Welcome back to the Coffee with Cojo podcast, produced by the School of Communication and Journalism at South Dakota State University. I am Associate Professor Dr. Rocky Daly, and I coordinate the podcast with our student hosts. In this episode, Cojo graduate student Dimitra Gilkey visits with journalist Brian Horvath. Brian is a graduate of the Master of Mass Communication Program and is currently the senior reporter at Katie and V in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Demetrius spoke with Brian about his career and experience as an online graduate student at SDSU. I was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Both of my parents are from Saint Paul. When I was a young child, they moved to western Wisconsin. They wanted to live in the country and have a garden and a big yard and all those things. So. So that's where I grew up. You know, growing up, I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to be, you know, what I wanted to do for a living, I guess, for a while.
I mean, back then, you know, when I was seven, eight, nine years old, I wanted to be a pro baseball player or something like that. But you know that that isn't in the cards for too many people. So that probably went by the wayside sometime when I was a teenager or something. So, you know, I went through school, wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do. Went to college at a small school in Wisconsin, a state school called the University of Wisconsin Stout.
It didn't declare major at first. Eventually, I got the idea that maybe I could be a probation officer or probation agent do something. I don't even remember exactly what what attracted me about that line of work. But that's kind of what my. Focus was for a while. I ended up getting a part time job as a sports reporter at the newspaper in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The Leader Telegram. And that was in.
You can say I would have been like oh three. Mm. So I did that and I just almost immediately, I really, really came to like the newsroom environment. Not just the sports department, but the news reporters and the news editors. Usually I would be there. You know, this was a part time job while I was in college, so I would be there at night.
You know, the reporters would come back from something they were covering and write a story up quick in and, you know, and then they they might talk about the story for I just thought that was so interesting. So I went through I got my bachelor's degree from UW Stout's, which wasn't in journalism again, wasn't I wasn't sure what was going to be out there is kind of a weird time. It was, it was right before the the Great Recession. Yeah yeah.
So yeah, there was a lot of uncertainty, but I ended up taking a job at a weekly newspaper in Minnesota, worked for a couple papers after that, ended up going out to western North Dakota, to Dickinson to work for the newspaper there, and then to Aberdeen, South Dakota, to work for the American News newspaper. And that would have been. I mean, I guess that would have been 2013, 2014.
And so I was working for these small newspapers and, and I don't remember exactly how I, I heard about the program at South Dakota State, but I got wind of it somehow and and applied and wasn't really sure if I was going to get in.
I got in, I was really excited. So and in the next I guess it was close to three years, you know, went through that program while working and you know, it was a lot of work, but, you know, it was a really great program and it was a really great I think I learned a lot from the program and learned a lot from the instructors and and my fellow students. So that's a huge you've got a lot of experience under your belt as far as journalism and news.
And I love your stories started off, you know, working part time and then you just kept going and we'll get into where you are now. But tell us you said you you got into a program at as you. So what program exactly was that? Yeah. So I got my my master's in mass communication from South Dakota State. And a lot of the a lot of the courses in that program were taught by Dr. Daly, Rocky Daly, who I certainly remember from from the program and, you know, certainly learned a lot from him.
You know, it's something that it's kind of geared towards, you know, folks who maybe are out in the working world already. So, you know, you're not necessarily spending your entire day, you know, doing only schoolwork, but certainly you have to stay on top of it and and, you know, make sure that you get things done.
And it's kind of a juggling act. So, you know, there are people in that program with, you know, families and young children and, you know, things like that, which I didn't have, you know. So sometimes you wonder, I wondered how people, you know, juggle all those things. But I think it was, it was tailored really well. So to, uh, you know, working folks and, and folks, you kind of had a, a 9 to 5 already or full time job already. Mhm. Well I'm one of those people. Yeah. There you go.
I have a 14 month old which I should have had a disclaimer in, in case you hear a little faint cry in the background. She's upstairs. My husband's putting her to sleep. This is her bedtime. So I hear up there. So anyways, so I'm one of those people I came back to do this program and or found this program and I'm loving it. I'm in my fourth class and Dr. Daley on cross-platform storytelling. And this program has just been amazing and it's flexible.
And you can tell that they care about their students that are in this program. And you you do receive a lot of help and attention. So it's it's exciting to hear a success story from an alumni student who went through the program. And speaking of that, so tell us about where you are now career wise. I know that there's a big link that I read about a program that you are in. Did you apply or were you appointed? Like, tell us about where you are and what you do now.
