Drake E-Media Holiday Newsletter 2011

Digital Palace Transformed Conway At Drake By Prof. John Lytle, Newsletter Editor WHO Radio talk show host Simon Con- JMC73 Radio News was the first Electronic Media class to use Meredith Hall Room 2 as way originated his 3-hour talk show from the space neared completion from an upgrade begun early in the summer. Meredith Hall’s Kragie-Newell Interactive The lab provides 18 flat-screen Macs packed with Final Cut Pro and other essentials Media Lab, Nov. 1. plus a fully equipped teaching station. Microphone signals mixed by Engineer John Sellers were routed to WHO by an ISDN telephone line borrowed from Drake Athletics. Conway’s program was the first he origi- nated from a college campus since moving to WHO early this year. Politics was the topic of the day. The live program featured discussion with four opinionated Drake students, three of them enrolled in the Law School. Listeners also contributed by telephone. At least 24 minutes of each hour were The space began life as SJMC’s photo processing lab and darkroom. More recently it filled with traffic, sports and news updates, accommodated five Final Cut Pro editing stations and classroom area. Radio-Television plus commercials, allowing adequate Producing and Broadcast News advanced students now ingest their field video into those “stretch time” for students and others who stations repositioned just outside TV Master Control. watched the production. Video lab and production spaces share a common server for easy file transfer. The $70,000 project was largely funded with tech fees included in Drake tuition.

Video Switcher Installation Underway A Ross Carbonite digital video switcher will greet returning students for Spring 2012. The project was necessitated when E-Media’s previously donated Ampex AVC Cen- tury 230 switcher “crashed and burned” about four weeks from semester’s end. Drake administrators approved a special technology expenditure to cover the $47,000 cost. Included is a field visit by company representatives to assure that the device is operating correctly. The switcher offers two mix-effect busses and 16 inputs along with the usual assort- ment of keyers. Caveat End-term studio projects like Studio 100 in JMC100 “made-do” with a borrowed New- Most of the alumni updates in this issue Tek TriCaster. Check out their product at http://vimeo.com/33298476. Solid! remain the words you submitted, with an occasional edit for brevity or an obvious typo. I may have missed some. Apologies, in advance. If anyone would like to take on this proj- ect in November 2012, let me know, and I’ll gladly pass the editor’s crown! Do keep us posted on professional and personal changes. Today’s E-Media stu- dents love Real World contacts. Happy Holidays, All. E-Media 2011 Cheney Recognized KDRA-LP Prospers By Sami Richmond, PD Former SJMC Dean Michael Cheney has SJMC Re-Accredited received a prized “Excellence in Online A 5-member team representing aca- Our team at 94.1 The Dog has been hard Teaching Award” from the Sloan Consor- demia and the profession visited campus at work throughout the semester. Manag- tium. during February and overwhelmingly ing over 35 specialty shows, a significant recommended the School for continuing increase since last year, we have seen our accreditation, one of about 110 programs DJs through many phases so far. nationally so certified. Producers have gained radio knowledge, Representing broadcast interests during put on entertaining shows, jammed out the site visit was retired network corre- to new music, and overall had a great spondent Bob Jamieson. time being a part of Drake Broadcasting During his 30 years of TV news Jamie- System. son won five national Emmys, a Peabody When DJs broadcast from the Meredith and a DuPont. Jamieson worked 20 years studio, we hear alternative, country, pop, The group consists of “(i)ndividuals, for NBC News before joining ABC in indie, rock and everything in between. institutions and organizations committed 1990. He lives in New York. We produce several sports talk shows for to quality online education,” according to n our audience to enjoy, as well. its web site. May Grads Find Jobs A professor of Communication at the University of Illinois Springfield, Cheney SJMC’s May 2010 graduates recorded teaches multiple online courses and he an “accomplishment rate” of almost 96 uses short podcasts to supplement tradi- percent. tional courses. Cheney accepted his award University reports also showed more during the group’s November convention SJMC graduates held internships than Arts & Science and Business students. in Orlando. n A lower percentage of SJMC students remain in Iowa following graduation – Radio Reporters Win about half. Four Drake students received five first- Two-thirds of reporting SJMC graduates When DJs are absent, new, top-40, vari- place awards from the Iowa Broadcast found work related to their educational or ety music plays from iMediaTouch. News Association at the group’s May professional goals. The rotation of pre-programmed music convention. n that we play is determined by our comput- IPR Reporter Visits er program, Selector. The randomization, Iowa Public Radio’s Rick Fredericksen based on this program, has been greatly told students during an October visit natu- improved this school year. We are hearing ral sound makes his reporting viable. new music on 94.1 on a consistent basis. Fredericksen’s broadcasting career We also have a dedicated promotions began during training at the Defense Infor- team this year. Our promotions team al- mation School. Following service with the lows organizations on campus, as well as Marines, he joined KRNT radio and later in the Des Moines community, to promote became a co-anchor for KRNT-TV (later events, fund-raisers, and things of the like. KCCI). Overall, we have made much progress Lundgren, McCullough, Not A-J, Sanyour He moved to Hawaiian television news this semester on the radio side of DBS, Ciera Lundgren won Newscast and in 1982, then joined the CBS Bureau in and we are continuing to look up from Political Coverage categories. Stephanie Thailand. here. Sanyour won first-place Public Affairs, Rick joined the WOI Radio Group when If any alumni have advice for how to Kayleigh McCullough took the Depth CBS closed their Thailand Bureau. He improve the station or give us feedback, category and A-J Harrison (unavailable for specializes on feature reporting. please mail us at [email protected]. the photo) was rewarded the student Fea- We are always open to new ideas. ture award for his revelation that few fans n know the words to Drake’s “D Song.” Drake Digital News Harrison earned second place for Play- DrakeDigitalNews.com continues to pro- by-Play. Winning stories were produced vide a potential audience for text, photos, as a requirement for JMC73 Radio News audio and video supplied by Electronic during December 2010. Media reporting classes. B News senior n Kayleigh McCullough posted dozens of All photos are saved at 72 dpi. stories during fall semester. They’ll look terrible printed. n

2 E-Media 2011 Studio 100 A 30-minute news magazine consisting of FM Sports Gains Momentum During 2011 By A. J. Harrison, Sports Director stories produced during Fall Semester by sophomores and juniors hit the cable and 94 1 Sports has seen a few changes this

Web Dec. 7. year, partly because we now have our own Class members selected their best stories logo and Facebook page! Check us out on from among eight produced during the facebook.com/941sports. semester. Yes, Michelle Bachmann’s Drake This year has been highlighted by our appearance made the newscast. coverage of the Drake football team, which won a share of the Pioneer Football League earlier this year. The Bulldogs went a perfect 6 and 0 in their home games that aired on 94 1 The Dog. Harrison and Blake Miller call a Drake game. Both the men’s and women’s basket- ball squads lost only one starter from last Finally, we have also continued our cov- year’s seasons and face a bright future. erage of the Roosevelt Roughrider football One of the early highlights of this season team this year as many of our younger was the Drake men’s squad defeating Iowa commentators had the experience to call State for the first time since 2009. their first games on 94 1. Looking ahead to the spring semester Class members handled all the responsi- We also continued our coverage of the we will cover the Drake men’s basketball bilities except technical directing with the Drake softball team, which helps keep matchup against UNI in January. largely unfamiliar TriCaster and operating our announcers on their toes before Drake For the first time since 2009 we plan on one studio camera. Relays rolls around in the spring. n In terms of video efforts, we have started calling both the men’s and women’s bas- filming more recaps after Drake basket- ketball at the Missouri Valley Conference Fales Visits JMC100 ball contests and look to produce a Drake tournaments in March. WHO-TV feature reporter and KXNO basketball show in the spring. n sports talk co-host Andy Fales screened several of his favorite reporting samples Alternate Inspection OK Borland Shares Stories with the JMC100 Television Field Photog- By Jeff Nichols, Chief Operator raphy class, Oct. 24. Through the Iowa Broadcasters Association, The 1993 Drake English graduate an alternative inspection program by an FCC returned to Channel 13 in 2008 follow- educated engineer/lawyer has been offered ing six months with KMBC (TV), Kansas every 3 years. City. He also resumed his work co-hosting WHO-TV’s popular Sunday night “Sound- Off” program.

