#SenecaProud

Pat Perdue (00:00):

Hey, I'm Pat Perdue, and I'd like to welcome you to season five of the SenecaProud Podcast.

(00:05) 

So much change. And now we're post pandemic. Are we though? Kind of?Maybe? <laugh>? What's absolutely true is that the last few years have seen dramatic changes at Seneca College as well. The massive scope of the Au Large project, which has been underway for a few years now, has been transforming Seneca into a college that embraces the highest standards of equity, diversity, and inclusion, as well as sustainability and flexibility. And this entire initiative is to ensure Seneca College is ready for the demands of the future. And with the popularity of AI and other new technologies, the future is becoming the present really quickly. And Senecans are leading the way in this brave new world, which brings us to season five.

(00:54) 

In this season, like all of our seasons, we have some amazing guests who are putting their Seneca one skills to work and are making a real splash in their career and in the world. Our guests join the pod to talk about their careers today, their experiences at Seneca and their future in this brave new kind of post pandemic. Yeah, everything's normal now, <laugh> kind of world. So stick around because the next episode of Seneca Proud starts now.

(01:24) 

And welcome to another episode of the Seneca Proud Podcast. I'm Pat Perdue, and I'm really glad you are here. So there are a lot of careers that Seneca College can prepare you for. Students in the Broadcast Journalism program at Seneca are preparing for a career in TV or radio news reporting. But what does that career really look like? Is it all glamor, interviewing movers and shakers, traveling to exotic locales, reporting on world changing events? Sure, it might be some of that, but it's also a lot of really hard work telling complex stories in ways that are understandable and doing it all on a very tight deadline. And if you are our guest in today's show, Queens Park Bureau Chief Colin D'Mello, it's about being an important part of our democracy by holding Ontario politicians accountable to their promises. But how do you get from Seneca grad to Queens Park Bureau Chief?

(02:26) 

We get into it. And spoiler alert, a big part of that is being focused and super determined. And that brings us to our guest today, Seneca Graduate, and Queens Park Bureau Chief for Global News. Colin D'Melllo.

(02:41) 

Okay, so let me tell you about Collin. Colin D'Melllo is one of Ontario's most prominent political journalists. As I mentioned, Colin is the Queens Park Bureau chief for Global News. After graduating from the broadcast journalism program at Seneca College, Colin began his career as a radio reporter in Moncton, New Brunswick. Before returning to Ontario, he helped launch 1310 News in Ottawa and later reported for 680 news in Toronto. In 2011, Colin moved to television broadcasting, beginning a long run at CTV News, where he most recently served as their Queens Park Bureau chief. For the last few years, he has also held the role of president of the Queens Park Press Gallery, advocating for journalists and helping to manage the relationship between newsrooms in Ontario and the provincial legislature. In addition to his Queens Park Bureau chief duties, Colin also currently works as a guest lecturer at Toronto Metropolitan University and is married and has two children. So as you will hear, Colin is one busy person, which is why I was especially glad to be able to have him on the show today. We begin with Colin walking us through what a day in the life of a Queen's Park Bureau Chief looks like, and then we move on to his career trajectory. And Colin shares some of the secrets to his success as a broadcast journalist. This is a master's class in how to succeed as a broadcast journalist in Canada. Okay, this is Seneca College graduate and Global News, Queens Park Bureau Chief Colin D'Mello.

(04:17) 

Queens Park Bureau Chief. That is a fancy sounding title. Can you walk me through a day in the life of the Queens Park Bureau Chief at Global News?

 

Colin D'Mello (04:29):

Yeah, It, it tends to be a 24/7 job, and that's because you kind of almost always have to have eyes and ears open to make sure that you're, you know, listening to the latest information, whether it's, you know, what my other colleagues at Queens Park might be publishing or doing their own reporting to, you know, what a source might be saying to, you know, what other information I can glean sometimes from social media as well, because a lot of people will reach out to us on social media. So a typical day when the legislature is in session, a typical day is, you know, <laugh>, I gotta get my kids off first and foremost to school and then fight Toronto traffic to get all the way down to Queens Park. But a lot of times,

 

Pat Perdue (05:06):

So like, three hours later, you're in Queens Park.

 

Colin D'Mello (05:07):

Yeah, that's, you know, that's exactly it. We wake up at about six o'clock in the morning, and I could only get to Queens Park as early as nine thirty in the morning. But really, you know, the work starts right at the beginning, right? Because we start reading articles, and thinking about what stories we're gonna be able to cover. There are some days when the story is, you know, quite evident, right? The Premier might be announcing something, or there might be some kind of front burner issue that is really captivating a lot of people, whether it's education or, uh, union strife with the Ford government, uh, you know, could be the healthcare system as an example. There are some days where the news is quite evident and you know exactly what it's gonna be. There are other days where you have to really start to think about, okay, well, you know, there isn't a natural story today, so I've gotta start putting pieces together to figure out what story or what story I'm gonna tell viewers at six o'clock tonight.

