By Jonathan Arkin
B.A. Cinema-Television Production ‘08
Celebrating 10 years of broadcasting student-produced news to the USC community, Annenberg TV News brought Annenberg alumni back to their old haunts on Dec. 5 to mingle with current undergraduate and graduate broadcast students.
“This is a really exciting night,” said Mat Mendez (Broadcast Journalism ’09), one of the evening’s emcees and an ATVN anchor. “It’s a great opportunity to connect with everyone who has built this operation from the ground up – to take everything we’ve been taught and to get ready for the real world. Getting to interact with all the instructors, current and former administrators, is really a great experience.”
That real world has been kind to the ATVN alumni – many of whom are currently working at television and radio broadcast stations as reporters and anchors. And although some of these broadcast markets are smaller than others, those who have ventured into the world of professional news see bright futures for their chosen careers.
“I miss the School so much,” said Laura Lane (Broadcast Journalism ’07), who has already worked at E! Online, ESPN and interned with television personality Ryan Seacrest. “Now we are journalists, I’m a senior reporter for ESPN magazine...it’s like a dream job. But at ATVN, it was like we were already working...it was like having real jobs in college. So there isn’t any better preparation.”
Alumni and friends of ATVN watched a message from Dean Ernest J. Wilson III, then enjoyed a live broadcast with highlights culled from ATVN archives, including clips of many of those present. Alumni appeared as guests on the set and worked as the studio crew. Some in the audience winced at the crisp, buttoned-up images of their former selves, but all cheered when classmates appeared on the screen. The live broadcast was followed by warm praise from Geneva Overholser, director of the School of Journalism, and by a surprise musical performance featuring former and current students.
ATVN's 10th anniversary reunion was a multimedia event featuring a Skype live shot from alumna Emily Chan in Hong Kong and a microblog comprised of messages posted by guests and those around the world who participated from afar. Alumni also watched reels featuring journalism professor Bryce Nelson, USC football coach Pete Carroll and other interviewees who have been kind to ATVN's aspiring journalists throughout the years.
“I learned the basics here at ATVN and it gave me the day-to-day experience,” said Atish Baidya (Broadcast Journalism ’03), now on-air at Charleston-Huntington, WV’s WCHS-TV. “I’m grateful I had that experience and I’m glad to be back here...it’s overwhelming to be back.”
Receiving warm applause from the current and former staffers of the news operation was their director, Serena Cha, who arrived at ATVN in 1998 from a successful career as a broadcast news producer and manager at KCAL-TV Los Angeles, KCBS, KNBC and KTTV. Lauding Cha for her efforts on behalf of the ATVN community was Geoffrey Cowan, university professor and director of the Center on Communication Leadership, who told the gathering how ATVN began as an idea well before the first broadcast went on-air 10 years ago and how Cha had helped the news operation achieve success.
“We were smart enough to bring on some great people to run [ATVN],” said Cowan, who was the USC Annenberg dean during 10 years of ATVN’s success. “When you hire someone who does a better job than you ever imagined – that’s my definition of success...Now, ATVN students are everywhere.”
Cowan’s remarks were followed by an introduction by journalism professor Joe Saltzman, who recollected ATVN’s nascent years and Cha’s hiring from KCAL-TV Los Angeles. Saltzman said these early events occurred amid much skepticism regarding ATVN’s future and that many believed the student-run news operation would fail. This success, Saltzman said, came gradually but steadily and “made the impossible possible,” also “making [his] predictions of gloom and doom look stupid in the process.”
Saltzman reminded the undergraduate and graduate members of ATVN that hey had a large, successful network of alumni waiting to help them out in the professional world.
“ATVN alumni remember their colleagues at USC,” he said.
