Jay Collier
- Years at WGBH: 1980-86
- Position(s): Assistant director/editor, video switcher, stage manager, studio camera, online editor, production assistant, news assistant
From Jay Collier — 2/1/2007
I started at 'GBH as a Boston University student assistant for the Ten O'Clock News and, for the next four years, I worked on the crew in the studios and in the field for most of the series and specials shot on video, including Evening at Pops (in Symphony Hall, on the Esplanade, and from the Lincoln Memorial), Elliot Norton Reviews (his last seasons),This Old House (a few early seasons), The Victory Garden, Tom Rush Live at Symphony Hall, Masterpiece Theater, Mystery!, American Playhouse, and Two Gentlemen Folk. Although I never produced or directed, I took great pride in doing the best work I could, and received a creative ethic that sustains.
In 1985, I moved into post-production, first as a news editor, then as promotion editor, where I assembled those breathless multi-program promos that aired for a couple of years before station breaks became filled with underwriting.
After leaving in 1986, I produced national promos at PBS in Alexandria, promoted local and national programs at Vermont Public Television (then ETV), and served as first executive director for an educational cable channel in Burlington, Vermont.
In 1997, I was drawn to higher education full-time, and worked at MIT, UMass, and Dartmouth in digital video and Web production. I am now Web manager at Bates College in Maine.
One of the reasons I volunteered to step up as publisher for this site is to encourage alumni from the '70s and '80s to send in news; to show how we stood on the shoulders of giants. Let's report on how that legacy lives on.