MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — As a proud Middle Tennessee State University alumni, Nic Dugger is not shy about telling how the university helped him find success in television and event production.

In the May episode of “Out of the Blue,” MTSU’s television program, Dugger sits down with host and vice president of Marketing and Communications, Andrew Oppmann, to discuss his passion for MTSU, and especially the Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment.

Watch the full interview below.

As executive director of the Mid-South Emmy Awards, Dugger has helped MTSU students play a large role in its annual Emmy Awards telecast held in downtown Nashville.

Dugger credits MTSU with launching his long-term career in television and event production. As a freshman in 1996, he recalled signing up to work production at the Emmys.

“There was a call board where people would post opportunities to work on shows. A few weeks in, I see one that said, ‘Work at the Emmys,’ and I’m thinking to myself, ‘The Emmys are recruiting MTSU students?’”

Dugger said he put his name at the top of the list and wound up crewing the show with friends (after he pulled the sign-up sheet off the wall).

“I crewed that Emmys with all my buddies; it was all my best friends from MTSU,” he recalled.

That opportunity in college led to a nearly 30-year career with the Mid-South Emmy Awards, an organization that celebrates the best in editing, shooting, lighting and storytelling.

“I didn’t know who Geneva Brignolo was (the chapter’s executive director for 30 years), but I became her right hand and went on to be her intern, her board member and her board president,” he said.

After Brignolo passed away a few years ago, the organization needed a replacement.

“No one could fill those shoes, which were probably high heels,” Dugger said. “Nobody could fill those shoes as board president, so I stepped up and said, ‘I’ll give it a shot.’”

With that leap of faith, Dugger realized how riddled the organization had been, for decades, with MTSU students and alums serving as crew members and Emmy winners.

“The legacy of MTSU and the Emmy Awards in this region is 40 years long, and only growing,” he said. Dugger said MTSU students play key roles in the annual awards show, and he hopes to continue the tradition.

“We have current students running the camera, running the switcher, doing audio,” he explained. “It’s a student crew, but we sprinkle in professionals because we want that day to be a day of not only networking, but mentoring.”

Before wrapping up the interview, Dugger offered advice to anyone looking to enter the world of television and production.

“There is more production in our world today than ever in history,” he said. “I feel like there are hundreds of opportunities for students who want to run a camera, direct, build graphics, and do motion work. The key is starting as soon as possible. Do the work now.”

Dugger added he got his mistakes out of the way at MTSU before embarking on his own career.

“I used to do a student newscast, and I was awful. But I got mistakes out of the way here, and this is where I put my boots on the ground and learned how to mix audio, learn how to do graphics and learned how to run a camera.”  

Ways to watch, listen

“Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.

It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 and 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 6:30 p.m. Sundays; WKRN+ at 7 p.m. Thursdays and noon Sundays; via streaming on MTSU’s Jazz Network on WMOT HD2 and through WMOT.org at 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month; and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings.

Episodes are also available as a podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Music, iHeart and as individual interview segments on primary host Spotify at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3.

— DeAnn Hays (deann.hays@mtsu.edu)