More former TV news people have joined the University of Hawaii External Affairs and University Relations department, as Dan Meisenzahl and Cliff Watson will join former KITV anchor and reporter Jodi Leong in Associate Vice President Lynne Waters’ corral.
Meisenzahl will supervise the Media Production Department, while Watson will be a senior videographer and photographer.
Meisenzahl has been a news and sports reporter and anchor at ABC affiliate KITV, a sales associate at KGMB-TV and a newscast producer at KHNL-TV, but his most recent appearances on TV — as well as radio and in print — have been as chief of communications for the state Department of Transportation, a job he started a little more than a year ago, on Jan. 31, 2011.
He had anticipated keeping the job for several years, even though the job came with oh-dark-thirty hours phone calls from the media wanting to know about this highway closure, that airport issue or the odd harbor problem. It wasn’t as brutal as working in early morning television, he said.
"The DOT has been so fantastic to me," Meisenzahl said, and he spoke glowingly of the welcome he received from his colleagues.
Nevertheless, the UH job was an offer he could not refuse, he said.
"In a lot of ways, the University of Hawaii saved me," Meisenzahl said. Working as a restaurant server and living as a surfer after high school was his norm until a friend died in a motorcycle crash and he decided he needed to change direction. The new path was initially a struggle for the older-than-his-classmates freshman until "it turned out, it was like a sanctuary. I feel like it saved me from myself, and my experience at UH was just so awesome," he said. "The opportunity to go back there and work, no way could I pass it up," he said.
The University of Hawaii Board of Regents will be briefed on the $100,000-plus hire Thursday, and "he will join the staff soon after this date," said Waters, Meisenzahl’s soon-to-be boss.
The state DOT is reviewing how best to fill the imminent vacancy, said Donalyn Dela Cruz, press secretary for Gov. Neil Abercrombie.
Waters also recently hired Watson, "one of the most experienced, respected photographers, both video and still, in Hawaii," Waters said. A former news videographer at KGMB-TV in the 1980s and later at KHNL, Watson also has served as a camera operator and production manager at PBS Hawaii and has an extensive background in news, documentary, entertainment and commercial production.
Watson will capture images and video of university events statewide that Leong and Meisenzahl will use to tell the UH system’s story, Waters said.
The team’s work will be visible online at Hawaii.edu, through local TV stations and other venues including YouTube and the university’s Vimeo channel.
"We are building a high-performance, relevant communications team to properly serve one of the state’s most important institutions critical to the economic future of the islands," said Waters, also a former TVânews anchor. "It’s an honor to have a talented enthusiastic professional such as Dan and an experienced, respected craftsman in Cliff to join our team."
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
