Wake-Up Call
John Green, A.B. '90, is the producer whose phone rings in the middle of the night when a disaster strikes. Hurricanes. Earthquakes. When word spread of Princess Diana's death, it was Green who took the next flight to Paris.
As a supervising producer at Good Morning America (GMA), Green is the on-site manager; the person who makes sure the crews, cameras, and editorial information are ready by air time. His job has taken him to every state and around the world—numerous times. He's arranged interviews with world dignitaries and international stars. Still, his favorite stories to produce are those that involve real people, because they have the power to change lives.
One of the most powerful stories he has produced involved a Wisconsin mother battling stage IV breast cancer. Pregnant at the time, the woman opted to wait until the baby was born to undergo treatment. But waiting meant that her only option would be an experimental therapy that her HMO refused to cover despite the fact doctors said it would save her life. The clincher, though, was that if she had lived 10 miles away in Illinois, the state would have mandated coverage.
The public responded with offers of help and money. In the end, the woman got treatment and beat the cancer.
"Reporting those kinds of stories makes you feel that you're doing the right thing," he says.
Green has been on the GMA staff for seven years now. It was talent—and a bit of perseverance—that landed him the job. After graduating from WU, Green pursued his master's in international communications at Boston University. He was working at ABC's Boston affiliate when he began campaigning for a job at GMA. Every six or seven months he would send a letter and tape highlighting his recent work; executives took notice and hired him. Several times, his GMA job has taken him home to St. Louis, where he graduated from John Burroughs High. Most recently, he was the supervising producer for the 2000 presidential debate held at Washington University.
"Going back for that was fun," he says.
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http://magazine.wustl.edu/Spring01/ABCAffiliates.html
Washington U, St. Louis
LOL. That sounds like they hired him just to get him to stop bugging them.