Behind the Scenes interview with Neal E. Boyd

I got to interview "America's Got Talent" winner and Sikeston native Neal E. Boyd on Wednesday.

He was so much fun to interview. He's just a down-to-earth, friendly guy with an infectious sense of humor.

We asked viewers to send in questions for Neal to answer.

In this roughly 13 minute interview, Neal talks about his new album, his musical influences growing up and of course the big influence of his mom.

I also asked him some fun questions like his favorite pizza topping, childhood pets' names (he listed off about 10), and his favorite memory growing up in Sikeston.

And I couldn't let him go without singing. So he sings a bit from one of the singles on his first album.

Click here to watch Neal E. Boyd behind the scenes.

(Photo source: Decca Records)

The Big Switch-er-roo is finally here!

Oh the Big Switch! Yes, you're probably sick of hearing about it and quite frankly we in the newsroom are kind of tired of telling you about it since we've been mentioning it on air for nearly two years now. But, the time has come (June 12th) and we need to make sure you really are ready for the age of digital television.

Most people are ready for the Big Switch. If you have cable or satellite, you should be good.

If you are an antenna viewer, you need to know a couple things. First, all antenna viewers, whether you have a digital TV set or use a converter box, need to rescan their sets Friday morning. That's because KFVS is moving our digital signal to a different spot on the spectrum early Friday morning. So in order to watch us, you need to rescan so your TV can find us on our need home on the spectrum.

Second, if you try to watch us between midnight Thursday and 3 a.m. Friday, you may not see us. Our engineers will be hard at work shutting down our analog signal and transferring our digital signal. We hope to be back on air by 3 a.m. Friday.

If you still have reception problems Friday, you can call a special hotline KFVS has set up for Big Switch questions: 1-877-294-4422.

Below is a list of very helpful links to answer your questions.

• Important info to know before the Big Switch
• "DTV Made Easy" (pdf) - very helpful
• How to hook up a digital converter box
• General info about the Big Switch
• FAQs for KFVS12 Viewers
• Apply for a Converter Box Coupon
• DTV.gov
• 1 - 8 8 8 - C a l l F C C

You can go to dtv.gov or call 1 - 8 8 8 - C a l l F C C to have someone come to your house free of charges to set up your converter box. Below is a list of local DTV clinics where you can set a demo of setting up a converter box, bring in your own analog TV and converter box to have it programed, register for converter box coupons, set up and appointment for someone to come to your house to set up a converter box, and receive lots of helpful information to answer all your Big Switch questions.

Cape Girardeau Public Library – DTV Clinic
Thursday, June 11 – 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Friday, June 12 – 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

McCracken County Public Library in Paducah – DTV Clinic
Saturday, June 13 – 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Sunday, June 14 – 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Carbondale Public Library – DTV Walk-In Help Center
Every day through June 19 – 12 p.m. 8 p.m.

I'll be focusing on Big Switch info the rest of the week on Heartland News. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments section below and I'll try to answer them or you can email me at chendricks@kfvs12.com.

Questions for Neal E. Boyd?

"America's Got Talent" winner and Sikeston native Neal E. Boyd will be in our KFVS studios this week.The opera singer will be performing in a benefit concert with Kenny Rogers on June 24th to raise money for the Kenny Rogers Children's Center.

Neal's debut CD is set to be released on June 23rd.

The "Voice of Missouri," coined for his many singing appearances at prominent statewide events, has released his first single. It's a recording of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA." You can listen to it here at people.com's site.

Since Neal will be in our studios this week talking about the event, Internet Director John Dissauer had the idea to pull him aside for a web exclusive interview. We plan on asking him some fun questions to get to know Neal a little better and post it on kfvs12.com. What would you want to ask Neal? Leave your comments below.

(Photo source www.kennyrogerscenter.org)

100 Twitter tools

The more I use Twitter, the microblogging service, the more I like it.

I use Twitter a lot to get news. The reason I like this is because I can "follow" several news organizations and get news from all of them in one spot. This simplifies my world in that I don't have to neccessarily go to each different news website to get news. It's all in one location with just a couple clicks. Does this mean Twitter is making me lazy?

I also like to use it as as form of instant messaging. If you don't have unlimited texting on your smartphone, you can chat with your Tweeple on Twitter.

There are many uses for Twitter. This site lists "100 Twitter tools to help you achieve your goals."

What's your favorite Twitter apps?

My account: chendricks12