UCSB-based community radio station KCSB will be offering up eight nights of national Republican and Democratic convention coverage straight from Tampa, Florida, and Charlotte, North Carolina, starting Monday, August 27.

The station sent Executive Producer and News Directer Monica Lopez, along with UCSB students Bianca Beltran and Annalise Domenighini to cover both conventions on the East Coast. There will be a half-hour report from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on every night of both conventions.

Beltran, associate producer at KCSB, and Domenighini, executive managing editor of The Bottom Line newspaper, will be reporting from outside the conventions, covering any potential protests and rallies, while indoor coverage of official party activity will be done by Lopez.

Lopez said that her prior experiences covering party conventions led her to believe that it was important to have students be able to attend and report from the event.

“I’ve done some coverage at other conventions before, both in 2000 and 2004, and we thought it would be a really good experience for the students to be able to be there,” said Lopez. “It’s always good to have people on hand to see the proceedings and to be able to cover what is going on outside as well. It’s always much better to be there firsthand than hearing about it from others.”

Domenighini expressed excitement at the opportunity to cover such important national events.

“Well, I’m excited to be experiencing my first hurricane,” Domenighini joked. “But really, I am just so thrilled to have this opportunity. Being a student journalist at UCSB, I didn’t really think that traveling so far to cover such a big national event was feasible. I’m looking forward to talking to the people there and seeing it firsthand.”

The National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm watch for much of South Florida, which may bring large amounts of rain and potential flooding to Tampa during the GOP convention. Lopez said a contingency plan was in place in case extreme weather occurs.

Listen to KCSB at 91.9 FM.

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