Woodbridge High School Alumni, Jonathan O’Halloran won an Emmy award for his outstanding article on Colonia High School. The article was about a greater percentage of people who have attended or worked at Colonia High School to suffer from a rare brain tumor.
When interviewed he stated that being a journalist was always his passion. He said since he was about four, he always knew he wanted to become a journalist, as he was always glued to the TV when there was a big news story. He was even a member of the Woodbridge High School Journalism class during his senior year.
O’Halloran emphasized that college was a blast, although he graduated during the COVID pandemic. He double majored in Communications and Digital Media. He did add minors though along the way, Digital Innovation- Film & Television, Media Studies, Public Relations, and Advertising.
O’Halloran was a mascot at Woodbridge High School, and he received a scholarship to Xavier, to be their mascot. He said that this was a great opportunity that developed him. He learned to think on his feet, which he believes made him a better journalist. It made him better at improvising and simply more creative.
Although he received his Emmy through at PIX 11, this was not O’Halloran’s first “real job” after college. He started out as an associate producer at WABC Radio in New York City. He joined PIX 11 about a year and some months later. Then he began to work as an anchor and reporter for iHeartRadio’s 710 WOR and the 24/7 News / NBC News Radio Network.
He said for it to be successful in the journalism world, you definitely need to know people. Marketing is a huge deal O’Halloran emphasizes in the interview.
More About the Emmy Winning Story
When asked about the Emmy Awarding article O’Halloran was a part of, he said that he became aware of the issue early due to him being a part of the Woodbridge Township community. He then pitched the idea to the higher-ups, which then led to the article.
O’Halloran was a producer for the story. Being a local made the story much easier to come about. His main role was setting up all the interviews. The section where they look back in the old yearbooks was done inside the main Woodbridge Library, right next to Woodbridge High School.
“The Emmy awards were great,” stated O’Halloran. They were held in Times Square New York. He met others. It was his first year of eligibility for the ceremony, and he was nominated in three categories and was honored with a win.
He recalled feeling relieved hearing their name get called for the awards. He tried to go into the night with no expectations of winning the award, but of course, he really wanted to win. “The story impacts and may impact way too many people I know,” said O’Halloran. He was very proud to win the awards!
