Communiqué
Broadcast Engineer Ben Yaussy learned the TV operations ropes at WOUB
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ATHENS, OH – When Ben Yaussy started at WOUB as an Ohio University student in 2003, he knew he wanted to pursue a career as a TV videographer or editor. But he started at the station working in the engineering department.
“I already had a broadcast engineering and production associate degree from Hocking College,” said Yaussy. “So that seemed to be the natural place for me to start at WOUB. I was in charge of running Master Control overnight.”
Yaussy grew up in Sunbury, OH and after completing his associate degree, thought he should come to Athens and get a bachelor’s degree to increase his job opportunities. Yaussy eventually started in the WOUB newsroom as a videographer, editor and production crew member for WOUB’s nightly half-hour news program, NewsWatch.
“Working as a student at WOUB made a ton of sense to me,” said Yaussy. “WOUB taught me everything I needed to know about how to shoot and edit the news. I knew how to put stories together and make them look good. I came into the job market with full experience.”
After graduation in the spring of 2005, Yaussy started doing freelance video editing work for the Ohio News Network (ONN) in Columbus and got his foot in the door. ONN and WBNS TV were owned by the same parent company and were in the same building. Eventually a video editor at WBNS left, and Yaussy got the full-time job.
“I had that job for 15 years. Then in October of 2021, I moved to the TV engineering department as a broadcast engineer and IT specialist. My job is to install new equipment, fix equipment and take care of computers. My job description is basically to keep WBNS running. I just got a text that one of the edit bays crashed and I need to go fix it,” said Yaussy with a laugh. “It’s a different experience every day.”
When looking back on his career, Yaussy knows he wouldn’t be where he is today without the professional, hands-on experience he gained at WOUB.
“WOUB was the most fun I ever had. It was a great experience,” said Yaussy. “TV stations aren’t very different in how they are run. Once you know how to do it at one place, you do it the same way at another place. Having that experience from WOUB helped me get my foot in the door here.”