WHO-TV’s chief photographer Mike Borland, visits JMC100 nearly every se- mester to critique student stories and share samples of his own work. He knows the class well, having team- We took part in the program this year for taught it the semester Lytle took sabbatical a nominal fee. John Lytle and I both learned in 1998. valuable information about what we are, and are not, supposed to be doing for compliance Aren’t old pictures fun? That’s Mike for the radio station. with a president in the White House. Fales’ class presentation concentrated on In short, now that we are certified, unless n how video, sound and words complement someone complains, we will be off the radar of DrakeLINE.com Archived one another in the effective feature story. the FCC. He urged students to build their stories, I have a couple of minor forms to file with Junior B News major Kaitlin Berry has a layer at a time, and include a surprise or the FCC (and even that is a formality). invested much of her fall semester’s Work two along the way. Special thanks to John for doing all the FCC Study hours updating DrakeLINE’s ar- JMC100 remains a core requirement for filing, research and paperwork for KDRA. The chives. We converted the site to WordPress inspector advised we post the certificate in our from Dreamweaver when a Drake-owned Radio-Television Producing and Broadcast public area. I’ll leave where that should be to News students. server expired. Take a look. someone else. Cheers! n n n 3 E-Media 2011 Alumni

Paige Hulsey (BNews’11) Joe Barlow (BNews’10) Tony Lorino (RTV’03) Forfeiting to my case of wanderlust, I ran away In August I became a Storyteller for a new Busy year...and a REALLY busy last month or to China after graduating. I am living in the show on Champaign’s CBS affiliate, WCIA so! Kate Vasconcellos (BCMB’05) and I tied northeast, in a small city of twelve million – 3. The hour-long magazine-styled ciLiving.tv the knot here in Kansas City on Oct. 15th, sur- Tianjin – and employed by Tianjin Normal replaced Oprah. rounded by a ton of family and friends. University as a Foreign Language Expert. When people read my business card and ask Special thanks to fellow basement dwellers The government thinks I’m here to teach. me what a Storyteller is I say that my job is to Adam Ghassemi (BNews’04) and Matt Hae- Really, I am here to absorb everything possible tell the stories that we don’t always get to see ger (RTV’06) for being in the wedding party. about this vast country and its ancient but on the regular news. We’ll be honeymooning in Cancun in the rapidly evolving culture. We especially focus on positive, funny or new year. I eventually plan on returning to the West and unique things about interesting people or getting back into broadcast news. places. We get more time to shoot and edit In the meantime, I will continue to explore because our stories are long, and feature music the world and stockpile international knowl- and unique edits. edge and experience I hope to someday utilize I certainly appreciate everything I learned in the journalism field. at Drake, now that I have to shoot, edit and report, but I find it really fun. I consider myself lucky because I’ve had 2-minute stories and even 7-minute stories. Thank you Oprah for being a job-creator. n Zach Tecklenburg (BNews’09) To add some major life events to the fun, I After working for 2.5 years as a multimedia turned 30 and was promoted to Program Direc- journalist at KTIV, Sioux City, I moved to tor at 99.7 The Point (KZPT-FM) less than 2 Kansas City at the beginning of November. I’m weeks after the wedding. So, it appears that now working for KSHB (NBC Action News) good things DO travel in threes! as a multimedia journalist. n Photo on the Great Wall. I’m going to make So far I’m enjoying living in a bigger John Olson (RTV’04) a generalization here, but it seems like EVERY city, having a faster pace at work and more Martha (Chaput) (RTV’04) Chinese person makes what I thought was the resources available. While I was definitely peace sign in pictures... turns out they call it ready to move on from Sioux City, it was a Olson works as an Avid Editor and Associate the Victory sign. I was semi-mocking them in great experience and really prepared me for my Producer at E! Entertainment. He’s well under- this shot. current job. way with his film review blog: sawthatwatch- n n this.blogspot.com/ He usually reviews 2 films each week. Of Cara (Stein) Rinkoff (BNews’03) Tami Wiencek (BNews’84) directs course, he takes requests too! Martha reports that was his excuse for going to see Footloose, I’m in DC working as a producer for News- the Digital Communication program at Wil- but she knew he wanted to see it anyway. Channel 8. My husband and I just bought our liam Penn University, Oskaloosa, and advises Martha recently left her job at OWN to start first house this summer. Musco Lighting’s Communications Research Institute. a new production company, which develops Reality Television and is currently in produc- tion on an Internet Game Show called Money Amber Schindeldecker (BNews’03) weather in Florida weather in Florida. Break. She also teaches yoga once a week in At this time last year, I was just getting into Wonderful friends Kari Fass (RTV’02) and Los Angeles. the swing of things as the 10 p.m. producer at Treyva Estler (RTV’02) met in October for Martha and John joined Sam Alvelo’s WINK-TV. Since then, I was promoted to 11 our 3rd Annual Sisterhood Reunion. (RTV’03) softball team this summer. p.m. producer and I even filled in as night-side n executive producer while our current EP was on maternity leave. Kirsten (Benton) Johnson I’m looking forward to future prospects in (BNews’96) was tenured and promoted middle management. last April to Associate Professor of Communi- I still have 1.5 years left on the contract, so I cations at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College. have time to figure out what I want to do next She also serves as the Chair of the depart- and where I want to do it. ment. A year ago I became an aunt all over again She recently co-edited a book titled “News to a wonderful boy named Graham. He is truly With a View: Journalism Beyond Objectivity.” the light of my life! It is scheduled for release in December 2012. I’ve spent plenty of time and a ton of money She has authored numerous articles on citizen traveling to Minnesota to be there for milestone This year we visited Kari in Washington journalism and credibility. Kirsten teaches tele- moments! State, where I schooled them in the fine art of vision production and broadcast news courses. I’m also learning what it’s like to be grateful celebrating Oktoberfest as an authentic Ger- n for all the blessings this universe has given man. me: family, friends and the perpetual summer Check out [email protected] 4 E-Media 2011 Jennifer (Slesnick) Schaeffer Jess Hoffert (BNews’11) Laura Colaizy (BNews’03) (RTV’00) After graduating in May I traveled to Germany I work for the same company, Syngenta, a I still live in Hoboken, NJ, just across the river for six weeks, allowing me to have a nice worldwide agribusiness specializing in the from NYC with Josh (husband of 8+ years), bridge between college life and the job search. manufacturing and sale of seeds and crop pro- my 1 1/2 year old son, Avi, and two dogs, Saba While in Germany, I met up with Jenna tection products. and Nori. DeLong (BNews’11), who happened to be I’m working as a Business Process Analyst I work at Satellite Media Group, a small PR playing softball in the Netherlands, just an hour – working on change projects and continuous firm in the city, as an associate producer. north of where my grandparents live. process improvement efforts. I work primarily We promote clients like e!’s Kardashian in sales and order management as well as fore- shows and OWN’s The Rosie Show and Jerry casting and demand planning. It will be 7 years Springer. this summer since I joined the company. I still work with radio stations across the Some more exciting news is that I’m engaged country and dip into the TV world quite a bit. to be married! (Even crossed paths with Sara Van Aernum for Scott and I have been together almost 4 years a TV tour - small world!) and he proposed over the Fourth of July week- end at my family’s lake place in Minnesota. It’s very exciting and the wedding planning for September 1, 2012, is well underway. Because we are both huge football fans, both

She drove her host family’s Peugeot on the Autobahn all by herself, not realizing how crazy that was. We had a great time eating Ger- man schnitzel, going on a bike ride through the countryside and finishing the day with Italian gelato. Upon my return to the states, I was lucky Personally, I am still fighting my Multiple to have a job opportunity come my way from Sclerosis and continue as a top state MS Meredith Corporation in Des Moines. I’ve been fund-raiser, although the disease has slowed working at Meredith for Michigan Travel Ideas me down a little. I’m President of my condo magazine since August, creating videos and college and the NFL, we are having our wed- board and head of publicity at Temple Beth-El slideshows for the digital edition. ding reception at TCF Bank Stadium where the in Jersey City. I also commit a few hours a week to commu- Minnesota Gophers play football. Planning a Feel free to contact me if you’re heading out nications work for my church denomination’s wedding will be by far the biggest project I’ve East, look for me on Facebook or mail me at district of 32 congregations in Iowa, Minnesota ever managed! [email protected]. and Montana. n I’ve also taken over as the coordinator for the n Iowa Peace Network. I’ll work on their news- Sarah (Reinwald) Guldalian letter and help organize peace demonstrations J.D. Fox (RTV’05) (BNews’03) enjoys a seventh year produc- and presentations. Still hanging out in the Phoenix suburbs work- ing multi-media training programs for Lutheran So I guess my next appearance on television ing for Stretch Internet, an evolving video Hour Ministries, best known for The Lutheran won’t be as reporter but rather as some random and audio streaming provider specializing in Hour®, the world’s longest-running Christian guy holding up an anti-war sign. college sports. outreach radio program. It reaches more than I’m okay with that. I have been broadcasting a bit on the side, 800,000 people each week. n picking up some fill-in broadcasts for my One of her most recent professional joys former employer (Sacramento State) and trying was producing a four-part video series over Jenna DeLong (BNews’11) led her to keep up with all of the changes in video the summer with Drake RTV senior Autumn Netherlands team to a summer European Cup technology. I am also looking to include a trip Moore as her intern. Championship. to Des Moines onto a convention trip to St. I just accepted (mid-December) the assis- Louis this June, as I haven’t seen the basement tant softball coaching job at the University of in a couple years. Texas – Dallas. Not exactly the direction I was Earlier in the year, I enjoyed having follow planning on going a mere two weeks ago, but I alumnus Kyle Lobner (RTV’05) and his wife, am happy to have a paying position somewhere Laura, down here for Spring Training, and in the USA! hope to have some more folks take the trip I will miss Des Moines, and Iowa in general. down this year. Texas is going to be a whole new adventure. The podcast – The D+ Sports Advantage I’m excited. – I produce with alumnus Travis Monroe n (RTV’07) is on hiatus due to our crazy sched- ules, but will hopefully return during 2012. Sarah and husband Justin live in St. Louis Did we miss you this year? Send where he runs daddy-daycare to 2-year-old son professional and personal updates to Zane during the day and performs as a profes- [email protected]. sional percussionist at night.

