Communication alumnus helps students ‘find their voice’ during COM Week
0By Abigail Gibson
“Everyone has a voice and a unique story to tell,” said Kyle Collier, WYMT Executive Producer and UPIKE communication alumnus. The University of Pikeville hosted its first communication week Monday, April 6 through Thursday, April 9. Collier, the keynote speaker for the week, spoke about how everyone has a voice weaving in motivational stories.
Collier was the first UPIKE student summer intern at the Washington Center. While at the Capital, he was faced with life changing events, including having his home in Pike County flood. His internship greatly influenced the direction of his life.
After working in politics, he moved to television. His work at WYMT consists of writing scripts for newscasts. In 2011, he began co-producing the 4 o’ clock news, and two months later, he started producing the 6 o’ clock news.
Collier explained he learned that “if it bleeds, it leads.” But, he doesn’t believe that only bad news is news. Collier thinks that it is important to show viewers that there are also good things happening in the world, not just bad.
One of Collier’s dear friends made a massive impact on his life, Dan MacNamee. Collier produced a feature series about MacNamee who was paralyzed in a local football game. Collier showed a part of the award-winning story with the audience, and introduced his friend who was in attendance.
Another person that had a huge influence and impact in Collier’s life is Steve Hartman. Hartman is a storyteller and broadcast journalist well known for his award-winning feature series, Everybody Has a Story. He stands with his back facing a map, throws a dart and whereever it hits the map, he visits. When he arrives at the designated destination, he then chooses a household from the local phone book and proceeds to the house. He then talks to an individual and listens to stories and adventures. With their permission, he then tells these life changing stories to others in his feature series.
“Everyone has a story,” aacording to Hartman, and Collier agrees.
Collier explained everyone has a story; you just need to find out what the story is.
The speech was the first in the Distinguished Communication Alumni Series. The communication program plans to host Communication Week annually and invite other alumni to continue the series in the future.
“Much gratitude for our distinguished communication alum for kicking off our alumni speaker series! Thanks for speaking to our communication students, Kyle Collier. It is my sincere hope they listen to your advice,” said Chandra K. Massner, associate professor of communication.