News Anchor’s Education a
Two-part
Story

An award-winning anchor for WWOR’s UPN 9 News, Brenda Blackmon, BA’01 (T-H), is well known to viewers in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. In an earlier time, however, growing up in the deep south in the 1950s and 1960s, she was brushed aside, forced to sit in the back of buses and limited to certain sections in restaurants and waiting rooms. And she’ll never forget when her fourth-grade teacher whispered lessons about African-American history to her and her classmates. He said they couldn’t tell anyone or he would be fired. She understood then the power of education and, though she didn’t complete college in the early 1970s, she remained determined to someday finish what she had started.

Further fueled by a desire to be a better role model for her daughter, Blackmon began studying at FDU in the mid-1990s, while nightly informing millions of the daily events in the tri-state area, the nation and the world. Last May, during commencement ceremonies at the Continental Airlines Arena, Blackmon took her place in line with her fellow classmates and walked off the stage an FDU graduate. The long wait only heightened her enthusiasm for the accomplishment. “It was the best thing that I have ever done for myself,” she proudly proclaims. “My mother emphasized that an education is the one thing nobody can take away from you. I always wanted to continue.”

While the road to a college diploma took some detours, Blackmon’s professional path has been a steady route to the top, beginning as a journalist and anchor in the country’s 130th market (Columbus, Ga.), advancing to the 30th market (Nashville, Tenn.) and landing in the top market in the nation (New York, N.Y.) Along the way, the Tenafly, N.J., resident has made a difference in each community, plunging into public service roles and personally touching the lives of her viewers. She’s also found time to launch a successful personal services business. “I don’t consider myself anybody special. I just love what I do and take it one day at a time,” she says.

Southern Roots

Blackmon’s day-by-day mindset was instilled as a child raised in Columbus, Ga., coping with discrimination. It wasn’t any easier when she enrolled at the University of Georgia in 1970. She was among the second group of black students admitted to the school after desegregation. She remembers boycotting the basketball games because the band played “Dixie.”

After leaving college in 1973, she applied for a job as a switchboard operator at a local television station. She recalls being greeted by the statue of a Confederate soldier in front of the WRBL building. Blackmon didn’t grow up with dreams of being in front of the camera. After all, as a child she had never seen a black person on television. This station, however, had just fired its only black reporter and, looking to fill the quota of one, hired the inexperienced Blackmon as a reporter. She ended up “doing it all,” learning on her own how to shoot and edit film, monitoring events on the police scanner and carrying a stopwatch to time the stories. Blackmon’s duties ranged from reporting on a local Rotary Club luncheon to interviewing Georgia’s governor, Jimmy Carter.

There were times when potential sources refused to talk to her because she was black. So, she says, “I would listen and hope other reporters would ask the right questions, and then sometimes I would whisper my question to another reporter.” Blackmon was used to the snubs. “For somebody to say, ‘I don’t want to tell you the story,’ well it was no different from the way I had grown up. You just had to deal with it.”

While in Columbus, Blackmon also had her first chance to anchor a news broadcast and became the first African-American anchor in the city’s history. There were few available to teach the novice, who had never used makeup and whose fashion sense admittedly left something to be desired. Still, that position on live television made its impact on her. “I knew this was what I wanted to do. There’s something about the rush of adrenaline as you’re about to go live.”

In 1979, Blackmon joined a station in Nashville, Tenn., a far larger market. There she married (she later divorced) and became a mother, while continuing to learn all aspects of putting together a television news broadcast. Professional guidance was again in short supply, and she would often find herself in difficult situations. Like the night she covered a rally of the Ku Klux Klan. “We got to the top of the hill and all I could see was a large burning cross. I was frightened but you have to get the story.”

In 1990, Blackmon moved north, joining the crew at WWOR Channel 9. She began as a general assignment reporter before taking her current spot at the anchor desk. She believes she proved herself during the coverage of the O.J. Simpson slow-speed car chase in 1994. “It’s a challenge to engage the audience while not a lot is going one.” In such cases, Blackmon relies on her keen attention to detail and follows the advice offered to her by co-anchor Rolland Smith. “He once told me to ‘look, listen and observe.’ By doing that, you can describe any story.”

In the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, Blackmon has won three Emmy Awards for Best Single Newscast (1995, 1997 and 1998), along with numerous Associated Press awards including Best Newscast and Best News Series.

An Emotional Task

Blackmon has covered every type of story but none tougher than the one reporting the death of her colleague and friend Reggie Harris, who died suddenly from a heart attack early in 2001. “As the show was opening, I told Ernie [then co-anchor Ernie Anastos], ‘I don’t think I can do this.’ He said, ‘Yes, you can.’ People later told me they knew how hard it must have been, but they really had no idea. We were close friends.”

On September 11, 2001, Blackmon again faced the challenge of becoming emotionally involved in a story. Blackmon was having breakfast with her daughter, Kelly, when she heard the news. “Ordinarily, you get an adrenaline rush as you move to cover a breaking story, but this was different, more like a feeling of dread.”

On the New Jersey Turnpike, Blackmon saw people on the side of the road watching the massive cloud of smoke. “I started to cry like everyone else.” But she was able to focus on her task. As events unfolded, she and Smith manned the anchor desk for more than 12 straight hours. Blackmon says it was hard to stay composed, “but you have to detach a bit to tell the story. If you’re falling apart, the audience can’t listen to you. You have to make sense of it all.”

Blackmon says the tragedy has enabled her to understand some of her parents’ fears. “They had seen war. Now, we hold our children closer because we know the pain of war.” But, as she says, “We still move forward. New Yorkers are survivors like nobody else.”

She adds that people in this area have always been quick to help each other in a time of trouble. It’s just another reason she feels so home in this region. “I believe it’s where I was meant to be.”

Reaching Out

Like the metropolitan residents she praises, Blackmon has often come to the aid of others. For many years, she has hosted the annual Jerry Lewis MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) Telethon. She also has supported other causes including the March of Dimes and projects to aid inner-city youth. “If you say, ‘I’m going to lead my life so that every day I can touch somebody else’s life,’ then opportunities present themselves.”

Blackmon uses that same philosophy in her personal services business, Brenda Blackmon Communications, Inc. The company specializes in community outreach and networking, with Blackmon serving as speaker, facilitator and mentor.

Foremost among Blackmon’s priorities is helping the next generation. She regularly holds a journalism seminar in her home, bringing together professionals in the field and students learning the ropes. Last December, about 25 students from Fairleigh Dickinson enjoyed the opportunity to meet seasoned reporters, photographers and news writers. “There are some things professionals can teach students that they just can’t learn in a classroom.”

The chance to help Fairleigh Dickinson students — her classmates just a year ago — was special for Blackmon. At FDU, Blackmon majored in communications and says she became familiar with a host of technological skills that have helped her in the newsroom. She especially appreciated the opportunity at Fairleigh Dickinson to gain life-experience credits. She recalls assembling her portfolio to qualify for those credits. “It was the first time I had looked back at everything I had accomplished. That did more for my self-esteem than anything else.”

Her self-esteem should have received another boost last April, when — one month before she received her baccalaureate degree — she was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Caldwell College, N.J., for her professional and personal accomplishments.

Blackmon appreciated the award and says that someday she will be studying for her doctorate the conventional way. She wants to return to the classroom soon for graduate coursework. She also wants to teach and pass on the lessons she’s learned. “I want to give back what my teachers gave me, a sense of willingness to risk it all — to instill in people the power that education gives you.”

— A.C.

FDU Magazine Directory | Table of Contents | FDU Home Page | Alumni Home Page | Comments