Generations Making a difference in the community
A local leader in communication By Dustin Melchior
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ell known throughout Lawrence County, Dr. Dave Lucas recently began taking his knowledge of the communication field into practice. “I taught communication really all my life. I started teaching at Marshall University, and then I taught at Kentucky Christian University. I have my PhD in communication,” he said. “For more than 28 years, I taught other students how to make a living doing communication and, a couple of years ago, I decided that I was going to actually do it myself.” He added that, when he saw live Internet streaming come about, he realized that was going to be the future. “I had one more chapter I wanted to write in my life,” he said. “Instead of teaching communication, I decided I was going to go out and do it.” Lucas started Dave Lucas Communication Inc. in 2015, filing all of the paperwork and completing all of the necessary procedures, although he said it took until 2016 to really take off. “I wanted to start this in order to be able to get information out to the consumer in an effective, but affordable, fashion. It’s important to get the message out in real time, without having a middle man or anyone having to edit anything,” he said. “We have seven people working for the company right now, and we’ve worked for local political candidates, U.S. Senate candidates, county commissions, organizations and agencies.” One of the first jobs of Lucas’ company was to begin live streaming the Lawrence County Commission meetings on Facebook Live, which made Lawrence County the first in Ohio to broadcast commission meetings. “That was extremely satisfying, exciting and gratifying,” Lucas said of the accomplishment. “Lawrence County was the first, the one that stared it all. It’s something that the commissioners should be very proud of for being pioneers for this practice.” Another thing that Dave Lucas Communication produces is its “All Points” program on Facebook at 6 p.m. each Thursday, in which political candidates, business leaders or others have a chance to talk about their plans or get their information out to the public. “It’s important for us to rethink the way we govern, and the public deserves to know where and how governments are doing things and spending money,” he said. “Our company can deliver that in a very effective and affordable manner.” Dave Lucas Communication Inc. has its own studio, located at 710 Park Ave., Suite 3, in Ironton, and offers sound recordings, video recordings, digital advertising work and more. Lucas also said that the company has a partnership with 98.3 WPAY in Portsmouth, and produces all of their Facebook and digital work. In addition to the communication company, Lucas is also very involved with Boy Scouts, specifically Ironton Boy Scout Troop 106, having been a scout leader for 24 years.
A supplement to
Weekend Edition | April 28-29, 2018