By: Isabelle Puente

Talk-N West Tennessee was not my first choice for summer employment, but I believe it was the path I was supposed to take.

Interning with Golden Media Group has taught me so much more than I think I would have learned in school or anywhere else.

My name is Isabelle Puente. I’m a Jackson native and I will be a sophomore at Middle Tennessee State University, this fall.

I’m majoring in investigative journalism with a minor in political science.

When summer break began after the 2026 school year, I sent emails to at least four different media outlets – and never received a response.

I was on the right track with one news station, but just when I thought things were going well, they stopped replying to my email.

When I first emailed Talk-N West TN, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had never considered working for a radio station and at the time, I didn’t know they published articles.

I thought it would be a long shot but, they responded almost immediately and set up an interview.

After talking with Tim November, Amy Allen, Lori Nunnery and David Thomas, they told me I would be their very first intern.

However, even though I was their first intern, they still welcomed me with kindness and taught me a lot of valuable lessons.

One lesson in particular was from my very first day.

I had not been in the office for more than an hour when David Thomas, news director and online editor for Golden Media Group, immediately sent me out to conduct an interview.

I felt completely unprepared and my genuine thought was ‘This man is crazy.’ That experience, however, taught me to always be prepared, no matter what.

Through my internship, I’ve also learned that news either happens all at once or doesn’t happen at all.

There were days where I had multiple interviews and phone calls to make and then there were days where I had no interviews at all and couldn’t schedule any.

However, even on the days where there was nothing to do, David still tried his best to find work for me and find potential stories I could cover.

I will forever be grateful to Terry Story and Golden Media Group for this internship.

It has taught me so much and has introduced me to new people at the station and around the community who I would’ve never met had I not sent them an email. I hope to work with them again in the future but for now I unfortunately have to say goodbye and continue my studies.

Thankfully I will continue to use the lessons I’ve learned here and apply them to my schoolwork in order to become the journalist I want to be.

Talk-N West Tennessee is filled with some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Everyone works well together in a relaxed environment and whether someone is an on-air personality, in the news department or the sales department, everyone supports one another knowing they have people they can rely on.

I am forever grateful to have met the people who work here and I thank them all for their kindness.

(PHOTO: Isabelle Puente – Golden Media Group)