I completed a fall semester internship at JR Motorsports and Dirty Mo Media as a Production

Intern. JR Motorsports is a NASCAR team co-owned by siblings Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley
Earnhardt-Miller that competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Dirty Mo Media is a production
company within JR Motorsports that produces original racing digital content. The goal of the
company is to provide informative and entertaining content for race fans, specifically the loyal
fan base Earnhardt Jr. developed during his full-time racing career. While the target audience is a
majority of Earnhardt Jr.’s fans, the goal is to reach all NASCAR fans who are interested in a
behind-the-scenes look into the everyday happenings of the sport.

In order to accomplish this goal, Dirty Mo Media’s team of content creators produces two
podcasts, a television show and other original content. The two podcasts are “The Dale Jr.
Download” and “Door Bumper Clear.” The television show is a condensed version of the
podcast “The Dale Jr. Download” and airs weekly on the NBC Sports Network. These content
properties are produced weekly following the previous NASCAR race weekend. The content is
produced in a studio located at JR Motorsports and then posted to all major social media
networks for the key audiences to consume. Competitors for the company include all other
content producing NASCAR teams, NASCAR corporate and television content produced by
FOX Sports.

During my time as an intern, I managed and produced the “Door Bumper Clear” podcast
property. My duties included putting together the weekly show from its initial planning stages to
the completion of editing the show to post. I developed a weekly run of show to shape the
content of the episode, communicated with the show’s co-hosts to schedule and prepare for the
taping, produced the show itself, and then edited and prepared to post for fan consumption.

Being responsible for this show taught me numerous skills both in terms of creating the content
and conducting myself in a professional environment. I learned how to produce and edit a
podcast, how to create and implement sound design, identifying and selecting key storylines for
the show to include, operating podcast recording equipment and cameras, and how to best
promote the content on social media. In the office, I learned the value of using time wisely to
complete my assigned tasks, how an office environment operates, the best practices to take a
leadership role for what I was responsible for, and the importance of constant and open
communication with those working on the same team.

During the internship, I developed close connections with every member on the team including
with fellow video editors and producers, my site supervisor who oversees and manages social
media, and the director of the brand who is in charge of the company as a whole. The team
works extremely well together to produce some of the best content in the NASCAR realm. Their
professionalism, creativity and ability to execute under pressure impressed me most. Working
directly with all of them allowed me to practice these skills as well and now I feel capable of
producing content in any environment. While I haven’t taken production classes as part of my
public relations concentration, the production classes I took within the film department including
FILM 3120 and FILM 3121 prepared me most for the work I completed at this internship.
Overall, it was a very rewarding experience and I learned a tremendous amount about the digital
media industry which I now plan to pursue a career in.