Yeah, sure. So I had been in in the newspaper world for about 15 years, and I came out to Las Vegas in 2019 to work for the Las Vegas Sun newspaper. So I was there for almost four years covering, you know, development and gaming out here. We call it gaming, but basically gambling, covering the casinos in the strip. There's a lot of stuff going on in Las Vegas, of course, a lot of weird things. Sometimes it's a it's a great news town.
So so I've been here for a few years and I was actually approached a few months ago by a recruiter with the the Scripps Company, the E.W. Scripps Company. It's a media company. They own a number of television stations around the country. I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or 50 stations in a bunch of different markets. They said, hey, we're we're putting together this program. It's going to be you know, we're putting together the first cohort for this program.
We have what basically what it is. Scripps got some financial backing from Google. And so they kind of came together to to make this program where they want to turn journalists into TV reporters and TV journalists. So kind of, you know, telling stories, but telling them certainly in a different way and with a different medium. You know, and it's all kind of part of this idea that, you know, the media landscape in in America has changed so much really in a short period of time.
And it's continuing to change rapidly. And who knows exactly what it's going to look like in five years from now, ten years from now, you know, jeez, 20 years from now, that seems like forever out into the distance out of the future. So. It was kind of a cool program. You know, at first I thought, I don't know. That sounds like it sounds like a lot of a lot of things to learn.
Sounds like maybe a lot of trouble for someone who's, you know, at the time, you know, I'm 42 years old now, so I'm thinking, I don't know, can you can you teach a new an old dog new tricks at this point? That's something I want to do. But, you know, the more I learned about it, the more interested I became. And. The more excited I became about the possibility.
So yeah, they, they, they said they really wanted somebody in the Las Vegas market for the program and I ended up applying got one of the spots and here I am. So I'm one of six people in the program. It's called the Journalism Journey Initiative. There's six of us across the country. So we are. We are actively being taught the TV news business and it's been pretty exciting.
So there's let's see, I'm in Las Vegas. We have someone in Phenix, there's someone in Denver, we have a person in New Jersey. We have a person in Iowa and someone in Florida. I think that I don't think I'm leaving anyone out. So we we came together. We met for about two weeks in Cincinnati, which is where Scripps is located, and then some training and some team building things.
So. So, yeah, we're we're all current journalists and we're diving into this new world and, you know, seeing if we can, we can become kind of kind of reinvent ourselves and learn some new skills and tell stories in a little bit different ways. So it's, it's it's exciting. It's, it's scary, but it's kind of that good. Kind of scary. Hmm. There's there's a lot more certainly to learn. We just started a few weeks ago, so I'm excited to see where this goes.
Oh, congratulations. I think that's. That's awesome. I love your journey listening to you. So at this program are pretty much all of the members of your cohort, are they seasoned in advanced journalists or is there anyone or can you be an entry level in this program? Yeah. They were kind of targeting that that mid-career person, which, you know, I certainly fit that bill.
But, you know, there's there's a couple of people who are a little younger than me, and there's a couple of people who are older. And one of the ladies is is in her fifties and she's worked in in the print journalism world for for quite a while. So I certainly give her a lot of credit for stepping into this new realm. So, you know, I don't think there's necessarily, you know, a really tight box that they that they wanted to to fit people in.
But they were kind of targeting that that mid-career person who's maybe been been in the print business for a little while and someone who had, you know, could someone who could maybe bring some of those skills that you develop on the on the print side into the TV world. So it can sort of be a mesh there of of some different skill sets. Yeah. And so how how long is this program and do you like, quote unquote, graduate? Or are you just kind of in this program until you're like, oh, right.
I'm going on doing something else? Yes. It's it's a two year program. So this year we're the first cohort. And as far as I know, they're they're they're planning to to have a second cohort this coming year in 2024. You know, I don't want to put words in the scripts, folks, though, that I know they've been they've been kind of planning for that and and doing maybe a little bit of early recruiting for that as well.
So, you know, we're kind of like the guinea pigs and I'm sure they'll they'll learn, you know, learn from what happens with us and we'll learn from some of our mistakes and things like that. But, you know, it's it's an interesting, you know, the way people consume information, it's definitely changing. Um, certainly younger folks aren't necessarily reading that super long newspaper story on a Sunday. I love I love newspapers. I love what they provide.