5 E-Media 2011 Kelly Nass (BNews’99) After spending 2 1/2 glorious years living and Neil Rubenstein (RTV’81) working in Hawaii on LOST and the short-lived The past year has brought incredible technological changes to my Johns Hopkins Uni- ABC TV drama Off The Map, I have returned versity Applied Physics Lab. to LA. I’m currently Production Coordinator We continue to produce outstanding material for the Dept. of Defense and NASA. For for The CW Network TV show Hart of Dixie the Messenger Orbit Insertion around Mercury we produced a live, two-hour, multi- starring Rachel Bilson, where we turn the War- location webcast. ner Brothers back lot into small-town Alabama. Perks include meeting special guest stars like In our main auditorium we had an audi- NASCAR driver Brian Vickers and enjoying ence of 500 watching the “anchors” host the Christmas decorations in our town square in program. the middle of October. We connected to our second location for live updates via fiber to our Mission Operations Control room (MOC). Both NASA TV and the NASA HQ site distributed our stream. Our direct stream recorded over 100,000 viewers across the world. Needless to say we were all very proud of the support that we could provide to our large staff of rocket scientists—the real stars of the show. http://www.jhuapl.edu/mes- senger/mer_orbit.html does not include over 100 other Department- Our external website offers a small sampling owned conference rooms that we support and as well: http://www.jhuapl.edu/multimedia/ maintain. default.asp We also perform all of the design, installation My greatest accomplishment of 2011 was and integration of A-V facilities throughout the I recently flew to my hometown of More- the launch of Channel 4, an internal news Lab consisting of over 5,000 staff in 39 build- head, KY, to see my dad and watch Drake beat magazine program that centers on APL’s past, ings, some of them 2 miles away. Morehead State, 41-26. present and future. It’s quite a task for 18 staff members. Also, I finally bought my dream car – a pep- Technically, we stopped shooting tape 2 years per white Mini Cooper which I appropriately ago except as a backup. Everything is shot on named “Winnie Cooper.” Sony SxS cards and Aja Ki-Pro recorders. Can you tell I work in TV??? We maintain 11 camera packages including n 2 multi-cam flypacks that can handle up to 8 inputs each. Most packages use Sony EX-3 Frank Carioti (RTV’84) cameras. I have just ordered two Sony PKW- F3s that will be paired with a full complement I had the honor of working with the best team of Zeiss Compact Prime lenses. in television on The Farewell Season of The The images are truly amazing. We post on Oprah Winfrey Show. As you can imagine, We also do segments on STEM and staff pro- FCP 7 but we are seriously looking at Premiere those were epic times! files that are involved in global and community and even going back to AVID as our post-plat- While wrapping that show was my main outreach. form. No one in my network of professionals professional focus, I also continued editing We have had over 4,000 staff view all three is putting much faith in Apple after the FCP X highlights and packages for the Big Ten Net- of our produced programs. The programs are debacle. work (now just BTN) and traveling the region streamed directly in HD to desktop using a Picture is of me presenting to a live audience as a certified trainer on Smoke by Autodesk. HaiVision Furnace system which I re-branded and also via stream the success of the Channel This past summer I accepted a staff position as APL VisionNet. 4 news magazine. at Harpo Studios and began editing several In addition to video and animation produc- Neil Rubenstein, Executive Producer/Section properties for OWN. I am now a fixture on the tion, my team provides digital photographic Supervisor post-production staff of The Rosie Show (with services, A-V support to 12 general-purpose Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics an occasional screen credit!), marking Rosie conference room and 2 auditoriums. This Laboratory O’Donnell’s return to TV on her daily hour- long comedy-talk-game-reality show. Bob Gillies (BNews’89) Mary Bock (BNews’ 86) TRS’s post schedule is varied, often shot I hope you use the Penn State situation for an My husband and I are enjoying our empty nest. live-to-tape and posted for same-day broadcast assignment. Great stuff to explore for news or Rosie is in Rome for the academic year, in only a couple quick, wild hours! Helping sports and I think this is the tip of the iceberg. painting, and Emily has started Business launch a “new” post facility for a nascent cable Life is good. We are doing well at Parkside. School at Pitt. My book, Video Journalism: network has been a sometimes frustrating, Tell everyone I am at 4 years there as a thera- Beyond the One-Man Band, is in the produc- always challenging, never boring phase of my pist and we are expanding our bed capacity to tion phase and due out in 2012. career. 50. I will be at Relays this year and I am bring- n Wife Laura and the kids are fine. My eldest ing my oldest son, Coburn. Renee (Van Amber) Whisnant will head to high school next fall at the same (Ed: Gillies donated enough money for us to (BNews’97) school from which I graduated some 32 years purchase top-quality dynamic mics for the Mer- works for Media Minefield in prior. edith radio studio. Many thanks, Bob.) Minneapolis as a messaging and video special- By my math that means I turn 50 this coming ist. summer. AARP is already mailing the applica- Typos or errors? We hope not! tions. 6 E-Media 2011 Brittany Weiss (BNews’09) Kyle Kaiser (RTV’00) After a year and a half of interviewing and pro- As of July 12, Kaiser left his staff attorney ducing celebrity segments for AOL and various Mike Newell (RTV’68) died at Mercy position with the Supreme Court of Texas for other outlets in New York City, I moved to Hospital Medical Center Dec. 1 following a similar work in Salt Lake City. Mississippi to take an Anchor/Reporter job at heart attack six days earlier. Mike produced At last correspondence he was defending WXVT. Iowa Press and other projects for Iowa Public the State of Utah against a First Amendment Television. challenge to their requirement that any people During 20 years with Iowa Press, Newell requesting to march down a major street must scheduled governors, U.S. Senators and Con- provide insurance. gressmen, State and National Party officials n and many presidential candidates. “My wife, Chris, continues as an Associate Linda Shelton (BNews’82) Director at the Iowa Board of Nursing and It has been a busy year for us. I’m now the we have two beautiful daughters – Amy and Internal Communications Manager for Tufts Christine in Chicago – and three beautiful Medical Center in Boston. grand daughters. I truly love my job! It’s very busy, but I work We don’t see them as often as we’d like,” with a fantastic group of people and I’m setting Mike wrote for this Newsletter only days up an expanded framework for internal com- before his attack. munications. I’m engulfed in the culture and have reported “Not too much happening in front of the mic, I recently ran into another Drake alum at a on the controversial personhood debate and as I’ve backed away from many play-by-play conference in San Francisco, which was a kick. University scandal stories. assignments. Too much travel!!!” I’m still engaged to my wonderful man; we After being away from News reporting for a Newell played football at Drake and became just haven’t set a date yet. couple years, it all came rushing back and I’m well known for calling radio play-by-play of My daughter graduated from high school in happy to be here doing my thing. Drake and University of Iowa women’s basket- June and is now at Syracuse University. She I can’t wait to learn and grow as a news jour- ball, and Iowa Oaks and Iowa Cubs baseball. loves it and is doing well, which is just what nalist and finally anchor the news! He anchored many sportcasts and post-game n this proud parent wants to see. call-in programs for WHO radio. n LeAndra (Ellison) Guesman An “SJMC Outstanding Alumnus,” Mike (RTV’01) occasionally taught for SJMC and served for a Shelley (Russell) Skuster I married my boyfriend of 5+ years in Kauai time as our internship coordinator. (BNews’08) during August. It was by far the most amaz- I’ve been reporting at the FOX affiliate in ing time! We were there for 10 days for our Omaha for more than a year. I’ve continued wedding and honeymoon, and we never wanted Tom Rapp (RTV’10) to break a series of stories called “Justice for to leave. I spent the first 6 months after graduation Juliette” about a 2-year old twin girl who was working at a restaurant and doing some free- beaten to death in Western Nebraska three lance work in Des Moines. In February I was years ago, but still, no arrests. hired as a 4-day-a-week KCCI news photog- The stories have aired across the country, rapher. from Fresno to Denver. It’s stories like Ju- In June I was hired as a part-time videogra- liette’s that are exactly why I love my job. pher and editor for Blur Mediaworks in Des Google “Justice for Juliette” and you’ll be Moines. able to see my stories all over the Internet. We work on a variety of projects from I also own a wedding videography business, marketing videos to TV commercials. We work Visualities Videography, which I absolutely with many companies around Central Iowa love! I shoot and edit about one wedding each including the Iowa Speedway and the Iowa month. Donor Network. And what’s better than being your own boss? Check out “Visualities Videography” on Face- I live in Las Vegas. Been here for over 7 In July I participated in the 48 Hour Film book for the scoop (I had to get in a shameless years, and I am still addicted to good weather. I Project in Des Moines for the third consecutive plug!). work for Regus. We have 6 locations in Vegas, year. Chris remains a police officer in Omaha. and over 1,100 locations globally. My team included Drake alumni Joe Barlow Four-year old Maggie (a Humane Society I lease office space to small and medium size and Jeremy Scavo. Current RTV student rescue) is still spoiled beyond belief. businesses. I’ve been with the company for 2 Jason Miller also worked on the film. We years, and enjoy what I do. made the top 12 and received the producers I will attend Relays again this year to watch pick award. my younger brother, now a junior at North Two other short films are in the editing pro- Central College, run. Last year he and his cess and will be submitted to festivals around team placed in the 4x200 and 4x400. Being at the Midwest in 2012. Relays brings back so many memories...hope Just recently I participated in the National to see some of you there! Film Challenge, which is an offshoot of the 48 n Hour Film project. It’s done on a national basis as opposed to city by city. SJMC’s new Web site is quite cool: The collaboration involved about 20 local sjmc.oit.drake.edu/ filmmakers.

