By Zedrick Williams
Pat Welter’s plan to success eventually led him to journalism in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, but covering news was not his only original focus.
“My other love in life was comedy, movies,” Welter said.
He also took marketing classes. He said he was very unsure what he wanted to do and basically was trying out everything.
After he graduated from college, he started to ask himself: “What am I going to do with my life?”
He ended up falling back in love with sports, moved back home and applied to Emerson College’s journalism program.
Journalism gave him the chance to do everything he wanted to do, Welter said, such as making people laugh and being on TV.
Welter covered teams and events such as the New England Patriots, Boston football teams, and the Super Bowl. He even interviewed Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski, which he said was one of his favorite interviews throughout his career.
He built enough experience to make a resume and a demo tape. He landed a job at the Tampa Tribute making videos for its website.
Then, he was ready for the next step: to be on TV.
He sent his tapes and recordings to news stations after living in Tampa for a year. He received an
email from a station in Johnstown that offered him a sports anchor position.
Welter got his chance to be himself on TV and to make people laugh.
He now works in Central Flori- da for the Spectrum Sports News Station.
“I always wanted to entertain and make things,” he told The Scribe.
He said it is very humbling to see where he came from. At one point, he was editing his own work just covering high school football.
“Everybody wants to start on ESPN,” Welter said. Instead, he advised that it is good to learn it by yourself and to know how to edit your own work because you know how you will like your work done and viewed. He is now a four-time Emmy Award-winning local news journalist.
His life was also affected by
COVID-19 just like everyone. It
was scary for him in the beginning,
he said. His wife was pregnant
with their son who was due at the
beginning of the pandemic when
everything was changing.
It also changed his work. Welter said he was “trying to adapt going back to work,” having to get used to everything virtually while trying to take care of his family. At the same time, all the daycares were shut down.
He had to change his work schedule to be able to watch the kids,
and his wife transitioned to virtual teaching for her job. His whole past year was trying to keep it on track, keeping his family healthy and enjoying his work at the same time.