But, you know, young people are consuming information and news of their consuming news at all in a much different way, in a much more visual way. So, you know, that's all changing and. You know, this is a program that maybe maybe you can kind of tap into that and and sort of meet people where they are, so to speak. Mm hmm. Awesome. Let's throw one for a minute.
If if you can remember. If not, no biggie. But when you were in the mass communication program SDSU, was there any certain class that you can think of or maybe even a professor that just positively impacted or influenced your career? And it doesn't have to be where you are right now. It's been just in general that you really enjoy. It was like, you know what? That class was the best. Or maybe it was like something that you wrote, or it was a project that you did.
Yeah. I think I mean, certainly I mentioned earlier Dr. Rocky Daly, I think he certainly stood out. He taught a lot of courses. And, you know, I certainly enjoyed his teaching style. I heard I heard that from a bunch of other students at the time who were going through the program as well. You know, it's funny, you you brought up earlier the cross-platform storytelling. Yes, of course, I do remember that course. It was taught by Dr. Daley.
I remember that. One of my projects for that, of course, was I did a video of this restaurant in Aberdeen, South Dakota. I haven't been to Aberdeen in years now, so I assume that restaurant is still there. It was called The Flame. I think it had its. Maybe that 70th or 76th anniversary is a pretty significant anniversary. Fan your own business. So I did this video a minute long or maybe 90 seconds. And, you know, I just remember shooting this video on my iPhone, you know, using iMovie.
And I remember getting some tips from Dr. Daley about, you know, the the lighting and, you know, making sure that the lighting was a certain way in the restaurant, getting some of that natural sound from the restaurant for the for the video and things like that. You all those things that right now, you know, I'm being taught here and and in the TV newsroom that I'm in in Las Vegas here at AT&T. So, you know, I certainly remember that course. I remember other ones, too.
I mean. The. The international media class was was really interesting. And I think Dr. Lyle Olson taught that course. I think he's since may have retired. But I remember just kind of learning about the media in different parts of the world and and. You know, just things that I wouldn't normally think of. You know, you just think that having a a strong or robust press or media is something that's a given. It's really not at all.
And I remember learning a lot about some different places around the around the world and and, you know, just kind of how fragile, you know, a strong a strong base of having a a solid press can can be it's a lot of parts of the world don't have that. You know, there are other courses, too. I remember opinion writing. I like that one. Media law was interesting. That was kind of difficult, I remember, but it was definitely very interesting.
I'd take that in the summer. So I'm like, Yeah, I actually I love all things ethics and law, so I'm actually really excited about that one. Yeah. There you go. That's awesome. Well, thanks for sharing that. And actually, you were saying Dr. Lyle Olsen, he actually and I don't know, he retired and came back with situation is or was but he actually was professor this past fall who he taught media research. Oh, terrific terrific passes. Really great. Where project was a huge Excel project.
So I made it through. I'm still there. But yeah, sometimes you just have to have some make it through and then yeah. So have you thought about where you see yourself five, five, ten years from now? You know, I don't know. I'm I'm trying to to fit into this this TV news world and and, you know, eventually enter. I'm going to do some things on camera and see if I'm any good at that. You know, I imagine if I'm not, maybe it will put me in a different role.
I don't know exactly how everything's going to play out. But, um, you know, I think in a way, I was explaining this to someone not long ago, just kind of the, the feeling that you get working at a news organization. And to me, it's a little bit of an addiction.
And I know addiction is kind of a negative connotation, but you do kind of get addicted a little bit to the to the fast paced nature, to the the the fact that, you know, it kind of feels like you're you're in the know and, you know, you're right there when things are happening, you know, when when the big stories about when deadline's coming up on a big story or, you know, you're in TV, it's, you know, when you get close to the to the to the runtime for the 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. news,
you know, there's sort of a an air of, you know, kind of stressful excitement and, you know, same kind of thing in the newspaper world, you know, when when news breaks, you know, just being in that environment, I don't know. There's there's nothing I don't think really, really like it. So, you know, I hope I can stay, you know, in in media in some, some way, shape or form. Um, it's it can be a tough business. It can be a taxing business at times, certainly.
