Quiet Professional Will Be Missed Around Oskaloosa
Matt Freeman (photo courtesy CRI)
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Until recently, Matt Freeman could be found quietly running the camera, and helping to report some of the biggest news in our area. Many times he was found quietly sitting at a board meeting greeting those who were also in attendance.
But today is the final day Matt Freeman will be on your local tv screen, “I’m going to anchor one last time,” Freeman says, but he’s unsure who will replace him at the anchor desk on the set for CRI.
Having been with CRI for a year and almost 3 months, he has many positive thoughts about his time in Oskaloosa and working with his colleagues at CRI.
This was his first full-time job out of college, “[CRI’s] a program that’s not only lending itself to the community, but to also some of the employees that work there,” Freeman says of the success of not only CRI, but of some past employees as well, who have moved on and advanced their careers because of the opportunity.
“Probably the main thing is the people.” Matt said that is what he will miss most about Oskaloosa. Matt grew up in Philadelphia, moved to Colorado, went to school, and then moved to Iowa for his first full-time job out of school. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but Matt says, “The people of Oskaloosa have just been extremely nice. Sometimes it’s tough cause I’m normally pointing a camera at them, or badgering them with questions, but everyone’s been extremely helpful, and if they didn’t want to be interviewed they were extremely nice about it”.
Matt is leaving Osky for Boulder, Colorado to work with Colorado University’s media department. There Matt will be doing a lot of sports related work. He will also be working on media related projects for the hospital that is located on the University campus.
Matt says he wasn’t looking for anything new in a career. “I was content with being here. An old professor of mine just got the head position at CU as the media director and said ‘Hey, we have an opening for ya. We think you’d fill it pretty well,'” But after unsuccessfully luring Matt away the first time, his old professor had another position come open a few weeks later. Matt consulted with his friends and family that live in Colorado and, after doing so, decided to make the move back to Colorado.
One of those memories Matt will take away from CRI is being able to do his profile piece that the CRI staff does every Thanksgiving. He enjoyed seeing the creative work that his co-workers would make for themselves.
He says he will miss CRI, “and it’s one of those things you never know what you had until it’s gone.”
Matt will be handing over the reins of “Oskaloosa Today” to Amy Langdon and Maureen McKamey. Matt had been the executive producer of the show since the departure of Jacob Rosdail from that position. As with many people at CRI, they spread their talents to many of the shows that are produced by the group. One Day Getaway and being a co-anchor of the CRI Weekly News are also projects he has been involved with.
I know that those of us from Osky News will miss having that quiet professionalism Matt has always brought to the table at every event we have seen him at. One of the unique things with media reporters is the respect one has for their peers. You might be competitors, but you always seem to build this friendship and a desire to learn from and help each other along the way. I only wish that I could find a way to repay the debt from all the knowledge I have gotten from Matt along the way.