7 E-Media 2011

J. C. Crane (RTV’89) serves as the Adam Ghassemi (BNews’04) Allison Grotjan (BNews‘00) toils as Founder/Executive Vice President of Crane Last Spring I left KATU (ABC) in Portland, dayside Executive Producer at WSYX/WTTE, Enterprises and directs the company’s Commit Ore., for top-rated WTVF (CBS) in Nashville. the ABC/Fox affiliate in Columbus, Ohio. “I 2 Action program. The slight drop in market size brought a am glad to be back in Columbus after 5 years This program is a professional counseling Monday through Friday dayside role along in Pittsburgh,” Allison wrote during April. and motivational seminar service that promotes with many other perks. After a busy year filled with college football Diversity Education and Post-Secondary Guid- NewsChannel 5 is a tremendous storytelling scandals and lions roaming the countryside, she ance within a spiritual foundation. shop that gives me access to some of the coun- was looking forward to producing a holiday try’s top photojournalists. I couldn’t be happier. special focused on a local family featured on Crystal’s now APR accredited and serves as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. n the VP of Communications for Fisk University. Sarah Stokes (BNews’00) We had a great start to the New Year! Our baby was born on New Year’s Eve! We welcomed Kanyon Christopher Herzog into the world and he has been the center of ours ever since! He’s nearly walking and is getting into everything! The viewers have been following him on Facebook and on my mommy blog since the beginning. Photo: Crystal and Adam sporting “Team 5” His international reputation includes exper- shirts at the Mayor’s 5k Walk/Run, Nov. 13. tise in cultural affairs, dialogue facilitation, The move brought us a lot closer to friends race relations, and diversity audits. His profes- and family. We’re only three hours from Mem- sional accomplishments include creating the phis (my hometown) and four from Atlanta Triton College Diversity Learning Center, de- (her hometown). That’s the closest I’ve been signing an International Multicultural Training since pre-Drake days! Program, and publishing the Commit 2 Action We’re in the midst of a house search as we Post-Secondary Preparation Guide. plan on calling Tennessee home for years to He’s written articles, presented motivational come. seminars, and coordinated educational work- Adam sits on SJMC’s National Advisory shops regarding multicultural diversity, and Council. post-secondary education. I’m still anchoring the 9 and 10 p.m. news- In June 2000, J. C. was selected as the casts for WEAU and Fox in Eau Claire, WI inaugural Chairman for the Owensboro (KY) with my husband, Chris. Still loving it here Multiracial Advocacy Committee. He has after 6 years! served as Guest Lecturer for Washtenaw (MI) f Community College Intercultural and Interper- sonal Communication Courses from July 2003 Jill Zwagerman (BNews’99) to November 2008. My big news is that I had baby in March. So, J. C. has been chosen to present a session now I have two little girls who are about as titled, “Building an Intercultural Community” girly as they come. I’m not sure how that hap- during the Great Plains Association of College pened. They must get it from their father. Admissions Counselors (GPACAC) Annual I’m still a lawyer practicing in discrimina- With Bob Schieffer at a Nashville bar during Conference in April 2012. tion, civil rights and employment law. While I June. Schieffer and his band played a benefit. In October 2010, J. C. married Candace am not seeking out the stories, I have been on n (Foster) Crane (BA’00; MBA’01). They live the other side with my clients often being the in Lee Summit, Missouri. subject of the stories. It’s nice to have a little Sara (Danzinger ) Cooley inside information. n (BNews’99) I advise them to talk in sound bites to make This past year brought many changes. After Sara (Opalinski) Maloney the editing easier for all of you reporters and more than a year of looking for permanent (RTV’00) producers. Strangely, they don’t always listen work, I started as the PR Manager at the Girl I celebrated 10 years at Walsh Media Inc in to me and so the 2-minute quote remains. Oak Brook, IL this year – still in Project Man- n Scouts River Valleys in September. The work is agement. very rewarding. But the biggest celebration for me and hus- Matt Mobley (RTV’09) recently joined Only a few weeks into the job, we found out band Brian Maloney (AS’00) was the birth of Drake Sports Marketing as an information spe- we are expecting our second child. Caleb is 4 Neil Andrew Maloney in February. cialist. He wrote in August before accepting the years old and the baby is due Memorial Day He joins big brother Liam (3). We’re all busy new job that he’d produced his first “profes- Weekend. Many blessings and we are enjoying – but happy and healthy! sional” wedding video. every one.

8 E-Media 2011 Chris Scholl (BNews’85) Ann Kaatz (RTV’97) Chris Parrish (BNews’05) Not a ton to update here. I’m still with CBS I’m working at NBCUniversal as the IT Direc- and my big story this year has been breaking Chris and Catie Bielecki married in Morris, Ill, tor of Client Services, focused on supporting the ATF “Fast and Furious” gun-walker scandal Oct. 15. He’s produced for WHDH, Boston, the cable networks within NBCU. It’s been an along with my correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. since November 2010. He was previously interesting year navigating the Comcast-NBCU It’s kept me busy for months. executive producer for WOI-TV. merger. Very proud of my 21-year old son, Adam, n On the home front, I’ve enjoyed the first year who this past year managed to be both a White of being a mom and am planning my wedding Barbara Kao (BNews’03) House intern in the Office of the First Lady I am still for early next year. Still living in Venice, CA, and a sled-dog handler in Alaska. Talk about working in TAITRA as trade show manager. but I don’t get to the beach as often as I wish. extremes! I manage two trade shows: Foodtech & Phar- I was recently honored with an Appreciation n matech TAIPEI and TAIPEI PACK. Check Award during the annual Stoked Awards for foodtech.com.tw & taipeipack.com.tw. my work with the non-profit Stoked Mentoring Maureen McKamey (BNews ‘11) Our presidential election is Jan. 14, 2012, over the past five years. After graduating last spring, I lucked out find- and by July 2012 all analog TV signals convert ing a job in TV news. I’m working as a reporter to digital. for CRI-TV, a non-profit TV station in Oska- Everything in Taipei is FAST, but I try to loosa, Iowa. I cover health and business stories keep my life simple and be more deciplined. for the CRI Weekly News. I started Tai-Chi and play golf (it’s a sport Most recently, I’ve also started anchoring the trend here). I am still learning Spanish, and news show every other week and have started hope someday I can go back to Latin America. as co-executive producer for Oskaloosa Today, I really love learning! CRI’s monthly, documentary-style show. n

