The popular VUCast newscast featured on the Vanderbilt homepage has gone to a new format to reach a previously untapped campus audience – squirrels.
“At first it sounded nuts, but it turned out to be a no brainer,” said former VUCast anchor Amy Wolf. “When you look at the sheer numbers of potential viewers, the squirrels have it.”
Finding enough squirrels to staff the revamped newscast was not a challenge, Wolf said, but getting them to focus was.
“They have lots of great ideas, but were constantly running off in every direction,” she said of the first shoot. [rquote]“And they almost invariably wanted to bury the lede.”[/rquote]
These challenges aside, Wolf believes the Vanderbilt squirrels clearly have a leg up on those found at other top universities.
“Vanderbilt squirrels aren’t ordinary squirrels. They are extremely competitive, but also highly collaborative,” she said “They already have started digging in to stories about squirrel seating on the new berm in the football stadium and research on how to finally crack the squirrel-proof cages popular on bird feeders.”
VUCast might just be the first step for these furry campus denizens. Unconfirmed reports indicated plans for a squirrel-only Munchi Mart in the new College Halls are in the works, and that university mascot Mr. C has been polishing his resume in anticipation of a possible squirrel replacement.