"Journalism will kill you, but it will keep you alive while you’re at it.”
– Horace Greeley
Inspirational quote
About Me
Blair Shiff
When I was rather young, my family settled in Texas. Growing up in a Dallas suburb, I thrived in academics, theatre, dance and choir.
I started my college career at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. I reported on WERS' sports radio talk show weekly and helped anchor WEBN, both student media productions.
I whisked myself off to Europe for some time abroad and lived in a Dutch castle with some Emerson classmates.
After then, I transferred to the University of Texas at Austin where I completed my degree in Broadcast Journalism. During my time at UT-Austin, I produced, anchored and reported for all forms of media. I even founded a chapter of a professional organization.
The day after graduation, I started my professional journalism career at the Austin American-Statesman as an Editorial Assistant. After only working at the Statesman for three months, I was promoted. In this new position, I reviewed live music festivals and underground bands for the Life & Arts section, while writing articles on stocks, bonds and dividends for the Business section and crafting articles about high school football.
In July 2008, I was offered the Web Desk Editor position at KXAN Austin News. I quickly embraced new skills as a web content producer there.
In March 2010, I was approached by LIN Media, the corporation that owned KXAN, for another promotion as the New Media Executive Producer in Albuquerque, N.M., at KRQE News 13.
After almost exactly a year in ABQ, I packed those same cardboard boxes and moved to Denver, CO., to be a digital producer for 9NEWS. I also produced content for USA Today. And, on the side, I freelanced for GolfLife.
Five years later, I landed a job with ABC News in New York City, so I moved to the Big Apple to be the Senior Video Producer for ABC Digital, where I got to come up with creative ways to incorporate video into digital original stories. They even let me write articles from time to time.
After about two years of being in that role, I got another great opportunity. I was promoted to Coordinating Producer for a new project. Facebook approached ABC News to produce a newscast exclusively for Facebook Watch called On Location. I led a 10-person team who produced a seven-day-a-week, vertical newscast.
I accepted a freelance position as the Senior Video Producer for Fox News after about a year of leading On Location. There, I doled out assignments to the video production team, reviewed videos to make sure they fit the network's standard of excellence and even got to report and copyedit articles.
After just two months of freelancing, Fox wanted to hold onto me, and I was offered a full-time position as the Senior Video Producer for FoxBusiness.com. I was honored to work with the high-energy team of video producers as they came up with great ways to visually tell business news. While in my role, I was able to write articles, too.
As COVID-19 raged in the city, I felt called to return to local news, so I could make a significant difference in communities. I accepted my first executive role as the Digital Director for WCNC Charlotte. As a department head, I led, inspired and strategized for all digital products and platforms.
TEGNA, the parent company of WCNC Charlotte, decided to expand its corporate team in late 2025, so I applied to be the Director of Streaming Content and was chosen. In this newly created job, I lead our centralized streaming operation and support our local stations' streaming efforts. I own the streaming roadmap and lead a team who delivers 24/7, live-streamed breaking special reports and daily VOD. I direct planning, production and publishing, while syncing priorities with newsroom partners for continuous coverage.