In 1974 I had just graduated from high school in Westlake, Ohio. I wanted to work in television news and had spent much of my time hanging around the newsroom at WEWS (Channel 5) in Cleveland (remember John Hambrick, Dave Patterson, Don Webster, Gib Shanley and Dorothy Fuldheim?). My high school English teacher (Terry Stuart) was a weekend producer at Channel 5 and he was the one who got me interested in TV news. Mr Stuart was my mentor and a friend.
During my senior year at Westlake I had visited and decided to attend Kent State University. They had a decent broadcast curriculum–although it was mostly focused on radio–and it seemed like a good enough choice. I attended freshman orientation and was getting pretty excited about college life.
One weekday afternoon during the summer of ‘74, about seven weeks before I was to start at Kent State, I was talking to the News Director (Gary Ritchie). He made it clear to me that majoring in broadcasting would be a mistake. He said if I wanted to get into news I could learn everything I needed to know about broadcasting in a few weeks on the job, and that news directors want to hire people with reporting skills in social subjects. He suggested political science, science, business and maybe maybe English. Interesting advice, I thought. Later, I found myself with the broadcast director at WEWS, Bill Wiedenman (who, by the way, is a Cleveland legend!). Bill asked me if I had ever heard of Ashland College. I said, “No,” and he immediately called the admissions director (whom he apparently knew). Ten minutes later I had an appointment to visit AC (as it was known) and my English teacher (Terry Stuart) offered to drive me there the next day. We did. That was the end of this story and the beginning of a new one that has stayed in my heart for over 40 years! I graduated in 1978 with a degree in political science (and a double major in radio/TV–sorry, Garry) and spent twelve great years in TV news as an anchor, reporter, photographer and News Operations Manager. Today I still work with television stations creating products and solutions to make better, more engaging newscasts. AC was my launch pad from which I remain in steady orbit.
