31 Jan 2022 Life on the air

Posted at 11:51 PMh in Neighbors by

By Dwain Hebda 

A few years ago, Jordan Crisco had a firm plan in mind for life after graduating high school at Harding Academy in Searcy. The standout football player was headed to Harding University where he’d study to become a teacher like his mother and grandfather before him.

Then, a funny thing happened on the way to college. He got what he thought would be a summer job with the campus television station, a gig that altered the entire course of his future.

“There was another woman working there who was a college student at the time, and we became good friends,” Crisco said. “She told me I needed to apply to work on Harding University’s daily newscast. I applied, and I got the graphics position in the fall of 2018.”

The position itself didn’t speak to Crisco, but it was obvious a switch had been flipped in the freshman within the world of broadcasting. By the spring of 2019, another unexpected opportunity presented itself within the department. 

“The program director asked me, ‘Hey, do you want to direct? We have an opening.’ I was like, ‘I don’t. That sounds terrifying.’ She was like, ‘Great, you’re going to do it,’” Crisco recalled.

“It’s what they always preach to people who come to Harding: ‘We will throw you in the deep end, and if you sink, that’s OK, we’ll grab you back up.’ And that’s how it started.” 

Despite his fears, Crisco agreed, and the experience set the hook for the process and pace of delivering a television newscast. He’d direct for the remainder of his college career, while still majoring in history, but he sought to apply his degree on set rather than in front of the classroom. 

“I fell in love with the storytelling aspect of [broadcasting],” he said. “That’s been a constant thread through my life. I’m a fourth-generation history major, and it’s always been a major part of my life, and I have taken that love for stories and moved it into more of a breaking news style. It’s important that we all know what’s going on right now, as opposed to what happened 30, 40 years ago.”

Looking back, the college senior can recall the early life experiences that may have foreshadowed his new career ambition. As a kid, he’d spend time after school at his grandparents’ house as he waited for his mother to get off work.

“My grandad always had Fox news on,” he said with a chuckle. “I would always sit and watch Fox news at age 8, 9, 10, not really understanding what was going on, but fascinated by the colors and the words and all that.”

“When I became a director for the first time, the newscast reminded me of sitting in my grandparent’s house, watching Fox news.”

With his new academic focus has come “wildly new” professional plans, Crisco said, including video editing, directing news, and even dabbling in short films. He’s eyeing some opportunities after graduation that range from Arkansas television stations, to national cable channels to get his start. 

He’s a strong candidate for any job he applies for, given the quality of work he’s been a part of during his time at Harding, resulting in several prestigious awards. The Harding University program was recognized by the National Broadcasting Society for its live coverage of the revived Searcy Homecoming Parade and was an honorable mention for a regional Emmy for expanded coverage of the changeover of the university president.

Wherever Crisco ultimately winds up, he’s quick to praise Harding University for giving him a solid start in broadcasting from the ground up.

“Specifically talking about the communications department, we are one of the only colleges in the state, and potentially even the country, that allows freshmen to come and immediately start working on our premier projects,” he said. “I know for a fact that a lot of schools don’t allow anyone but seniors and master’s level students to work on those types of projects, whereas I had the opportunity to come in and work on ours right away. As a result, I have more experience doing that than a director in a master’s program might have. It’s been an amazing experience.”

Dwain Hebda
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