MOLINE, Ill. — I'd describe myself as a "jack of all trades, master of none," hahaha.
I was born and raised in Bloomington, Illinois. My lifelong passion has actually been music, starting on the piano as early as kindergarten. I picked up cello in the fifth grade and composition in the sixth.
I graduated high school in 2013 and did some time at Eastern Illinois University, but had struggles and had to step away from college. I worked a variety of jobs in customer service, content creation and eSports before deciding to return to college.
I earned my Associate in Arts from Heartland Community College in Spring 2020 before returning to Eastern Illinois University. With all my combined credits, I graduated in spring 2022 with a double major and double minor (Bachelor of Arts in Music Composition, Bachelor of Arts in Audio & Recording Technology, Digital Media Minor, Anthropology Minor).
So how did I end up in TV? While at EIU, my work-study was at the school's PBS-affiliated station WEIU. I did some DJ work with the radio station Hit-Mix 88.9, but most of my work was for News Watch, the station's evening news program. We had a 30-minute live show Monday through Friday.
My responsibilities were small at first but eventually I was anchoring, assistant producing and writing stories each week. And that was on top of my duties as a music major! Needless to say, I kept very very busy.
My work there lead to my new position at WQAD, which started in July 2022.
Who knows if broadcast media will be a lifetime career for me, but I'm glad that part of my journey has landed me here. In my free time, I'm active in video game communities and creative work - mainly music, art and content creation.
You can reach me by email at jonathan.fong@wqad.com or phone at (309)-736-3217. Full portfolio is available at jfongthings.weebly.com.