By the time I reached the age of 18, I was a major news junkie. I combined an interest in journalism with a desire to study television production. That led me to the American University in Washington, D.C. A. U. is located in the northwest section of the District of Columbia, close to Embassy Row, a few minutes from Georgetown and around the corner from WRC-TV, an NBC Universal owned and operated station. WRC is one of the oldest broadcast facilities in the country. It’s was the home of former Today Weatherman Willard Scott, Sportscaster George Michael and NBC’s national news bureau. I spent many hours there as an intern and production assistant.

AU had great professors and a studio where I could learn the fundamentals of multi-camera studio production, technical direction and lighting. Many of the dorms had access to the studio’s closed circuit feed and I began producing a show called the Video Show which was performed live.

I needed money for expenses, so I worked all four years in the A.U. Audio Visual department. It was a great job and I developed hands on experience with video cameras, audio mixers, film projectors and 35mm still cameras. As an added bonus, I learned how to drive a stick shift in order to make deliveries with the AV department’s delivery van.

Long before streaming made it possible to reach a global audience of millions, AU was home to WAMU, an NPR Flagship station with a 50,000 watt broadcast tower on campus. I interned on the Dian Rehm show, transmitted live over the NPR radio network daily.

My diploma from American’s School of Communications. Click on the button below to see a larger scale image.

The Commencement Program from my graduation ceremony from American University.

My A.U. admission letter, happy days are here again.

This was the book American University sent out to all members of the Freshman class.

Here’s what I looked like when I was senior in High School. I sent this photo along with some words about my interests. What a geek!