LIFESTYLE: Nt native burns up Atlanta

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Like the bass player in a rock band or stuntman, a TV news producer has to have a certain mindset in order to pursue a career in the background.

North Tonawanda native Bryan Leavoy has done well for himself while serving as the backbone for an Atlanta news broadcast, earning a momentary glimpse of the spotlight in the process.

Leavoy recently won a Southeast Regional Emmy Award for best news producer; he was also part of a crew that tool home a team coverage award. Having worked at Atlanta’s WSB for seven years and in the business for a decade — he spent three years at WIVB Channel 4 in Buffalo as part of that network’s “Wake Up” show — he considers his career success to be largely accidental.

“I really fell into TV news. It’s not something I ever thought of as a career, even right up until the time I started interning at Channel 4,” said Leavoy, a 1995 North Tonawanda High School graduate, via e-mail. “It makes sense now. I’ve always loved television and newspapers even as a kid. I think I started reading the Tonawanda News front to back as soon as I could read.”

That childhood passion for news led him to Indiana University, where he earned a telecommunications degree before returning to Western New York in 1999. He credits anchors such as Carol Jasen and Jacquie Walker, and especially longtime Channel 4 producer Vic Baker, for helping him to get ready for the opportunity that came up down South in 2002.

“I’m pretty lucky because most producers don’t start in a market as large as Buffalo, and even fewer make a jump to a top 10 market like Atlanta,” said Leavoy, whose parents, David and Carol Hromowyk, live in Wheatfield. “What I love most about my job is that no two days are ever the same. There’s always an unexpected story every day, and to tell a story and inform or help several hundred thousand people all at the same time is really a unique job.”

While every day is different, those days contain certain common elements. Leavoy’s job entails helping to decide what stories get covered, assigning reporters and/or cameramen to those stories, deciding that day’s lineup, assigning airtimes to the stories that hit the air and writing some of the copy that’s read by anchors. Once the show’s on, he oversees quality control, guiding the anchors through the broadcast and hitting the required commercial breaks.

In addition, Mrs. Hromowyk said that Leavoy serves as executive producer of a college football show, “Bulldogs Game Day,” the network does on Saturday mornings before University of Georgia Bulldogs football games. He also produces the network’s pregame and postgame shows that precede and follow Bulldogs broadcasts.

Leavoy, 32, has done well for himself in the South — he lives in Atlanta with his wife, Kristin — but has fond memories of back home. He’s sure to catch the Sabres when they visit Atlanta, and Leavoy has traveled to Nashville, Tenn., Tampa and Raleigh, N.C., to see Buffalo play on the road.

“It’s always home, and it definitely influenced who I am,” he said. “The education I got at NTHS, I realize now, is second to none, and living in Indiana and Georgia, I realize how good we had it and how much better our education system is in New York.”

Despite living behind the scenes to such an extent that he is only mentioned twice on WSB’s Web site (and his first name is misspelled one of those times), Leavoy wouldn’t consider anything that might bring him more attention.

“It’s really about as close to professional sports as you can get in a desk job — news teams racing to beat each other, celebrity personalities, and then after every show you get a final score with the Neilsen ratings,” he said of his profession. “I love it.”

Contact Paul Laneat 693-1000, ext. 116.