Communiqué
The Stolls credit their careers to experience gained at WOUB
< < Back toATHENS, OH– When Justin Stoll and Emily Baird Stoll came to study at Ohio University, they both started working for WOUB and discovered they wanted to pursue a career in media. They also found each other. The couple is one of those WOUB love stories and has been married for 13 years.
“WOUB was the start of it all for us,” said Emily.
Emily came to Athens from Youngstown, Ohio to study journalism and meteorology. She graduated in 2008.
“I wanted to go somewhere that had both a meteorology program and a journalism program because I was waffling on which one I wanted to major in.,” said Emily. “I toured several campuses but just fell in love with Ohio University.”
Justin is from Seville, Ohio and originally thought he wanted to study theater. But he quickly found an interest in media arts. Justin graduated in 2009.
“I went on campus tours with my brother,” said Justin. “We toured Miami and Ohio University. He fell in love with Miami. I fell in love with Ohio. I set foot on campus and knew it was where I wanted to go.”
Justin got involved at WOUB right away. He had a friend who wanted to come over to WOUB and learn about Gridiron Glory. After seeing the learning opportunities that the high school football show provided for students, Justin was hooked.
“That was the first Friday I was on campus,” said Justin. “I started working on the show that fall. Over the years I got to shoot video, edit, direct and produce.”
Emily took a little longer to wander into the Radio and Television Building.
“I remember journalism program people talking about WOUB and just talking about that experience and how it was a hands-on approach,” said Emily. “It took me a little while to get there because I was focused on classes my first couple of years. But when I did, I jumped in. I remember the opportunity came up to stay and work at WOUB during the summer between my junior and senior years. It was one of the best experiences. I also stayed during winter break as well and I met Justin.”
After graduation, Emily got a job at WHIZ TV in Zanesville, Ohio. She was the weekend weather anchor, as well as a reporter and a producer. Eventually Emily was promoted to weekend news anchor.
When Justin graduated, he started working as a seasonal producer/cinematographer for NFL Films. During the off season, he worked as a videographer at WHIZ. After a couple of years, Justin and Emily moved to South Carolina when Justin was offered an opportunity to work in the sports media department at the University of South Carolina as the director of creative operations for Gamecock Productions.
“I was involved with producing the coach’s show and creating the video board elements that played in Willams-Brice Stadium,” said Justin.
During his time in South Carolina, Justin crafted some of the most iconic words in Gamecock football history. At the beginning of each home game a voice from the scoreboard says: “It’s Saturday in South Carolina. Welcome to Williams-Brice.”
“That might be one of the great moments of my career,” said Justin. “It’s now a tradition there and people know that word for word. It’s really cool.”
While Justin worked at South Carolina, Emily got a job at the NBC affiliate in Columbia. She worked as a web producer, an assignment desk editor, a weather anchor and a reporter. But then things changed again, Justin was offered a job as digital media producer at Notre Dame. The couple went to South Bend, Indiana for a short time but then ended up back in South Carolina. Justin became the associate director of live production at the University of South Carolina.
“It harnessed back to my Gridiron Glory days doing live sports productions,” said Justin.
After a short time back in Columbia TV news, Emily decided to change career direction. She started working in community relations for the library system in Columbia. She was a media and community relations specialist. But another move was in the future. In March 2021, Justin was offered a job as the associate athletic director/senior coordinating producer at North Carolina State University, and Emily started working as the community outreach specialist for the town of Clayton.
But that wasn’t the end of the career changes. While in Raleigh, Justin was offered a job as a senior consultant at Salas O’Brien, where he has been working since January of 2024. The engineering technology firm provides engineering and technical consulting services for government and private sector clients. Justin uses his expertise designing and operating broadcast control rooms and complex production facilities to make sure clients have the best technology set up in their athletic facilities.
“I help to build arenas and stadiums from the technology side,” said Justin. “The WOUB experience was really everything for my career. The hands-on access to all of the technology in the facility gave you such an advantage. I took advantage of every opportunity that I could at WOUB, and it set me up completely for my career path. I’m now a trusted voice in the industry to design these facilities, and I directly correlate that to my time at WOUB.”
“WOUB was really vital to both of our careers,” said Emily. “It’s one thing to learn it in the classroom. It’s another thing to being able to have that real-world application. WOUB really gives you experience you would not have gotten in the classroom alone. It taught me about the importance of storytelling, not just for broadcast, but for my career in communications.”