Experience on state-of-the-art equipment at WOUB helped launch successful business

Charlie and Becky Kendall

Charlie Kendall ran a successful production company in Herndon, Virginia for nearly three decades and says Moon Bounce Media was successful because of the experience he gained at WOUB Public Media at ��ý.

“I was doing freelance work early in my career and looking to network and market myself in the search for more work. I met a person who was running the audio and visual department for The Gannett Corporation. He told me they had an amazing edit system there called the Sony BVE 900 editor and that he didn’t t have anyone who knew how to use it. I told him that I did,” said Kendall. “I had worked on a BVE 900 editor at WOUB. WOUB installed one while I was a student, and I used every opportunity possible to learn it. Back then, it was state of the art. I told him I could do his match frame edits on the Sony BVE 900 based on my experience at WOUB. He asked me to come in the next day, and that client became my best client for the next four years.”

Kendall started working at WOUB as a student when he came to ��ý to study radio and television from Potomac, Maryland in 1985.

“The career center in my high school had a catalog that evaluated and ranked the top universities for radio and TV programs. Of the 15 to 20 that it ranked, I focused on the schools that were within eight hours of my home. ��ý ended up being one of those few that made the selection criteria,” said Kendall. “My dad and I went to visit. I loved the town. I loved the campus. And I really loved what I saw going on at WOUB.”

Gaining real-world experience as an OHIO student

Kendall knew he wanted to get involved at WOUB as soon as possible. He started volunteering on the production and engineering teams.

“I got in and got myself busy,” said Kendall. “I worked on WOUB TV’s NewsWatch, worked weekend shifts in the engineering department, and shot news stories for the NewsWatch reporters.”

Gaining that varied experience eventually landed Kendall a position as the primary videographer for the remote segments on WOUB’s Forum TV show.

“And those experiences led to a professor, Don Flournoy, who received grant money to work on documentaries in Indonesia, asking me if I’d be interested in traveling to Indonesia for two summers to work on documentary projects,” said Kendall. “There were times that we stayed in nice hotels. There were times we were sleeping on the beaches of South Sulawesi, living off coconuts and rice. We were in remote areas with no electricity and no running water. But it was an amazing experience that I could share when I was applying for a job after graduation. We solved problems and figured out how to get stuff done. That opportunity came from having experience at WOUB.”

After graduation in 1989, Kendall worked for a small production company in Washington D.C. He was a jack of all trades, doing everything that was asked and learning a lot. But after two years, he decided to branch out on his own and do freelance work and the rest was history.

“I built a production company that was eventually doing multicamera event coverage for corporations, associations, medical education, and statewide political debates for broadcast TV. We did a lot of live event coverage,” said Kendall. “A couple of years ago, I sold the business to one of my employees who is still running it, and it is still very successful.”

In addition to the production business, Kendall also was an entrepreneur in the video production equipment industry. He created a product called the Spider Pod, which is a portable, sturdy tripod riser and standing platform that production crews use to elevate themselves above a crowd. Kendall has five US Patents related to the invention.

Business classes at OHIO were very important for Kendall

“I would encourage students to also take classes outside of communication while they are at ��ý,” said Kendall. “My father encouraged me to take some business classes, and they were extremely helpful with running my businesses. In addition to my degree in communications, I obtained a minor in business at ��ý and eventually received an MBA from George Washington University.”

While Kendall credits the start of his successful career to WOUB, he can also credit WOUB with the start of another important part of his life. Kendall met his wife, Becky, while working at WOUB. They have three children and two grandchildren. He says the relationships, friendships and experiences he gained at WOUB have been crucial to his success.

“The relationships you make with people while you are at WOUB can be long-lasting. Value those relationships that you make today because there’s a good chance you will be embracing those later in your career,” said Kendall. “The relationship with one of our biggest clients, BMW, came from another ��ý alumni who hired us.”

“The experiential learning at WOUB is critical because in our industry you must work with people as a team and you are doing that every single night on NewsWatch at WOUB,” Kendall said. “You are learning on equipment at WOUB that is state of the art. Even though the equipment you use will eventually change, you are learning the principles of what makes great TV or great radio and how to communicate. All of those principles are the foundation of our industry, and you will apply them throughout your career.”

You can learn more about opportunities available to OHIO students at WOUB Public Media here.

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