Longtime Farmingdale resident Richard Rose, who anchors the news on WLNY-TV 55 was introduced to being in front of the camera early on. As a youth in the 1960s, Rose starred in national commercials and said felt a little awkward, but he always "liked to perform."

He recalled that while growing up the radio was always on the news station. "Her [my mom] ear was constantly fixed to the radio," he said. "My mom always said it was because she wanted to know what was going on." She gave her child a love for knowing the news early in life. As an adult, Rose's love for the news and for being in front of the camera mapped his future career as an anchor.

Before entering the news world, he worked as a broker on Wall Street, but said he never enjoyed himself there and eventually looked for something else.

Rose knew he wanted to become a reporter, however before sitting in the anchor chair, he worked on his feet performing stand up comedy.

"I had a few good nights and got to perform in the city at The Improv and Dangerfield's," he said. "I even got to meet Rodney Dangerfield once."

While Rose said it was fun, he wanted something more in a career.

After graduating from broadcasting school in 1981, Rose received three job offers and accepted a broadcasting job in northwest Nebraska.

"I took the job because I wanted to see the country," he added. Moving from his Brooklyn home to the mid-West was a learning experience. He went from telling jokes in midtown to reporting on pig wrestling championships and cowchip tossing contests.

"It did get a little boring," he explained. "My goal always was to return to New York."

He left Nebraska, first for Florida then Maine, but Jacksonville is where Rose experienced the news story that he is most proud to have covered. He reported about an off-duty police officer who was letting a troubled woman and her child stay in his house. When the woman's estranged husband came looking for his family, a "scuffle" ensued between the husband and the police officer, resulting in shots being fired. The husband was killed.

Rose's investigative reporting of the incident won him an award.

In 1996 Rose joined the WLNY-TV 55 news team on Long Island. He said he enjoys working there because, "you don't have to be an actor; it's real life."

Being in charge of the newsroom is something he said he enjoys doing, "but you have to have teamwork, everyone in here has a say."

Rose said reporting the news honestly with an unbiased view is vital to the anchors at TV55. He said says the station, "tries to eventually cover everything that occurs in the news globally, nationally and locally."

During his career, Rose has won 13 awards for his investigative reporting and producing skills. He has spent 11 years at WLNY TV 55 and said he hopes to remain there for many more.

(Carolyn Robinson is a Professional Communications Major at Farmingdale State College.)