April 22, 2008 issue
Video production is my primary job. I've done this for 20 years at Eastern Michigan University and I've never been bored. There's always something different happening.
The first paying video job I ever had was shooting practice for the football team in 1986. I asked then-coach Jim Harkema if I could get down on the sideline and try to put together a highlight video. They used it (video) before the games to pep up the team during the next season. That was the year they went to the California Bowl. I was the $5-an-hour guy in the tower, but I got a free trip to California. I still consider that one of the best experiences of my life.
We started E-TV in the fall of 1993. We showed Eastern basketball games, pre-packaged programs produced for college campuses, PBS documentaries and student-produced shows from other schools. But, the goal of the station was always to highlight campus and give EMU TV students an opportunity to get some practical experience. It took until late in the winter '94 semester to get our first campus-produced show on the air, "A Room With A View," a campus news magazine. We shot it in my office in McKenny and made the set look like a dorm room. Over the years, thanks to EMU's Electronic Media and Film program, we've added a sports talk show; Studio E, a series of student performances; E-Mag, a talk show where student issues on campus are discussed; student-produced public service documentaries; Cinema Biohazard, where we show schlocky, grade Z movies — and we still rebroadcast EMU sports.
I love making videos, creating a project. I'm most proud of my video, "Remember: 1849-1999," an hour-long history of EMU we did for our Sesquicentennial. Another of my favorites is an admissions recruitment video we did in the early '90s that was sort of a parody of the show, "The Wonder Years."
In the end, what means the most to me are the students who come through and work for the TV station. It makes me feel good when they come back and tell me their experience here helped them after graduation. I know that sounds sappy, but....
I'm the only person that's ever had this job at EMU. It's home — which it is, since I never left. It's like family. It's still small enough that you know people. And the people here are always so helpful to what I do. There are countless contributions, small and large, that make my finished projects possible. Plus, because of the size and make-up of our campus community, I often get to see the practical results of my work.
I have no plans of moving on. I'm happy here.
