My career takes a new turn starting next week when I move out of the sports department and into the newsroom. I’ve been chosen to co-anchor the 6 and 10pm news and that will start next week Wednesday.
Let me tell you it was a tough decision but I believe is right for me and my family. People in the Wausau area have known me as the “TV9 sports guy” since I arrived in May of 2002. Believe me, I love the job and everything that comes with it. It’s great to talk Packers, Brewers and Badgers with folks around here, whether it’s at church, the bowling lanes, the store, wherever. Many times over the years people have emailed me and wondered why we didn’t cover something or why we chose one game over another. Believe me, the questions are way too varied to describe in just one blog. I’ve tried to answer those questions the best I can. The point is, I know how seriously people take their sports and I’ve tried to give them the best coverage.
The drawback to doing tv sports is that it demands a lot of your time. This is a great business for young, single individuals. I have the utmost respect for those veterans like Jay Wilson who have done it all these years and tried to have some semblance of a home life. Believe me, this is not a physically demanding job. but it is time-consuming. My father is a plumber and I worked plenty of days with him and he showed me what hard work is. Sports has taken up most of my life even as my wife and I first dated, then later moved to state (Iowa) after state (Nebraska) after state (La Crosse) and across the state (here to Wausau). Along the way our family grew to three children. They’re old enough now to realize it’s no fun when dad works 6 or 7 days a week and continually updates the website around the clock at home. My wife has known that for years! With that being said I will still put my focus 100% into my job. But the news department lends itself to more help from co-workers than what television stations typically find in a sports department.
News isn’t totally foreign to me. In fact I started my broadcasting career as a news reporter. I know a lot of people find that hard to believe. That was at KFXB in Dubuque and I quickly learned what it took to be a news reporter. Nora Murray, Matt Lockwood and Mike Puccinelli taught me the ropes. And even though I later moved into sports (big thanks to Brian Dahlin), that’s where I learned the basics and continue to rely on them to this day.
It’s not that unique for others to switch from the sports anchor chair to the news anchor chair. Bill Jartz did it in Green Bay and Ron Steele did it in Waterloo, Iowa. My good friend, Seth Denney, also made the switch when he moved from North Platte, Nebraska to join NTV in Kearney, Nebraska back in 1999. What it boils down to is reporting news is the same whether it’s news, sports or weather. It’s up to you as a reporter/anchor to gather facts and present them to the audience in a way that’s precise and understandable. I believe that’s what I’ve done since breaking into the business.
Next week Wednesday will mark the changeover. It’ll seem strange at first to me and probably to you. But I trust it will become comfortable over time. I hope you’ll feel the same. It is also my pleasure to maintain a commitment to you, the viewers, and TV9. Wausau has been a wonderful place to raise a family and we enjoy living here!
Bryon Graff
WAOW-TV Sports Director (for now)
Posted under Uncategorized
This post was written by bgraff on October 21, 2009
4 Comments
