With a passion for style and an aptitude for public speaking, Nikki Holguin brings a creative flair to PLNU’s Point TV. She serves as an anchor and also hosts, writes, and produces content for Point TV’s “Heynouncements.” The Point Weekly discussed with Holguin — a senior Broadcast Journalism student —the plans for her upcoming show, as well as her aspirations to become a news anchor.
What are your future goals — do you want to be an anchor?
I definitely do want to become an anchor of some sort. Initially I came in here wanting to do entertainment news, not so much hard news. But now, since I’ve been at Point Loma, I think that there is an urgency, or just kind of a pulling at my heart to do something with maybe human rights and traveling and reporting with a nonprofit organization.
Who do you look up to as far as hosts go?
I think I drew inspiration from female anchors on Mexican newscasts. I would always imitate them and pretend I was reporting news — even if my mom would drive past a car accident, I would be in the back seat pretending to be an anchor. Every now and then, I still do that. But looking back, I think it was a combination of how I was brought up as far as doing talent shows, being involved with music and oratory contests, along with these influences that made me very comfortable with picking this major.
How do you prepare for your segment?
I do different things. I do Coastline News. When you anchor you have to get a package ready, and you have to get your sources and make sure you’ve done all the research for the specific package that you’re going to do. But if it’s something like “Heynouncements,” which is a lot more relaxed, and the anchoring and the news — something like that, is a lot more personable. So, the way I prepare for that is just, again, doing research. But getting really comfortable in front of the camera and using my personality — personality is really big. So I think it’s just becoming comfortable with who you are; that’s the best way to prepare yourself for this industry and this business.
What happened to the show you created?
There was supposed to be a show this past semester called “The Nikki Show” and we’re still working that out — and that is going to be focused on student life. I really want to incorporate things like, what’s going on on this campus, and what are students’ opinions about certain subjects? And things that are kind of still taboo to talk about on this campus. But I think if we get a bigger following and we start including students in the T.V. productions, students will want to have a reason to watch the show because it’ll be about them too, and about their friends, and about what’s going on their campus. So that’s what “The Nikki Show” is going to be about.
Is that going to happen this semester?
It is. We’re going to start filming; we pitched some stories, maybe like a week ago, and I’ve been working with Caleb Daniels, and I have people who are really excited to work on it. So it’s just a matter of finding time, but we already have ideas and the script is kind of written out, so that’s kind of the goal right now.
Will you be interviewing people on your show?
Yes. It will be like a combination of reality show in the sense that it’ll be kind of like my life and how my life pertains to this campus and students, slash student interviews, slash crossing things off of a bucket list, slash living life with people on this campus as my last semester approaches.
Do you think this is something that will turn over to someone else the next semester?
That’s the goal. The idea is to kind of leave, at least for me, a legacy behind. To kind of show students to think outside of the box. It doesn’t always have to be your conventional Coastline News, or even a radio show that we do here. Those are awesome, but what are you doing to reach out to the students and to the community? Just spreading the name of what Point TV is, what are you representing through Point TV and who you are as a student? That’s basically what it is, and I think what I want to do is make students feel comfortable with the idea that they can do things like this.
Do you pick your own clothes on set?
That’s something else I really want to be an advocate for. Often in this industry, they think that because you’re a Christian, and because you have a background with faith, that you can’t incorporate your style or your personality, and I am really big on saying ‘No’ to that. I do pick my own clothes, I do like to not be the norm, especially here at Loma. I’m the one with dark hair, wearing a snapback, wearing a jersey or something. I definitely stand out, but I think that’s what I want to come across in my shows as well: You can incorporate your personality and your style and that’s just you.
What kind of need is there to have a show like “The Nikki Show” — there’s nothing like it?
As of right now, the productions on Point TV are pretty basic. We have some great writers, we have some great producers here, some great editors, but I think we’re lacking something that reaches out to people, and a lot of people don’t even know we exist here. They’re like, ‘Oh we have a TV studio?’ So, Dr. Hueth — who is the advisor for the media communications department — reached out to me and asked me if I’d be interested in doing something, which is something I’ve always wanted to do. So yeah, I think there was a definite necessity to do something different. Not so much like a show, or “Saturday Night Live,” or television, or movies — something that was real, with students that incorporated this campus life.
