I’d be lying if I said that I’d really planned on working here.  I mean it.  Almost four years ago now, I’d shown my resume tape to Ken Selvaggi, who was the news director at the time, and he’d hated it.  Absolutely hated it.  Said I was a sports guy and sports guys were a dime a dozen, and that he’s watch it because I’d signed up for the time, but that I really oughta think about news because men were a hot commodity.

And I hated him for that. 

But it hardened my resolve, so a few months later, I took a road trip to Huntington to show Ken and the folks at WOWK my stuff.  Mainly, I wanted to impress Ken.  I never made it to WOWK.

I’d had my tape in for about two minutes when he

Brookie, Jeremy and Angie at Tapa's in Huntington.

stopped it, rubbed his eyes, and asked me if I knew what time it was.

“ 5:00,” I said.

“Don’t you know how important this is?  This is the worst possible time for you to be here!  The news is going on!  The news!  Don’t you understand that everybody has to be focused right now?”

I honestly thought he was going to unhinge his jaw and swallow me whole right there. 

Instead, Ken took me around, showed me tapes, asked for my opinion, introduced me to Angie Massie and Christi Young, both now-former WSAZ producers, who were more than friendly (Angie most of all, because we’re both Bobcats).  He asked me to critique a Scott Saxton package (‘A little too high strung, if you ask me,’ Ken said).  And then at the end of it all, after he shook his head a few more times, sighed, and rubbed his eyes profusely, he asked me to be an intern. 

I’d never planned on being an intern at WSAZ.  I’d also never planned on working weekends at WSAZ as a photographer.  Then, I’d also never planned on producing the morning show.  But they all happened, and they were the best things that could have happened.

Justin and Jeremy in the newsroom at WSAZ Charleston.

Over a matter of time, I settled in.  You’d go for the occasional beer here, the volleyball game there.  I got to know everybody’s kids, relatives, problems, and golf swings.  I don’t think I’d ever laughed as hard as I did when I was sitting in the booth at 5 in the morning, with Faron running tapes and J.B. directing and Rob out there on set.  I saw you get married.  I slept on your couches.  I ate your food, and drank your beer, and you didn’t seem to mind.  Over a matter of time, you all became my family.

There was one problem with all of this: I settled in.  I suddenly started to feel that the longer I stayed, the harder it would be for me to pack up and leave some day.  And as much as I had a family at work, outside of work, I found Huntington to be very nice, but very lacking of the things I wanted at age 24. 

So, I left and came to Charleston, which is like the member of your family that’s brilliant, but yells a lot.

I don’t like to yell.

I’m not going to say that working down here has been easy.  I had my tough times.  I wondered if I had just made a huge mistake by leaving behind the people whom I’d grown to know so well over two years, to work in an environment where I just couldn’t seem to do things quite right.  I went home feeling awful some nights.  But over time, I adapted.  I found that people care just the same, but in a different sort of way.  Somehow, I’d grown more in a shorter amount of time, because things hadn’t come as easy to me in Charleston.

The WSAZ crew at the Associated Press awards in Canaan Valley.

Once again, the longer I stayed, the harder it would be for me to pack up and leave.  Now, I’ve got a new job, and a new city, and a new challenge ahead of me.  It’s finally here.  I hate that I’ve got to leave all of you behind, because I’ve enjoyed  working with each of you so much.  You’ve made me laugh.  You’ve made me upset sometimes.  But most of all, you’ve made me so much better, because you genuinely cared about me.  There is no jealousy here, only the desire to try something different, something new, and something that’ll make people stand up and take notice.  When I made mistakes, it twisted my guts apart and I’d have trouble sleeping at nights.  When I did well, I didn’t come down off of that high for days.

I’m going to miss you guys.  Miss the hell out of you.  I feel like I’ve gotten to know each and every one of you like brothers and sisters.  In just a matter of days, someone else will be sitting at my desk, doing what I did, and over a matter of time, that new person will become part of the family.  All I can hope for is that my new comrades will take me in like you did: by caring about who I am, just as much as what I do.

Thanks for everything.  I’m off to try something different, something new.