(06:01) 

So all of that thinking really starts to begin in the morning with reading other articles, paying attention to Newstalk Radio, paying attention to CP24, as an example, just, you know, opening up my input so that there's a lot of information that's coming in. Taking a look at what the schedule is of the day, how many news conferences could there be? Is there one from the NDP, the Liberals, the Greens, is there one from a cabinet minister? And, and then you also have to determine, okay, well, this Cabinet minister might be announcing, you know, something to do with one policy that relates to their file, but maybe I have a question that has something to do with another file that I might be working on. So, as an example, if the Minister of Health is holding a news conference, am I asking them about, you know, whatever funding, they're announcing today, or do I wanna ask them about something else?

(06:46) 

So all of that, you know, thought process really begins in the morning. Here at Global, at about 10 o'clock every day we have a story meeting with the managers and the rest of our colleagues, and that gives us a dashboard view of what's happening over the course of the day. That's really the early semblance of the newscast later on, just to kind of put all the pieces together. So I'll inform our team of what kind of stories we might be working on, what elements we might have, and then what resources we might need. Do I need one camera person? Do I need two? What kind of elements do I need to kind of put all of that together? And then we come to Queens Park so that this all happens before the day at Queens Park actually begins. And really, this is where we get to interact with the politicians of all stripes.

(07:30) 

So at 10:30 every day, there's something called question period. That's where the NDP, the liberals and the Green Party get to ask questions of the Ford government. And it's important for us to pay attention to this because A: you just never know what's going to be said. Sometimes somebody might say something that gets under the Premiers skin and he'll come up and say something that you go, oh, well, that was quite incendiary. That could be, you know, part and parcel of a story that we might do. The premier might say something that might end up becoming a story in and of itself. We've certainly had no shortage of those moments. Or in some cases, there might be a question asked about, you know, what's our backlog of surgeries in Ontario, as an example? And the Minister of Health might stand up and give you a true number, like an actual realtime number, and we might be able to fashion a story out of that.

(08:20) 

So you are always kind of paying attention to what is being said so that you can use that for the day's news or for another story for another day. Then we have something unique at Queens Park. It's called Scrums. So after question period; which typically lasts about an hour, we have our opportunity for the media to ask questions of government ministers. Now, when the Liberals were in power, it was a free for all ministers would come out of the legislature, and we could kind of scrum them. Literally, we'd form a semi-circle around a Minister; cameras, lights, microphones, reporters, everyone kind hops in, and we all ask, uh, pepper them with a bunch of questions on their file. So if it's the Minister of Finance, you know, we could ask, Hey, when's the money for the city of Toronto coming? So that they know that they can kind of craft their budget. If it's the minister of the environment, right? Hey, what are you doing with this particular file to do with climate change? So the Liberals were a little bit more lax with their relationship with us in terms of, they allowed us to pepper a bunch of ministers with questions on any given day. The progressive Conservatives, unfortunately, are a little bit more tighter with that.They only will allow us to interview one cabinet minister, sometimes none. Sometimes it might be two on any given day. And so we kind of have to chase these ministers through the halls of Queens Park. But that is really where rubber meets the road of accountability, right? That's where we get to go to the ministers and say, what specifically are you doing on this file? Why haven't you done enough? You know, and really press them and really make them feel uncomfortable. Box them in to make sure that, you know, we are holding them accountable so that you know, what they say during election time, as an example, is really being borne out in their policies.

(10:03) 

And then after that, I take a look at all of my elements, right? All of these inputs that have had throughout the day, what information I have, what interview clips I have, and then I'll fashion a story. I will conceptualize the story, I write the story, I pick the clips for the story, and I edit the story all on my own. That's all me. So the product you see on Global News at 5:30 and 6:00, that's a reflection of what I've done over the course of the day, in conjunction with our team, of course, who will kind of take a look at the script, give it a second glance to make sure that there are no minor errors that sometimes we might make. And then it, you know, the story goes to air. And then my, the expectation for me is to go live on air.

(10:42) 

So there's, you know, there's no hair or makeup person contrary to what a lot of people believe about local television news. I, do my own makeup. I do my own hair, and, you know, throwing a suit and a tie and a shirt, and away you go. You go on TV and, and that's the end of the day. And then you start the same process the next day. It is quite hectic and chaotic, but, you know, it definitely keeps my adrenaline flowing and making sure that we can hold these politicians accountable is really what gets me up in the morning and what makes me very passionate about working at Queens Park.

