Communiqué
WOUB Inspires Passion for Broadcasting
< < Back toCliff Ancier graduated from Ohio University in 1975
ATHENS, OH – When Cliff Ancier came to Ohio University in the early 1970’s he thought he wanted to study photography, but WOUB exposed him to a whole new world, and he caught the “broadcasting bug.”
“Broadcasting gets in your blood and for me, WOUB was the first injection,” said Ancier laughing.
Ancier grew up in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. He was originally accepted at Syracuse University and went for a college visit. But he just didn’t get the right feeling from the place.
“It was a rainy day, which probably didn’t help,” said Ancier. “But I got the cold shoulder from people. I asked a few students in a dorm why they chose Syracuse, and they just kept saying things like ‘It’s what you make of it.’ I didn’t like that answer.”
Ancier then visited Athens and found his people and his place.
“The people were friendly. The campus was beautiful,” said Ancier. “Then on the tour, they showed us WOUB. I really liked the fact that WOUB was a real TV/Radio station and was being broadcast to all of southeast Ohio and beyond.”
Ancier got involved at WOUB during his junior year. He started by doing production work, but quickly found that wasn’t his bailiwick.
“At that time the cameras in the TV production studio were really heavy, and when I was trying to move one of them, I almost crashed the camera through a set,” said Ancier. “I also tried radio production work, but I did not have the technician gene. Then I got involved in promotions work at WOUB.”
Ancier loved what he was doing at WOUB. While working at the station, he took as many classes as he could so he could graduate early and get a jump on the job market.
“I ended up graduating in March of 1975 and thought I would find a job before everyone else started looking. However, that’s not what happened,” said Ancier. “It took me about six months to land a position, but it ended up being worth the wait.”
Ancier was hired at Arbitron in New York City as a promotion specialist. Arbitron provided ratings data to radio stations across the country.
“It was great to land a job in NYC,” said Ancier. “WOUB sowed the oats that allowed me to do that.”
Ancier eventually moved into sales, inside and outside of the broadcast industry, and customer service positions. He’s now semi-retired after a lengthy career which included stops at businesses like IBM and Hewlett Packard.
“WOUB instilled in me a dedication to do your best work all the time,” said Ancier. “It gives students a chance to hone skills before they got out into the job market and that was crucial for me. At WOUB, I worked at an AM/FM/TV station that had an important public service mission and served a community. To be able to get that type of experience in college is invaluable.”