Pauline McGrath - Executive Producer & Instructor
Pauline Pratt McGrath has been the Executive Producer and Instructor at FRED-TV since the fall of 2004. Currently, she works with students at the high school and middle school levels on all aspects of multi-media production and on developing programming for air.
Pauline has a BA in Communications from Westfield State College, an AA from Bristol Community College and is a graduate of Durfee High School.
She began her career in the Television and Entertainment industry back in 1987 in modeling. It is during this time, while reading a commercial script, that Pauline decided to build a career in broadcast journalism and communications.
In college, she had the pleasure of holding five internships as a DJ, radio talk show host and producer of the "Wellness Workshop" on WALE and then later on WHTB; a news reporter and cameraperson for a Continental Cable in Fall River with Rene Kochman; a staff member in charge of Public Relations and Marketing for a Modeling and Talent Agency in Springfield, MA; a Freelance On-Air Talent and crew member for shoots; and a voice-over artist for several projects.
Fresh out of college, Pauline worked freelance as on-air talent and doing voice-overs for several production companies. The competition in the industry was plentiful at the time so she decided to take a full-time position in Human Resources with a staffing company in Boston while still working freelance in the television and entertainment industry.
One year later, she landed a job at WABU-TV 68 in Boston, formerly known as Home of the Red Sox. While here, Pauline enjoyed elements of both careers she had going... that being On-Air Talent and Human Resources Management. She worked with people like Ken Cheeseman (formerly seen on the Monk and many television commercials), Ted O'Brien (News Director), Gail Harris (host of ECU), Kristen Daly (WLVI-TV 56), Wayne Martin of Wayne Martin Puppets, and hired and worked with people like Butch Stearns (FOX-TV 25), Brian Gallagher (WCVB-TV 5) and Ann Lootens- Kraus (WGBH), to name a few.
During her tenure at WABU-TV, Pauline was the on-air talent for a weekly televised piece called "Community Calendar" and many television commercials and voice-overs for the station. In addition, she produced and played the character of "Sally Sunshine" in a children's improvisational television series called "Story Shop", which later won a local EMMY Award and was sold to other top markets throughout the United States. Her character, "Sally Sunshine" became a hit and was cast (along with Pauline) in a new children's television series titled, "Lil' Iguana".
After five years, the television station was being sold. Pauline decided to continue working on a freelance basis with several production companies, but to leave the television industry. She landed a job as the Acting Director for Human Resources for the Sheraton Hotel in Boston. Here, she was in charge of approximately 700 employees, union negotiations, lawsuits, recruiting for anywhere between 30-100 jobs at one time, and the overall public relations perception of the hotel by it's employees.
Working in the hotel industry was eventful, however Pauline missed the world of television. She continued working as a freelance artist where she wrote, produced and hosted such projects as Fall River Celebrates America, The History of Lizzie Borden, an industrial wedding video for the Venus DeMilo Restaurant and a documentary on travel and tourism for the government in Puerto Rico.
In 1999, Pauline and her husband, Barry had a family. It was at this time that she left her careers behind and cashed it all in to become a full-time mom. Three months later, she had the pleasure of working with Emmy award winning actor-comedian Paul Wagner as his Business Manager and Corporate Agent from her home office for the next two years, while staying at home with her daughter and now her son too.
Shortly after the birth of her son, she became the Director of the Television Workshop for kids and teens in Boston where she ran a program which developed the acting abilities of teens and children for placement into movies, television commercials, and print advertisements nationally and locally. She had the fortunate pleasure of working with professionals such as Rex Trailer (a well-known icon in our area); Lynda St. James (formerly of the Waltons and Mona Lisa Smile with Julia Roberts); Tom Krusinski (an instructor at the Brookline School of Music and Performing Arts); and Lau Lapides (Director of numerous plays in Boston and LA). Some of Pauline's students have worked with Danny Devito in "What's the Worst That Can Happen", George Clooney in "The Perfect Storm", Kate Kapshaw in "Love Letters" and numerous national and local television commercials.
In 2004, Pauline was asked to become a part of the FRED-TV team at Durfee High School. She welcomed the offer and has since enjoyed the successes and challenges of each student. What she enjoys most about being at FRED-TV is the constant change of technology and the ability to learn and guide the youth in this community to become true broadcast and multimedia professionals. After all, having so many students gives her many more ways, and chances, of being successful.
Her motto: Remember her when you're famous!