 

Pat Perdue (11:12):

And thank you for that excellent, excellent overview. I have a couple of comments and a whole bunch of questions just around exactly what you said. In the beginning of that overview, you mentioned, you know, maybe there's an ongoing story, or a story is self-evident, the thing that you're going to be reporting on, and sometimes it's less so, but you're always accountable for a story. You know, you can't just show up and say, well, nothing happened today, so <laugh>. So there's always gotta be something. One of the questions I have for you is, what is the secret of doing your job really well? It feels like one of the secrets of doing your job really well is being very present in the day, in the actively listening to what's being said, maybe to what's not being said. And then, uh, that's the story we're telling today.

 

Colin D'Mello (12:01):

You know, I remember a long time ago speaking to another reporter at Queens Park. This was years ago before I started working here as well, and I asked him, he said, you know, how do you keep up with the volume of information? How do you know so many things? How do you understand the system so well? And, you know, he said to me something that is very true today, it's osmosis. It's just literally being here every day, listening to everyone, listening to other reporters, listening to the questions they may ask, listening to the responses from everyone. And in doing so, you end up just learning everything without even realizing that you're picking and absorbing all of it up, right? You really have to, you know, make sure that you're just paying attention. And sometimes that might be paying attention to just the headline. Sometimes that might be going through the entire article. Sometimes I might be going through an entire document that the government has presented, or sometimes it might just be going through the news release. It just really depends on how much time you have. But just paying attention even on the periphery for me, kind of helps me absorb everything. There's no way, I mean, we're talking about a government that has a budget of the size of $198 or so billion dollars. You're talking about, you know, dozens of ministries, you know, number, like a, a great number of ministers, their staff. It's impossible to know everyone and everything and everything that they're doing. But you kind of have to be the jack of all trades at a place like Queens Park, because on any given day, I might be reporting on, you know, the healthcare system and trying to understand the healthcare system because I don't have a background in healthcare or healthcare management, right?

(13:39) 

And those two things are very different points of view, right? And the only way to do all of that to understand a particular story or to understand, you know, how this system works and how to explain it properly to people at home, is to first try to get a baseline understanding myself. So talking to those in healthcare, talking to, you know, government staff, talking to those who advocate for healthcare and doing some research and basically just trying to understand, get a ground level understanding of, you know, how all of this works.

(14:12) 

So, you know, I'll give you an example. So back in December of 2022 is an example. We'd done this story about Sick Kids Hospital and the overwhelming number of patients who were outside of it, or who were inside of it, and the number of transfers that they had to do from the hospital out to other hospitals just so that they could keep up with the volume.

(14:31) 

So that story came about because a paramedic had called me because they had seen another story that we had done related to the hospital system and said, "Did you know that sick kids is doing this?" And I said, no. Now first of all, we've gotta figure out is this normal or is this abnormal? Basically what was happening was, every emergency paramedic from, you know, across the GTA, was basically stationing vehicles outside of sick kids, because they were doing so many transfers that they just needed to have ambulances there stationed anyway. So we asked, is this normal or abnormal? That's your baseline, right? You have to figure out, is this particular thing that's happening at this particular time, is that something that's worth more public scrutiny? Is it, does it merit that kind of public attention on it? Or is it something that happens every day?

(15:20) 

Right? We typically don't tell you when the trains are running on time, because frankly, most people wouldn't care that the trains are running on team. That is their expectation. It's if the trains are slow or the trains are fast, god forbid, <laugh>, you know, that would really be where we start to pay attention. And so in that case, that's when we started to pay attention. So now you have to get a bunch of different inputs, right? You gotta start talking to paramedic associations to figure out why is this happening? What are you guys doing? How are you guys supporting Sick Kids Hospital? And is this abnormal? You have to reach at the Sick Kids Hospital? Why is this happening right now? How many ambulances do you need? Try to figure out, again, if this is something that would happen during peak periods, or if it's never happened before.

(16:03) 

You talk to the government to see how they are supporting Sick Kids Hospital through this. And in doing all of that and pulling all of those threads, you kind of tie together a story that you, you can present to people at home saying, look at what's happening, and this is why it merits your attention because it's never happened before. So that's kind of how we have to put all of those inputs together. But it's also why we have to pay attention to what is being said out there. And, and, you know, when somebody calls you with what could be a tip, you gotta take those incredibly seriously because it could lead you down the road of what could be an exclusive and a really great story.