And it's always changing. And sometimes that's, you know, for better, sometimes it's for worse, but it's never boring. It's almost always interesting. And I know this is kind of a a cliche way to put it as well, but you really don't know exactly what's going to happen day to day. You know, when you go to work that day, really, you know, anything could happen.
And that there's a certain there's a certain excitement about that that I think you kind of I don't know, it kind of gets in your blood a little bit. And and at some point, you know, that that happened to me. So was five years from now. I don't know. I mean, five years seems like a long time right now. But of course, we know five years will go by really quick. So. Yes, yes, we'll see.
We will. We will. Yes. Speaking of my husband always says he says, I feel like we're in a time war, like since COVID 2020. It's like what happened. And now we're in 2023 and we're still we're finally getting somewhat back to normal, but still somewhat wearing masks, still kind of socially distancing a little bit. But yeah, I totally get that. Time flies. Yeah, absolutely. So one final question. Our last question. So our listeners are graduate students, alumni, professors, what have you.
What advice would you give for future communication? Journalists, professionals, news anchors? All of that. What advice would you give give them that are who are entering this industry? What pieces of advice can you give us? You know, I don't know if there's anything that I can offer that that's too terribly different from, you know, really good advice that people get all the time. You know, I would just say I think I think it's just important to to believe in yourself.
And, you know, I I've fought that battle over the years where, you know, you wonder, okay, am I good enough to be at this level? Am I good enough to do this thing? Am I good enough as am I as good as this person over here that maybe I'm competing with or at the competing paper or station, whatever it is? So I think it's just. It's easy to get down on yourself, I think, especially as a journalist, because we tend to kind of be perfectionists.
We want things to be perfect with absolutely no mistakes whatsoever. And, you know, look, I'm not talking about like grammar mistakes or, you know, there's things that, you know, you should hardly ever make a mistake, but we're all human and and things happen. So I think it's always important just to remember to not get too down on yourself and. You know, believe in yourself. And. And I think when. When that happens, you know, when you're able to get to that point and it's hard.
I still I'm still trying to do that myself. I'm still fighting those battles, you know, probably always will be. But I think when when you get to that point where you do kind of believe in yourself or believe that whatever the obstacle is is going to come along, you're going to be able to get past that somehow, some way. You know, I think that's really powerful. So, I mean, that that would be my advice to to young people.
I know when I was when I was younger, I wasn't always super sure myself, but I tried to to stick it out and, you know, get from one point to the next win and. You know, I think it's even if you don't you don't necessarily feel like, you know, you're the the best in the world. Just just have confidence in yourself and have a little patience in yourself. And I think there's a great chance that things will work out really well. Wow. Well said. Well done, Brian.
Brian, thank you so much for being a guest on our podcast, sharing your wisdom, your career journey, your current experiences, all of that. I'm inspired and I'm sure that our listeners are too. We hope that you will, and we know that you will continue to be a great success. And don't be a stranger to us at DSU. And we hope you have a fabulous 2023 the media. Thanks so much for having me on. I really enjoyed it. And certainly, you know, I have a lot of fond memories about.
About South Dakota State University and all the folks I was able to meet and interact with their daily newspaper in Minnesota, worked for a couple papers after that, ended up going out to western North Dakota, to Dickinson to work for the newspaper there, and then to Aberdeen, South Dakota, to work for the American News newspaper. And that would have been. And I guess that would have been 2013, 2014.
And so I was working for these small newspapers and and I don't remember exactly how I heard about the program at South Dakota State, but I got wind of it somehow and and applied and wasn't really sure if I was going to get in.
I got in. I was really excited. So and for the next I guess it was close to three years, you know, went through that program while working and you know, it was a lot of work, but, you know, it was a really great program and it was a really great I think I've learned a lot from the program and learned a lot from the instructors and and my fellow students. So and that's a huge you've got a lot of experience under your belt as far as journalism and news.
And I love your story started off, you know, working part time and then you just keep going and we'll get into where you are now. But tell us, you said you you got into a program at DSU. So what program exactly was that? Yeah. So I got my my master's in mass communication from South Dakota State. And a lot of the a lot of the courses in that program were taught by Dr. Daly, Rocky Daly, who I certainly remember from from the program and, you know, certainly learned a lot from him.
