Senior Hosts Quiz Bowl for KCAU
Las Vegas native, Guy Tannenbaum, has covered a national baseball tournament, earthquake, and now the Quiz Bowl TV series through his pursuit of a degree in digital media.
Buena Vista University senior Guy Tannenbaum has anchored, produced, and directed newscasts during his time as a digital media major on the Storm Lake campus.
He’s traveled to the NCAA Division III National Baseball Tournament to broadcast the games of a team upon which he participated. He even has an American Rivers Conference Tournament championship ring, representing the title the Beavers earned in 2019. Tannenbaum called the A-R-C title contest for KBVU, describing key plays made by players he practiced with and against for two seasons.
Tannenbaum, a native of Las Vegas, spent last summer working as an intern at KLAS-TV in his home city, experiencing a range of emotions in one day while going from working on a story involving a Route 91 shooting survivor to reporting on an earthquake.
The array of media work continues this semester as Tannenbaum hosts Quiz Bowl, a series of high school academic competitions set and recorded at BVTV Studios. Twelve shows featuring the tournament competition will be aired on KCAU, the Sioux City ABC affiliate, starting on April 18 and running through July 4.
"Guy is doing a great job hosting Quiz Bowl. His professional approach showcases his dedication and passion for being a part of the media industry."
Jerry Johnson, Assistant Professor of Digital Media
Actually, Tannenbaum comes by this work honestly. He’s seen his father host Varsity Quiz, the southern Nevada version of Quiz Bowl for years. Nathan Tannenbaum is a longtime media personality in Las Vegas.
“I’ve seen my dad host Varsity Quiz for years,” Guy Tannenbaum says. “It’s beyond cool to do something similar to what my dad does, and awesome to have the opportunity to do it while I’m in college.
“What this opportunity provides is a chance to try something that’s a little different than newscasting, broadcasting sports, writing, or producing,” says Tannenbaum, the BVTV news director who served as technical director for some of the 2019 Quiz Bowl series at BVTV. “I’m bringing my own style to my position as host while doing all I can to provide the students, the viewers, our crew, and myself the best experience possible.”
“Guy is doing a great job hosting Quiz Bowl. His professional approach showcases his dedication and passion for being a part of the media industry,” says Jerry Johnson, BVU Assistant Professor of Digital Media. “BVU is the perfect place for Guy because we encourage collaboration to complement a range of opportunities and experiences. Guy’s entrepreneurial spirit has already taken him places, literally and figuratively. Quiz Bowl is but another example of how students like Guy can excel when presented diverse projects and productions.”
Tannenbaum won’t limit his broadcast work solely to hosting the popular Quiz Bowl competition, however. In between calling the action in suitcoat-and-tie, he’ll be found taking classes and reporting to the baseball and softball diamonds as the Beavers do battle in the American Rivers Conference. He aims to call 90 percent of BVU baseball’s conference games this season, both home and road contests.
“I love calling baseball. It’s definitely my favorite to broadcast,” says Tannenbaum, an avid Los Angeles Dodgers fan who has grown up following Dodgers announcers Vin Scully and Joe Davis.
At the conclusion of this academic year, Tannenbaum heads east to begin work as an intern at CBS News in New York City, an experience funded by BVU benefactors via the J. Leslie Rollins Fellowship. Come fall, Tannenbaum hopes to serve as an intern through the prestigious Washington Center for Internships & Academic Seminars, an entity that currently sees five BVU students living and working in Washington, D.C.
“Working with NPR or a TV network based in Washington would be incredible,” he says.
The experience would allow Tannenbaum to complete his academic requirements in December 2020. He says he’ll wait until May 2021 to proceed through the BVU Victory Arch for the Commencement ceremony. That is, if he isn’t working to cover the proceedings!