 

Pat Perdue (16:39):

And as I heard you describe that, I'm thinking that takes so much time. But time is not your friend, because, you know, you start your day very early, you craft your story, and you're on the hook to tell a story on TV that evening. So managing the responsibility of getting the story right, getting all the nuances against the tight deadlines that you're on, that's gotta be the trick of your, of your job

 

Colin D'Mello (17:05):

In broadcasting, definitely. I'd say like 40%, maybe even 50% of the job is just organizing your schedule, right? And in order to do that, in order to be an efficient and effective broadcaster, you have to work backwards, right? You can't work forwards. You have to start with, what is my deadline for, you know, going on air? So for me, it's 5:30, okay? So when do I need to have my story into the station so that the editor's back of the station can do what they need to do to the story, to process it, to get it on the air? So I probably want to give them about a half an hour window so that they, they can get it on the air without any issues. Because if there is an issue, I have to send in my story again, right? Or I've gotta make adjustments.

(17:51) 

So, that takes me then from 5:30 to 5 o'clock, now I have to look at, okay, what's my editing time? Right? Typically, a story that's about two minutes might take you realistically maybe about an hour to edit. It sounds like a lot, but you know, it, it's because you have to make sure that you're getting all of your ducks in a row. You've, you're, you're getting all of your clips properly. You have to cover all of that vis, you've gotta make it sound and look good and really put some thought and, and effort into it. So that takes me then to 4 o'clock, okay? But now I need to make sure that I have my script ready as well, right? And I've gotta have my script approved. So that takes me to 3 o'clock to be able to write my script, look at all of my clips, make sure I have everything, write it all, send it into an editor or a producer, make sure that they're looking at it properly so I have it ready to go so I can start editing.

(18:39) 

So you can see now my deadline is actually 3 o'clock to have all of my material in. So then I need to work backward again, right? What more do I need to have, when do I need to get this key interview and that key interview and this one? And so really, you have to start thinking about the end of your day, at the beginning of your day in order to make sure that you are going to meet all of your targets and deadlines before you get to the end. I used to work at CTV News and at CTV News, we used to do a daily 12 o'clock newscast. There is one at Global as well. But my responsibilities there are lesser than they were at CTV. At CTV every single day, I had to produce something for the 12 o'clock newscast.

(19:20) 

So those deadlines were even tighter, right? Because, you know, if you start your shift at about 10 o'clock, you have to have that story into the station by 11:30. That's an hour and a half to gather material, potentially get an interview, write and edit it. So, in effect, you have to be incredibly efficient and organized. You have to know what elements you have, what elements you need, how are those elements all gonna be stacked together in one story? And how are you gonna be able to present all of this in the most understandable way possible? Because, you know, to me, the greatest sin I could commit is if people at home at the end of my story are going, what, what was that story? What, what happened? Then? I haven't done my job, right? My, my job is to communicate to you what's going on and why this is important, why you should know about it, or I want you to know about it.

(20:16) 

So that really is the biggest challenge. It's just simple organization. You know, the advent of the pandemic made it a little bit easier for us to get interviews on Zoom, but before the Pandemic man, we had to drive to every single interview, which meant that you then had to build in 30 minute drive time there, 30 minute interview time, 30 minute drive time back. And you might have had to have done that twice, because you might have two different interview subjects. So, you know, in broadcasting a great degree of it is just that scheduling and organization and making sure that you are efficient because you know, it's all about, Hey, what time are you available? Okay, now what time are you available? And are you available if I have to drive to you? Are you available downtown or uptown? Do I have to drive on the DVP? Because then that adds a whole new complication. So there's all of these things that you have to kind of juggle that doesn't even deal with the substance of journalism, right? We're dealing with all of these moving parts and scheduling and organization, and you haven't even dealt with the substance of the story, which is the who, what, when, where, why, how. You can see that balance. And that balance is every single day it's adrenaline inducing because you have to go, go, go, go, go. But it also can be quite, um, stressful because you are just so worried that if I don't get this one thing, it's all gonna fall apart. And you know what? There are more days than others where I start my day going, man, this is all gonna fall apart <laugh>. And and I haven't even gotten a single thing. So you, it definitely is a juggling act being in broadcast,

 

Pat Perdue (21:52):

And yet you manage to pull it together

 

Colin D'Mello (21:54):

Every day. And at CTV, it was every day, twice a day, you know, there's, uh, there's nothing like it though. I mean, you really do get a rush out of it because there's the immediacy of it. My mom joked, when I got into Seneca College, she joked to me, she said, "How is it that you picked a program in which you didn't have any homework?" <laugh>, because I hated homework. I hated homework all throughout high school. And, you know, at, during the program at Seneca, we had some long form projects, but a lot of what we were being taught was how to do what you need to do in order to give you that good kind of send off to get you into the, into the working world. And a lot of that meant let's, you know, put on those time pressures so that you can fulfill what you need to fulfill within the day or within the hour, really giving us that pressurized training that we would need in order to be able to deploy in the real world.