Kailyn (Reid) Watson (BNews’05) The most exciting part of 2011 was my wed- ding in May. J.T. and I married in Omaha and then spent a week in Hawaii enjoying the sun, Best wishes to all my old classmates and all sand and even surfing! the past Meredith basement dwellers. I’m approaching five years as a public rela- n tions specialist for the Omaha Public Schools. Rob Sobkoviak (RTV’90) With more than 80 schools in our district, there’s always something going on. After spending the better part of 2010 cycling, I still feel like a reporter because I’m I switched to running in 2011. I spent the late constantly covering the news of the district. spring into the summer months in endurance Writing, photography and videography/editing training with Team In Training. In August I Being a reporter for CRI is slightly unusual. I skills certainly come in handy. ran two separate half marathons, and on Oct. 9, work weekdays from 9-5 (with the exception of In addition to my day job, my husband and I 2011, I ran the Chicago Marathon. a few on-call weekends). took classes to become certified tax profession- I raised over $1,000 for cancer research. I get paid enough that I can live on more als for H&R Block, where we worked part-time than just peanut butter and ramen noodles; and last tax season. It started as a way to earn a because the station is hyper-local, I have the little extra money for our wedding and hon- opportunity to produce more in-depth, longer eymoon, but since it went so well, we decided form pieces. to take continuing education classes and work I’m glad I was able to stay in Iowa. I’m there again during the upcoming tax season. pretty close to Des Moines, and the drive back n to my hometown in Minnesota isn’t too bad, either. Jill (Lingwall) Farmer (BNews/ n RTV’91) is a Life Coach, working with men and women around the country. She’s using her Jeff Duitch (RTV’98) J-School skills to write articles and create video I’m still working as the medical filing clerk for blogs to share ideas and tools on her website. Ruan Neurology Clinic at Mercy Medical Cen- She does lots of Keynote speaking, as well as ter in Des Moines. I do some Torah and Judaic seminar and retreat leadership (jillfarmercoach- text learning everyday and I still occasionally ing.com). videotape events for people at my synagogue. One new thing with me this year is that I In June I married Christine, and we live in have coordinated and put together two reunions Joliet. Christine ran the Chicago Marathon in for a whole bunch of my friends living in the 2010 and 2011 – also with Team In Training – Des Moines area from my K-12 school days and has raised over $5,000 for cancer research. (West Des Moines schools). Both of these I continue to be employed in Enterprise reunions were so much fun and another reunion Architecture by Discover Financial Services is being planned for sometime this winter. at their corporate headquarters in Riverwoods, Illinois, and will have been there for 10 years in the spring of 2012. 9 E-Media 2011 Mark Carlson (BNews’10) Jack Doles (RTV’86) I’ve entered my second year as the Iowa City Amy Schmelzer (RTV’96) I have no idea how it happened, but I just reporter for KCRG-TV 9, Cedar Rapids. I I’m still at KCCI in Des Moines and still di- finished my 25th year as a sportscaster, starting really enjoy Iowa City and the many interest- recting the 6 & 10 p.m. news. We finally made my 22nd year at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, ing news stories the people here consistently the switch to HD in May and to server-based MI. provide. play-out over the summer. I had my fingers in In addition to daily television reporting, I those projects. have been writing quite a bit for the Gazette And, of course, it’s getting to be Caucus time, Newspaper, as our parent company owns both so I’m gearing up for our coverage of that. the TV station and the newspaper. In the past year I have covered a wide range of stories in SE Iowa, with the most notable being the killing of a Keokuk County deputy in early April. We were the first news station to arrive on the scene, and despite warning from the State Patrol, we witnessed (from a safe dis- tance) the tactical team take down the shooter as he fired shots at them. Except for the days we have to talk about As I listened to the tense situation play out on stories like Penn State, I’m still enjoying going the scanner, I realized I truly had entered the to work each day. “Real World.” I haven’t been to Des Moines in a couple of years now, but still keep up with John Walters, Dave Lubbers and Rick Rungaitis. As you can see, I won my second, consecu- n tive Regional Emmy for Newscast Directing in September. Heidi (Biedermann) (BNews’98) n & Scott Gojkovich (RTV’97) Laurel (Bower) Burgmaier Heidi made a big move this year at KCCI (BNews’95) NewsChannel 8. She went back to mornings! I am still working at Iowa Public Television, It was a huge opportunity to overhaul our producing three documentaries and providing morning newscast, and the hard work is paying stories for the nationally syndicated agri-busi- off! For the first month or so, I wondered what Personally my life has not changed a whole ness program Market to Market. in the world I had done. Forgot about the shock lot. I still watch too much TV, play too many The three long-format productions include of working overnights. video games and cannot cook much more than a documentary about the Farm Crisis of the But all is well now, and I am treasuring the a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 1980s, a program about George Washington extra time with my girls. I get to pick them Growing-up is a bit rough, but I’m working Carver and a project about images from the up every day after school, which is awesome! on it. It sure helps having a job that makes me Adair Free Press in Greenfield, Iowa, a news- Hailey is 6 and in first grade, and Riley will be want to get out of bed in the morning! paper started by the Sidey family in the late 3 by the time you read this. Scott and I also n 1800s. celebrated our 12th anniversary in October! I have written and received grants from Hu- Jeff Marcus (RTV’85) authored the manities Iowa to produce the Farm Crisis docu- book series American Record Sleeves (record- mentary and from the State Historical Society sleevebooks.com). of Iowa to scan and archive the Sidey images. Additionally, he writes for Goldmine music There are an estimated 10,000 negatives from magazine and has recently interviewed Herb the Adair Free Press to examine. Alpert, all four original members of The Mon- kees, Johnny Rivers, Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night, Neil Sedaka, Ron Dante, Fabian, Hal Blaine, Carole Kaye and Don Randi. Jeff does voice-over work and is an MC/DJ in the Phoenix market. Jeff enjoys spending time with his daughter Brittany (22), his Shiba Inu Mojo, and friends. Scott continues to fulfill many roles at the Des Moines Radio Group: Operations Manager for the building, Program Director for Star 102.5 and Lite 104.1. Every day is still challenging for him, which he thrives on. My husband and I are enjoying every minute n with daughter Halle who turned 2 in August. She is extremely strong-willed and despite her Amanda Lewis (BNews’01) reports small stature, takes command of every situa- and anchors for KCCI, Des Moines. She also tion. serves as this area’s Expanded Media coordina- tor. 10 E-Media 2011 Travis Monroe (RTV’07) Adrianne (Traxinger) Michele Mike Mitchell (BNews’84) Bridget and I are happily settled in the Twin (RTV’96) Cities after moving from New York! We made Since joining Kraft Foods in 2008 as the head This year, I was accepted into the Department the transition from being apartment dwellers of corporate external communications, it’s been of Defense’s Executive Leadership Develop- and relying on public transit to homeowners a bit of a whirlwind in my space – crafting ment Program. It’s a mouthful, but in layman’s and solving the daily traffic jams fairly quickly. strategic and financial communications for this terms, it’s a hands-on, immersion-type learning In its first full year, our video production $50 billion global food powerhouse. experience for DOD civilians. About 60 of us and digital marketing company, Mediamazing had a two-week leadership “boot camp” and (mediamazing.net), is off to a great start. We’ve are now doing site visits to learn about military worked on some cool projects for companies missions around the world. such as Best Buy, General Mills, and Girl With these trips, we get a first-hand look Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River at what the ground troops are experiencing, Valleys, and I am currently tackling the social so when we make or influence policy in our media strategy for the start-up Yokal Sports. everyday jobs, we know who it affects. I’ve also joined forces with Instant Request We had our first trip to the Republic of Korea to provide DJ services across the metro. (a.k.a. South Korea). There’s so much I didn’t Bridget works as a senior account executive know, and I’ve been associated with the mili- at Bellmont Partners Public Relations, bring- tary for almost 10 years! We saw the continu- ing her background in digital strategy, social ing tension between North and South, how media, and journalism to the agency. South Korea is always preparing in case the She also holds leadership roles with several North violates the armistice, and actually got to local organizations, including the Minnesota visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Interactive Marketing Association, the Minne- In the span of just four years, Chairman sota Blogger Conference, and the Minneapolis and CEO Irene Rosenfeld (Fortune’s Most Content Strategy Meetup. Powerful Woman in Business) and her team n have transformed the company by rejuvenating Mark Stevens (BNews’10) works as iconic brands like Oreo cookies, Philadelphia a one-man band for WTVO/WQRF, Rockford. cream cheese and, of course, Kraft macaroni It’s been an interesting experience to say the and cheese. least. I’ve helped Irene inform news media and He’s learned a lot from gathering experience investors of our regular financial disclosures. in the field as well as reading from other re- What’s more, I’ve helped prepare her to gain porters’ experiences on journalism web forums. support for major changes in our portfolio: sell- Originally hired as a weekend reporter, Mark ing cereals (Post) and frozen pizza (DiGiorno) was promoted to weekday nightside in January, while acquiring the global biscuits (LU), In the photo I’m standing on the South where he covers Rockford’s City Council. chocolate (Cadbury), gum (Trident) and candy Korean side, but that’s North Korea behind me. There’s been a lot of turnover as the station (Halls) brands. The blue buildings are actually straddling the attempts to battle its way out of third and fourth So what’s next? line, and belong to whichever force is inside place in the market. The GM was promoted to Split! them at the time. the company’s Green Bay market, which Mark I’m not planning to leave, but the company Over the next 7 months, we’ll visit Com- reports has not been a bad thing. The new GM will separate itself into two strong independent batant Commands and the different military is more open to live shots, reporters on set, and public companies by the end of 2012. One services. I’m particularly looking forward to feature pieces. will be a high-growth global snacks business some training with the SEALs in San Diego! Mark also dabbles in anchoring. He fills in focused on chocolate, biscuits, gum and candy. That will probably be so awesome it will be occasionally for the morning show and also And the other will be a high-margin North my update next year! fills in rarely for the station’s news radio part- American business focused on center-of-the- n ner WROK-AM. store grocery staples. Courtney Skelcher (BNews’10) He plans to move on this summer after finish- n I took the LSAT last year and got accepted to ing his second year in Rockford. His home Maggie (Buttweiler) Blehert my dream school – William Mitchell College market, the Quad-Cities looks tempting, but of Law! then again so does Hawaii. (BNews’96) I handle communications for Cruise Holidays, It’s been non-stop since I started. I moved (Ed: Thanks for sending the aircheck!) to St. Paul, which is not far from my North- n a cruise-specialty travel agency franchisor. My duties include PR, web writing, social network- east Minneapolis roots, but still a whole new Sean Gannon (RTV’92, BFA ‘91) ing, writing and proofing some marketing copy, experience! was hired to write the screenplay for Serenity and communications to franchise owners. I love getting to know and exploring St. Paul. Farm (SerenityFarmTheMovie.com), a horror I’ve been with the company since 2004. I I have gotten involved with a few groups on film set in an abandoned military facility in the usually get to take at least one work-related campus while still waitressing and working as Pacific Northwest. The film was shot this sum- cruise a year, which is a perk I enjoy! a nanny. mer and will be released on DVD next spring. My husband, Steve, and I, recently left our My most recent accomplishment was getting n townhome for a house in Golden Valley, MN. accepted onto the mock trial team. We started Our sons, Alex (2.5) and Jonathan (almost 8 practicing a few weeks ago. It’s really exciting Brad Ehrlich (BNews’03) reports months), love frolicking in the extra space! because it’s not something many 1-L’s get to morning traffic for WHO-TV and news for experience. We will go to Washington, DC, to WHO radio. compete at the beginning of March. 11 E-Media 2011 Aaron Gernes (BNews’11) Jennifer Fah (RTV’95) I’m the News Director for KNIA/KRLS Andrea (Froelich) McMaster This year has been very busy out here in LA- Radio in Knoxville, located about 50 minutes (BNews’98) LA Land. At one point last year, four different southeast of Des Moines. It’s a small town with After 12 years in Omaha, our family returned series that I edited were airing at the same a county seat, so I’ve worked with multiple to our home state Minnesota at the beginning time! county agencies and officials in addition to the of 2011. We now have 3 girls (ages 6, 2, and 10 I edited The Fran Drescher Tawk Show, city agencies and officials. months). It’s been wonderful having both sets which previewed in 7 markets for 3 weeks. I’ve met and interviewed multiple members of grandparents nearby. Since then, I have kept busy editing Kidnapped of Congress. I’ve been awakened at 1:30 a.m. by the Kids for OWN, a second season as lead to cover a fire. I’ve been on scene for accidents. editor on Baggage for GSN and I just wrapped There is a lot more news in a small town than up posting Majors & Minors for HUB, and am people would think. Some of the information about to start work on America’s Worst Tenants that’s considered “community calendar” in a for Spike. large town is the lifeblood of a small town. It’s what people care about. I think the most interesting part is how important relationships are. I deal directly with the fire chief, the police chief, the mayor, the superintendent... it’s a fine line you have to walk in order to accurately and sincerely report the news without out upsetting them. Photo includes my youngest daughter, Anna. The hardest part? I was very fortunate to find a job working Obituaries. part-time for a former Minneapolis television Lot’s of confusing Dutch names in this area, investigative reporter. She owns her own public and we have to read those obits on the air. and media relations firm, Media Minefield n (media-minefield.com). Eric (RTV’03) Duffee This company is a great fit after spending Personally, I have kept up with my running Nori (BNews’03) Duffee years in front of a television camera. by completing my 6th full marathon (it felt like Everyone in the firm has spent at least a it was half swimming as it was in a torrential decade in a newsroom. Therefore, we tell our downpour, something that’s fairly rare here in clients that the successful strategies and meth- Southern California!) and my 16th-22nd half ods that define the company weren’t acquired marathons. in classrooms. I have set myself a goal of running 40 half We help clients with media coaching and marathons by my 40th birthday in January of dynamic training seminars, organizational 2013, completing the 40th ON my birthday. messaging, web and social media strategies, n fund-raising events, video production, crisis communication and planning, publications, Alexandra (Sweet) Bayer news release preparation and story placement. (BNews’95) It’s been exciting to connect with Drake I reside in Belmont, between San Francisco grads in the Twin Cities area and network with and San Jose and am still working in the legal Eric continues to practice corporate mergers & them to find potential clients. department of a biotech company, on patent- acquisitions law at Kegler Brown Hill & Ritter n ing of drug technology. I also occasionally do in Columbus, OH. Nori stays at home with freelance attorney arbitration work. daughters Kyra, 5, and Kayla, 3. Nori also still Sara Van Aernum (BNews’01) does print modeling and TV commercials. She I’m about to start my 8th year at WTTG in DC recently started writing freelance features for where I’m a Senior Producer. This year I won the Columbus Parent newspaper. my 3rd Emmy for Best Morning Show. I still n love my job! In my “free time” I travel. I’m going skiing in Park City, competing in the Dorothy (Michalek) Gray Disney Princess Half Marathon in Orlando and (BNews’03) attending the Grammy Awards in L.A. all in the Nearing two years now at FOX Chicago News. first ten weeks of 2012! Still working as a producer on our 4:30 am-10 am “Good Day Chicago” M-Fri program. 5 1/2 hours is a heck of a lot of time to fill, so it’s always crunch time! Still living in Munster, Indiana – only about a half hour drive from However, the best thing that has happened downtown. to me this year is that my husband Al and I We had to put down one of our dogs this past welcomed our first baby on Oct. 21. We had year, but my husband and I are still keeping a baby girl named Madison Emily Bayer who busy with 1 dog and 2 cats. No human kids yet weighed in at 6 lbs. 11 ozs. and was 20.25 =) inches long. We just love her to pieces. She will definitely make this holiday season memorable. 12 E-Media 2011

