Covering Burrow with the Bulldogs and the Bengals: Colin Porter’s career has come full circle

When Colin Porter was growing up in Springboro, Ohio, he wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to do with his life until he started to develop a love for cameras in high school.

“I took a test online to see which schools would best fit my interest,” said Porter. “And it said Ohio University. So, I took a tour and fell in love with campus. During that tour, I saw the Radio and TV Building and the WOUB studio set. I thought it was amazing. The WOUB tour was a big factor in my decision to come to Athens. From a young age, I was interested in photography and having all that accessible to me was a big push in going to Ohio University.”

After arriving on campus, Porter started working at WOUB pretty quickly. He operated teleprompter and studio camera for WOUB’s nightly half-hour TV newscast, NewsWatch and also worked as part of the crew for the high school basketball show, Hardwood Heroes. During his sophomore year, Porter started working as a videographer for the high school football program, Gridiron Glory.

“By my sophomore year I started learning to direct for NewsWatch,” said Porter. “And by my senior year, I was the assistant director for Gridiron Glory."

After graduation, Porter moved to Colorado with a friend. He didn’t have a job. But it didn’t take long for him to get hired at the local ABC affiliate, Denver7.

“I got hired as a part-time studio technician thanks to an Ohio University connection, Tom Edwards,” said Porter. “The job was more of a studio director because I was the only production person in the studio during the newscast. I had to keep track of five robotic cameras while simultaneously running teleprompter and giving cues to the anchors. WOUB prepared me a lot for that. It was a lot, but I was prepared.”

Porter stayed at Denver7 for about two years, eventually picking up other responsibilities like video editing. Then, he was offered a photographer position at KRDO in Colorado Springs.

“The station relied on Multimedia Journalists, so my job was mostly covering breaking news and shooting live shots,” said Porter. “After about a year a half, I decided that I wanted to try my shot at this somewhere else and was offered a photojournalist job at ABC15 in Phoenix. In that role, I worked with reporters on a daily basis, edited stories, received my FAA drone certification and learned a lot about the art of storytelling.”

In December 2022, Porter decided to take a job closer to home at WLWT in Cincinnati. But this wasn’t just any photographer job. This was Porter’s dream job.

“I am now the sports photographer for the station,” said Porter. “We cover the Bengals, the Reds, University of Cincinnati, Xavier. It’s been amazing.”

When Porter was working on WOUB’s Gridiron Glory, he learned how much he loved to cover sports. He learned how to interview big time players like Athens High School’s Joe Burrow, who he’s now covering again.

“I interviewed Joe during his senior year of high school at Athens with another student Karli Bell,” said Porter. “It’s amazing that it’s come full circle like this and I’m now covering him again.”

Porter says he wouldn’t be where he is today without the training and experience he gained at WOUB.

“I think the greatest thing about WOUB is that everything is hands on. It was taught early that you are going to make mistakes. There will be issues and there will be a learning curve,” said Porter. “It’s important to make mistakes and learn from them. It helps you along the way. I am a hands-on kind of learner. I just think that having all of those tools was an advantage. The classes and professors were very insightful and helpful and wanted us to succeed. But I wouldn’t have had the success I’ve had without the after class, hands on training I got from WOUB.”

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