You know, it's something that it's kind of geared towards, you know, folks who maybe are out in the working world already. So you're not necessarily spending your entire day doing only schoolwork, but certainly you have to stay on top of it and and, you know, make sure that you get things done. And it's kind of a juggling act. So, you know, there are people in that program with, you know, families and young children and, you know, things like that, which I didn't have, you know.
So sometimes you wonder, I wondered how people, you know, juggle all those things. But I think it was, it was tailored really well to, to, uh, you know, working folks and, and folks who kind of had a 9 to 5 already or full time job already. Mm. Wow. I'm one of those people. Yeah. There you go. I have a 14 month old, which I should have had a disclaimer in, in case you hear a little faint cry in the background. She's upstairs. My husband's putting her to sleep. This is her bedtime.
So I hear up there. So anyways, so I'm one of those people. I came back to do this program and or found this program and I'm loving it. I'm in my fourth class and Dr. Daley on cross-platform storytelling. And this program has just been amazing and it's flexible. And you can tell that they care about their students that are in this program. And you you do receive a lot of help and attention. So it's it's exciting to hear a success story from an alumni student who went through the program.
And speaking of that, so tell us about where you are now career wise. I know that there's a big link that I read about a program that you are in. Did you apply or were you appointed? Like, tell us about where you are and what you do now? Yeah, sure. So I had been in in the newspaper world for about 15 years, and I came out to Las Vegas in 2019 to work for the Las Vegas Sun newspaper. So I was there for almost four years covering, you know, development and gaming out here.
We call it gaming, but basically gambling, covering the casinos in the strip. There's a lot of stuff going on in Las Vegas, of course, a lot of weird things. Sometimes it's a it's a great news town. So so I've been here for a few years and I was actually approached a few months ago by a recruiter with the the Scripps Company, the E.W. Scripps Company. It's a media company. They own a number of television stations around the country.
I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or 50 stations in a bunch of different markets. They said, hey, we're we're putting together this program. It's going to be you know, we're putting together the first cohort for this program. We have what basically what it is. Scripps got some financial backing from Google. And so they kind of came together to to make this program where they want to turn journalists into TV reporters and TV journalists.
So kind of, you know, telling stories, but telling them certainly in a different way and with a different medium. You know, and it's all kind of part of this idea that, you know, the media landscape in in America has changed so much really in a short period of time. And it's continuing to change rapidly. And who knows exactly what it's going to look like five years from now, ten years from now, you know, jeez, 20 years from now, that seems like forever out into the distance out of the future.
So. It was kind of a cool program. You know, at first I thought, I don't know. That sounds like sounds like a lot of a lot of things to learn. It sounds like maybe a lot of trouble for someone who's, you know, at the time, you know, I'm 42 years old now, so I'm thinking, I don't know, can you can you teach a new an old dog new tricks at this point? That's something I want to do. But, you know, the more I learned about it, the more interested I became.
And. The more excited I became about the possibility. So yeah, they, they, they said they really wanted somebody in the Las Vegas market for the program and ended up applying got one of the spots and here I am so I'm one of six people in the program. It's called the Journalism Journey Initiative. There's six of us across the country. So we are we are actively being taught the the TV news business. And and it's been pretty exciting.
So there's let's see, I'm in Las Vegas. We have someone in Phenix, there's someone in Denver, we have a person in New Jersey. We have a person in Iowa and someone in Florida. I think I don't think I'm leaving anyone out. So we we came together. We met for about two weeks in Cincinnati, which is where Scripps is located and and some training and some team building thing.
So so yeah, we're we're all print journalists and we're diving into this new world and, you know, seeing if we can, we can become kind of kind of reinvent ourselves and learn some new skills and tell stories in a little bit different ways. So it's, it's, it's exciting. It's, it's scary. Um, but it's kind of that good, kind of scary, you know, there's, there's a lot more certainly to learn. We just started a few weeks ago, so I'm excited to see where this goes.
Well, congratulations. I think that's that's awesome. I love your journey. Listening to you so at this program are pretty much all of the members of your cohort, are they seasoned, an advanced journalist or is there any one or can you be an entry level in this program? Yeah, they were kind of targeting that that mid-career person, which, you know, I certainly fit that bill.
But, you know, there's there's a couple of people who are a little younger than me and there's a couple of people who are older. And one of the ladies is is in her fifties and she's worked in in the print journalism world for for quite a while. So I certainly give her a lot of credit for stepping into this new realm.