Dave Kelly (BNews’81) wrote, pro- duced and narrated two documentaries in the last couple of years. The first, titled Long Days Working Hard, examines the West Coast World War II experience through extensive use of old film, photos, and rare documents from the National Archives. Numerous first person interview accounts serve to humanize the subject matter. Southern California shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing, aviation, oil production, Navy activity and the evacuation of Japanese Americans constitute some of the main topics covered. Long Days Working Hard has made the rounds of PBS stations across the country, debuting in early December 2009. Iowa Public Television aired the hour-long program in May 2010. A second documentary features the Panama Spring 1992 JMC100 Field Trip lunch stop at Taste of Thailand. Canal and the current efforts to add a third set of locks. Panama Canal Expansion: The Battle for Jobs and Cargo reviews the tumultuous Marc Donnelly (RTV’96) Matt Shattuck (BNews’11) is em- history of the canal’s original construction and On the home front in Minneapolis, the family’s ployed by Anawim Housing in Des Moines. previews the potential consequences of the doing great and kids are growing up. Paige (8) He’s working with the agency’s Web site new, larger locks. started 3rd grade this year and Sam (5) just and social media. Following graduation Matt The program was recently honored with a started kindergarten. Both of them are getting worked for the City of Grimes to improve their WAVE Award in the category of best documen- ready for downhill skiing and ice-skating. Web product. “Got a Flip Cam from the school tary events. district. Going crazy,” he wrote during July. n

Emily Hajduk (BNews’07) is CEO and co-founder of CityFit.com. She and News- Internet graduate Ian Matthews are based in the Chicago area. Emily and Ian visited campus during September to discuss their site. n

Denise (Mock) Nazzaro (BNews’01) Busy searching for a new position in communi- With the kids now in school, Jennie is work- cations, and also busy beginning married life! ing part time for a friends business at FunkyC- Kelly is the director of Advanced Media After three years together, Dan and I married hunkyinc.com. Production at California State University, Long this past May! I’m still at Target (15 years) and on a team Beach. He supervises a professional team that architecting/managing Target’s data centers produces public affairs programming for the networks. It’s a great team that uses the latest university and its 24/7 local cable educational technology. TV channel. A few years back I started the Target Photog- In his spare time, Kelly enjoys training and raphy social club at work. We’ve grown from competing in 5K running events for charity. 12 to over 700 members and hold monthly n brown bag meetings. Matt Bolger (RTV’03) So those RTV photojournalism classes are We returned to Iowa this past summer and still very handy! bought a house in North Liberty, which puts us n close to much of my family. Lynn (Growchowski) DeRolf My wife is working at the University of Iowa (RTV’08) works for Wisconsin Public Tele- n as an OB/GYN and I’m working as an assistant vision as a producer-director. women’s basketball coach at Mount Mercy I supervised my first large out-of-town Jarrett Schneider (BNews’07) University. I spend most of my time recruiting production during October. I’m coming up on serves as communications director for Con- or watching tape. We are having a pretty good my one-year anniversary at WPT in December gressman Leonard Boswell. He was previously season so far, and we’re hoping to make it to (2011). communications director for Iowa’s Secretary the national tournament in March. Lynn and husband Andy bought their first of State and for the year before that, a reporter Averie is 3 and goes to preschool, where she house over the summer. for WHO-TV. is already making way too many male friends for my liking. 13 E-Media 2011 Chris Rooney (BNews’04) Tony Tracy (BNews’10) In the past two years, my wife (Robin Tyler, Cody Gough (RTV’07) After graduating last December, I worked Marketing’03) bought our first house in the Still happily living in Chicago, I returned to briefly as a KCCI production assistant while suburbs of Minneapolis. WGN Radio in January to go back to produc- waiting for my LSAT scores. Upon learning I took a new job within Medtronic, manag- ing the Brian Noonan Show, which is moving that I had been accepted to The University of ing our physician advisors. This position lets to Sundays from 6-10 p.m. starting in 2012 (no Creighton School of Law, I took a job with me work with physicians and engineers from more weekend overnights!!). Wells Fargo. around the world to make our products better I’ve become quite an on-air personality, During the Summer, I asked my girlfriend to and save more lives. between bantering with Brian on-air and host- marry me and (fortunately) she said yes. Han- It’s challenging, humbling and ultimately, ing live cooking shows at the Kenmore Live nah graduated from Drake in the spring with a very rewarding. Studio, where I spent all year regularly hosting degree in Law, Politics and Society. We attend shows in front of live studio audiences that are Creighton Law together and are enjoying this broadcast live to our Livestream channel. new chapter in our lives, though we wish less On the acting front, I can now call myself a of it were devoted to studying. proud graduate of the top two improv schools in Chicago (Second City and iO Theater), an education which has helped me land four agents, a lead role in two Web series, the lead role in a no-budget indie feature film about Dance Dance Revolution (yes, I’m serious), and too many commercial auditions to count. I haven’t booked a lot of paid work yet, but my goal is to hit Los Angeles if and when I become SAG eligible, so I’m hoping that 2012 We spent last Christmas in Ireland (hence the will be my year! Guinness in the photo), which will probably be In the meantime, I hope to start staffing our last big trip for a while as Robin and I are trade shows through my newest agent, and to expecting our first child in the spring! We are looking forward to the long break of continue to send all of my personal information We are eagerly (and nervously!) preparing the holidays, and looking for a new apartment to everyone on Craigslist who has any chance the house (and the dog!) for the addition. after the spring semester so we can adopt a of casting me in something. Feel free to “Like” n puppy. my fan page on Facebook if you think it will My journalism education gave me a Bull- Sandy (McCrimmon) Henry help anything. dog’s leg up on my competition. (RTV’88) teaches Drake advertising stu- I’m not hard to find! I miss taping basketball games and getting dents to be creative. n the opinion of the townspeople on important The assistant professor also remains active in Treyva Estler (RTV’02) worked on issues for my “hard-hitting” class stories. But, community and service activities. the skills that I learned would have helped me n several video editing projects during the year. Her work appeared on MTV (I Used to be in any field. Glenn Biermann (RTV’89) visited the Fat – Josh), Spike (Bar Rescue – The Blue By the way, I haven’t forgot about the en- JMC100 Television Field Photography class Frog 22) and other channels. dowment fund you suggested I set up. I’ll call during Fall Semester to discuss and display the “Bar Rescue was my baby,” she wrote in after I make my first million! intricacies of field lighting. August. “I worked on many episodes, but (Blue n Biermann generates award-winning news Frog) was my primary assignment – about 5 Van Harden (RTV’73) video for KCCI, Des Moines. weeks of work.” is program di- n rector and morning co-host for WHO-AM, Des Moines. The National Association of Broad- Stephanie Foreman (BNews’07) casters named Van and Bonnie Lucas their works in the printing industry as office man- Medium Market Personality of the Year. ager for Roll Services/Specialty Papers in Van and Bonnie beat finalists from Birming- Stillwater, MN. Cool Web site (specialtypapers. ham, Dover, Chattanooga and Cleveland for net). their Marconi. n Van hosts the radio news class each fall for a tour and discussion at Clear Channel’s building Norm Ogilvie (BNews’81) returned on Grand Ave. with his track team to participate in the NCAA trials at Drake Stadium during June. Norm directs track & Field at Duke, ap- The background photograph shows intern proaching 22 years at the institution. Biermann working for NBC during the 1988 “Even if I wasn’t the most dedicated broad- Caucuses. Love that tape-to-tape editing! cast journalist of all time, I did learn the skills n needed to get started and the confidence to reach for the network level after my stellar Robyn (Viloria) Weins Mason City (KIMT-TV Sports) days,” he wrote (BNews’99) accepted a position as assis- during an e-mail exchange. tant principal of Chinook Middle School in the Highline (Washington) Public School District.

