R-TV Department hires new prof

By Emily Darrell
J-School Web Reporter

Ray Fanning

After sorting through about two dozen applicants, selecting five finalists and inviting two of these to visit the UM campus, the J-School has chosen Ray Fanning to fill the open slot in the Radio-TV Department faculty left by retiring professor Bill Knowles.          

“I thought we had some really good candidates,” said Ray Ekness, chair of the R-TV Department.  “Ray just stood out as a person who would be a good fit.”  

Fanning, who has 18 years experience as a TV news producer at stations in Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho, has taught broadcast journalism for the last three years at Chicago’s Columbia College.        

“As a kid I was always interested in what was going on,” Fanning said of how he developed a desire to work in journalism. “I found the pictures [on TV news] added so much to the story, to really capture your interest and pull you in.”       

Though he likes Chicago, Fanning, an Idaho native, is glad to return to the Northwest, one factor in his decision to join the UM faculty.  When he visited the campus last month he also found he clicked well with the other members of the R-TV faculty.

"It’s widely known as a great journalism school,” Fanning said, citing a third reason.

With nearly 20 years in the news business Fanning has worked on a great number of stories, though he said there are a few highlights.

One was a news special he worked on while at KGW-TV in Portland about a group of climbers stranded on Mount Hood. Fanning said this was an exciting story, as his news station had followed it from the time of the hikers’ accident, through the crash of a rescue helicopter and the eventual rescue of the climbers.

Another favorite story was a special on water pollution in Oregon’s Willamette River.

Having covered them three times, Fanning also has a special fondness for the Olympic games.                 

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