Alan Leventhal’s Hollywood production career began as a stage manager at Ohio University and WOUB.

Alan Leventhal knew he wanted to work in television since he was in high school in Union Township, New Jersey.

“My high school had a federally funded TV show,” Leventhal said. When it came time for me to find out about college, he told me about Ohio University’s excellent radio and TV shows. ”

Leventhal has visited various schools, but he knew he was at home when he toured Ohio University.

“A lot of the colleges I saw had inferior facilities to what I had in high school,” says Leventhal. “Ohio University and he wasn’t at WOUB.”

Radio and television majors joined WOUB as soon as possible.

“My specialty is bug people,” Leventhal said with a laugh. “In the fall of 1978, first quarter freshmen were not allowed to work at WOUB-TV. From then on, I kept popping into Bob’s office—every two weeks, if not every week—to haunt him until I began training as a stage manager in January 1979. I lived in WOUB. That was my life.”

Leventhal has worked his way up from stage manager to graphics operator to camera and audio performer. Then, before graduating, all of the production experience I gained at WOUB helped me get a freelance job working for ABC Sports.

“I was traveling every weekend with two other WOUB students, Bruce Dunn and Chip Stevenson,” said Leventhal. “We did whatever ABC Sports wanted us to do. We played college football, went on bowling tours for two years, and went from city to city every week. Yes, it wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing training I got at WOUB.”

After graduating, Leventhal did freelance work in New York City and eventually moved to Los Angeles. He has held production roles in both the entertainment and sports industries.

“I was a production assistant on ‘Full House’ and realized entertainment wasn’t for me. I loved playing sports,” said Leventhal. “I mostly work on games for my local LA team. I have also been to the Stanley Cup Finals twice and the World Series once. Yes, it was a lot of fun.”

Leventhal says that when he started working in the industry, it gave him an edge over others who had graduated from college.

“Experience is very important. First, you master these basic skills.Then, when you move to another project, the principles never change, so the learning curve is easy. It may be more intense, but the application is exactly the same,” Leventhal said. “WOUB has a great training program and one of the reasons is because of the people. The staff acted as teachers and mentors. WOUB-TV has provided us with opportunities that other schools do not offer. All that experience made our resume look very good.I can say that our success rate in business reflects the great training we got at WOUB-TV. ”