So, you know, I don't think there's necessarily a, you know, a really tight box that they that they wanted to to fit people in, but they were kind of targeting, you know, that that mid-career person who's maybe been been in the print business for a little while, being in someone who had, you know, could someone who could maybe bring some of those skills that you develop on the on the print side into the TV world. So it can sort of be a a mesh there of of some different skill sets.
Yeah. And so how how long is this program and do you like quote unquote, graduate? Or are you just kind of in this program until you're like, oh, right, I'm going on doing something else? Yes. It's it's a two year program. So this year we're the first cohort. And as far as I know, they're they're they're planning to to have a second cohort this coming year in 2024.
You know, I don't want to put words in the scripts, folks, though, that I know they've been they've been kind of planning for that and and doing maybe a little bit of early recruiting for that as well. So, you know, we're kind of like the guinea pigs and I'm sure they'll they'll learn, you know, learn from what happens with us and we'll learn from some of our mistakes and things like that.
But, you know, it's it's an interesting, you know, the way people consume information, it's definitely changing. Um, certainly younger folks aren't necessarily reading that super long newspaper story on a Sunday. I love I love newspapers. I love what they provide. But, you know, young people are consuming information and news of they're consuming news at all in a much different way, in a much more visual way. So, you know, that's all changing.
And, you know, this is a program that maybe maybe you can kind of tap into that and and sort of meet people where they are, so to speak. Mm hmm. Awesome. Let's throw one for a minute. If if you can remember. If not, no biggie. But when you were in the mass communication program, SDSU. Was there any certain class that you can think of or maybe even a professor that just positively impacted or influenced your career?
And it doesn't have to be where you are right now 15 just in general, that you really enjoy it. Itas like, you know what? That class was the best, or maybe it was like something that you wrote, or it was a project that you did. Yeah. I think I mean, certainly I mentioned earlier Dr. Rocky Daly, I think he certainly stood out. He taught a lot of courses. And I certainly enjoyed his teaching style.
I heard I heard that from a bunch of other students at the time who were going through the program as well. You know, it's funny, you you brought up earlier the cross-platform storytelling. Yes, of course, I do remember that course. It was taught by Dr. Daley. I remember that one of my projects for that course was I did a video of this restaurant in Aberdeen, South Dakota. I haven't been to Aberdeen in years now, so I assume that restaurant is still there.
It it was called The Flame. I think it had its maybe its 70th or 75th anniversary is a pretty significant anniversary fan your own business so I did this video is a minute long or maybe 90 seconds and you know, I just remember shooting this video on my iPhone, you know, using iMovie.
And I remember getting some tips from Dr. Daley about, you know, the the lighting and, you know, making sure that the lighting was a certain way in the restaurant, getting some of that natural sound from the restaurant for the for the video, things like that, you know, all those things that right now, you know, I'm being taught here and and in the TV newsroom that I'm in in Las Vegas here at AT&T. So I certainly remember that course. I remember other ones, too.
I mean. The the international media class was was really interesting. And I think Dr. Lyle Olsen taught that course. I think he's since may have retired. But I remember just kind of learning about the media in different parts of the world and and, you know, just things that I wouldn't normally think of. You know, you just think that having a a strong or robust press or media is something that's a given.
It's really not at all. And I remember learning a lot about some different places around the around the world and and, you know, just kind of how fragile, you know, a strong a strong base of having a a solid press can can be it's there. A lot of parts of the world don't have that. You know, there are other courses, too. I remember opinion writing. I like that one. Media law was interesting. That was kind of difficult, I remember, but it was definitely very interesting.
I take that in the summer, so I'm like, Yeah, I actually I love all things ethics and law, so I'm actually really excited about that one. Yeah. There you go. Awesome. Well, thanks for sharing that. And actually, you were saying Dr. Lyle Olsen, he actually and I don't know if he returned, came back or what the situation is or was, but he actually was professor this past fall who he taught media research. Oh, terrific. Terrific. Yes, it's really great. Where Project was a huge Excel project.
So I made it through there. Yeah. Sometimes you just have to have to make it through and. Yeah, yeah. So have you thought about where you see yourself five, five, ten years from now? You know, I don't know. I'm I'm trying to to fit into this this TV news world. And, you know, eventually in a room get to do some things on camera and see if I'm any good at that. You know, I imagine if I'm not, maybe that will put me in a different role.
