Patrick Henderson says the media skills he learned at WOUB are transferrable to any industry

When Patrick Henderson came to Ohio University from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2007, he never imaged where he’d end up. Henderson is now the Global Head of Video & Podcast in marketing and communications for the J.P. Morgan Corporate and Investment Bank in New York City. While his pursuit of a broadcast journalism career that started in Athens and at WOUB doesn’t seem like it would lead to where he is today, Henderson says it all makes perfect sense.

“The education and experience you get at Ohio University and WOUB can lead to more jobs than just being on the air,” said Henderson. “If you love to tell stories, there are so many places and opportunities for you to take what you learned in Athens and do that in a different way.”

Henderson says he knew coming out of high school that he was interested in broadcast journalism, and Ohio University was the perfect place for him to study.

“Ohio University had one of the top journalism schools,” said Henderson. “It was far enough away from home for me to go away to school, but close enough that I could get home when I needed to, and the journalism program really impressed me.”

Almost immediately after his arrival in Athens, Henderson started working at WOUB. He got involved in the WOUB Newsroom and worked first on the radio. Henderson eventually moved into television, doing field reporting, anchoring WOUB’s nightly half-hour news program, NewsWatch, and producing.

“WOUB was the experience that helped me determine that producing was more my style. I didn’t want to be on the air, I wanted to be a producer.”

After graduation, Henderson moved to New York City. He started as a freelance videographer for NY1 news covering breaking news. He quickly moved into a full-time position, working on the assignment desk, and producing feature content and special events.

While working at NY1, Henderson got involved in the New York Chapter of NLGJA, the Association of LGBT+ Journalists, eventually becoming president of the local chapter. Connections he made through that organization led to his next job at Fox News.

“I worked at Fox News during the Bombshell movie era,” said Henderson with a chuckle. “I was a producer for NewsEdge. I produced and oversaw distribution of national and international news content for Fox News Channel’s affiliate services unit serving 170+ stations across the globe.”

Henderson worked at Fox News for a little over a year before deciding it was time to try something different.

“Working at Fox News, I felt like our news coverage was more reactionary rather than storytelling,” said Henderson. “So, I decided to pursue a video storytelling career outside of news.”

That’s when Henderson got his job at J.P. Morgan and now oversees digital video product and strategy.

“I’m doing different things with the same skillset,” said Henderson. “I hone in on my video production skill set and get to think through media from a business perspective. I’m telling the brand story of J.P. Morgan’s Corporate Investment Bank in the same way I told news stories, just from a different lens.”

Although his career is no longer in television or news, Henderson says he wouldn’t be where he is today without WOUB.

“A big thing that WOUB instilled in all of us was work ethic. You have to show up. You have to put in the work and put in the time. Having the ability to practice and mess up a little bit and learn and not have that be the end of world is amazing. You learn from those mistakes, and it instills the right mindset for journalism and the media world I’m in now.”

About WOUB Public Media

As a member station of both NPR and PBS, WOUB Public Media is a trusted source of news, local content and educational resources that have proven to be worthy of the time, effort and support of our users. WOUB, an experiential-learning unit of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University, is a non-profit, community-supported multimedia organization which provides online and broadcast services, along with non-broadcast educational services and student professional development. WOUB serves 55 counties throughout southeastern Ohio, western West Virginia and eastern Kentucky with its broadcast signals. WOUB Radio’s FM Network has transmitters in Athens, Chillicothe, Ironton, Zanesville and Cambridge, while WOUB AM serves the immediate Athens area. WOUB TV is made up of seven television channels (WOUB HD, WOUB Classic, WOUB World, WOUB Create, WOUB Ohio, WOUB Kids and WOUB Voicecorps Reading Service) which are broadcast from two transmitters.

Through its support of public service, teaching, research and administrative missions, along with its high-quality local content and programming, WOUB enriches, enhances and expands the lives and horizons of the people in the communities it serves, as well as Ohio University faculty, staff and students.