Communiqué
Former WOUB Student Finds Career Success in Public Media
< < Back toChristine “Cricket” Masson graduated from Ohio University in 1982
ATHENS, OH – Christine “Cricket” Masson has been working in her current role at Maryland Public Television (MPT) for more than 20 years, but her public media career actually started at WOUB in the early 1980s.
“My career has come full circle,” said Masson. “WOUB was the place I learned what public media was all about.”
Masson is the director of multicast and broadband services at MPT. She grew up in Wellston, Ohio listening to WOUB Radio and watching WOUB TV. So, before coming to volunteer at the station as an Ohio University student, she knew how important WOUB was for the education of people in the Appalachian region of Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.
“I’ll hear from people now in my hometown about how much they like PBS programming, and it’s always nice to see that people appreciate WOUB/PBS in the rural areas it serves,” said Masson.
Masson graduated from Ohio University in 1982 and was a radio and television major. She chose Ohio University because she knew the university had a great reputation for its media program, and that’s what she wanted to do.
“During my senior year of high school, I took a television class,” said Masson. “We recorded football games, and that really piqued my interest.”
Masson realized that she could get hands-on experience by working at WOUB and got really involved at the station during her senior year. She worked with the production department, running camera, graphics and audio. She also volunteered with the traffic department.
After graduation, Masson went to Knoxville, Tennessee for the summer to work at the 1982 World’s Fair before starting to look for a media job. She ended up running into former Ohio University classmate, Mike Raita ’81. He was working at the NBC affiliate in Knoxville and let her know there was an opening in the production department. Masson got the job and worked there for two and a half years. She went on to be the broadcast operations manager for Comsat Video Enterprises and then the Community Manager for America Online before getting the job at MPT in 2001.
“I am so thankful for the training and knowledge I received at WOUB,” said Masson. “I found that WOUB was actually my best learning experience because they were very diligent telling you the right way to do everything. They really taught me the best way to do things. At WOUB, they taught me to do it right the first time.”