obviously, you’re saying that you think it’s still beneficial for people to join.

John Kendall: I think it’s beneficial to join 100%. You know, the conventions are very informative and you learn things, like at the recent convention when we did the Emiquon trip, how we learned about the watershed. I covered something like that 20-plus years ago up in Hennepin when they were doing the water life.

To learn how that is just 50 minutes from where I live right now, and how that is helping to shape the environment and the world that we’re in right now. And how to cover opioids, the election–how we can better ourselves in election coverage and just anything else in general.

I know it’s been beneficial to me since I’ve joined INBA because I learn from great journalists who are there. And not only just that: it gets you to meet more people outside of your newsroom. You’re from Chicago; I’m from down here in Peoria; Rachel and Emily, down in the Saint Louis, Missouri area. You’ve got Greg from WREX who just left; he was just up in Rockford, and Maggie [Hradecky] from WIFR. 

There are a lot of people who I probably would have never met if it wasn’t for joining INBA–who I’m able to speak with and ask how things are going in their newsroom and what’s working for them that maybe I can bring down to Peoria; we can put it in effect there and see how it goes, how it helps.

Margaret Larkin: I’m glad that you shared your passion with everybody and with me because it definitely comes through.

John Kendall: Thank you, Margaret, for allowing me to do that and allowing me to be part of your podcast here today. Hopefully somebody will be able to learn and if anyone has any questions, they can always feel free to reach out to me and never be afraid to call us at INBA; we’d be more than willing to help them out there as well.