I don't know exactly how everything is going to play out. But, um, you know, I think in a way I was explaining this to someone not long ago, just kind of the, the feeling that you get working at a news organization. And to me it's a little bit of an addiction.
And I know addiction is kind of a negative connotation, but you do kind of get addicted a little bit to the to the fast paced nature, to the the the fact that, you know, it kind of feels like you're you're in the know and, you know, you're right there when things are happening, you know, when when the big stories about when deadline's coming up on a big story or, you know, you're in TV, it's, you know, when you get close to the to the to the runtime for the 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. news,
you know, there's sort of a an air of, you know, kind of stressful excitement and, you know, same kind of thing in the newspaper world, you know, and when news breaks, you know, just being in that environment, I don't know. There's there's nothing I think really, really like it. So. You know, I hope I can stay. You know, in in media, in some. Some way, shape or form. Um, it's it can be a tough business. It can be a taxing business at times, certainly.
And it's always changing. And sometimes that's, you know, for better, sometimes it's for worse, but it's never boring. It's almost always interesting. And I know this is kind of a a cliche way to put it as well, but you really don't know exactly what's going to happen day to day. You know, when you go to work that day, really, you know, anything could happen.
And that there's a certain there's a certain excitement about that that I think you kind of you know, it kind of gets in your blood a little bit. And and at some point, you know, that that happened to me so well five years ago. I don't know. I mean, five years seems like a long time right now. But of course, we know five years will go by really quick. So. Yes, yes, we'll see.
We will. We will. Yes. Speaking of my husband always says he says, I feel like we're in a time war, like since COVID 2020. It's like what happened. And now we're in 2023 and we're still we're finally getting somewhat back to normal, but still somewhat wearing masks, still kind of socially distancing a little bit. But yeah, I totally get that. Time flies. Yeah, absolutely. So one final question. Our last question. So our listeners are graduate students, alumni, professors, what have you.
What advice would you give for future communication, journalist professionals, news anchors, all of that? What advice would you give, give them that are who are entering this industry? What pieces of advice can you give us? You know, I don't know if there's anything that I can offer that that's too terribly different from, you know, really good advice that people get all the time. You know, I would just say I think I think it's just important to to believe in yourself.
And, you know, I I've fought that battle over the years where, you know, you wonder, okay, am I good enough to be at this level? Am I good enough to do this thing? Am I good enough as am I as good as this person over here that maybe I'm competing with or at the competing paper or station, whatever it is?
So I think it's just it's easy to get down on yourself, I think, especially as a journalist, because, you know, we tend to kind of be perfectionists or we want things to be perfect with absolutely no mistakes whatsoever. And, you know, look, I'm not talking about like grammar mistakes or, you know, there's things that, you know, you should hardly ever make a mistake, but. We're all human and things happen. So I think it's always important just to remember to not get too down on yourself and.
You know, believe in yourself. And. And I think when. When that happens, you know, when you're able to get to that point and it's hard. I still I'm still trying to do that myself. I'm still fighting those battles, you know, probably always will be. But I think when when you get to that point where you do kind of believe in yourself or believe that whatever the obstacle is is going to come along, you're going to be able to get past that somehow, some way.
You know, I think that's really powerful. So, I mean, that would be my advice to to young people. I know when I was when I was younger, I wasn't always super sure myself, but I tried to to to stick it out and, you know, get from one point to the next win and. You know, I think it's even if you don't you don't necessarily feel like, you know, you're the the best in the world. Just just have confidence in yourself and have a little patience in yourself.
And I think there's a great chance that things will work out really well. Wow. Well said. Well done, Brian. Brian, thank you so much for being a guest on our podcast, sharing your wisdom, your career journey, your current experiences, all of that. I'm inspired and I'm sure that our listeners are too. We hope that you will, and we know that you will continue to be a great success. And don't be a stranger to us at DSU. And we hope you have a fabulous 2023 media.
Thanks so much for having me on. I really enjoyed it. And certainly, you know, I have a lot of fond memories about about South Dakota State University and all the folks I was able to meet and interact. This podcast is the property of the School of Communication and Journalism at South Dakota State University, which reserves all rights to its use. Music by Cody M Johnson and Tyler Addison James is licensed through AP Music.