When former student Dana Lewis first walked into the XFM newsroom, he said it was like a trip down memory lane.
What a trip it must have been for him- forty years ago, Lewis was part of the very first news team at XFM, and one of the first students enrolled in Fanshawe College’s broadcast journalism program. He has returned to the College to enjoy the celebration of the program.
He says he can remember feeling very overwhelmed at the start, and there was a time early on where he didn’t think he would even make it through the first semester.
Dana Lewis (left) and program head Jim Van Horne
“Warren said, ‘I was going to kick you out Lewis, you were pretty close to being kicked out’.”
Its a good thing he didn’t get kicked out, Lewis has worked as anchor of CTV national news, NBC Nightly News. A large portion of his career as a foreign correspondent in Russia, London, England and Turkey. He has also spent much time in war zones in the Middle East, helping to cover things like the Gulf War and the war in Iraq.
“I’ve been shelled, shot at, almost taken hostage several times, come under fire many times, been in invasion situations with the 101st Airborne when they moved into Iraq.”
Despite the fact that his career in journalism has taken him far, he will always attribute XFM for the foundation he has used to create his own success, and hopes for that same success on anyone else that enters the program.
“I hope that the next inventor of something better than Facebook comes from Fanshawe College, and is in that classroom I get to talk to.”
XFM celebrates with a ceremony and lunch featuring past alumni this Saturday.