14 E-Media 2011 Kristen (Foster) Fink (BNews’06) Marlene (Barforough) Mc’Cohen Chris and I live and work in Tegucigalpa, Abbie Hamilton (RTV’09) (BNews’03) visited campus during Honduras. I teach geography and history to 6th, Eric Michel (RTV’08) November while in Des Moines to screen her 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. ABBIE: I remain at Optimus in Chicago. film Pretty at the Wild Rose Independent Film My school is very small, but growing. Last Our office shuffled personnel this fall, which Festival. year my largest class was 10. This year I have resulted in a promotion for me to production Marlene reports she’s acted in 15 independent one that has 14 students! coordinator. I handle most tech-related issues, films and on the TV series It’s Always Sunny in I have had to be very clever and forget but I now handling more coordinating/producer Philadelphia. See marlenemccohen.com. everything I know about technology because tasks, such as tax incentive paperwork, actual- That fellow posing with Marlene looks I am back to teaching “old-school” with a izing and wrapping jobs, booking crew, and familiar… whiteboard and markers (at least it’s not a going out on the field to be the point person on chalk board!) smaller productions. I recently ordered a cable that will let me We shot more Blackhawks this year, a little hook my laptop to a TV, so that will be some- spot with Mike Ditka, our very first car (Ford) thing new and exciting for 2012. shoot, a high speed Motorola ad and we even We’ve managed to get back to Iowa three shot with the MTV Real World cast. times since we moved down here, and are look- ing forward to Christmas in Iowa. I don’t see us returning permanently to the US for a few more years. One nice thing about living down here is the travel options. Together we’ve taken students on a field trip to the Copán (Mayan) Ruinas n and I led a group of students in our nationwide Model UN conference last year. Alice (Keefer) Edwards (BNews’93) (I) took my son, David, to Drake (during a ERIC: I’m in the middle of my second year at summer visit). We broke into the TV studio and Chicago-Kent College of Law, specializing in I took a picture. He was fascinated. environmental and energy law. He says he wants to make movies. He’s Classes have been going very well, and fall almost 5, so he should start preparing for what semester I worked for a federal judge in down- his career will be. town Chicago, writing draft opinions on the various cases that were assigned to her cham- bers. I am also hoping to publish a research paper I’ve written on hydraulic fracturing We were also able to visit the Colonial town wastewater this upcoming semester. Antigua, Guatemala, this fall, and are looking Abbie and I just put up our Christmas tree in ahead to a spring break trip to Peru and attend- our cozy apartment on Chicago’s north side for ing the 2012 Olympics in London! the third year. We chronicle our travels on our blog, teguci- I also play in a four-on-four basketball league what.com with Kevin Haas (BNews’08) on Wednesday n nights. He is still better than me. n Ellie Bastian (RTV’10) was granted a Fulbright research scholarship to begin in Sep- Marianne Coppock (RTV’01) works We ran into Todd Evans and chatted with him tember. She was headed for Russia to produce for Two Rivers Marketing. for a few moments before David was ready to a documentary. She interned for the Neal Smith “Agency culture is something I’ve always run to the next painted bulldog for a picture. National Wildlife Refuge. been fascinated by and knew the experience I’m still working as an attorney with the n would be good for me.” Army Corps of Engineers. We’re having lots of She also produces an air shift for the Des issues coming up with all of the flooding. I also Alexa Horwart (BNews’08) received Moines Radio Group and writes a parenting did some work on real estate matters dealing full tuition and a stipend to attend the Univer- column for a local magazine. with the clean up in Joplin due to the tornado. sity of Minnesota and work on her master’s n My husband’s last duty here at the Corps was degree. “Compared to the other schools, the U also working in Joplin for a couple of weeks. of M felt more comfortable, supportive, collab- He’s now an attorney with FDIC. Lauren Mease (RTV’10) works for orative, personal,” she wrote. She was accepted n Competitive Edge promotional products in Des at Johns Hopkins and Columbia, among other Moines as marketing manager. “I will be in Dan Bolsem (BNews’97) institutions. moved from n charge of not only marketing aspects, but I will KCCI’s photojournalism staff to the station’s be doing all of their video production for their Creative Services area. website,” she wrote. Tisleen Singh (RTV’10) works as Replacing Bolsem on the news staff was an admissions counselor for Drake. She’s no Jeremy Scavo (RTV’10) following stranger in the halls of Meredith. Keep those employment at KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids. future broadcasters coming! 15 E-Media 2011 Melissa (Gundlah) Hintz Kerry (Poppert) Goodson (BNews’86) rejoined the Integer Group David Lubbers (BNews’86) contin- (BNews’93) in Des Moines during April as a media buyer/ ues field producing for ESPN. His segments until late-December 2010, planner. primarily air on the network’s documentary was senior vice president of Diversified During the 12 previous years Melissa worked program Outside the Lines. Several of his piec- Management Services in Des Moines. Late in for Strategic America in a similar capacity. es have been nominated for national awards. the year she sold her company stock and was She sits on SJMC’s National Advisory Lubbers commutes to his assignments and planning to retire. Council and has been a School Board member editing sessions in Connecticut from his Des “It’s been a great ride for 12 years and I’ll in Newton. Moines home. David visits advanced E-Media miss many of my clients, employees, the exotic n classes to screen his segments when his sched- travel and owner perks. HOWEVER I won’t ule allows. miss the 60 to 80 hour weeks/weekends/24/7 Lindsay Reinert (RTV’04) coordinates market- He’s also an SJMC national councilor. on call at all times,” she wrote. ing & promotions efforts for the Des Moines n n Radio Group, concentrating on KIOA 93.3 and Brenda (Drey) Benge (BNews’95) STAR 102.5. Rebekah Maxwell (BNews’10) is executive producer for conservative Central reported after last year’s newsletter “hit the Iowa communicator Steve Deace. She previ- stands” that she and Kenny held the same jobs ously reported for WHO-AM, Des Moines. in the Cedar Rapids area. Student reporting awards came from many Brenda worked for Yellow Book USA. news organizations including AP, IBNA and Son Zachary was 3 and daughter Emily was RTDNA. expected in January. How the kids have grown, n evidenced by this season’s card.

