Lindenwood Magazine - Spring 2022

28 29 SPRING 2022 EDITION SPRING 2022 EDITION THE LINDENWOOD THE LINDENWOOD THE GIVING COMMUNITY THE GIVING COMMUNITY ALUMNI PROFILE As confetti fell in the Georgia Dome and the St. Louis Rams hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, a young man from Lindenwood in his mid-20’s was in the middle of the celebration. Tim Klutsarits said it was a dream to be standing on the 50- yard line at the Super Bowl with a press credential working for KMOV-TV. Klutsarits came to Lindenwood as a lightly recruited left tackle. He was thankful for the opportunity to continue to play football, see parts of the country he had never seen before, and experience all the positives that come with being a student- athlete. “It tickles me now to see where the program [Lindenwood Athletics] has gone. It’s a long way from the fledgling NAIA program it was in the mid-90s.” While Klutsarits enjoyed his student-athlete experience, he said it was the student aspect that has made him forever grateful for his Lindenwood experience. Klutsarits studied mass communications at Lindenwood and said the connections he made in the industry while learning and practicing his craft in the St. Louis market helped to position him for success professionally. He credits gifted and committed faculty members like retired Dean of Communications Jim Wilson and Professor Glen Cerny for pushing internships, networking opportunities, and helping students like him get jobs. “I had a 300-level broadcast management course, and our capstone assignment was to build a radio station in Little Rock, Arkansas. We had to think about what it needed to sound like and how to market it, and think broader than the day-to-day issues,” Klutsarits said. “There are things that Glen Cerny taught us in that class that I still use today.” After leaving KMOV the station had its sights on Klutsarits to help out in 2011 when the St. Louis Cardinals made their run to the World Series. It set up a reunion and a relaunch of a TV career. “They kind of contacted me out of the blue, sent me to Dallas and I was back as a sports producer coordinating coverage for the World Series.” Klutsarits made the transition from sports to news after the World Series that year. He became the news producer for KMOV’s 5 p.m. newscast and eventually its 6 p.m. news, helping to take the newscast from the third place in the market to the number one 6 p.m. newscast in St. Louis. When unrest erupted on the streets of Ferguson in 2014, he was serving as the executive producer at KMOV overseeing the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. broadcasts. The award winning coverage of those events led to many on the news team receiving many opportunities from around the country. For Tim that meant a move to Southwest Florida. Thanks to the networking skills he learned at Lindenwood, Klutsarits moved his family to Fort Myers, where he accepted a position as Assistant News Director at Waterman Broadcasting in 2015. He was then later promoted to News Director of NBC- 2 and ABC-7 in SWFL and currently manages over 100 people producing 19 newscasts a day weekly. “Coming out of school there was this group of broadcasters in St. Louis that were affectionately known as the ‘Lindenwood mafia,’” he said laughing. “There were a lot of Lindenwood people looking out for each other and they all had a keen interest in making sure Lindenwood people got an opportunity to get in the door.” “I want to kind of re-create that environment of Lindenwood taking care of its own in the industry,” Klutsarits said. “Today I would hire Lindenwood students no question. I’d be thrilled to get some graduates or alumni here in Southwest Florida to hopefully help launch some careers and get the help I received early in my career.” Alumni I want to kind of re-create that environment of Lindenwood taking care of its own in the industry… Today I would hire Lindenwood kids no question. I’d be thrilled to get some graduates or alumni here in Southwest Florida to hopefully help launch some careers and get the help I received early in my career. TIM KLUTSARITS TIM KLUTSARITS It tickles me now to see where the program [Lindenwood Athletics] has gone. It’s a long way from the fledgling NAIA program it was in the mid-90s.