When everyone in your family is a doctor, deciding to go to college and major in accounting is not all that popular. When you tell your parents you’re changing majors to broadcasting … watch out! Lucky for the rest of us that this student switched gears because she has become one of the most successful women in our industry. Because of her outstanding career and her commitment to the community, the Alabama Broadcasters Association presents Susana Schuler, president and general manager of WVTM TV, the Broadcaster of the Year Award and an induction into the ABA’s Hall of Fame.

‘Yes, I actually stumbled into the career by not enjoying my accounting major that I had decided on in my junior year of college,” smiles Schuler. “I met a professor who was telling a story to a group of students and I was so intrigued by what he was talking about I asked him what he did and he told me he was a journalism professor,” she continues. “I said, ‘Well, what is that?’  He encouraged me to take some courses and I did, and I loved it.”

After graduating, Schuler worked as a reporter in a couple of Texas markets. Then, having only five years of experience under her belt, she was hired as a news director. “I was a very young news director in Wichita Falls, Texas at the ripe old age of 25,” she laughs. “I’m not all that smart, I just happened to start sooner than others.”

During the next several years, Schuler continued her career in Pennsylvania and Indiana. “I worked those years in the local side of the business between being a reporter, producer, anchor, and news director,” she says.

“I had the opportunity in the late nineties to go work for a little startup company called NextStar Broadcasting,” says Schuler. It was during her ten-year stint with NextStar that Schuler’s career focused more on corporate news management.  She eventually moved to their headquarters in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

“Then I had a desire to go somewhere where I could really work for a company that was focused on journalism, on covering the local news and serving communities,” she explains.  That’s when she was brought onboard at RayCom Media in 2006 to oversee news, marketing and programming – a move that brought her to Alabama.

In 2019, Schuler was hired as president and general manager at WVTM. Her management style has been a boon, not only for the station, but for the community as well.

“She is doing everything right,” says Sharon Tinsely, president of the Alabama Broadcasters Association.  “She is providing real community service on behalf of the station.  She is completely engaged with elected officials at all levels.”

When asked about her approach to management, Schuler doesn’t mention strategies to increase viewers or show formats, etc.  Instead, she talks about people.

“You know, I think I’m most proud that I have always worked to help others succeed, which has meant I’ve been able to succeed,” she explains.  “I’ve always tried to really look at success by observing how individuals work to improve themselves and to collectively help the team.”

“When you have a career like we do, it’s all consuming. When things are at their worst, we have to be at work. So I’ve spent a lot of time really trying to be a manager who listens and understands what motivates people personally so that they will give us their best, which makes us our best.”

Tinsley agrees her management skills are key to her success. “She runs a great operation,” says Tinsley. “The station is successful. She is creating good jobs for good people. That’s the reason we chose to honor her in this way.”

“Yes, it was difficult to explain to my parents that I’m going into this crazy thing called ‘broadcast journalism’. It didn’t go over very well,” she smiles. “But fast forward … I’ve done just fine, thank you very much!” Indeed.