Study storytelling this Spring with a multimedia virtuoso

January 21, 2025 - 09:15 AM

Students attending Mt. SAC have hundreds of choices for degrees, career paths, and hands-on learning from professionals in the field.

For Mounties who enroll in JOUR 116: Multimedia Storytelling during the 2025 Spring Semester, they will learn from James Koh, a new adjunct professor and highly-decorated journalist.

“I spent four years at NFL Network before going to DIRECTV for five years, working on their fantasy football show,” said Koh, who has a master’s in journalism from the University of Southern California. “While working those jobs I was also able to find work as a Clippers radio host, as a football analyst for Amazon Sports, and as a writer for numerous publications including The Athletic and Yahoo! Sports. I am currently a college football analyst and fill-in sports anchor at NBC 4 here in Los Angeles.”

While he has the hardware to impress, Koh is going to continue to work tirelessly to guide his students on a path toward their own successes.

“Perhaps this is too aggressive of a goal, but my aim is for every single student who takes this class to create a piece of journalism that will ultimately be the featured sample on their professional portfolio,” Koh said. “A piece of journalism that they will be proud of and should they choose this profession, a piece of journalism that will help them find a job in this industry.”

Koh has worked in the television industry for over 15 years, and he plans to arm his students with the knowledge and skills to succeed as flexible journalists after completing his course. 

“While other journalism offerings at Mt. SAC focus in on one particular skill set, this class will be a crash course on a wide variety of journalistic mediums,” said Koh, who also has been podcasting for 10 years and currently hosts two shows for Audacy. 

“In today’s hiring landscape, it is critical to have a number of different skills. Broadcast reporters and producers are not only asked to write scripts but to also re-write that script to fit AP Style/print standards. Newspaper and digital reporters are asked to shoot video and voice over their printed work. Podcasting and social media have become real sources of income for those with self-starting and entrepreneurial spirits. 

“This class will walk students through how to navigate those various formats not only proficiently but also economically.”

If Koh finds as much success teaching as he has in his career, he would like to expand his footprint here.

“I’d love to be more active on the Mt. SAC campus,” he said.

Students interested in registering for Koh’s class can visit https://www.mtsac.edu/schedule/spring.html. The 2025 Spring Semester begins Feb. 24.