Broadcast journalist and Alexandria resident Julie Carey is celebrating 30 years at WRC-TV this spring, the last six as Northern Virginia bureau chief.
Photo courtesy of NBC-4
NBC's Julie Carey, Northern Virginia bureau chief and resident of Alexandria.
She and her husband, a fellow journalist, moved to the area way back when from the Hoosier State, where they met at Indiana University. She landed her first job there at KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids. "It was the perfect place to start — big enough that there was a lot going on and small enough that I could make rookie mistakes."
They had planned to stay in the D.C. area for just three years but fell in love with Alexandria and the pull of covering journalism in the nation's capital.
Julie's upbringing in Ames, Iowa influenced her decision to get into journalism. "We read two newspapers a day and watched NBC from the 'Today Show' to the Nightly News." Her parents were involved in local politics and elections. "I joke that my Mom was so curious about what was happening around town that if we were driving around in the family station wagon and heard a fire engine, we’d drive toward it to see where it was going."
A college English professor encouraged her love of writing
Photo courtesy of Julie Carey
Julie Carey and family, visiting the cherry blossoms after moving to the area in April 1992.
. "I'd intended to be in print journalism but it was that ability to combine pictures and words to tell stories and there are occasions where pictures are really worth a thousand words."
Her most memorable stories include covering 9/11. "I was driving down Mt. Vernon Avenue and saw the smoke rise from the Pentagon," she said. "I went straight there and reported on the attack for the next two weeks."
"I've kept in touch with the families who lived through that," she said, noting that she most recently caught up with them during reporting on the 20th anniversary last fall.
Another big story: The Charles Severance case, which "hit even closer to home. I’d met all the victims before their deaths and knew what they’d meant to the community. What a terrible loss."
Julie speaks of her colleagues at the TV station who have been influential in her career, the veterans who are familiar faces to viewers — in particular Doreen Gentzler ("such a poised presence on the air"), Wendy Rieger who just retired ("the best broadcast writer I've ever seen"), Pat Lawson Muse ("I just marvel at her intellect and capacity for information." The late anchor Jim Vance is still a constant presence, she said. On Friday evenings, at the end of the 6 p.m. broadcast, the show closes out with his jazz music.
Julie has no thoughts of retiring. "What I do beats working for a living," she joked. "It's not quite time to step away yet."
And for young people considering a career in journalism these days? Julie advises it helps to have healthy doses of "curiosity, creativity and persistence."
Here's more about Julie Carey:
You'd be surprised to learn that I: Sing in my church choir.
Every morning, I read: Every online community newspaper in Northern Virginia, The Washington Post and a devotional.
I'm most proud of: My children.
My pet peeve is: Butchered crape myrtles.
The last book I read was: "The Vanishing Half."
My favorite way to relax is: Hiking or watching sports.
What I like most about living in Alexandria is: The incredible diversity and the sense of community. I often describe it to outsiders as a very big small town.
