About Me

I, Dustin Alexander McDonough, was born on April 10th, 1980 in Jacksonville, North Carolina. From the age of about 18 months on, however, I spent my childhood in Odebolt, Iowa. I graduated from Odebolt-Arthur High School in May of 1998. Most of my time in high school was spent as a band geek, choir nerd, and drama dork, which carried over a little bit when I went to college at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa: While majoring in Journalism and Mass Communication, I was also involved for two years with the Iowa State University Cyclone Football "Varsity" Marching Band (ISUCF"V"MB) and the ISU Oratorio Choir.

While I had a lot of fun participating in both of those groups, my time was eventually consumed by the ISU student cable channel, which was known as STV9 when I began working with it in January 1999. Shortly thereafter it became ISU9. Over the next two years, cable company changes forced us to rename the station twice more...first to ISU4, then to Cy46. In early 2003, the cable company moved the station yet again, and the managing student organization wisely chose to change the name to ISUtv. It turned out to be an even greater idea as of February 1st, 2004, when ISUtv will have moved again...this time to channel 18.

Anyway, in the three and a half years that I was involved with whatever you want to call it, I worked on several original series and specials in a variety of crew and on-air positions. Some of them included: actor and co-producer on the comedy show Oxymorons; creator, host, and co-producer of the movie review show The Trailer Home; and director of the live-on-tape sketch comedy show 1800 Seconds (as well as several special events). I also served as the station's Assistant General Manager for one year and General Manager for another. During my time with ISUtv, I discovered I most enjoyed studio directing. I'd rather direct entertainment programming than news, even though news is what I went to college for. It's not what I'm doing right now, but I'd call it a career goal.

On the subject of careers, I started my first media job while I was in high school. I was a DJ for KIDA, a small country radio station in Ida Grove, Iowa. I worked for the same station during the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in college, though by then it had moved to Storm Lake, Iowa and changed call letters to KKIA. I didn't care much for country music and still don't today, but I tolerated it for the job. Fun/Stupid Fact: I was known on the air as Dustin Alexander (my middle name).

During my sophomore year, I was a reporter for the Iowa State Daily student newspaper, but quit in May 2000 when I decided it wasn't for me. That's when I began working at WOI Radio Group, a set of NPR and PRI stations. I'm still a public radio junkie today. I graduated from ISU with a broadcast journalism degree in May 2002, and left WOI the following August. In September I became the morning news producer at KMEG-TV, the CBS affiliate in Sioux City, Iowa. The overnight hours kicked my ass, but they weren't a problem anymore after budget problems forced the station to cancel the morning show and lay me off in January 2003. In March, I started working as an engineer at KCCI-TV, the CBS affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa. A few weeks later, I returned to WOI Radio Group to become the supervisor of board operators.

I remained at KCCI and WOI until October 2003, when I picked up a full-time job as a videographer and editor at Championship Productions in Ames. Championship is a production house that makes and distributes instructional sports videos. We work with coaches at every level from all across the country.

In my spare time I enjoy watching movies. My favorite movie is American Beauty. I also enjoy catching the occasional TV show. Shows I never miss include 24 on Fox and the Williams Street Hour of Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. I'm also an avid fan of the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central. Sometimes, I'll even admit to being a fan of Star Trek. My favorite series are The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and I enjoy most of the movies.

Most of the rest of my free time is spent with the most important part of my life, Kim Claussen. We met while working together at Cy46 and started dating in September 2001. Kim is from Omaha, Nebraska, which makes for some interesting comparisons between the big city girl and the small town boy. Kim graduated with a public relations degree in May 2002. She's back at Iowa State now, going to grad school. I'm very proud of her, and I thank my lucky stars that she would even give me the time of day, let alone stick with me as long as she has.

The rest of my family includes my mom Cindy, a substitute teacher back at Odebolt-Arthur; my dad Jeff, a district sales manager for a company that sells feed for cattle; and my younger sister Holly, a business major and member of the women's basketball team at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. Kim and I also share a neurotic cat named Jazz.