(22:48) 

And that's one of the greatest parts about our job, right? I don't have to go home and work in a long form project 'cause that really, I'm just not the type of person to really be able to adhere to that kind of a, you know, long form schedule. So this works for me, it really works for me because I've got a bit of a squirrel brain. Most people in broadcasting do. But it works for me because I can, I can really harness that to make sure that I, I compress everything into one day and get it out. And then today is, today, yesterday was yesterday, tomorrow will be tomorrow. And those worries are kind of siloed and segmented off on their own days. But for today, my focus is what do I need for six o'clock? And what, what do I need to do in order to get there?

 

Pat Perdue (23:31):

Talk about only seeing the tip of the iceberg. When we see you on tv, you're calm and you're delivering your story and you're telling us the thing that we need to know. And you've been scrambling for hours before that just to give us that calm, informed perspective of the story that you're telling.

 

Colin D'Mello (23:50):

And that's absolutely it. You know, there are some days where you really are hard pressed and you really have to, you know, make a, a little lump of coal shine into something really bright and beautiful, right? Because there are some elements sometimes that aren't really that great and then, you know, but it's up to you to make sure that I'm not wasting the viewer's time, right? Somebody at home has decided to sit there or click on a story that I've done, and they are deciding to dedicate some time to that story. So my job is, how can I take the complicated world of Queens Park, the complicated world of provincial politics, and make it easy and digestible enough for you at home so that you do two things. One, you can understand what's going on, but then you understand the relevance to your life as well.

(24:45) 

And that is all, you know. I mean, sometimes it's just focused on government accountability, which is telling you, listen, you know, you vote, you may or may not have voted for this party, and here's how they're performing when they're actually in government, right? Or, it may be on issues that you actually care about. I I always bring it back to healthcare or education is another one, right? It's a lot of, well, this is how the government is choosing to spend its taxpayer dollars and here's how it's going to impact you. That to me, is one of the most important things. Taking this plethora of information and boiling it down to where you actually kind of understand it and feel educated about what is really happening with the provincial government. And I think that that's an incredibly important, almost public service, but a duty and responsibility to people at home. A lot of people don't understand this, that, you know, between elections, right, between the 2018 election and the 2022 election, you know, you think about how you as a voter can actually influence the outcomes of a government decision or question, a government decision.

 

Pat Perdue (25:49):

And I don't think there's a perspective that we can at all. We, you know, we, we have our say every four years at the ballot box, but other than that, we really are sort of out of the loop.

 

Colin D'Mello (25:59):

You can petition the government, you can come here and protest outside, on a very cold day in January, who wants to do that, right? Uh, you can maybe reach out to your MPP, but your MPP, your individual MPP unless they're a high level cabinet minister, might not be able to make a difference. If you voted for the NDP or the Liberals or the Green Party, and they're not in government, how, how do you have any kind of say in government? That's where the Queens Park Press Gallery and the media really come into play. We are the eyes and ears of the public, right? We are expected to take things that the public say, issues that they may have, and raise them to the government's level to say, here's a community that's you know experiencing this issue. What are you doing about it?

(26:46) 

And you know, on the other side of things as well, like, it is our responsibility to go to the government and say, you said you do this during the election. When is that happening? Or, this policy wasn't talked about during the election. Why are you enacting it now? Or, you know, just talking to the me and holding them accountable and scrutinizing exactly what they do because nobody else, no member of the public gets to go to a news conference with the premier of Ontario and ask the Premier, you know, comfortable or uncomfortable questions about what policies they're doing. The the member members of the public don't get that opportunity. And I would say that privilege, I get that privilege, and I take that incredibly seriously. But part of that means I'm there to be the eyes and ears of the public. And at the end of the day, I'm there to take all of the information, everything that I've learned, and come back and present to the, to the public. So you know, what's happening with the government that you elect in between those two election periods so that you become a more informed citizen and a more informed voter.

 

Pat Perdue (27:45):

And casting your mind back to your time at Seneca College, if you could have a conversation with Colin back in the day, go into his classes, making his assignments to sort of whisper something in his ear to help prepare him for the life that he's leading today, what might that thing be?

 

Colin D'Mello (28:02):

You know, that's an interesting question. I actually wouldn't say anything. And the reason why, the reason why was because all of the decisions of the choices that I made early on in my career have led me to be where I am today. So my experience at Seneca College was incredible, right? I didn't really know coming out of high school exactly what I wanted to do, but I had a feeling that broadcasting or entertainment or something related to the stage or acting or something related to that was going to be something that I was gonna pursue. I just didn't know exactly what it was. I found this broadcast journalism program at Seneca College. I enrolled, I got accepted, and I was like, okay, great. Like I'm, I'm excited for this. I really was interested in news, but I, I didn't really know how interested I was.

