91视频

Alan Leventhal knew he wanted to work in television since he was in high school in Union Township, New Jersey.

鈥淢y high school had a federally funded TV program," Leventhal said. "I knew I wanted a career that didn鈥檛 involve sitting behind a desk, so I bugged my teacher until he let me into the program. When it was time for me to look at colleges, he told me about the excellent radio and TV program at 91视频.鈥�

Leventhal visited a number of different schools, but when he toured 91视频, he knew he was home.

鈥淢any of the colleges I looked at had inferior equipment to what I was using in high school,鈥� said Leventhal. 鈥淭hat was not the case at 91视频 and WOUB.鈥�

The radio and television major got involved at WOUB as soon as he possibly could.

鈥淲hat I do well is bug people,鈥� said Leventhal with a chuckle. 鈥淚n the Fall of 1978, first quarter freshmen were not allowed to work at WOUB-TV. Despite that, I went to the orientation meeting, where I introduced myself to WOUB-TV Production Manager Bob Roehl and gave him my resume. Then, I continued to drop by Bob鈥檚 office 鈥� if not every week, then every two weeks. I pestered him until they let me start training as stage manager in January of 1979. After that I lived at WOUB. It was my life.鈥�

Leventhal worked his way up from stage manager to graphics operator, to running camera and audio. Then, before he even graduated, all of the production experience he gained at WOUB helped him land a freelance job working for ABC Sports.

鈥淚 would hit the road each weekend with two other WOUB students, Bruce Dunn and Chip Stephenson,鈥� said Leventhal. 鈥淲e did whatever ABC Sports wanted us to. We did college football and two years on the bowling tour where we went city to city every week. It was a great experience, and it wouldn鈥檛 have been possible without the terrific training we got at WOUB.鈥�

After graduation, Leventhal did freelance work in New York City and eventually moved out to Los Angeles. He has worked production roles in both the entertainment and sports industries.

鈥淚 was a production assistant for 'Full House,' but I eventually realized that entertainment wasn鈥檛 my thing. I enjoyed doing sports,鈥� said Leventhal. 鈥淚 work mostly local LA team games. I鈥檝e also done two Stanley Cup Finals and one World Series. I even had the opportunity to work the Olympic soccer tournament in Los Angeles in 1984. It鈥檚 been so much fun.鈥�

Leventhal says when he started working in the industry, he had a leg up on others coming out of college.

鈥淕etting hands on experience is very important. First, you gain these basic skills. Then, as you move up to different projects, the learning curve is easy because the principles aren鈥檛 any different. The situations may be more intense, but the applications are exactly the same,鈥� said Leventhal. 鈥淲OUB has such a terrific training program, in part because of the people. The staff served as teachers and mentors. In addition to their responsibilities, they were always very willing to give us their time and their expertise. I consider them an important part of my own success, as well as that of many others. WOUB-TV gave us opportunities other schools didn鈥檛 offer their students. With all of that experience, our resumes looked extremely good.  I would say our success rate in the business reflects the fantastic training we got at WOUB-TV.鈥