From Anchor to Banker

FromANCHOR TOBANKER

For the past 18 years, CU alum Monte Brown earned a reputation as a valued, accurate and unbiased source of news, thanks to his position as a reporter and ultimately anchorman at KSWO-TV. It was a career that grabbed his attention early on.

“My fascination with TV news started as a young child,” Monte says. “I remember watching newscasts every day with my grandmother in Bristow. I was drawn to watching local events unfolding live on camera. The reporters and anchors had an opportunity to tell visual stories about amazing people and places.”

After high school, he found work in a corporate call center and did some freelance work for a music website and a monthly entertainment magazine in Tulsa.

“It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had a passion for reporting,” he explains. “I knew I wanted to make this my career, but had no idea how to find time for college classes and pay for them while holding down a full-time job. So I took baby steps. Six hours at night to begin with at Tulsa Community College. The next semester I took nine. Then summer classes. ”

After earning an associate's degree in journalism and mass communication, he pondered where to continue his education. Luckily, one of his professors at TCC was familiar with Cameron University, which led Monte to meet with Tony Allison, longtime chair of the CU Department of Communication.

“Tony was a great salesman for Cameron! What I remember most was his pledge that I would have endless opportunities for hands-on learning. While students at other schools would have to jockey for equipment or studio time, every student at CU had the opportunity daily. That was my biggest factor in choosing Cameron.”

He signed on as a student worker with KCCU-FM, where he reported on events at Cameron and issues important to southwest Oklahoma. By his second semester, he jumped at the opportunity to co-anchor the biweekly “Top of the Hour” newscast on CUTV.

The now-veteran newsman has fond memories of his student days. He speaks highly of the faculty members who mentored him, calling them “some of the best professors in the business.”

“Our classes were small enough to engage with them one-on-one and large enough to have some memorable group discussions. The more we cared about our work, the more our professors would be there to inspire and challenge us. Steve Adams was my go-to for radio, newswriting and anchoring/reporting, while Dr. Matt Jenkins was, and is, a master of video production. I will never be able to thank them enough for their mentorship.”

The skills Monte learned at CU led to a job at KSWO-TV in 2003, while he was still a CU student.

Monte soon learned that reporting the news often required him to interview people on what might be the worst day of their lives. on business development and lending. He decided to make the career change in order to spend more time with his family.

“My approach to reporting tragedy was to put myself in the victims’ shoes. How would I feel in their situation? Compassion and empathy should never be lost in journalism, even when the subject is contrary to the reporter’s personal beliefs. Some of my proudest moments came when those who I reported negative news about later complimented me for being fair and balanced.”

Even as an anchorman, Monte says the weight of what he was reporting took an emotional toll. One such story occurred in December 2020, when the first COVID-19 vaccines were administered to health care workers in Lawton. “You won’t find many 8-5 schedules in the news business,” he says. “Throughout my career, I watched as some of my coworkers had to miss events with their kids, not to mention daily interactions, dinner, bed time, etc.”

He says the reality of his work schedule didn’t really hit home until his own young children started going to school.

“I would kiss them goodbye in the morning but wouldn’t get to see them again until the next morning. When they played their first tee-ball games, I was only able to attend one. It suddenly became clear to me that I would begin missing these once in a lifetime opportunities at an even faster pace as the kids get older.”

Compassion and empathy should never be lost in journalism!

“Following months of reporting on the uncertainty, isolation and death toll from the pandemic, there was new hope that we had a tool to fight it,” he says. “To see those health care workers, who had been working tirelessly and putting their own safety at risk to protect others from the virus, receive some protection was very emotional for me. I hope people could hear that it my voice. Journalists and broadcasters are human, too. If they are not touched or moved sometimes by what they’re reporting, how can they connect with their audience?”

These days, you won’t find Monte behind the anchor desk talking to a camera. Instead, he has settled into his new position at Liberty National Bank as Associate Vice President, with a focus Having decided he needed to make a career change, Monte was far from certain where that change would take him.

“I had no idea how I would utilize my communication skills and community connections,” he says. “That led to a conversation with some of the leaders of Liberty National Bank. While I was certainly not their traditional candidate for commercial lending, they saw the value of the trust and relationships I’ve built with the people of southwest Oklahoma. Not only will I be able to help families and businesses grow, my new role will also allow me to be more involved in the community. I’ll be able to take part in events, rather than report on them.”

- Janet E. Williams