TV Personality Trades Hard Hat for Lapel Mike

In the year following graduation, Sean McAllister ’02 would grab a few hours sleep after working construction all day, then show up at 4:30 a.m. as a volunteer script writer/teleprompter operator for CBS-affiliate WROC Rochester. By 8 a.m., he’d be back on the job site. He kept that grueling schedule until a producer position opened at the station.

“I think they realized I was not going to leave until I got a job, so they hired me,” McAllister says. “I’m glad now for that first work-force experience. I learned early that if I wanted something, I had to work for it. It’s a principle that has stayed with me throughout my career.”

From his initial overnight producer position, McAllister was recruited to FOX5-TV Vegas, first as a producer of “FOX5 News This Morning” and now as executive producer and on-air personality. He launched the Emmy-nominated morning lifestyle show, “MORE” in 2006 and was given free rein over content. “At that time there were no other stations covering the entertainment scene, so in seven years, we’ve developed and grown as Las Vegas’s local entertainment station.”

“MORE” was so successful that FOX5 spawned an evening entertainment show, “MORE Access,” and tapped McAllister as executive producer and co-host.

“I’m still learning every day,” McAllister says. “Each position I have had in this career, starting with my overnight shifts as a producer at WROC-TV Rochester, has given me opportunities to grow and has helped me gain a well-rounded perspective on television broadcasting.”

McAllister values his Oswego degree and what it has meant for him professionally. “My most significant memory is my graduation,” he says. “In that moment, I knew that what I had learned at Oswego had given me what I needed to make something of myself. I left Oswego feeling confident that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.”

—Linda Loomis ’90 M’97

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