Not all stories are told in books, magazines, and online posts. Some are told in two-minute segments on local television news. During his 14-year career at WTVR CBS 6, Greg McQuade has earned more awards for storytelling—16 Emmys, 17 regional Murrows and three national Murrows than any other reporter in town.
While the awards are nice, McQuade says nothing beats actually telling a good story.
“I enjoy the responsibility of taking our CBS 6 viewers on a journey using words and visuals, sharing with them stories they may never have heard before,” McQuade says about his passion. “I want to weave a tale together that will make the viewer sit up and pay attention during the two minutes my story is on air.”
The key to a good television news story, he notes, is finding the right person to help tell it. “I always try to find a character viewers can identify with,” McQuade says. “People relate to people. People will lose interest if you are presenting your story with just facts and figures and no one to care about.”
Over the years, the Somerville, Massachusetts, native has found plenty of interesting stories and characters in and around Richmond, but a recent story about John Mitchell, a former Richmond slave turned newspaper owner,left a lasting impact.
“Months after our story aired, relatives of Mitchell held a graveside ceremony to dedicate a new granite marker at Mitchell’s final resting place,” McQuade recalls. “During the ceremony, a niece of Mitchell’s told the crowd gathered at the cemetery that my story was one of the driving factors in erecting this permanent gravestone. I will never forget that moment. I like to think my fellow journalist, John Mitchell, is smiling somewhere.”
But the story McQuade has been most proud to tell belongs to his own family, that of the grandfather he never knew, World War II Captain William McQuade.
“I travelled across the country interviewing the soldiers who served with him, hoping to learn about the man I never had the pleasure of meeting,” McQuade said. “The story resonated with countless viewers who, I think, identified with their fathers and grandfathers who served. In fact, just last week a person in a supermarket parking lot said she enjoyed the story on my grandfather. That special report aired eight years ago. It demonstrates the lasting power of a well-told story.”