(28:55) 

I probably was at Seneca for maybe a month and a half to two months, and I was like, oh my God, this is it. This is exactly what I want to do. This is, like I found everything that I wanted to do. Like, I was so enamored with the program, and for the first time, really, I was excelling. Like I was excelling. I was coming home and I was proud to show my my, my parents my grades because I was just doing so well. Everything that I did at Seneca, I felt like I excelled at. And what was great was I had amazing teachers who were in broadcasting at the time, so I could turn on the radio and listen to them, turn on the TV and watch them. And, and I knew that I was learning from people who not only had real world experience, but had current world experience that I could actually, you know, tune into.

(29:41) 

That was so, such a wonderful thing to experience. And there was so much encouragement. So whenever I did anything related to broadcast, I would perform in a way that was very natural to me. And my professors would come back and say that, wow, that was amazing. That was great. And so you, a light bulb went off in my head one day and I thought, well, look, TV seems to be fairly easy for me. It seems like no matter what I do, I get good praise. So I thought maybe I wanna work on the most important thing, which is the delivery of the actual words. So I said, okay, maybe the best way to do that wouldn't be to go into tv, would be to go into radio. I don't know why or how I had the wherewithal to think about this, but it, it just, it came to me one day.

(30:28) 

And so when it came time to kind of focus on what you wanted to do, or when they said like, which branch do you want to get into? I said, I want to get into radio. And the reason why I was, because I wanted to be a reporter and I wanted to work on my voice. I wanted to work on the pacing, the diction, the, you know, the, the nuance of broadcasting, you know, which words to really highlight in a script and which words to maybe downplay a little bit. So as an example, if you're talking about, you know, a car crash or, or a car that's crashed into a building, you know, you wouldn't say a car has crashed into a building. You say a car has crashed into a building, right? Like, and, and, and it takes some learning. And, and the only way to learn that is to actually do it and put into practice.

(31:12) 

And so I started out my career in New Brunswick, working for a, a set of three radio stations that were all interconnected at the time in Moncton, Halifax, and St. John. And it gave me my, my launching path, right? But I had to learn so much about how to deliver things in just the right way. So if, if you go back and if I go back and listen to some of that, I don't sound nearly as polished as I do today, because it was important for me back then to just work on what was at that point, the basics. But what was great about Seneca was it was, it was a two year program, and it allowed me to graduate at the, at the age of 19. And because I graduated at 19 and got the foundations of what I needed to enter the broadcast world, I am where I am today because I started off when I was the age of 19, right?

(32:03) 

So my first job was at 19, my first radio station was news 91.9 in Moncton, New Brunswick. And, I worked there for under two years because in that two years, it allowed me to be in a small station away from, you know, some of the big executives in, in Toronto who might be listening. It let me make my mistakes and let me really hone my craft. And in two years I was able to rise through the ranks of being just a reporter to a reporter and an anchor on the weekends. And then it came time to kind of jump ship and I got a job without applying at, uh, at, at 680 News in Toronto. And I did everything from work overnights to work as, uh, the weekend reporter and anchor. And eventually I got to be the, the city hall reporter when Mayor Rob Ford was first elected.

(32:54)

And it was, you know, all of that was possible because I got this jumpstart in my career when I was the age of 19. And when I was at Seneca, the reason why I wouldn't go back and necessarily change a thing was because when I was at Seneca, I had the wherewithal and the foresight to do two things. One, to focus on radio, focus on my voice first, and two, leave the bubble of broadcasting, which is Toronto, and go to a small market so I could hone my craft and get, you know, bigger opportunities as a result. And so I was able to kind of play hopscotch to get to CTV news in really not a lot period of time, right? So it was a pretty, pretty big leaps for me. And, and the reason I was able to do that was because, you know, I made those two very, you know, crucial decisions at a young age. And a lot of that was, you know, getting that launching pad at Seneca College and having the right set of instructors to kind of shape my mindset to know what was important and what might have not been important at that point in my career so that I could really leap forward.

 

Pat Perdue (33:54):

I would like to pivot for a moment and talk about your extracurricular work that you do. And I know that you are very active in volunteering for a variety of organizations using your presentation skills that we've talked about to add value to their events. Can we talk a little bit about thar?

 

Colin D'Mello (34:12):

One of the best parts about being in television broadcasting is, I mean, people see you. They, it's, it's such a visual medium, and a lot of charities that need kind of an mc for an event, they often turn to broadcasters just to see if they can, they can kind of get them in there to mc the event <affirmative>. And, and it's so funny, you know, time and time again, I'll go and mc an event and people will ask me like, "okay, what's your fee?" And I go, what do you mean a fee <laugh>? I'm not gonna charge, I'm not gonna charge a charity a fee because this is my way of volunteering. This is my way of giving back. This is my way of doing something that allows me to use my professional skills for a little bit of extra good. Right? If I can help

 

Pat Perdue (34:50):

In your copious, in your copious spare time. Yeah.

