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Alumni Spotlight: Michael Young
From his early career with QUBE, the world's first interactive TV network, to his current job as president and CEO of Michael Young Media, Young has compiled quite an impressive résumé. He has been a television star, Emmy Award winner, talk show host, executive producer, entrepreneur, and pageant emcee, just to name a few, and he credits his education at Auburn for much of his success.
"As much as any one class, the whole experience of a liberal arts degree puts you in a unique position to write and produce for TV. Yes, there are technical skills needed for my profession, but it's the interconnectivity of the general knowledge base you develop that allows you to create and produce content," said Young. "Most companies teach you the specific tools of their business. What you need to have is a solid knowledge base that lets you put whatever you do in a real-life context."
Among his many television credentials is a 5-year stint as the host of the Miss Teen USA pageant that he calls "a real adrenaline rush." Young explains, "When I hosted Miss Teen USA there were only 3 networks and very little cable, so 1/3 of all TVs in America were tuned into the live telecast. I got to sing and dance in the production numbers and even wore one of Elvis' white jumpsuits in a production number done in Memphis."
And it was his pageant experience that led past presidential candidate H. Ross Perot to sponsor several USO tours for Young and Miss USA, Miss Ohio (Halle Berry, at the time), Kris Kristofferson, Anson Williams (Potsie, on Happy Days), Barry "Greg Brady" Williams, and Catherine "Daisy Duke" Bach. "These tours were a lot of work and time, and all volunteer," recalls Young, "but nothing will ever compare to the appreciative responses those audiences gave us. It made me proud to be an entertainer, and made me understand what it takes to protect what we take for granted as Americans."
A double major in Political Science and Mass Communications, Young is now giving back to the college through his service on the Dean's Advisory Council and just last year he hosted a "Media Inforum" for communications students on campus. "My thought was that students could have a dialog with people who were actually doing what they were studying…It often surprises me to discover the path that professions in the media took to get where they are -including the opportunities missed or unusual roads they tried," said Young.
When asked what advice he would give a current student, Young recalled advice given to him by a political science professor: "First, make sure you know a little something about everything. Make sure you understand and can cogently discuss almost any topic with at least the general depth covered in Newsweek or Time Magazine…Secondly, make sure you can write! And finally, learn to explain things in as few sentences as possible."