UB Today

Alumni Profiles

• Margaret McGlynn
• John Schiumo
• Sandra Donaldson
• Daniel Sucato

John Schiumo

Television host launches first news program of its kind in the industry

Story by Mara McGinnis, BA ’97 : Photo by Douglas Levere, BA ’89

New York City television journalist John Schiumo, BA ’93, crossed the line as a reporter on September 11, 2001.

That day, the 34-year-old native New Yorker lost his objectivity. “It was a life-altering experience for me professionally and personally,” says Schiumo. “I ran for my life that day. This was happening in my city, in my backyard.”

Now host of a live, prime-time news program, The Call (the first interactive newscast and airing weeknights on NY1, Time Warner’s 24-hour news channel in New York City), Schiumo discusses the day’s top story, as determined by viewers through an online voting process, and answers their e-mails and calls on the air. “I thought of burning my press pass on the first day of the show,” jokes Schiumo.

He describes The Call as “talk radio for TV” and notes that “transit and terror” are the hottest topics. The show’s ratings have risen dramatically since it first aired in July 2005. CBS Evening News with Bob Schieffer recently launched its own segment that reports on stories e-mailed to CBS by viewers. “That just validates my idea,” says Schiumo, who has worked at NY1 for 11 years and won an Emmy in 1999 for a story on Joe DiMaggio. In November 2001, Schiumo also launched NY1’s New York Tonight program devoted to the aftermath of September 11.

Steve Paulus, senior vice president and general manager at NY1, says that The Call is uniquely suited to Schiumo’s personality. “He really does care about the subject matter and getting the viewpoints of our viewers,” says Paulus.

On Schiumo’s newsroom desk are two UB mugs. One of them, he explains, is from a group of UB students who recently came in for a studio tour as part of the UB Alumni Mentoring Program, for which Schiumo has spent years as an active participant. With less than an hour before he goes live on-air, he is completely comfortable being interviewed, monitoring his e-mail and drafting talking points for his celebrity guest, while communicating with the show’s two producers.

“Schiumo is the ‘anti-news personality,’” says Susanna Hegner, producer for The Call. “When the red light turns on, many news anchors do, too, but Schiumo is the same guy inside and out of the studio.”

Does Schiumo get nervous each night before the show airs live? “Each night, right before we air, I say the number 2,749 out loud in the control room. It’s the number of people who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11,” he says. “It reminds me that it’s just TV.”