Steve Kowch, author and reporter, visits Centennial Journalism students

Kowch gets students comfortable with journalism

Radio guru visits journalism school to give advice on how to make it in media

Steve Kowch always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

Calling himself one of the only journalists to ever scrum Pope John Paul II, Kowch spoke to students at Centennial College Tuesday, about his new book, “99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Making it Big in Media.”

But it’s more than luck that puts Kowch at the front line when he covers a story. For him, it’s all about having a dream to be a reporter.

Kowch told students to do whatever it takes to chase their dreams, and emphasized the importance of a positive attitude.

“I never believed you couldn’t do it,” he told students. “I always assumed that people would speak to me…I always [went] to the scene.”

Recounting his coverage of the papal tour in Canada in the ‘80s, Kowch admitted that he would have done anything to get that interview.

“I have no shame. I’ll [even] use kids,” he said, referring to how he got close to the former pope in Yellowknife by mingling with children standing in the front row at a gathering.

He was the only reporter to clinch that interview.

The point, Kowch said, was that he didn’t ask for permission.

“If you don’t believe they’re going to talk to you, you’re absolutely right, [they won’t].”

Kowch, who has been in the media for 40 years, started at 17 as an office boy at the Montreal Star, where he told everyone there that he wanted to be a reporter. He has since been a Quebec National Assembly bureau chief with CJAD and CFRB, general manager at Standard Broadcast News, and radio program director at CFRB and CJAD. He currently teaches radio courses at Humber College and Seneca College. The courses’ popularity inspired his decision to write his book.

A positive attitude, Kowch told students, is an important quality in a good journalist.

“When you have a positive attitude it’s like Moses parting the Red Sea,” he said, adding that 75 per cent of the journalists his students might eventually encounter will be very negative.

“Attitude is the only thing you can control…Positive beats out negative every time.”

Commenting on the growing trend of multiplatform journalism, Kowch urged students to be eager to do whatever they can.

“People need to become polyvalent. You need to be able to multitask now more than ever,” he said. “Why fight it? The more that you want to do, the more valuable you are.”

Kowch was part of a downsizing at CFRB, losing his job after being there for 14 years. He reminded students that in media, “It’s not about if you’re going to get fired, it’s when. But it doesn’t mean you’re not good.”

Above all, Kowch stressed, journalism is about making a difference.

“There will be times you’re sitting in the front aisle of history and you’ve got to pinch yourself and say, ‘I can’t believe I’m here. I can’t believe they’re paying me to do all this.’ That’s when you go home at night and you say ‘Wow! What a job I have.’”