“I’ll never forget my first live shot for NECN,” says Dan Lampariello ’14, now a multimedia journalist for WGME-Portland, Maine.
“Everything was going great until my live segment. My audio went out and I could no longer hear the producer in the control room. After I wrapped up, the anchors were asking me questions, but I couldn’t hear them. Assuming I was finished, I started to walk away from the camera, but I was still live on the air! It’s funny to look back on now, but at the time I was embarrassed. That experience helped me realize that you have to roll with the punches of live TV.”
Powerful preparation
Since 2011, the University’s partnership with the NBC Universal-owned station has allowed 46 students to hone their broadcast journalism skills through the “Suffolk in the City” program. Three student reporters are chosen every six months following a rigorous audition process. Rotating weekly, the students pitch topics, film and edit news stories, and present them with live commentary every Friday from the sidewalk in front of Suffolk’s television studio during NECN Today.
“‘Suffolk in the City’ was actually the main reason I came to Suffolk,” says current student reporter Brandon Hyde. “No other school in this area does anything like this, so I thought it was impressive and wanted to try and be a part of it. Going live for a station in a top ten market while being a college student is such great experience for now and for my future.”
Hyde and the rest of this year’s “Suffolk in the City” reporters bring a wide range of experiences and interests to the role. They hail from towns a few miles outside the city, and half a world away in Kathmandu, Nepal. It’s their love of journalism and drive to make it in a competitive business that brings them to the studio nearly every day.
Taking the next step
Hyde balances his “Suffolk in the City” reporting responsibilities with a part-time newswriting position at WHDH-Boston, just down the street from campus. When he graduates in May, he’ll continue writing for the station while looking for opportunities to move into an on-air role.
It’s a path that’s been trod successfully by “Suffolk in the City” alumni.
“I landed my first on-air job at KFOX/CBS-El Paso, Texas, with help from my writing job at WHDH and my work at Suffolk,” says Ashley Cullinane ’15, a “Suffolk in the City” alumna working as a multimedia journalist at WJAR-Providence/New Bedford. “I fostered great relationships with my WHDH-Boston colleagues. They helped me work on my reel. I was able to get that job because of my experience at Suffolk and my taste of the ‘real world’ with ‘Suffolk in the City’.”
Once graduates land that first job, their professional experience with “Suffolk in the City” will put them ahead of their peers.
“At Suffolk, I was always treated as a reporter, not a student,” says Andrew Scheinthal ’12, a reporter at WSVN-Miami. “I learned to be prepared, to be accurate, and not to expect gentle treatment because I was inexperienced. It’s better to learn those lessons in the classroom where stakes are lower than in your first job. As journalists, people trust us and we can’t break that trust, especially now.”
Where are they now?
Many alumni have moved across the country — to stations in smaller markets like Wichita, Kansas, and Louisville, Kentucky — to get their feet wet. Some have returned to New England to work for stations in Boston, Providence, and, notably, Portland, Maine.
“It’s Suffolk University North,” jokes Jerry Glendye, who manages Suffolk’s television studio and has mentored dozens of “Suffolk in the City” reporters over seven years. “Katie Sampson, Dan Lampariello, and Dan McCarthy were NECN student reporters at different times, but they all ended up together at WGME in Portland. It shows how small the broadcasting world really is, and how it helps to make connections wherever you can.”
Most “Suffolk in the City” alumni have pursued careers in broadcasting, but some have found success in other communication-forward positions — like external relations, crisis communications, and sales.