 

Colin D'Mello (34:53):

Yes, yes. I, I've, I've got two young kids, so it doesn't always work out that way. But you know what, and I've had phenomenal, phenomenal experiences as a result. So, before the pandemic, the, the Rotary Club of Toronto West would, um, hold these yearly awards called the Youth Impact Awards, where they would celebrate young people who are making a great impact in their community. And I've met young people who were destined for greatness and some of whom, you know, I've come across in my professional career who yes, have reached that level of greatness. And it's so gratifying for me to be able to see that and the organizations. And so I've MCed things for quite a lot of hospital galas as an example. And so these hospitals are, you know, using the fundraising side of things to raise money to buy, you know, critical equipment or to raise money to build new hospitals or to renovate hospitals.

(35:47) 

And look, I, you know, if I can lend a few hours of my time to entertain an event, to, to make the the event run smoothly, to help raise money in turn, that money will go and help buy critical equipment to help members of the community. It's not even my community because I've mc'd stuff for, Mississauga, Ajax, Scarborough, et cetera. It's not even my community, but I really enjoy doing it. It's something that me is a great way to give back. I end up meeting such amazing people learning such amazing things, and I really do believe that, you know, volunteering is a, is an incredibly important thing for all of us to do in the way that you can do it in the time that you can set aside do it and whenever you can, right? If, if you don't have a lot of time.

(36:30) 

So for myself, you know, I'm pretty busy with two young kids, right? We got them in all kinds of activities. And, and I think a lot of people would say, you're forgiven for not being able to volunteer a lot of time. But when I can, I always say yes, because it's a great way for me to use my professional skills to help raise money for the community. And what does it take out of my time? It doesn't really take a lot out of my time, but it helps. And a lot of these organizations are really grateful, and I really enjoy doing it as well.

 

Pat Perdue (36:58):

And I'm sure, you know, depending on the nature of the event, there might be some young people at the event that are inspired by simply the fact that you are there and who knows? Those people, the impact that you have on those people, when they see you in person, they might be like, wow, maybe I can do what he's doing.

 

Colin D'Mello (37:16):

Yeah. And you know, it's, it's not only that, I mean, as it relates to kind of mentoring young people or helping out younger students who might be entering the business. You know, my mantra is like, I want to help as many students enter the world of journalism as they possibly can. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, you know, it's a, an industry that is, it's a profession that has some the ability to it, right? I mean, we are really trying to do public good, um, trying to raise awareness, shine a light on, on a lot of things, and we need more people, not less in that space doing that. And so, you know, whether it is at a charity event for young people who might want to wanna say hello or, you know, it's going into Seneca College or going into the Toronto Metropolitan University and, and speaking to students about what our experience is and maybe possibly what you can do as a student to kind of break into the business or get further into the business.

(38:10) 

My job is to never, ever, ever hold anybody else back or, or hold them down, right? So, as an example, students sometimes reach out to me and they say, "Hey, I'd love to come in to Queens Park and see how things work there." And I said, okay, when can you come in? Right? When do you wanna come in? Come on, come on in. Because it really, I had experiences when I was an intern of working journalists who took me under their wing and showed a few things, helped me do some interviews and, and really do some work on their behalf. And that experience has always stayed with me. And that means that when I get the opportunity now to help lift up students who are entering broadcasting, I'll always take it. Because at the end of the day, we are <laugh>. If I'm, if I'm educating viewers at home about what happens at Queens Park, why wouldn't I extend that exact same olive branch out to students who, who want to learn as well?

(39:04) 

I had such a positive experience at Seneca, and as a student of journalism and such a great experience within this industry, that I want more people to have that experience. And so, you know, anytime a student wants to kind of reach out to me and wants to kind of connect with me, I'm always more than happy to kind of set aside that time, as long as they're kind of serious about having that, uh, that, that kind of mentorship or, or just, you know, even if it's one conversation, as long as they're serious about where they want to go, I'm more than happy to, to kind of go through and, and show them the ropes.

 

Pat Perdue (39:31):

Oh, well, be careful what you ask for <laugh> <laugh>. This is going on a podcast, <laugh>,

 

Colin D'Mello (39:36):

You know, honestly, though, I, I'm more than a, and I always tell people, people always ask like, how do I reach out to you? How can I reach out? And I'm always like Twitter, funny enough! Twitter is the, the, the easiest way because it's, it's a wonderful medium where you can kind of like go directly into somebody's, you know, direct messages. And, you know, trust me, if you message me on Twitter, I will most likely read it <laugh>. It's, it's like a, it's like a 90% chance I'll, I'll see it.

