Isiah Carey

Isaiah Carey was born on October 17, 1970 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was there that he got his first taste of broadcast news. His first experience in broadcast journalism came many years before he joined NBC affiliate WVLA-TV as a general assignment reporter and weekend public affairs talk show host in 1990. He was a third-grade student at South Boulevard Elementary School when he realized he wanted to be a reporter. His teacher invited a television journalist named Maxine Crump, an anchor for WAFB-TV, to talk to his class. She provided the inspiration to pursue a career in TV journalism. After her visit, he wrote a letter to the news director of a TV station in Baton Rouge, asking if he could work there in the summer. This he did every summer until he went away to college. By the 10th grade, station personnel were convinced he had a future in broadcast journalism when they accepted his first script of a news story. After graduating from high school, Carey entered the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette in 1988 to study mass communications. In 1989, he enrolled at Southern University A& M College in Baton Rouge where he received a degree in broadcast journalism. While in college, he worked as a news anchor and reporter for WXOX-AM radio in Baton Rouge. By 1990, he was also news director and anchor at KOXL-AM and WYCT-AM, where he was in charge of a five-person news staff. That same year, he got his first break in TV as a general assignment reporter and weekend public affairs talk show host at WVLA. In 1991, he joined WAFB where he remained for four years as co-host of a morning news program and general assignment reporter. His dedication to his work is evident, as Carey conducts interviews and develops a story that often starts with a simple tip in the form of a phone call from individuals who have come to respect his assertive, no-nonsense style of reporting.