My name is Jamey Tucker and I’m a guy who loves new gadgets and technology. Smartphones, drones, virtual reality, appliances, TVs, sound systems, smart home devices, apps. If it’s tech, I’m all over it.
I’ve been a reporter/anchor since 1988 and worked with some very talented and dedicated journalists at these stations:
- WJSU-TV Anniston, Alabama
- WHNT-TV Huntsville, Alabama
- WREG-TV Memphis, Tennessee
- WKRN-TV Nashville, Tennessee
In 2011 while reporting for WKRN, the ABC TV station in Nashville, I launched “What the Tech?” to provide fresh daily topical news content that is relevant to viewers.
The first thing I did was sign up to attend CES, the largest consumer technology show in the world. It happens every January in Las Vegas. Tech companies unveil thousands of new gadgets and innovations at the show and I get to be on the floor to see it unfold.
9 plus years later I’m tied into the tech community and in touch with most of the major players in the consumer technology industry. I spend my time (too much according to my family) reading about tech, watching keynotes, trying out new gadgets and devices and finding shortcuts and tech hacks that aren’t found in any directions or manuals.
Now, for the long version of my career:
In 1988 I got my first job in television, anchoring sports for a local cable newscast that broadcast once a week. I did play-by-play for college basketball games and sideline reporting for televised Carson Newman football games. The week before college graduation I got the job of anchoring the national newscast airing on the religious cable-TV channel The Acts Network.
A couple of years later I took a job as evening news anchor for the NBC affiliate in Florence, Alabama. Let’s just say if hell had a TV station it would have been WOWL-TV 15.
My next few stops were in Anniston, Alabama (Birmingham market) where I anchored the 6 and 10 at WJSU-TV. Then it was on to WHNT-TV in Huntsville, Alabama where I anchored first the morning, then the 10 pm weekday newscasts. In 1997 I left for WREG-TV in Memphis as weekend anchor. In 2006 I went to WKRN-TV in Nashville to be a video journalist covering the religion beat.
When beats went away a year later I converted to a general assignment reporter.
The idea for What the Tech? came after a slow news day in Nashville. Every story fell through and the producers finally said, ‘just go find something for the 4:30 newscast’. It happened to be the day Verizon released its first iPhone. I got my hands on one and compared it to AT&T’s iPhone. The next day I had all of these e-mails from viewers asking more questions about the story and the phones. It dawned on me that these stories are interesting to people of all ages, no matter where they live.
A few months later, “What the Tech?” went on the air at WKRN, WAAY in Huntsville, Alabama, and a few months after that, WPSD in Paducah, Kentucky.
I left my position as a news reporter at WKRN in 2015 to pursue taking “What the Tech?” to other stations.
It is on the air now on the following stations:
WBRC-TV Birmingham, Alabama
WRCB-TV Chattanooga, Tennessee
WPSD-TV Paducah, Kentucky
KFDX-TV Wichita Falls, Texas
KOHD-TV Bend, Oregon
WAFF-TV Huntsville, Alabama
KTVN-TV Reno, Nevada
WRDE-TV Salisbury, Maryland
WFMZ-TV Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
WATE-TV Knoxville, Tennessee
WRDW-TV Augusta, Georgia
WAKA-TV Montgomery, Alabama
My wife and I have been married 27 years and we have three kids.
Only because I get asked about this about a hundred times a month, I am the reporter in the viral “Struttin” video. If you haven’t seen it, the audio is NSFW.