Landon Miller’s Early Road to TV News
For someone who wakes up at 2:24 every morning, he sure does have a lot of personality. Landon Miller, KTVN Channel 2 News reporter, is out the door for work by 3 a.m. every day and manages to bring a positive energy to the Reno newscast on weekday mornings. Miller is 22 and 6’7”, but his impressive height isn’t what attracts his viewers. Miller pursues an honest, relatable TV news personality.
“Ultimately, you’re a product on air and you have to be as positive as you can, but at the same time you need to be as real as you can too,” Miller said. “Be a human. Be a person.”
Miller has been starting his morning off with Channel 2 News since he was a kid. Miller enjoyed watching the news to be informed but also became interested in pursuing it as a career. Even when his peers in elementary school thought he was “lame” for watching news, he wasn’t affected.
As a student at Wooster High School, he had an internship with Channel 2 for six months, but at just 17 years old, he wanted more than just the behind-the-scenes experience. He was eager to be on the air.
One year later, on a snowy morning in February, Miller went in for an interview at News Talk 780 KOH, the job that would shape his career. After a successful interview with program director Dan Mason, Miller received a call a couple days later offering him the job. It was a moment he would never forget.
“It was the happiest moment of my life,” Miller said.
At KOH radio, Miller began doing newscasts on the hour from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Saturday nights. Working on air at a time there are fewer listeners gave him the opportunity to improve by making mistakes here and there. When Miller started getting better at the job, he began taking on more jobs such as reporting traffic and anchoring for the morning radio.
Miller gained a lot of experience in his three years working for radio. While at News Talk 780 KOH, he learned how to make phone calls, how to be on deadline, how to produce a newscast, and write short and effective stories- jobs that prepared him for the TV world.
“Those are a lot of valuable skills that I think you learn in radio that just make you a better TV journalist,” Miller said.
Even a year before he graduated with a degree in journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, Miller was able to take the next step in his career and pursue live, on-camera broadcasting. Miller was hired to work at Channel 2 News, the newscast he grew up watching.
Quitting KOH radio station was one of the hardest things Miller has ever had to do. But mostly, it was leaving Dan Mason, his boss who gave him a shot at 17 years old, that was the hardest part. Miller could never forget about the man who took a chance on him when he was so young and still continues to visit Mason regularly.
Now that Miller has settled into his position as Channel 2’s morning reporter, he is realizing that there is a significant difference between news and journalism. If Miller were to continue pursuing his career in journalism, his ultimate goal would be to work for a national news station and get the chance to be a “real journalist.”
Miller believes that “real journalism” is being able to go more in depth, make a change in someone’s life, and do work for the better. It also involves people putting their trust in the reporter to tell a story and give it justice.
“When people put that trust in you, then that’s when you know that one, this is real journalism, and two, you’re doing a service for the community,” Miller explained.
Miller is beginning to look at the bigger picture. Knowing he cannot afford to continue living off of a reporter’s salary, he is looking towards the future. If he does not end up working for national news, he would like to become a teacher. He is interested in the option of teaching English, history, or social science at a middle school or high school as something to fall back on.
“In the classroom, you can make a really big impact on kids’ lives, if you do it the right way, which is definitely a cool thing,” Miller said.
His skills as a TV news reporter would be anything but a waste if he decides to be a teacher. His confidence and energy on TV would play just as big a role in a classroom setting.
“You have to be something that people want to watch and learn from because ultimately, you’re teaching the community each and every day what’s happening,” Miller said.
With Miller’s passion, he has no problem doing just that.
