“And the Emmy Award goes to … Ryan Kiernan ’03!” The 英语/Communication major with
a broadcast media concentration used his MCLA degree as the springboard to a 19-year
在华盛顿特区的NBC工作.C. This fall, his hard work behind the scenes paid
off when Kiernan and his team won the 2021-2022 News & 艾美奖纪录片奖
技术成就突出. 
Kiernan and his 20-person crew won an Emmy Award for an episode of the “Today” show in which Jenna Bush Hager skydived live on camera with a member of the U.S. 军队的 黄金骑士空降队.
“My job was in the satellite truck, where two of us were taking the feeds from six different shots to make sure the crews, the audio guy, the transmission guy, and everyone else had all the feeds they needed in New York and on the ground.”
The dive was a tribute to Bush Hager’s late grandfather, former president George Bush Sr., on what would have been his 97th birthday. The live broadcast featured Jenna Bush Hager in the plane, pre-jump, as well as in the air as she spoke to the show’s co-hosts, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb. “We practiced it,” Kiernan said, “but when you’re live, there can be so many points of failure; the camera, the mic in her ear, 卫星信号.”
Originally from New Jersey, both Kiernan and his brother (Dan Kiernan ’98) attended MCLA去打冰球.
“I wanted to play at a high level,” 他说, “but I also enjoyed being at a small 学校.”
In 2019, Kiernan was inducted into the MCLA Athletic Hall of Fame. “在工作中，我喜欢 to be behind the scenes, but you typically don’t get recognition for doing a great TV transmission, so I enjoyed the recognition of the Hall of Fame induction.”
Kiernan said attending a smaller college allowed him to thrive. “知道我不是 just a number was better for my education; I could get the help I needed. 教授 Joe Ebeware and Peter Gentile made me feel comfortable moving forward in my chosen 工作领域. Having good mentors made learning exciting and enjoyable; they were 催化剂.”
At NBC, Kiernan said he started in the equipment room, which grew into a job in crew 支持和订购设备. He then began working in the microwave and satellite 卡车. Along the way, he became responsible for building the transmission pool, which is the area outside the White House set up for journalists. “我们基本上建了一个 portable newsroom, where we’d supply internet so journalists could conduct re搜索,” 他说.
“I then got into audio work in the field,” 他说. “我现在什么事都能插手 except camera; I do maintenance work, in-house work, and work at the Capitol, the 五角大楼和白宫. I’m a jack-of-all-trades and it keeps me really busy because technology changes so fast.”
Emmy win aside, Kiernan said applying at NBC was the best decision he ever made. “It doesn’t feel like working; it’s fun.”