Katie (Willeke) Cothron (BNews’02) has relocated from Chicago to her new position as assignment editor at KMOV (TV), St. Louis. Thanks to Lindsay for organizing a De- n cember visit to DMRG by the JMC67 Digital Audio Writing and Production class. In addi- Jerry Wetzel (RTV’83) stopped at tion to touring the studios of the seven-station Drake during spring term while visiting the group, students visited with a copywriter and Midwest for basketball production. the Group’s imaging producer. He directs Electronic Media for the Univer- n sity of Florida Athletic Association. In December 2010 Wetzel’s staff was finish- n Barrett Tryon (BNews) serves KRDO ing Phase 1 of moving offices into the College Scott Huskey (RTV’75) consults (TV), Colorado Springs, as Digital Content of Journalism building which also contains five broadcast stations. After receiving last year’s director and web/tech/entertainment reporter. radio stations and three TV stations. Newsletter he wrote, “It was great to see some He invited E-Media alumni to follow him @ Phase 2 of the move installs fiber and a cen- old faces and see some that I did not know Barrett Tryon. tralized control room. were Drake grads. I kinda work with Tony n Lorino in KC as I consult 106.5 The Wolf in Darrell Ewalt (RTV’83) is executive their cluster.” producer for HDNet Sports, with offices in n Dallas and Denver. He earned his master’s Shawn Brend (RTV’07) degree from Wichita State. wrote in late n December 2010, “I have been busy with a new job. I got offered a job at Sedgwick CMS a Jaime Thies (BNews’10) produces few months ago. I am examining and litigating newscasts and edits stories for WOI-TV. She liability claims for Sedgwick, which is a third visited the capstone DrakeLINE class dur- party claims administrator and I am loving it. ing February with station log and newscast Glad to see good things still coming out of the rundown in hand. J school.” n Associate Dean David Wright shows Wetzel n some changes in Meredith Hall. Wright enjoys sabbatical this academic year, George Davison (RTV’71) was among Danielle Sauka (BNews’09) produc- with stops including Europe, the British Isles 60 applicants for a seat on the Iowa Supreme es weekend newscasts for KCCI, Des Moines. and the Holy Land. Court early in 2011. Candidate interviews were Following graduation she produced newscasts streamed live. George performed very well but n for WHBF (TV), Rock Island. n was not selected as a finalist. Dayna Schmidt (RTV’04) is a business n developer for MotoMedia in Chicago. The full- Pat Parris (BNews’87) service digital production company produces Molly Nelson (RTV, BNews’03) Fox Sports Midwest, St. Louis. We frequently Commercials, Web Video, Corporate Events see Pat’s interviews and analysis of profession- reports for KCCI, Des Moines. and other original content. al and collegiate hockey, football and baseball.

16 E-Media 2011 Jonathan Quinn (RTV’10) Anamarie Rebori (BNews’09) I am a freelance photographer and videogra- Naomi Martig (BNews’01) recently Hello again from Washington, DC! pher in the Des Moines area. My work includes relocated to Washington, DC, after working in I’m now going on two years working as portrait and event photography, photo journal- Hong Kong for six years. the communications assistant for Sen. Claire ism and commercial videography for local As in Hong Kong, she is a freelance reporter McCaskill of Missouri. I still consider myself and national clients, including the Des Moines and writer, mainly for Voice of America and extremely lucky to have landed a job working Register, Juice, Jolesch Photography, Ap- Microsoft Advertising. She also works at a for my home state senator. plied Art and Tech, CGI Communications and non-profit organization in DC that addresses This probably won’t surprise you, but Con- BBDO Media. sexual assault issues. gress can be a pretty crazy place – meaning In the past year, I have traveled more than long hours and weekends – but I haven’t let it 40,000 miles. wear me out yet! While not working, I love to go train watch- Over the past year, I’ve continued to travel ing and sailing and work on cars. My home of- Missouri with my boss and attend lots of events fice is covered with many lego airplane models. as her press liaison. My parents are amazed they get to see me more now than they did when I was at Drake. I also continue to spend lots of time staying up-to-date on the news, writing press releases, and talking with report- ers. Never thought I would end up on the other side of the press world, but so far I haven’t regretted the decision. Naomi was recently married. She and her husband Stephen are expecting their first child in June next year. Exciting times ahead! n This fall, I married Rachel Vogel (Mags’10). She works as a writer/editor at Central College Erin (Moody) Kiernan (BNews’96) in Pella. continues co-anchoring WHO-TV’s prime We live in Des Moines, a city we both love. newscasts. She’s a regular visitor during the n spring term capstone experience, DrakeLINE. n Tammy Erlandson (BNews’08) wrote after the last Newsletter emerged, Greg is Jody Moser (BNews’06) On a more personal note, I’ve been very working at Simpson College in their marketing I’m still producing the 5 p.m. news at WRTV. fortunate to meet a great boyfriend, who’s and public relations department. He loves it! The station has undergone several changes this convinced me to spend much of my free time I am currently at HSI, a work comp claims year, and we’re not done yet. at Nationals baseball games and Virginia Tech company. It’s decent money, so I’m okay for We got a new general manager at the begin- football games. now! ning of the year and a new news director Needless to say, I’ve attended more sporting several months ago. We’re currently transition- events in the past year than I ever imagined I ing to new ownership. McGraw-Hill decided to would. sell its broadcasting division and the FCC just Overall it’s been a great year filled with both approved a sale to E.W. Scripps. professional and personal accomplishments. It seems like a solid company and the execu- n tives appear to have a firm idea on how to move this industry forward. The hour show Ryan DeRoos (RTV’03) keeps me busy and stressed. I will be going on my 4th year working at the I got engaged in April and will be getting San Pedro Playhouse in San Antonio TX. I married in August to a television reporter I was recently promoted to Assistant Technical met while working (her previous job) in South n Director, and am taking a leading role in the re- Bend. We’ve been together nearly five years organization of the Production team here. and I can’t wait to marry him :) I designed for a couple of shows this past Mellany (Honza) Zepelak n (RTV’00) year at the Playhouse, but one of the highlights Mellany has been coaching Twin Cities-area John Walters (RTV’84) was winning 1st place for Best Costumes in women one-on-one and in groups for nearly a Dave Zawilinski (RTV’05) the National televised Holiday River Parade in decade. Joey Donia (BNews’07) are the WOI- downtown San Antonio. She left Corporate America to pursue coach- TV5 Sports Department. In the small amount of free time I find, I am ing full time. She completed her coaching Sports Director Walters continues as play- busy taking care of my dogs, fiance, enjoy- certification through Coach Training Alliance by-play voice of Iowa State football and men’s ing our salt water fish tanks which is slowly (CTA) and founded Fruitful Branches basketball. becoming a hobby of mine, as well as wine Coaching. John’s absences keep Dave and Joey busy! making. Her mission is to help strong Christian Thanks to the guys for supporting SJMC This file saved low res to reduce size. women gain rest, less stress, and more time. through class visits and internship sponsorship.

17 E-Media 2011 Matt Becker (BNews’02) Kelli Lawrence (RTV’89) I’m working at STATS LCC and living in Chi- Tiffany (Abell) Tauscheck It’s been an eventful year, if only because I can cago. I am still writing game previews, feature (BNews’01) and husband Mark just cel- finally, officially add “author” to my business stories, tweeting and covering games from time ebrated their son’s first birthday. cards. to time. Outside of family time, Tiffany has been When I’m not working, I can usually be spending much of her workday with national found at the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Museum of and international media in preparation for the Science and Industry or Montrose Beach with upcoming Iowa Caucus through the Greater my 14-month-old son, Thomas. Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau. The photo shows Thomas enjoying an inside- Tiffany is thrilled that Mark, a Marquette out burger from Hackney’s. graduate, is teaching an E-Media reporting class (JMC173) at Drake this Spring. n Jennifer Maniscalco (BNews’95) Scott Lindgren (RTV-BNews’95) This year the Lindgren / Maniscalco family Skating on Air: The Broadcast History of added a new member. an Olympic Marquee Sport was released by Simone Rosaria, she was born on Feb. 18th. McFarland Publishing in May. Along with her sister Sofia, now 4, there is no And yes, my many days and nights in the lacking of Nat sound in the house. Meredith Hall basement surely inspired some of the subject matter… including a primer on how different TV directors have covered skat- n ing through the years. My classmate Kyle Martin (now at KFJB Emily Brady (RTV’10) Radio in Marshalltown, IA) got a preview I work in Communications and Development at copy of the book and is threatening to do an the Diocese of Des Moines Office of Campus interview with me. Ministry during regular business hours. I’m still not used to After work I have started a freelance video being the subject of production company, Em C. Brady Produc- interviews—much more tions. comfortable on the other side of the micro- I have been hired to edit documentaries for Jennifer continues her role as Senior Market- phone—but luckily I got TerraCycle and Frito-Lay, I work on the pro- ing Manager at Stericycle, while also pursuing some practice over the duction crew for a nationally renowned wres- other volunteer efforts with Chicago+Acumen past few months. tling company, and most recently I have been Fund and Gift of Adoption Fund. In other news I’m still writing B2B articles, hired to edit part of a short film and produce a Scott is taking up the entrepreneurial spirit writing and/or producing the occasional video featurette, interviews, and webisodes for a and starting his own company, VideoFoot script, and this year revisited two areas of dance company out of New York City Productions, Inc. VideoFoot’s main objective is interest for the first time in many years: studio Emily checks her LinkedIn account regularly. to: Present, Preserve, and Protect your family camera work (via Cummins Inc. in Columbus, n memories for generations through multiple IN) and musical theater (via a community forms of video and film transfer. Angie Hunt (BNews’98) theater production of Wizard of Oz with my 8 reports for We are also proud to say that Scott’s youngest year old daughter). KCCI, Des Moines, often from the station’s sister is now attending Drake as a business ma- We’ll have to wait and see if either endeavor Ames Bureau. She’s also taught some classes jor but plans on taking some journalism classes for Iowa State’s J School. turns into a long-term commitment! so watch out. n n n Jessica (Roberts) Lown (BNews’04) serves on SJMC National Advisory Committee, and visits advanced re- porting classes to discuss her work as publicist for Iowa’s Department of Public Safety.

Prof. Todd Evans’ Meredith 116 office. Engineer Jeff Nichols resolves SJMC computer Two-thirds of the Broadcast Boys have moved network, hardware and software issues. upstairs to the light. Evans checks out HD Nichols became E-Media’s first full-time camera gear for JMC114 projects from his technician for fall semester 1986. space. Times then seemed simple! 18