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Source: The Roanoke Times, Va.mini storageOct. 10--LYNCHBURG -- Dennis Carter has been at WSET for 30 years, but he has not lost his passion for his job.Carter was hired as the weekend sports anchor at Channel 13 in August 1983 and was promoted to sports director two years later. He has worked at the ABC affiliate longer than any other current member of the newsroom."I never would have dreamed I would've made it this long," Carter, 56, said last week at the Lynchburg television station. "I've been real blessed to stay here and have a nice job."I still get a kick out of going out and covering sports and meeting people. It's just fun. With this job, it feels like it's something new every day. You're covering different games, you're seeing different sports."Carter delivers the sports news on the weeknight newscasts at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. He goes out in the field during the day to report and shoot video for his segments. One day last week, for example, he was at E.C. Glass High School at 9 a.m. to do a story on a visit from a former Glass star. This time of year, he often heads back out in the field at night to shoot high school volleyball highlights for the 11 p.m. broadcasts."It's still a challenge," he said. "Every day when you come into work, you know you've got to get a show done for 6 o'clock and a show done for 11 o'clock. You can't mail it in."He does not leave the station when the newscast ends at 11:35 p.m. He stays until 2:30 a.m. or 3 a.m., taping a sports segment for the early morning news, posting stories to the station's website and planning for the next day."I don't think we have three people combined, including myself, that work as hard as Dennis does," WSET station manager Randy Smith said. "It is a pretty common occurrence for the morning crew to come in very early in the morning and Dennis is still here."Carter doesn't work only on weekdays. On Saturdays in the fall, he will report and shoot video at a Virginia Tech, Virginia or VMI football game. After covering the Ball State-UVa game last Saturday, he hit the road again Sunday to cover a Late Model Series race at Martinsville Speedway."He gives up his weekends to do that extra coverage," said Carter's wife, Regina Carter. "Just this weekend, or maybe it was last weekend, he said, 'I'm so tired, but I need to go and cover this.' I said, 'Why don't you just give it a rest and don't cover it?' He said, 'That wouldn't be right because these guys don't get much recognition.'"That's how he feels about everything."'Nice guy'After graduating from George Washington High School in Danville, Carter spent two years at Danville Community College. He was planning on a business career, but a public speaking class at the college changed his mind."I still remember the instructor asking me had I ever considered a career in broadcasting?" Carter said. "She thought that I had a good speaking voice."So when he transferred to Virginia Tech, he majored in communications. After graduating in 1979, he spent four years writing commercials and doing sports and news for a pair of Danville radio stations. He moonlighted as an occasional freelance reporter for WSET.When WSET decided to add a second person to its sports department in August 1983, Carter was hired to be the weekend sports anchor and weekday sports reporter. He succeeded Steve Feinman as sports director in 1985 and gained plenty of admirers."Any time you mention his name, the first thing out of everybody's mouth is, 'What a nice guy,' " Smith said.To celebrate Carter's 30th anniversary at WSET, the station surprised him with an on-air tribute during a newscast two months ago."He's had other opportunities to go elsewhere, but he's chosen to make Lynchburg his home," Regina Carter said. "He not only loves sports but he also has passion for WSET. When y儲存u've been with a company for 30 years, it tends to become your second family."His contributions to the station go beyond scores and highlights."Back in 2008 when we went into the recession, Dennis' generosity saved the jobs of people that will never, ever know of his generosity," Smith said.'Juggling act'What is Carter's philosophy for his sportscasts?"You talk real fast," he said.Carter gets only three minutes on the 6 p.m. news and another three minutes on the 11 p.m. news."That's probably the biggest challenge, is trying to talk about everything you want to talk about in three minutes," he said. "Our main focus is local stuff because you figure you can see the national stuff on ESPN, ... but you do have to mention big national stories."It's kind of a juggling act sometimes. Maybe one night talk about UVa and Liberty and another night Virginia Tech and VMI. You try to give everybody equal coverage."WSET, WDBJ (Channel 7) and WSLS (Channel 10) not only cover high schools in Timesland but also in the Lynchburg and Danville areas, which are also part of this TV market. High schools in Central Virginia get more attention at WSET than schools in the Roanoke area because of the station's Lynchburg location."We do hit Roanoke on Friday nights during football and occasionally during the week. We don't get to Roanoke as much as I'd like because a lot of times during the week, the only person you have going out and getting highlights is yourself," Carter said. "You're kind of tied to somewhere in the near vicinity because you have to come back to Lynchburg and write your stories and edit your stories and still be ready to go out in front of the camera at 11:20."The signature program for the WSET sports staff is "Football Friday," the high school football highlights show that airs Fridays from 11:15 p.m. to 11:35 p.m. Carter co-hosts the show with weekend sports anchor Justin Feldkamp."I love high school sports," Carter said. "I love going out on Friday nights, covering 'Football Friday' stuff."Long-distance marriageOne day last week, after working at WSET into the wee hours of the morning, Carter went to bed at 4 a.m. and rose at 8 a.m."I've learned to get by on little sleep," he said.He has a dog and three cats waiting for him when he gets home in the middle of the night, but his wife is usually not there. Regina Carter is the director of corporate communications for The Babcock & Wilcox Company, which transferred her from Lynchburg to the Charlotte, N.C., area three years ago.So she got an apartment down there, while he remained in Lynchburg."We have to put a 22-year-old through college," Dennis Carter said.Their son, Ryan, is a senior at the University of Richmond.Regina Carter usually gets home to Lynchburg only twice a month. But she is used to spending limited time with her husband."Even when we were dating, he had that crazy schedule. I'd get a phone call at 3 in the morning," said Regina Carter, who has been married for 24 years. "Once we got married, we still had opposite schedules. A lot of weekends, he was choosing to get out there and do a lot of the coverage in the area."One reason Carter has stayed at WSET for so long is for family reasons. His parents still live in Danville, as does one of his sisters.He also still loves his job, which comes across to viewers."I hope when they watch me, they understand that I'm doing something that I'm excited about," he said. "I enjoy talking about sports and being around sports."I still get a charge out of it. I'd like to do it until they throw me out the door. And if they did it tomorrow, I'd be real proud of the 30 years I've been here."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.) Visit The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.) at .roanoke.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