by Terry Rayno
Aaron Webster ’89 (far left) and cameraman Steve Cocklin recreate a scene from the 2004 Tsunami in Phuket, Thailand for the Discovery Channel. “The little girl in the picture was stranded on the back of an elephant that, running away from the approaching water, saved her life,” says Webster. Photo courtesy of Aaron Webster.
If you’ve listened to political interviews or watched breaking news on CNN or NBC or if you’ve tuned into ESPN2’s Cold Pizza, you’ve heard the handy work of freelance soundman Aaron Webster. For nearly six years, Webster has worked with reporters covering the news in the nation’s capital and has traveled the world working on shows for National Geographic, Dateline, 60 Minutes and Discovery Network.
He feels fortunate that he’s found a job he loves to do and has earned a reputation for excellence. But it’s been a long road finding his perfect job. Webster graduated from Plymouth State in 1989 with a degree in business. He admits he struggled at times, but says he appreciated the extra efforts of his professors in helping him graduate. Today, that coursework continues to help him in many ways since he runs his own business.
After graduating from Plymouth, Webster worked in public relations, in retail for AT&T and in restaurant manager jobs. He even tried accounting for awhile, but says, “I don’t like to sit still very long, so that wasn’t for me.”
He was a firefighter with the Plymouth Fire Department while at Plymouth State. “That has turned out to be very helpful. You learn common sense and how to think on your feet.” While volunteering at the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue Squad in the Washington, D.C., area, he met two other firemen who worked as cameramen—one for CNN and the other for NBC.
“I was looking for something else to do and they suggested I try what they do. I followed them around on weekends and decided it was what I wanted,” he says. He learned on the job and eventually became successful enough to work on his own.
“I finally found out what I wanted to do in my 30s,” he jokes.
He specializes in sound for video (as opposed to film). His work has included interviews with President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as a number of foreign prime ministers and other dignitaries. He has worked with reporters such as Wolf Blitzer, Jamie Gangel, Kate Snow, Stone Phillips, Paula Zahn and Judy Woodruff, to name a few.
One of his most memorable days was covering the terrorists’ attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 when he did the sound for CNN’s continuous coverage. He also covered the Washington, D.C., sniper story.
Recently he traveled to Thailand and Sri Lanka working on a documentary for Discovery Channel’s Animal Planet that explores whether animals sensed the danger from the coming tsunami before it hit. He has also worked on Discovery Channel’s Pyramids special in Egypt and on the TLC’s Trading Spaces. But television news remains his specialty.
“I’ve spent a great many hours standing around in the freezing rain, snow and cold,” he says. “I like to tell people I’ve fallen asleep on every landmark in D.C. waiting for things to happen. But I feel really lucky, this just fell in my lap and I just love it.”
