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| September 2006
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ALUMNI NEWS |
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FOX 5 TV reporter Tony Perkins, SOC/BA ’81, says his first reaction to the news that he had won this year’s Alumni Achievement Award was, “You sure you’ve got the right guy?” The Emmy award-winning reporter known for his warmth and wit on camera says, “I just kind of live my life every day… I plug away and do what I do. So when things like this come up, it’s a really pleasant surprise. It’s not something one expects or goes looking for.” Best known for covering the weather – including more than 20 wind-gusting, rain-soaking hurricanes – Perkins is still tickled about how he got into his TV weather reporting niche. “This was never my intention. I’m not a meteorologist. I was working in morning radio having quite the good time and doing stand-up comedy on weekends across the country,” he says. In fact, he remembers laughing out loud when his former colleague called him in the early 1990s to suggest he do the weather on FOX 5 News. “But I don’t know anything about weather!” Perkins had protested. It didn’t matter, his friend told him. Weather you can learn. It was Perkins’ personality they wanted. And personality is what hundreds of thousands of television viewers get every morning in D.C., now that he's returned to FOX 5 Morning News - and what 5 to 6 million of ABC’s "Good Morning America" viewers got from Perkins from 1999 through 2005 when he delivered the nation’s weather forecast each morning from locations across the country large and small, exotic and ordinary. Perkins credits his experience at doing stand-up comedy as a real asset in his career. “In live TV you have to be able to think fast on your feet, you have to be very organized… because anything can happen at any given moment. If you’re at the news desk and there’s breaking news you have to deal with that. If you’re out in the field interviewing somebody and something goes wrong, you have to deal with that. If you’re planning on doing a one-minute hit and they suddenly say, ‘can you just do 30 seconds because we’re tight for time?’ you have to be able to adjust for that. All these things are what you do when you’re doing stand-up comedy.” When asked to choose a favorite moment in his career thus far, Perkins says that’s easy: Interviewing Ringo Starr of the Beatles for "Good Morning America." A huge Beatles fan since he was a teenager, Perkins actually got the chance to interview Starr several times. “To go from being a fan to interviewing him… The first time I went I couldn’t believe it,” remembers Perkins, beaming. He was also invited to sing, “With a little help from my friends” on stage with Starr. Over the years, Perkins got to do many “cool things” through his work with "Good Morning America," including a cameo appearance (as himself!) on ABC sit-com, “Less Than Perfect”; guest hosting a segment on the 2004 American Music Awards; going on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" as a guest; and of course, meeting with people most Americans only see from their living rooms: President Clinton, Diana Ross, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin... the list goes on. Although Perkins’ years at GMA were career-bolstering, memorable, and often exciting, working at a big network wasn’t all glamour. “At the network I got the chance to do a lot of great things, but on a day-to-day basis it was a struggle trying to get airtime, trying to get my pitches heard for stories or remotes, trying to get them approved. Even if on Monday I did some great spectacular thing, on Tuesday it was like I was starting from scratch in terms of trying to get airtime, back to pitching; you get tired of that.” Since returning to FOX 5 in January, Perkins is clearly happy to be back in D.C. “I get much more airtime here, and I have much more input into what I do in the show,” he notes. Even if he does get up at 2:30 a.m. to get to the station by 4 a.m. “I love Washington. I grew up in this area, I went to high school in Fairfax County, and college at AU of course. All of my career was here til I went to "Good Morning America"... It’s good to be back at Channel 5 because this was my home for seven years. Many people I worked with before are still here. I have a 3-year-old son and I still live in Northern Virginia. Neither my wife nor I relished the thought of raising our son in Manhattan. We like the relatively clean air, the trees.” Although Perkins didn’t do an internship during his time at AU, he definitely got his start in media as a student, having known from the time he was a toddler that he was interested in the topic. “My mother tells the story of me walking around with a hairbrush, pretending to interview people on a game show when I was 5 or 6 years old.” While at AU, Perkins was chair of the confederation of media commission (then part of student government), he had a DJ shift on WAMU AM, and he was associate editor of Uhura, the black newspaper. As such, he’s a huge proponent of internships, mentoring, and making real-world media experiences available to students whenever possible. He’s worked closely with SOC Dean Larry Kirkman over the last few years to bring opportunities to current communication students, and Kirkman’s appreciation for Perkins is obvious. “Tony has been a very important voice for the school in building our reputation,” says Kirkman. “He has promoted the school on ABC's "Good Morning America," hosted the launch of our New York alumni outreach efforts in a special event at ABC's Times Square Studios, and he headlined SOC's groundbreaking 2004 Political Comedy Festival, where he introduced Dick Gregory and a group of young comics in a wonderful program linking generations of political humor.” As a member of SOC's Dean's Advisory Council, Perkins works to shape the school’s curriculum and alumni-student programs by speaking to classes, providing student internships, and serving for the fourth year in the mentoring program, explains Kirkman. “Tony joined with other SOC council members to help fund the Forman Challenge, which provided over $600,000 to hire the best architects and technologists to design the new SOC building,” adds the SOC dean. His experience as a radio and television journalist have informed the building plans, helping to ensure that SOC’s new facilities will meet the needs of students as they enter the rapidly changing media professions. “Tony's outstanding career and his work on behalf of SOC richly deserve the 2006 AU Alumni Achievement Award,” says Kirkman. Now that he’s right down the street from AU, Perkins says, “It’s cool! I can just pop in any time.” -Melissa
Reichley |
Meet
This Year's Alumni Achievement Award Winner