Broadcast communications has always been Keith’s passion since he was a little boy. Keith loved to watch how news and sports broadcasts were put together. Not only would he watch the football games every Sunday, he would watch the pre and post game shows too.
Keith loved broadcasting so much he went to Butler University to study in their radio and television program.
While at Butler, Keith performed a variety of duties at the campus 48,000 kilowatt radio station. He co-hosted a half hour newscast, hosted a weekly jazz music show called a jazz experience, was the assistant music director and he worked in the continuity department writing public service announcements for the radio announcers to read on the air. That’s where Keith discovered his passion for writing.
During his senior year he got an internship at an advertising agency. He did the usual internship stuff, running errands and following the creative director around everywhere. But he also got to write a few advertisements. He wrote a print ad for an industrial manufacturer, a radio commercial for a local politician (He doesn't remember who he was or whether or not he won).
After graduating from Butler, Keith got a job at a South Bend, Indiana television station where he worked as a production assistant. Keith’s duties included operating the television camera during live newscasts, remote's and taped public service programs. He also typed in the electronic graphics for the weekday evening newscasts, operated the teleprompter and produced some of the promos for the station.
Two years later Keith moved back to Indianapolis and accepted a job as a staff copywriter at WIBC/WKLR radio. Keith wrote spots for a variety of industries including hospitals, restaurants, automobile dealerships and more.
A few years later he became the operations manager at WBRI radio. He was responsible for making sure all the taped programs were ready for broadcast on both WBRI and their sister station WXIR. This included recording programs off satellite and uploading them to the FM station’s computer automation system. He also supervised and trained the weekend board operators on how to operate the various station broadcasting and software equipment. He even took the initiative to write an operations manual for them to keep on hand when needed.
Keith was also the news director for WXIR for about a year. He wrote, produced and anchored several 90 minute newscasts each weekday. He also provided several 30 second newscasts on WBRI.
Keith also wrote, produced, voiced and dubbed commercials and public service announcements.
All of the writing that Keith had to do at the radio station made him realize that he’d like to make a living as a writer. Writing the operations manual showed Keith that he had the ability to clearly explain in writing how to operate technological equipment. His radio commercial writing skills showed that he knew how to write persuasive ad copy, but he realized that “writing to sell” requires more than good writing skills and product/market knowledge. For this reason, Keith took the intensive direct response copywriting program given by the American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI). He's also completed Steve Slaunwhite's Secrets of Writing High Performance B2B Copy and Secrets of Strategic Copywriting courses.
His zeal and knowledge for broadcasting, broadcast technology and writing drove him to his desire to write lead generation marketing copy for professional services companies.
When Keith is not writing, he enjoys reading both fiction and non fiction, watching news programs and sports on television, and spending at least three days a week at the gym exercising.
You can discover more about how I can help you on my services page, or you can contact me online or by calling me at (317) 625-8505.
