Frank Ahrens
As Frank Ahrens describes some of his fondest memories at West Virginia University, his journalistic tendencies are apparent. He speaks of lazy summer days spent on Cheat Lake, half asleep from the humid heat and haze. For just a minute, it seems he’s again surrounded by the lush, green West Virginia mountains; the faint sound of REM in the background. This now established and acclaimed Washington Post reporter may have spent his career with the likes of Billy Joel and Michael Eisner, but it’s obvious he genuinely enjoys talking about his days at WVU. He smiles and says, “Now that’s a good memory.
As Frank Ahrens describes some of his fondest memories at West Virginia University, his journalistic tendencies are apparent. He speaks of lazy summer days spent on Cheat Lake, half asleep from the humid heat and haze. For just a minute, it seems he’s again surrounded by the lush, green West Virginia mountains; the faint sound of REM in the background. This now established and acclaimed Washington Post reporter may have spent his career with the likes of Billy Joel and Michael Eisner, but it’s obvious he genuinely enjoys talking about his days at WVU. He smiles and says, “Now that’s a good memory.”
Frank was born and raised in Charleston, W.Va., and attended Charleston High School. After graduating in 1981, he enrolled at WVU and like most college freshman, was unsure of what he wanted to do. Six years and a couple of failed classes later, Frank finally got his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and only one thing was certain—he didn’t want to be an engineer!
To kill some time and earn some extra money, Frank began taking photos for The Daily Athenaeum, WVU’s student newspaper. It didn’t take long before he had “a light bulb moment” and figured out exactly what he wanted to do.
“Some people never get that,” he explains, speaking about his young epiphany. “I was lucky to receive that at such an early age.”
Frank’s photographs turned into ideas, which then turned into stories, and he quickly became a staff columnist. He loved the idea that The DA was a student newspaper and that there was no real adult supervision. “I decided,” said Frank, “this is what I want to do.”
While attending WVU’s grad school in journalism, Frank worked as assistant editor and, later editor, of The DA. But three or four classes short of his graduate degree, he ran out of money and was forced to get a higher paying job. He started working and has not gone back to finish his degree.
Frank’s first job after his time at WVU was as a general assignment reporter at a small suburban daily paper in Rockville, Md., called the Montgomery Journal. From there he went to the Fairfax Journal as an assistant sports editor. His sports experience eventually landed him at The Washington Post doing layouts for the sports section. Although he was good at this job, he really wanted to be a feature writer for the style section. Knowing he couldn’t get the job from the outside, Frank wrote for the style section for four years in his spare time and on weekends. Eventually a spot opened up and he was given the position.
After five years in the Style section, Frank moved to the Business section and has been there for more than six years. Some of the many interesting/notable people he has interviewed are William Shatner (a personal hero), Jeff Gordon, Don Imus, Robert Byrd and the heads of all the major Hollywood studios.
Even with his impressive resume, Frank admits that he experienced his most controversial moment as a journalist while working at The DA. After running a racy political cartoon poking fun at Washington, D.C.’s then mayor, a law student staged a picket which eventually turned into a march down High Street. Despite the students’ demands that he be fired, Frank ended up keeping his job and learned his first early lesson in politics.
While he doesn’t wish this type of controversial experience on all budding journalists, Frank does recommend getting real, practical experience. He suggests a person get a degree in the thing that he or she is interested in, and then do journalism. He matter-of-factly states, “The more you do it, the better you get.”
Although Frank has been in Washington, D.C., for the majority of his adult life, he still visits West Virginia regularly to attend WVU football games and catch up with his childhood best friends, who both still reside in Charleston.
Frank stays involved by writing a WVU football/basketball blog, which he updates often. You can read his blog at http://web.mac.com/ahrensf/Site/Blog/Blog.html.
