Glen Charlton ’12 (pictured above) is currently assistant director of creative and digital strategy for Georgia Tech Athletics.
Live at the Scene
Salisbury University is a place where opportunities abound and passions take off.
It’s where Steven Graves ’14 learned the value of passion and the drive to pursue it.
As a student, he was president of SU-TV, working alongside Eli Modlin ’16 (SU’s current Chief of Staff ) to revive the student-run station into something that could bring life to the campus and the many diverse voices within it. Together, they covered major events, including the implementation of traditionally Black sororities and fraternities on campus, and they highlighted the talent of the Black student body through the African Student Union and Passion for Fashion club.
As an SU student, Graves learned everything from time management to building sets, interviewing guests and reading a teleprompter. While his friends were out on Saturday nights, he was in his dorm room, writing his next story for SU-TV. That’s when he realized something important.
“For me, SU was this great place where I was able to grow a passion,” Graves said. “I got experience as an anchor while at SU and knew that was my career goal. Now, I’ve achieved it.”
Graves went on to work for CBS Chicago and is now the morning news anchor for WPBF 25 in Florida. Throughout his professional career, he has covered community pieces with the goal of highlighting positivity and giving people from all walks of life a chance to share their voice. It was something he did as an SU student, and his experiences with SU-TV showed him the value in being a person who others could look to and learn from.
“There is a lot of power in doing what we do,” Graves said. “People are just people, and they want to be heard. Even if they’re completely different from you, sometimes if they can just get a platform to share their voice, they become someone you can relate to.”
Other SU alumni who have entered TV broadcasting careers include Tyler Butler ’12, primary morning anchor of KOLD-TV in Tucson, AZ.
“SU was able to equip me with a strong foundation for my career,” Butler said. “I’m doing the work I love all because of the people I met, the skills I learned and the path I started on at SU.”
It’s Always Sunny in Baltimore
Dalencia Jenkins ’21 starts her day while most people are still in bed. She shows up to the studio at WBAL-TV11 in Baltimore, MD, and starts forecasting the weather. After a radio segment, it’s to hair and makeup, and then she’s live on air.
It’s like she was made for TV. With confidence and a smile, she delivers the weather report to the Baltimore area – an important job, where many people may depend on her to help protect their lives, property and families. When she’s not forecasting and preparing her weather hits, she gets to enjoy the glamor of TV, with segments like a Sunday brunch featuring cuisine by local chefs and welcoming pets from shelters onto the show.
It’s everything she’s wanted since she was a young girl, when she was running around taking pictures of clouds and sunsets with her Hello Kitty camera.
“Everything little Dalencia was dreaming of is right here,” she said. “I’m doing all of this for her.”
When Jenkins entered SU’s communication and geography programs, she knew her dream of broadcast meteorology was achievable. Her faculty saw that passion in her and taught her everything she needed to know, from using models to forecast local and national weather to training as an on-air talent. She honed her on-air skills with SU-TV, and her mentors helped her combine her enthusiasm for science with her love for broadcasting. Even those in SU’s Admissions Office saw her passion and helped her with public speaking as a tour guide and student speaker at campus events. During her senior internship, she learned valuable lessons on TV production from the talented crew at PAC-14.
Before she had even graduated, she was already living her dream. She had a job lined up at WBOC-TV in Salisbury, and in January 2023, she moved into her current position in Baltimore. Now she gets to see all her hard work come to fruition.
“When you tell people your passion at SU, they love it and want you to succeed,” Jenkins said. “My faculty gave me everything I needed to achieve my goal and would do anything to get me there.”
Other SU alumni have entered successful careers as meteorologists in broadcasting, including Stephanie “Stevie” Daniels, meteorologist for WMAR in Baltimore, and Eileen Whelan ’09, meteorologist for ABC7 and NewsChannel8 in Washington, DC. Mike Seidel ’79 has led a long career in meteorology, reporting on The Weather Channel and ABC’s Good Morning, America.
I loved my time at SU, and even though I live thousands of miles away, I still feel supported by my faculty there. I couldn’t have done anything like this without my time at SU. I am immensely proud to be an alumna.
– Caitlin Cleveland ’16
Tuning into Tomorrow
SU alumni can be found everywhere. All you have to do is turn on the radio.
Recent graduates Jared Watson ’22 and Luke Metrinko ’21 found their career paths in the radio industry after building their resumes and their confidence at SU.
Watson is currently the promotions producer and on-air talent for Coast Country 103.9 and 106.3. He was hired directly from his student internship at WBOC-TV, and he said SU helped him get his foot in the door.
“If SU didn’t have the faculty and resources they did to help me, my path may have been a whole lot different,” Watson said. “Getting that exposure allowed me to go in prepared for my future.”
Metrinko is a producer for SiriusXM College Sports Radio, where he creates content for Dusty and Danny, keeping listeners all over the U.S. up to date on the latest news in college sports. His behind-the-scenes expertise is what brings the show to life, as he edits audio and operates the radio board in the studio. He is also the lead producer for the Saturday morning show College Gameday Tailgate, which previews college football and basketball games for the weekend.
One of the most exciting parts of his job is that he gets to work with some of the biggest names in the industry, including people he grew up watching on TV such as Jacob Hester, EJ Manuel and Colt McCoy. “It has been a dream come true for me,” Metrinko said. “My experiences at SU allowed me to grow as a student and as a person. I left with the confidence to accomplish anything I want.”
Game On!
There’s a whole wide world of sports that SU alumni are bringing to every corner of the nation, from Boston to LA.
Stacey Lamboni ’13, senior manager for Red Sox Communications, is responsible for leading the in-house video team for the Boston Red Sox, handling everything from video and audio played through ballpark to social media.
She said her classes at SU helped her form the path to where she wanted to go for her professional career. Her faculty like Dr. David Burns helped her see the possibilities for her future and apply her skills in a hands-on, practical way.
The most exciting part of her job – even more than player interviews and drone shots – is seeing her team’s projects playing on the video board at the park in front of 35,000 people.
“It’s very gratifying to see our ideas go from storyboard to screen,” Lamboni said. “People may not think about how these things are made, but we’re grinding it out every day to bring them fresh content and creativity.”
Glen Charlton ’12 is currently assistant director of creative and digital strategy for Georgia Tech Athletics, and she previously worked for NASCAR as a producer, editor and cinematographer. Her experiences as an SU student laid a strong foundation her for a career in broadcasting. Dedicated faculty, hands-on learning opportunities like SU-TV, and the connections she made with her peers had a direct influence on her career.
“At SU, I had the opportunity to tap into the many aspects of broadcast and discover my niche within the field,” Charlton said.
SU put Caitlin Cleveland ’16 in scoring position for her future. She has led a varied career, including as the lead assistant editor for Joke Productions in Los Angeles, producer and editor for true crime podcast The First Degree, and digital video editor for the NFL Throwback team. Among the many lessons she learned at SU, she said the connections she made were important in shaping her into the person she is today.
“I loved my time at SU, and even though I live thousands of miles away, I still feel supported by my faculty there,” Cleveland said. “I couldn’t have done anything like this without my time at SU. I am immensely proud to be an alumna.”