Former National/International News Correspondent Martin Savidge reflects on his experiences at 51�� and WOUB

Martin Savidge says the hands-on, real world media experience he was able to get at 51�� and WOUB “opened the doors” for him in his career and provided a “lifetime of opportunity.”

“I wouldn’t have had a career without WOUB,” said Savidge. “51�� and WOUB set me on the path to being a professional. It was so valuable when the person considering for a job asked where you went to college, and you answered with ‘51��’ because they knew the credibility and respect the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism had.”

In his journalism career, Savidge, who was born in Canada but grew up near Cleveland, Ohio, spent four decades reporting on the national and international events that have defined modern times. As a national correspondent and anchor, Savidge covered more than a dozen conflicts from Afghanistan to Ukraine. He said he wouldn’t have been prepared for his career without the opportunity to work at WOUB while at 51��.

“I wanted to be a journalist, and I knew that 51�� was the very best place to go to college to study journalism,” said Savidge. “I knew I needed a great education and hands-on experience. When I saw the facilities at WOUB, both TV and radio, and found out students could work on air immediately, that was the trigger for me. I knew Athens was the right place to be.”

Savidge started working at WOUB almost as soon as he arrived on campus and took advantage of every opportunity to learn and grow. He hosted the radio program AM Athens and anchored WOUB TV’s nightly newscast, NewsWatch. Savidge also stayed in Athens over the summer and holiday breaks to work more hours at WOUB and fill in for professional staff members who were taking time off.

“That experience was so extremely valuable,” said Savidge. “It wasn’t like you were pretending to do the work. You delivered a real newscast that people relied on in Ohio and beyond for information. You were already working as a professional journalist. You had a responsibility to be accurate and informative.”

After graduation, Savidge got his first TV anchor/reporter job in local news. First, he worked in Champaign, Illinois but then quickly moved to full-time anchor in Peoria, Illinois. Savidge eventually got to head home after he was hired as a reporter at WJW TV in Cleveland, where he stayed for the next 11 years. But then the opportunity to work in national news came calling. Savidge worked as an anchor and correspondent for CNN, NBC and PBS.

“I covered breaking news throughout the globe,” said Savidge. “It was an amazing experience, and I loved it. But it also took me away from my family. I’ve spent the last couple of years out of the news business just catching up with life and enjoying what I couldn’t when I was a journalist.”

Savidge has been honored with some of broadcast journalism’s most prestigious awards, including two Headliner Awards, two Edward R. Murrow Awards, a Peabody Award, a Dupont Award, a national Emmy® award, nine local Emmy® awards, six Associated Press awards, two United Press International awards and two Women in Communication awards. In October 2002, the National Journalism Education Association named Savidge its Media Person of the Year for his support of scholastic journalism.

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