Channel One News Anchor Visits Riverview High School

The name Steven Fabian might not ring a bell for many adults—at least not yet.

But when the morning bell rings, more than 6 million high school students wait to see his face when they tune in to Channel One News, a 12-minute news program for teens broadcast via satellite to thousands of high schools across the country.

For some students at in —one of those schools—Fabian became more than just a face on television last week. He visited the school to talk to business education teacher Patsy Kvortek’s Sports and Entertainment Management/Marketing classes about career choices and his own path to success.

Fabian, who grew up in , has been a news anchor and reporter on the Channel One News team for the last three years. The job has taken him from interviewing rodeo riders to following the rise of neo-Nazi groups in Germany.

He has interviewed pro skateboarder Tony Hawk, comedian Will Arnett and actors Woody Harrelson and Laura Linney. In the year leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics, Fabian had the privilege of telling the stories of many athletes, including gold-medal Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno. Then, he traveled to Vancouver for 24 days to cover the events.

“The Olympics were awesome,” he said.

Fabian graduated from Plum Senior High School in 2002 and continued his studies at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, finishing his degree in three-and-a-half years. His interest in television began at Plum, where he was “always fooling around with a video camera.” He did the morning announcements and learned how to edit video.

“Plum had a great TV program,” he said. “I knew from day one that’s what I wanted to do.”

Ironically, Plum High didn’t offer Channel One News when Fabian went there.

Although Allegheny isn’t a journalism school, Fabian said he made good use of the college’s resources—radio, TV and newspaper—with the thought that would help, especially because there is "no set blueprint" for entering broadcast journalism.

“If you want to be a doctor, you go to med school,” he told the students. “Don’t feel it’s beneath you to take a job in a restaurant, though.”

He did that after college, along with bartending in Philadelphia, selling in a baby store and becoming the announcer for the Philadelphia KiXX, a pro soccer team. He did some part-time, low pay/no pay jobs that he thought could help him take the next step but had nothing to show for it.

Where’s my job?” Fabian said he asked himself. “Once I realized I had to make my own way…that’s when things started to pick up.”

So he took a chance, and sent a photo and reel featuring clips about nightlife to Channel One.

“They thought I had potential,” he said, remembering how he had a few short days to write, produce and edit some pieces to prove his talent.

Soon after, he found himself working in the NBC studios at “30 Rock”—Rockefeller Center, not the show—in New York City. NBC partnered with Channel One until a few years ago when the show ended up with CBS as a partner instead. Though many in his field have master’s degrees in journalism, Fabian came with basic skill sets that got him in the door.

“I do things differently than the rest of the gang,” he said.

During the week, a daily 10:30 a.m. meeting includes story pitches and getting assignments. Two or three of his segments end up on the air each week, and he spends some weeks on the road doing interviews. Because the show airs only during the school year, the Channel One team spends summers doing “evergreen” stories—those that are not dated and can air anytime.

“Everyone has a hand in the show every day,” Fabian said.

Because the show is taped, sometimes they have to work on different versions of a story. For instance, for the NCAA basketball championships, they had to do two separate segments so they’d have the winner, no matter the score. When news changes suddenly, he sometimes has to return to work in the evening to redo the segment.

He asked the Riverview students what parts of the show they like best. Among the favorites, they said, are the “Weekend Rap” and “Next Big Thing” features.

Though Fabian’s comfortable interviewing others in front of the camera, he found himself nervous about being interviewed live on CBS’ “The Early Show” about an education study.

Fabian and his agent are keeping their eyes open for the next career step. Both Anderson Cooper, host of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360°, and Maria Menounos, a correspondent for NBC’s “Today” and “Access Hollywood,” launched their successful careers after stints on Channel One News. And Fabian wouldn’t mind following their paths.

“I do some work for ‘The Early Show’ now and then,” he said, adding that he’d “love” working on one of the morning shows.

But his dream job would be doing something “weird and totally cool” like the Discovery Channel's “Dirty Jobs.”

Over the last few days, he was in town to celebrate the first birthday of his niece, Devin, who lives in Peters Township. Now a New York City resident, Fabian welcomes the chance to come home whenever he can. He told the classes to send him story ideas for the Pittsburgh area.

“That’s a free trip home for me,” he said.

Fabian felt at home speaking to students in the school where his father, Bob Lisowski, taught in the business department for 33 years. And he admitted that, yes, he often wears a Plum shirt while taping sports and outdoor assignments.

“I get it in when I run around,” he said.

Kvortek, a Plum resident who has known Fabian since he was a child, joked that she’d also seen him sneak in another symbol of Pittsburgh.

“I always call your dad and say I saw Steelers gloves,” Kvortek told him.

As the talk concluded, Fabian grabbed a camera and gave Riverview students a chance to be in front of the lens. Patrick Garibay and Brandon Wilhelm gave the introduction for their school—after a few nervous takes that make their classmates and themselves laugh—then gestured toward the students, who had their pointer fingers raised high. Then everyone yelled out: “And Channel One News starts right now.”

The segment aired on Monday morning's show.