Alum
Stephen Lucas
Retired director of “NBC Nightly News”
Stephen Lucas, BA’80, discusses his career spanning from Louisville to St. Louis to New York.
"My guidance counselor came up to me one day and said, ‘Steve, the University of Kentucky, they’re looking to do an internship in Louisville. They’re only picking two candidates, and we’d like for you to apply.’ Long story short, I was selected. Senior year, I’m looking for a job. I called the station in Louisville and asked if they had any openings. He said, ‘Can you start in two weeks?’
The director took me under his wing. He let me direct some shows he didn’t want to direct. A TV station in Terre Haute that he used to work for called him and said, ‘We’re looking for a director, do you know anyone?’ He said, ‘Yeah, Steve, he’d be perfect for you.’ Everybody was saying ‘you’re crazy’ cause Louisville was like top 50 market and Terre Haute was like 192nd market. I said, ‘I have to get the title of director.’
So I went to Terre Haute. The station was literally in the middle of a cornfield. I’m thinking, ‘I need the title, I need the title.’ So I stayed there for 10 long months, worked my butt off, worked every shift. From there, another friend called and said, 'There’s a job in Nashville,' so I went there. Then I got another offer in St. Louis. Then I found another job in Cleveland. As I was doing all that, my wife calls and says, ‘There’s a job ad looking for a director in Boston.’ I showed them my reels and the pilot I put together, and they said, 'We want you to come to Boston.' So I moved to Boston and worked my way up to senior director.
I got a chance to make it to New York. They were looking for a director at the NBC affiliate to work the early morning shift two days a week on the weekend. I’m in Boston, senior director, full-time job, and I have a family now. Everyone is like, ‘Are you crazy?’ But this is the market I want to be in, so I loaded up the family, moved to New York. Within six months, they hired me full time.
My whole thing is you have to believe in yourself. When I first started in the business, people were like, ‘Do you know how many people want to get into the TV business?’ But I said, ‘Somebody’s doing it. Why not me?’"
Written By Kara Williams
Photos By Izzy Myszak