By Olivia Obineme
Multimedia journalist | June 19, 2010

Many say (usually a year or two after graduation), “College is the best time of your life.”

And usually, those “best” times refer to the parties, the friends and the graduation.

To reporter and producer Don Champion at KMGH-TV 7News in Denver, Colo., it seems the only thing he can remember from Towson University is WMJF-TV, specifically the newscast, 16 News.

“I can’t tell you what I learned in classes at Towson, honestly, but I do remember my 16 News days,” Champion said.

Champion is a 2004 Towson University alum –technically.

“I went to the mass communication department and they assured me that I completed all of my credits needed to graduate,” Champion said.

“And I told them they needed to be absolutely sure because I wasn’t going to be in Maryland after I graduated and I wouldn’t be able to come back, but they said I was good to go.”

Unfortunately, Champion learned later after “graduating” that there were 6 credits he did not fulfill to actually walk across the stage.

Champion plans to complete those credits, but he will not let that moment during his college career hinder the times he spent working at 16 News.

“Personally, I made sure the effort I was giving was the best I could do. I think it really paid off, not only for me, but for the others who also took the program seriously,” he said.

For Champion, his time at 16 News did not really pick up until his sophomore year, but he does not think his freshman year at the station was bad at all.

“The thing I liked about it was that WMJF did let freshmen in,” Champion said.

“At other schools, if you were a freshman you were like a little PA and you couldn’t really do anything, but [at Towson] during my freshman year I was learning the ropes,” he said.

According to Champion, there were members who took working at WMJF seriously, including himself. He recalls doing live shoots often and focusing on stories in Baltimore.

“I think we tried making our experience at 16News as real as possible. We wanted to get the most out of the opportunity,” he said.

During college, Champion interned and became an on-air talent at BET until 2002. In January 2004, WBAL-TV in Baltimore made him a producer; and there he worked until August of ’05, when he moved to Topeka, Kan. and became a weekend anchor and reporter at KSNT-TV. He continued as a weekend anchor and reporter, but in Jackson, Miss. at WAPT-TV until January 2009. Now Champion is covering news in Denver, Colo.

Champion feels 16 News contributed to his success.

“I’d say one of my most memorable was covering the DC Sniper Case. We were on the case from the start and followed all new developments like we were a real station. When we got word of another shooting- we were on the road headed to the scene,” Champion said.

“The opportunity really opened my eyes to what it’s like to cover a major breaking story,” he said.

Now making it in the real world, Champion believes as hard as he and the other 16 News members worked back then, 16 News has an even better chance today of getting out there, with all the new technology and the vast social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

“Just like now, how I am on the news and people stop me, it was like that on campus. It was a lot of fun. I think now with all the technology, you really have the opportunity to create a huge buzz and make the show popular,” he said.

Though WMJF-TV is not as acknowledged today on campus as it was back then, Champion said the students working there now should take full advantage of it.

“Not all colleges have a TV station and it’s a golden opportunity for all of you. The effort you put in now will greatly determine if you have a job by the time you graduate or not. WMJF has all the resources you need to put together a great product. Think outside the box and do what the real guys, other TV stations in Baltimore, are doing. Look at them for guidance. The sooner you learn what it’s like to work at a TV station the better off you will be,” Champion said.