 

Pat Perdue (39:59):

Well, I think on that note, we'll leave your Twitter handle in the show notes and some of your other contact information. And, uh, for our last question of the, of the, of the day, and Colin, you've been really generous with your time, I really appreciate it. Um, do you have a sense of what's on the horizon for Colin D'Mello?

 

Colin D'Mello (40:16):

A lot of people ask me, where do you want to go next? And my answer to them is, I am so thoroughly satisfied doing exactly what I want to do at this particular moment. I would've never dreamt of having the opportunity to be the Bureau Chief at Queens Park. And the more I operate at Queens Park, the more I realize the importance, not just the value, but the importance of the job that journalists here at Queens Park actually do. Um, I like to tell people this from time to time. You know, it's, it's rare that you can be in a position in journalism, in broadcasting where, where you can reach out and kind of like, you know, almost touch the fabric of democracy. That might sound a bit hyperbolic, but it is really true. There are people who sometimes are in precarious positions and they need our help, and they'll call us and will do a story about it, just highlighting what their issue is and asking the government about what they're doing about it.

(41:07) 

And depending on what the response is, and depending on how it goes, you can keep doing stories about something. And through journalism, it's not advocacy, it's it's journalism. But through journalism, you can end up impacting or helping change or shape policy because you may have brought up something that the government didn't think about just through the journalism that you do. And how many people get to say that they're in a position in which their reporting or their coverage can help impact policy that will help impact the lives of thousands of people, if not hundreds of thousands, if not millions. It's really a privileged position. So for me, I, I'm incredibly passionate about political reporting. I think it's incredibly important, especially as our politics gets more polarized and changes. And I think a lot of people are seeing a change around them, but they haven't changed their personal politics, seeing parties go further to the right and left.

(41:58) 

So I think that's, it's incredibly important. So for me, I'm staying right here, kind of enjoying what I do for the time being, but also kind of working on my craft, focusing on a little bit more investigative journalism or focusing on long form journalism, focusing on broadening out our stories, uh, really, you know, focusing on, on giving people a little bit more of a different flavor of, of the stories that happened at Queens Park. That for me is, is kind of, you know, working on my own craft, doing the exact same things, Pat that I've been doing since I was 19. For me, nothing has changed. I'm still that individual who is self-critical looking at others to see what I can improve on, trying to see how I can work on the foundational skills, which is writing, being a better broadcaster, explaining things better, helping communicate and educate people at home. You know, those are all those foundational skills that I just keep working on. So for me, it's just continued improvement for now.

 

Pat Perdue (42:54):

Well, Colin D'Mello, thank you so much for joining the Seneca Proud Podcast. It's been a great conversation and I know you're super busy, so we all really appreciate the time you've given us today.

 

Colin D'Mello (43:06):

Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed this conversation and to, uh, you know, all of the students who are thinking about Seneca or going to Seneca College; rest assured, Seneca College for me did wonders. It will give you the perfect launching point to be able to get into a really great career learning exactly what you need to learn, that you can put into practice the day, the day you step outta Seneca College. It is a, a wonderful place to learn and a wonderful experience to have. I would encourage anyone who's thinking about college route to think about Seneca College, because for me, it was the make or break in my entire career and my entire life.

 

Pat Perdue (43:46):

That's amazing. Well, thank you so much for those kind words, and again, thanks for your time. It's been great chatting with you today.

 

Colin D'Mello (43:53):

Same here. Thanks Pat.

 

Pat Perdue (43:54):

Thanks Colin bye

 

Colin D’Mello (43:55)

Bye-Bye.

 

Pat Perdue (43:57)

And that was my conversation with Seneca Graduate and Global News, Queens Park Bureau Chief, Colin D'Mello. What really stood out for me throughout the conversation was the level of focus Co.lin has demonstrated right from his time at Seneca to his first jobs in broadcasting in New Brunswick. And throughout it all, and even now years into it, he's still super focused on honing his craft and doing the best job he can. And because of that level of focus and commitment, we as a population are better informed about what our government is up to. And for that, I'm super grateful.

(44:37) 

So while we're speaking of gratitude, I'd like to extend a huge thank you to Colin D'Mello for joining us today. You can catch him on Global News, helping to keep our provincial leaders accountable. And I'll leave Colin's Twitter handle in the show notes just in case you have a tip. Or if you're just starting out in broadcast journalism and are really committed to getting better, you should definitely reach out. And I'd also like to thank Courtney Rheaume for editing this podcast. And most importantly, I'd like to thank you for listening. Until next time, I'm Pat Perdue. Stay proud Seneca.