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What do you do?
I'm a sports anchor at KDLH-TV in Duluth, Minn. I'm in my seventh year at the station, which was my first TV sports job out of college. Mainly, I write, edit, produce and anchor sportscasts. I also spend a lot of time shooting games and events that we use in the sportscasts. I'm not really a one-man-bander, as I typically do get a photographer for any packages I go out to get. But our sports department shoots about 80 percent of our own highlights. Along with those day-to-day tasks, I also get to produce several special projects each year for the station. I have done local sports-talk radio, served as a color analyst for live game broadcasts and in seven years here I've learned to do just about every job at the station outside of directing and sales!

How did you get your job?
The Mizzou way...hard work and connections. I worked hard to get a pretty solid tape together before I departed Columbia. That, along with a pair of Mizzou classmates already working at the station, was more than enough to land me the prized first job. I came up as a fill-in after a prior sports anchor was let go. The two former classmates suggested me as just a fill-in while they performed their job search. That was all the break I needed. After being "interim" for four months, and bending over backward to show management what I could do, they decided to give me my first contract.

Best professional lesson learned at the J-School?
Easy question...this business is not what most people think it is. It's hard work, low pay, high stress, and bad hours. I have seen way too many people come in from other schools who expect a glamorous and relaxing life as a TV star. They blow into our mid-to-small market shop and think their next stop will be the big time. Very few of them come around to end up as solid journalists. The ones who have gone on to big things all came in with a solid sense of what it was really like. They were hard working, usually humble, and had a firm knowledge that brains and sweat outdo glitz and glam every day in this job. Mizzou gave me the tools to succeed in this business and a real sense of knowing what I was getting into. Even with all the negatives I listed above, I still look forward to coming to work every day. It was just a huge help to have such a solid sense of what the job would be like before I actually started. There was no initial shock for me. I was able to jump in and start to progress immediately.

What would be your best advice to current students?
Work on your writing. I know this is the standard news director advice, but it amazes me how many new reporters, producers and anchors come to our station and simply can't write good news stories. I won't belabor the point of what a good story is, but the professors and TAs at Mizzou all have a pretty good idea that what they're teaching is what good journalists need to know day in and day out. The other thing would be to make sure to open your horizons. Know that you're not likely to land that prized job back at your hometown station right out of the gate. Unless you live in a smaller market, you're going to have to go somewhere else first. Internships are one way to shift the curve a little bit, but I've known too many people who bailed out on the biz after they couldn't get a job in their hometown. That's even though their hometown was WAY too big a market for most people to realistically start their career in. There are exceptions, but not many. Again, Mizzou did a good job of getting me ready for the reality that Beaumont, Texas... Twin Falls, Idaho... Yakima, Wash.... or even, yes, Duluth, Minn., might be the place I would make my first tracks in the business.

What makes you good at your job?
I'll split my answer... part for the anchoring aspect, part for the reporting aspect. As far as my anchoring, I'm kind of the sports anti-anchor compared to many folks out there who are my age. Too many guys (and gals, I should say) in the biz rely on schtick, volume or presentation to carry their 'casts. I just try to be myself, try to explain things to the viewers, and make sure I've got the information in my show that the viewers want to hear. I know hard-core sports fans are up the cable dial on ESPN so my sportscasts need to be geared more to the casual fan. I stay away from jargon, inside jokes and wild antics. I also go local-local-local. The big national baseball game? My viewers likely don't care. They want to know what's going on here in town or in the region. As for presentation, I'll definitely drop some humor in whenever I can, but I go out of my way trying not to be obnoxious, there's just too much of that on local sports. I hope I am personable, confident and accurate. I think people like that. As for reporting, I have to once again fall back on my Mizzou training. I see so many stories, especially in sports, that are just fact, soundbite, fact, soundbite, standup, soundbite, close. It's boring and requires no thought or effort. I've worked very hard to develop the ability to TELL a story, rather than simply spitting out facts with soundbite support. It's even more fun when you can get the subject to tell their own story, then you don't get in there to clutter it up at all! I think my style of storytelling draws a viewer's interest and makes them care about the player, team, coach or event I'm reporting on. I also think my interviewing skills have become a lot sharper than they used to be. Some of the best stories I've done stemmed from a complete shift of the story focus as I was doing the interview. I also feel like I've become very good at earning the trust of my subjects. I feel I can get a 7-year-old kid to feel as comfortable with my interview as a major college coach. Then again, sometimes it's more of a challenge to get that coach to be as comfortable as a 7-year-old kid! I've also worked hard to learn, and continue to learn, how to get athletes and coaches out of "jock-speak." It makes a better story when they sound like people, not athletes.

What do you consider to be your greatest professional achievement?
When people come up to me at the mall, at a restaurant, at the movies, out of the blue and say, "Hey Chris, I really like watching you... you do a nice job." That's my greatest professional achievement. The feeling I get when that happens is better than any trophy, plaque or paycheck I could ever receive. It sounds corny, but that's how I feel. That's why I got into this business.

What is your secret to success?
Just having learned how to be myself. It's hard when you see network and big-city anchors with perfect hair, clothes, voice, skin, etc. While those things are somewhat important in our day-to-day work, you need to be comfortable as yourself on the air. Nothing is worse than someone forcing a voice, a look, an attitude on the air that clearly doesn't fit them. If you don't have the right personality for the job, you can't force it. So if you have it, let it show. Viewers will be a lot more inclined to trust you and believe in you if you're being genuine.

What is something about you that might surprise people?
Well, I know a lot of fellow classmates who have made successful runs up the market ladder are shocked I am still in Duluth, Minn., and thrilled to death to be here. I love this city, and the state of Minnesota. I feel like I grew up here. The people in the city and at the station are some of the nicest, kindest people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Sure, at some point, my professional urges will force me to break free of all of that and seek my way up the ladder...but it just hasn't happened yet.